meet our leadership team

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OUR TEAM AND CLICK TO READ THEIR BIOS.

Lisa Cohen
Senior Vice President, BC Affinity Marketing
Lisa joined Barton Cotton in 2003 working as a consultant on special projects. She quickly developed an understanding of and Affinity Marketing business. Lisa was promoted to Vice President of the division in 2006. Under her leadership, Affinity Marketing has grown into a key strategy for more than 35 high profile nonprofit groups with a high margin and immediate ROI for organizations.

Prior to Barton Cotton, Lisa was with Deloitte Consulting where she developed corporate strategies and processes, program management, merger integration planning, and strategic relationship management. Her client engagements included ChevronTexaco, HP, Intel, Microsoft, Albertson's/American Stores and World Economic Forum. Lisa earned her MBA from UCLA's Anderson School of Management with concentrations in Operations & Finance and her undergraduate degree in Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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Larry Vogel
Chief Operating Officer, Barton Cotton
Larry joined Barton Cotton in 1999 as Vice President of Operations. He has over 20 years of experience in supply chain management and manufacturing. Larry oversees operations in Barton Cotton Printing Services, the MailBag division, and Barton Cotton's Fundraising division.

Larry came to Barton Cotton from The Sherwin-Williams Company where he held positions as Plant Manager, Regional Director of Operations and Vice President of Logistics for more than 12 years. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Logistics and Industrial Engineering from Penn State.

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Denise Payne
Senior Vice President, BC Religious Products & Services
In her 11 years at Barton Cotton, Denise has been charged with growing the products and services offered through direct mail and catalog. She has managed all aspects of direct mail, product development, sales, database development, lead generation, catalog publishing and alternate channels. She leads the teams responsible for customer service in Religious Products, including management of call center and data entry vendors for our clients.

Before joining Barton Cotton in 1996, Denise served as vice president of Sales and Marketing at Fleet and Natwest Banks, marketing call center services and supporting the increase of financial product sales. She was also director of marketing for the Direct Mail Division of Western Union, generating record revenue in targeted industries and application markets. Denise earned her undergraduate degree from Seton Hall University and her MBA from Farleigh Dickinson University.

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John Hall
Vice President, Business Development
John Hall, a direct marketing veteran of 16 years, comes to Edge Direct with more than 10 years of non-profit fundraising expertise with the largest Catholic fundraisers in North America, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.

Prior to joining Edge Direct, John was the Vice President of Client Relations for Barton Cotton, where he worked directly with 25 different Catholic fundraisers to understand their specific needs and tailor the appropriate solution. In addition to managing successful acquisition, retention, reactivation and new donor conversion programs, John also managed the successful launch of both Hispanic and international fundraising programs.

During his career, John has also worked directly for a non-profit, a major database marketing company and a company specializing in direct mail procurement. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in management studies from the University of Maryland.

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Becky Odum
Vice President, Strategic Services
Becky Odum brings over 20 years of fundraising and non-profit experience to Edge Direct. Becky spent the last 5 years as a Strategy Director for Barton Cotton, where she supervised 7 full-service nonprofit clients with combined direct mail revenues exceeding $25 million. In this role, Becky demonstrated her abilities to grow donor files, increase revenue, and generate additional net dollars in support of programs & services.

Prior to joining Barton Cotton, Becky held development positions with the National Osteoporosis Foundation, Volunteers of America, and the Epilepsy Foundation. Becky is a graduate of the University of Maryland with a degree in criminology and sociology.

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Roger Hiyama
President, Fundraising
Roger is charged with expanding Barton Cotton’s fully integrated, data-driven business approach to fundraising for its high-profile roster of nonprofit clients.

Roger was most recently at Merkle, Inc. for 6-1/2 years where he served as Vice President, Strategy & Analytics. In this role, Roger developed individual campaign strategies as well as long-range strategic plans with his clients. He worked closely with the analytics team to develop custom predictive modeling solutions to optimize his clients’ Acquisition, retention, and major gift and planned giving programs. In addition, he developed mid-level donor, membership, and special event retention programs.

Roger brings to the position more than 28 years of successful database marketing and agency experience in both the fundraising and commercial markets. He has an extensive background in database marketing, predictive modeling, e-mail marketing and strategic planning. His career has included leadership roles at Wiland Services, Saturn Corporation, and Shop2u/Exemplar.

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Liz Dixon
Vice President, Strategic Fundraising
Liz brings over 25 years of marketing and fundraising experience to Barton Cotton. Most recently, she was the National Sales Manager for Target Analytics, a Blackbaud Company.

Roger Hiyama, president of the Fundraising Group at Barton Cotton says, "Liz is a welcome addition to our fundraising team. By combining her immense knowledge of the non-profit sector with her unique skills for building long-standing relationships, she will make an immediate impact on her client’s acquisition and retention efforts."

Previously, Liz was Owner of Elixir Marketing, a consulting company, a Senior Account Executive at PerformanceData, a division of Trans Union and an Account Executive at Polk Direct, then a division of RL Polk.

Liz lives in Northern Virginia with her husband, Sam Ackerman, a noted direct mail copywriter, and their four children. She holds degrees in Marketing, Finance, Economics and Accounting from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

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Becky Graninger
Vice President, Strategic Fundraising
Becky has more than 25 years of direct marketing experience, from strategy development to execution, including mail, direct response television, telemarketing and online marketing. She has both client-side and agency-side experience, and she recently served as vice president of fundraising and communications at World Relief.

Becky is responsible for managing the overall fundraising efforts in support of some of our top nonprofit clients. Working closely with the client, Becky provides strategic fundraising solutions which include planning, budgeting, analytics, database design, data modeling and contact strategies including interactive services, creative design and production.

Her nonprofit experience includes CARE, Save the Children, World Relief, Project HOPE, American Health Assistance Foundation, Arthritis Foundation, American Heart, St Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the United States Olympic Committee. She holds a BA degree in economics and is working on a master’s degree in marketing at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School.

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John Thompson
Senior Vice President, Chief Creative Officer
John Thompson is a 33-year veteran of the direct fundraising industry. John comes to Barton Cotton from Merkle, Inc., where he was Vice President/Group Creative Director for the nonprofit vertical.

John began his career in 1978 as an Art Director and Director of Creative Services with the Richard A. Viguerie Company. In 1982 he founded Direct Design, Inc., his own creative studio, which he operated for over 17 years. As a consultant, he has served many diverse organizations, including the Environmental Law Institute, Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless, Engineering Services, Inc., and Marketing General.

John is a former board member of the Direct Marketing Association of Washington, is a frequent author and lecturer. He and his creative teams have won numerous industry awards.

John is a 1976 graduate of the University of Maryland. He and his wife Lisa live in Potomac, MD.

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Nancy Freeman
Vice President, Business Relationship Director
Nancy brings over 30 years of experience in direct marketing and fundraising to Barton Cotton. She is an expert on production issues, efficiencies and postal regulations, enabling her to help her clients develop successful direct mail campaigns that are also cost-effective.

Before coming to Barton Cotton, Nancy spent 22 years as Senior Account Manager and Manager of Customer Development for EU Services, a full service direct mail production company. She developed, evaluated, modified and implemented mail plans for her clients, including non-profits, associations, B2B and B2C clients. Her expertise in printing, data processing, mail processing and postal regulations ensure that clients stay on budget and meet their ROI goals. Nancy has consulted with clients about using cross-media, integrated campaigns and digital technology.

Nancy is a natural educator and developed curriculum, content and marketing plans as well as presented seminars to hundreds of customers over the years. She has also been a frequent presenter at several professional events including DMAW Direct Mail Boot Camp, various AFP events, DMA of Kansas City and more.

Nancy has a degree in Special Education from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. She lives in Bowie, Maryland with her husband Richard and her daughter, Emily.

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Graham Ruffles
Business Relationship Director
Graham Ruffles has joined Barton Cotton and The Mail Bag as Business Relationship Director. In his new role, Graham will help Barton Cotton and The Mail Bag continue their growth.

Roger Hiyama, president of the Barton Cotton fundraising group, says, "We are excited to have Graham Ruffels, an experienced industry leader, join our team. His extensive background in printing, mail processing and postal regulations combined with his proven client skills and fundraising knowledge will make him an invaluable partner to his fundraising clients."

Graham was with Archibald Allan Associates for seven years and then was recruited to lead sales efforts at DSG, a boutique brokerage located in Olney, MD. As vice president of business development, he was a member of the management team and led the global sourcing of product manufacturing and fulfillment initiative. Two years later, Graham opened Victory Direct Marketing, providing the direct marketing community with custom, sensory-based products until it was acquired in 2010.

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Bret Campbell
Business Relationship Director
Roger Hiyama, President of Barton Cotton Fundraising, announced the addition of Bret Campbell to his Non-Profit "Dream Team". "Bret is committed to changing the world by helping his non-profit clients raise the funds that allow them to carry out their worthwhile missions. His passion and expertise will enable Barton Cotton to continue our steady growth in the fundraising arena."

Bret has been in the direct marketing, advertising and communications industry for over 25 years. His experience includes both agency and client organizations. Bret spent 7 years working for the country’s largest retail bank, where he won a Direct Marketing Association Echo Award and an EFFIE Award for direct mail excellence from the American Marketing Association.

Bret has served as a judge for numerous marketing awards competitions, and he also traveled the country as a customer-service motivational speaker. In addition, he is Six Sigma Green Belt Certified for his process engineering work in streamlining customer communications.

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