Time, Inc. and Bertelsmann planned to merge key direct marketing businesses. Due to competitive issues, employed creative antitrust strategy to effectuate this.

Partnership creation involved merging assets in four nations (U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia).

Despite varied legal and operational issues, two direct competitors developed synergies and created a mutually beneficial seven-year partnership that opened up new markets and profit opportunities.

Company desired expanded access to product with a multi-channel focus.

Created and recommended strategy; facilitated team to implement expansion strategy. To finance, company sold one product line but continued to service it for new owner obtaining $10 million in immediate cash with the added benefit of ongoing, predictable cash flow.

When money freed up, entered strategic contractual rights agreements with new suppliers, and achieved added rights to exploit from existing suppliers. Finally, purchased another company’s assets, creating a perfect strategic fit.

Business desired to retain existing markets in print but expand utilizing growing e-commerce and telemarketing.

Created intellectual property strategy and negotiated rights protection. Drafted language to achieve these rights in art, photos, text, web platforms, etc., while simultaneously persuading key vendors/suppliers to approve new rights agreements.

Transitioned company from primarily print to multi-channel marketing. Handled more than 10,000 unique contractual agreements per year on time, all rights in place, litigation free.

Challenged with persuading varied state and federal legislators and AGs not to enact legislation inimical to company’s primary profit centers.

Created column for principal trade magazine and published company’s positions in other targeted media. Articles forwarded as “position papers” which had sanction of neutral medial and varied peer review.

Facilitated effort to protect employer’s primary profit centers for three decades and obtain cost reduction regulatory relief from U.S. Postal Service, which cut millions per year from primary cost center.

Company sought broad expansion into electronic and related rights. Reviewed EU Directives in Paris with key people who had a strategy of working with trade groups to avoid similar regulations in the U.S.

Presented seminars on reducing rights acquisition complexity as well as preserving acquired IP resources. Anticipated direction of key states and FTC enforcement policy on future privacy enforcement.

The result was no senior manager was deposed or went to trial in 21-year tenure as general counsel. Situation created access to new markets, new product lines, and increased benefits. Internally, communication increased which created enhanced teamwork between legal department and internal marketing constituencies.

CEO ran operation in U.K. as well as North America. CEO wished to create two strategic deals, which encountered problems with Monopolies Commission. There was a lack of optimism in vision being effectuated.

Sent over by CEO to develop creative approaches to antitrust roadblocks. Built team of U.K. lawyers with vision to see success. Steered both deals through, enhancing profitability and flexibility of U.K. businesses.

Similar successes through the years achieved in Canada and Mexico.

As customer base grew, opportunity existed to better leverage credit policies to gain customers who paid invoices in timely manner and cut bad debt.

Became an expert through practical hands-on experience and through writing articles for varied publications on Fair Debt Collection Practices, Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Truth in Lending, and other laws and policies pertaining to credit and debt collection. Enacted a more creative model to reduce bad debt.

Sales were enhanced through new model and when occasional litigation came about in three class actions, secured dismissal on two of these and non-cash settlement of the third. No senior managers were subpoenaed, deposed, or otherwise impositioned.

Business expansion created data security issues and fiduciary matters had to be addressed. Budget constraints meant a maximization of in-house resources. Current emergency response plan not adequate.

Established internal teams working with Human Resources, IT, and Finance to develop realistic planning for potential threats to include data security, fire, and terrorist activity. Plan included redesign of evacuation plans. As a proactive protection measure, more emphasis placed on background checks of new-hire employees.

State-of-the-art disaster recovery/data security plan in place. Added benefit was enhanced cross-discipline teamwork.

Legal department needed to be cost effective with long-term institutional knowledge and other human capital value from effective personnel. The need for retention of seasoned employees was increasingly more important.

Initiated first flextime and telecommuting effort. Worked with Human Resources to pilot program, and once successful, adopted company-wide. Benefit was cost-effective way to afford a benefit meeting the needs of individuals, thereby increasing retention, which in turn reduced recruitment costs.

Half of the Legal department employees had obtained more than 20 years of service. The level of experience of this team contributed to successes including getting out of all contracts on time, all rights in place, litigation free, as well as keeping management from the stress of subpoenas and depositions.

An advantage to Direct Sellers is not to have the costs of collecting sales/use tax where it is not physically located; no sales tax is also a big sales incentive. Due to expanding, varied new operations and marketing techniques, a stellar 25-year tax free/no audit loss record was placed in jeopardy.

Working across disciplines, devised and implemented plan to restructure business for tax and flexibility purposes into four distinct companies: YES Solutions (distribution/fulfillment/service), DDay Entertainment (direct marketing, electronic marketing, e-commerce, and audio/text and merchandise), and Madison Park Press (publishing) under the holding company Bookspan.

This restructuring improved the business’s firewall of tax protections while freeing up assets for enhanced marketing/fulfillment capacity. The business expanded in varied new areas with added rights exploitation, but no added tax collection risk to core business.

When company acquired by German parent, served as advisor on various cost saving measures.

Recommendations included utilizing a parcel subclass that represented $2 million savings in first year. Won acceptance by management; assumed the responsibility for representing company before USPS and elected to Executive Board of primary industry/USPS group. Developed and executed first baseline letter agreement in direct marketing history.

Savings grew each year, eventually reaching more than $100 million annual costs.

After company acquired by a German media giant, was one of only five U.S. employees chosen for an entrepreneurial premium in the form of a stock certificate by the Executive Board and Supervisory Board of Bertelsmann. Contributions to successful turnaround recognized at a worldwide Management Conference in Gütersloh, Germany.

Turnaround efforts hailed by Bertelsmann AG CEO as "mother of all turnarounds." In a letter announcing the premium, the CEO stated:

"The turnaround and the positive follow-up result...are also the result of excellent team work. The success could only be achieved by bundling all forces, and a variety of individual activities. We would like to express our appreciation of your great motivation and your commitment also, in years of problematic business courses, and thank you for your outstanding performance."

Receiving stock from a private company was considered a distinctive honor.