Meet some of our key players who have been fundraisers from the start and now set the standard for excellence in direct mail.

Susan Anstrand, President and CEO
Susan has played a lead role both at Names in the News and in direct mail fundraising since 1977 but she has been a political activist and staunch supporter of our progressive clients since birth. Rumor has it that she was the only sixteen year-old that contemplated getting a fake ID in order to get the right to vote earlier. Today she heads both our list management and brokerage divisions, bringing to our company and our clients a wealth of knowledge, fundraising experience and direct mail savvy. An active list broker, Susan consults with some of our largest nonprofit clients including Doctors without Borders, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Southern Poverty Law Center and the Sierra Club.

David Herrick, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
On staff since 1981, David built our customized direct mail programs and is responsible for our database and reporting. When most kids were taking the cushions off the couch to build a play fort, David was taking them off to scrounge for loose change to give to UNICEF. Today David serves as our in-house technical guru and operational wizard, putting his unique talents to work heading our Accounting, Human Resources and Information Services departments.

David works closely with Susan to oversee the primary operations at Names in the News. He insures that our computer and accounting systems meet and exceed our staff and client needs. To do so he regularly consults with our sales division to streamline systems, increase efficiency and enhance communication and reporting structures with our clients and other key contacts.

Stephen King, Director of Analytics
Stephen manages planning and analytics and as well as directing the ongoing development of strategic planning and analysis tools for Names in the News. Through his career in fundraising started more than 30 years ago his interest in analytics started much, much earlier. For his 9th birthday, Stephen calculated the response rate to his party invitation and even calculated the average gift!

Stephen started his career at Parker Dodd and Associates and it is there that he began his working association with Names in the News. Stephen’s previous career background also includes heading up the planning and analysis team at CMS West. Stephen has significant experience doing analysis of large donor files and was responsible for one of the first cross-client reporting projects analyzing the combined acquisition efforts of more than a dozen clients. He was also one of the first to build lifetime value models for nonprofits.

Henry Most, Senior Analyst
Henry joined Names in the News in 2001, bringing with him more than six years of experience in data analysis and client service in the market research industry. His personal ties with our clients’ missions go back much farther, though. Henry may be the only 5th grader to use the excuse “the compost pile ate my homework.” Henry led the development of many of Names in the News planning and reporting capabilities, introducing metrics like Names in the News Performance Index and bringing our list audit capabilities in-house. He works closely with our list brokers and planners to verify the effectiveness and projection validity of our mail plans and client budget work. In addition to the behind-the-scene analytics, Henry is also available to train clients on the creation and use of basic analytic tools such as pivot tables and reading reports.