2017 Board of Directors Vote – Your Finalists

Industry Champion Nominations

	Rachel Honoway	FMTC	Industry Champion Current Board of Director President
I am the CEO of FMTC, a premier affiliate datafeed and tool provider, and have been in the industry since the late 90’s helping merchants launch new programs, assisting affiliates in starting their businesses and have been a part of developing technologies that help both sides maximize their results from the channel. I believe that the existence of the PMA is vital for maintaining professional and ethical standards as the performance marketing industry continues to grow at such a fast pace. As CEO of a solution provider that reaches across the industry, I feel it’s important to support the PMA as an Industry Champion member and to dedicate time and resources to the organization’s efforts. I’ve held a seat on the board for the last two years, and have been honored to serve as the president this calendar year. I would very much like the opportunity to continue serving in this capacity. I’m encouraged by the progress made across the organization this year, building on the foundation set by previous boards, to produce quality content and analysis to bring awareness to our industry and assist our members in staying relevant, current and compliant. I look forward to again building on this progress if chosen to serve on the board for another two years.

	Tara McCommons	Linkconnector Corporation	Industry Champion Current Board of Director
Tara McCommons is the VP of Sales and Marketing at LinkConnector—a Performance Marketing Network providing innovative technology and support for over 12 years. Since beginning her career in affiliate marketing in 2004, Tara has established a successful record in fueling revenue growth through the development and leadership of strategic partnerships. She oversees all marketing initiatives while also leading a high performance sales team that plays a pivotal role in developing new merchant and affiliate opportunities. Tara has been a speaker at industry tradeshows, a contributor to FeedFront magazine and has actively been involved with the PMA for the past 4 years; beginning as a member of the Publisher Recruitment Council, followed by the past two years as a BOD member. Campaign Statement: I am eager for the opportunity to continue deepening my contribution to shaping our industry through this PMA Board leadership position. I have been honored to serve on the PMA Board for the past two years as Membership Committee Chair, if elected for another term, I will use my business development talents to passionately continue growing PMA membership on all levels. My efforts will directly contribute to the critical revenue demands needed to support the PMA’s long-term mission.Identifying and nurturing prosperous business relationships is an area where I thrive. My expertise in compelling others to understand and share my belief in an organization’s mission and value proposition would enable me to cultivate strong, new member relationships for the PMA.As part of this initiative, I would be committed to advocating the benefits available to new and renewing PMA members, our 2016 accomplishments, 2017 goals, our plans to achieve those goals, and the influence a membership has in progressing our industry’s future as an invaluable marketing channel.I look very forward to the opportunity to serve if elected.

	Amanda Ennis	Affiliate Manager	Industry Champion
I started with AffiliateManager.com, the leading OPM agency of the year for Pinnacle & Avantlink, in February 2013 in a team support role. Quickly growing within the company to the position of Strategic Account Manager. AffiliateManager.com is an outsourced program manager (OPM) of affiliate marketing programs. We manage well over 60+ brands, and I’m fortunate to have an amazing team to work with and be apart of. Daily, I build relationships with clients, engaged in bi-weekly progress meetings to update my clients on performance, progress, and to strategize about growth. I spearhead a team of Business Development Managers and support staff, who work hand in hand with our affiliates and other promotional opportunities. Together, we grow the programs to new heights. We do this by obtaining relationships with high end affiliates and have them feature affiliate links and banners, and drive content placement (reviews, articles, etc.) to build long-lasting traffic. Affiliate Marketing is more than just the bottom dollar, it’s about relationship building, and long lasting rapport. In this role, I have been able to build those relationships with my clients, as well as with many other representatives in the industry as well as other affiliate channels. Some of the other tasks I accomplish as a Strategic Account Manager: • Structure online marketing strategies • Build friendly and trustworthy relationships with merchants through regular correspondence • Spot market trends • Analyze and interpret sales data • Create sales reports • Exhibit strong problem-solving, organizational, and interpersonal skills • Am familiar with ShareASale, AvantLink, Commission Junction, Pepperjam, and Linkshare interfaces and procedures. I have a passion for the marketing industry and want to continue to grow in my expertise, while helping the industry expand its knowledge base. I appreciate your consideration, and look forward to working together.

	Tom Rathbone	Schaaf-PartnerCentric	Industry Champion
In my 9 years working in the affiliate industry I have worked in an analytical, account management, operational, and technical capacity. I am now our Head of Technology, and oversee our technology department. This department handles all of our integrations and program launches (I personally have over 150 under my belt), as well as the development of our proprietary technology. The PMA needs someone who understands the technical landscape in the industry; broader than any one platform, network, or tool but the technology that supports our entire global industry. Few individuals have this breadth of understanding that i’ve been afforded in my position at Schaaf-Partnercentric, and I will utilize that and my understanding of how each audience in our industry utilizes technology to participate on the Board. Additionally, as occupying the position that is responsible for solving some of the most complex problems our clients have, I have a unique view into what advertisers are looking for across all affiliate networks. This removes any knowledge vacuum, keeping my perspective broad. As such, I put out a regular Trends and Moves report with our internal team, highlighting not only granular information like affiliate network releases, personnel moves, and affiliate channel trends, but also macro-level information like global shifts in consumer behaviorism and advertising as a whole.

Corporate Nominations

	Joe Sousa	Fanatics	Corporate Current Board of Director
I have been in the affiliate industry for 18+ years on both the affiliate side and the affiliate management/merchant side. I am currently working at Fanatics.com managing the affiliate programs for Fanatics.com, FansEdge.com, NFLShop.com, MLBShop.com, NBAStore.com, Shop.NHL.com, and a number of our other properties. I have won an Affiliate Summit Affiliate Manager of the Year Pinnacle Award and two Merchant of the Year Pinnacle awards in the last 3 years. Working for a large online retailer I have a great understanding of what is important to other retailers and affiliate managers, what resources are helpful, and what the PMA can do to help online retailers. Knowing the affiliate side of things gives me a great perspective on what benefits they can get from the PMA as well.

	Jamie Birch	JEBCommerce.com	Corporate
I’ve been in affiliate marketing since 1999 as an affiliate, an in-house manager and running an agency. I’ve also managed multi-channel digital marketing campaigns for large corporations. This experience gives me unique insight into our industry, where we fit within the broader landscape and our unique challenges and opportunities. I’ve spoken at many major industry events and written for many of the leading industry rags. I have been involved with the PMA in committees and as a member since the inception of the organization. I’ve also been very involved in the nexus issue which continues to affect our industry. I believe my success in this field and my experience suits me well for this position.

	Alison Chew	Acceleration Partners	Corporate
Alison manages the growth of Acceleration Partners and the business of its clients by developing and maintaining relationships with our platform and publisher partners. She previously served as Director of Acceleration Partners’ affiliate marketing team where she was responsible for the success and happiness of our clients. Prior to Acceleration Partners, she was at a Bay Area start-up where she managed the company’s affiliate relationships with multiple networks and vendors. In her spare time, Alison loves to spend time with her family, bake and try new restaurants.

	Jennifer Myers Ward	ebove & beyond, inc.	Corporate
Jennifer brings 20 years of online marketing experience working with dozens of clients in a variety of industries where she has shown proven success in both the affiliate and email channels. She started ebove & beyond almost 14 years ago and since then has evolved into a boutique agency, focusing on being very hands-on with each client and giving each account individual attention on a daily basis. This dedication to each and every client has enabled several of their clients’ affiliate programs to grow by triple digits year over year. ebove & beyond’s successful track record contributed to them being named a finalist for the Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Award for OPM/ Agency of the Year in 2015. Prior to starting ebove & beyond in 2003, Jennifer was responsible for building Palm Beach Jewelry’s online business. The website grew at an amazing rate boasting strong traffic numbers and record sales helping it to become an Internet Retailer Top 500 company in just 2 years. Before her time at Palm Beach Jewelry, Jennifer worked as an Associates (Affiliate) Manager, a Director of Email Marketing and eventually a Partnership Development Manager for Amazon.co.uk. She also helped to open both the German and French Amazon offices and worked on the training of their respective teams. In her role as Partnership Manager in the UK, she exceeded the program goal by 50% in the first 3 months alone and was presented with Amazon’s prestigious “Door Desk Award” in 2000. Jennifer has spent her entire career in the online marketing sector where she has watched this space change over the past two decades while working on the client side, the agency side and even as an affiliate in 2008. She is dedicated to growing and protecting the online marketing world as changes continue to affect our industry. She would bring this passion to the PMA Board of Directors and help to continue to campaign for future growth and development.

	Erica Myones	House of Kaizen	Corporate
I’ve been in the Affiliate Marketing industry for more than 12 years on the agency side of the business. Through the years I’ve worked on many affiliate programs both small and large for brands like Avis Budget Group, Red Roof Hotels, Total Gym, and many others. I currently lead the Affiliate Marketing team for House of Kaizen where I oversee the team and am responsible for strategy and growth for all of our clients. Through the years I’ve worked with hundreds of publishers to help them generate greater revenue for the clients we work on and have upheld the highest of ethical standards in everything I do in the industry. If elected to the board of the PMA I’ll use my experience to help further develop guidelines and best practices for good conduct in the industry. It’s up to us as the industry group to self-police so that the FCC and other government regulations can be kept to a minimum.

	Kerri Pollard	Honey	Corporate

One of the longest tenures in the online marketing arena. Bred innovation and emerging business models. Generated a positive ROI time and time again. Developed incredible talent. Facilitated rich and sustainable relationships. Adapted to the ever-changing consumer and economy. Built billion-dollar businesses. We’ve done this. These are the accomplishments of PERFORMANCE MARKETING. Yet, lack of awareness continues to challenges us. The need to defend is a constant. Cannibalization continues by less transparent channels. Let’s make performance marketing GREAT AGAIN. Sorry, with the election this month, it had to be said. Ha! Seriously, performance marketing has been great, is great and will continue to be great. I want to help others see the same. In July of this year, I entered my 17th year in affiliate marketing. Starting as an entry-level account manager at the Be Free affiliate network in 1999 and following a series of acquisitions, integrations and promotions, I assumed the position of President of CJ Affiliate (CJ) in 2007. Leading an organization of 350 employees in support of 3,000 advertiser clients and 70,000 publishers, we became one of the largest affiliate networks in the world. Following the successful sale of our parent company in December of 2014, I made the difficult decision to leave CJ at the onset of 2015. BUT, I couldn’t leave performance marketing. With much excitement, I returned to the space in September as the Chief Revenue Officer of technology publisher, Honey. On behalf of the PMA, it would be a privilege to leverage my relationships, expertise and communication platforms to help increase participation and advocacy.