Lifetime Members

Lifetime Membership is awarded by a majority vote of the Board of Directors, in recognition of longstanding dedication to and involvement in the San Diego direct marketing community and this organization. It is such a special designation that only two people to date have been so honored.

• Gil Mombach - Bio and photo
• Susi Pensel - Bio and photo

Director Emeritus

In June of 2000, the San Diego Direct Marketing Association named Karen Marchetti Director Emeritus for her service, dedication and leadership of the SDDMA.

• Karen J. Marchetti - Bio

The Margaret Sellers Award

In the early years of the SDDMA, there was an annual award honoring the SDDMC Marketer of the Year. In 1991 the award was renamed after the much beloved and highly respected Margaret Sellers, in recognition of her support of the direct marketing community. Her dedication was so complete that as Postmaster, she even opened the Post Office on Sundays to accommodate mailers who needed to drop mail.

Sellers' 35-year postal career included service as San Diego's Postmaster from 1979-1992; San Diego Division Manager from 1986-92; and District Manager in 1993. Sellers was the first woman to be promoted to a supervisory position, to supervise letter carriers, and to serve as Postmaster of San Diego. Under her leadership, San Diego was consistently recognized as one of the most dynamic and effective districts in the country. Sellers also was widely known for her generous community service. Some of her community service projects included her involvement in opening a shelter for homeless women in the mezzanine of San Diego's Downtown Station Post Office. Called "Rachel's Center," the shelter provided a safe, warm place for as many as 50 homeless women to sleep nightly.

With the help of postal employees and unions, Sellers also gave international assistance to neighboring Mexico. An ongoing program called "Hands Across the Border" has donated used uniforms and vehicles to Postal Service counterpart Correos Mexicano and conducted food and clothing drives for flood victims in the Tijuana Valley. Sellers sat on the Mayor's Advisory Committee on Women and was a member of the National Women's Political Caucus.

Accordingly, the San Diego Direct Marketing Association renamed its annual award after Margaret Sellers and honored her as the first recipient.

Margaret Sellers died July 23, 1993, from a brain tumor, just before the opening of the Carmel Mountain postal facility, which is also named in her honor.
 

The Margaret Sellers Award is the highest honor the San Diego Direct Marketing Association can bestow. Recipients are recognized for their superior success and their outstanding service to the San Diego direct marketing community.

Recipients of the SDDMA Margaret Sellers Award:

• Dec 1991 Margaret Sellers, USPS
• Dec 1992 Pete Higgins
• Dec 1993 Jerry Marino, The Marino Group
• Dec 1994 John and Martha King, King Schools
• Dec 1995 Gil Mombach, Adcentive Group
• Dec 1996 Ray Ellis, Mailing Concepts
• Dec 1997 Jim Elliott, Western Graphics
• Dec 1998 Allen Greer, Allen M. Greer & Associates, Inc.
• Dec 1999 Mike Gotfredson, Roadrunner Sports
• Dec 2000 Karen Marchetti, Strategic Marketing and Advertising
• Dec 2001 Greg Gould, Eye/Comm
• Dec 2002 Anita Charney
• Dec 2003 Bill Strauss, Proflowers.com
• Dec 2004 Michael Belch, PhD, SDSU
• Dec. 2005 Richard Warner, Warner Design Associates
• Dec. 2006 Chris d'Eon, RealAge, Inc.

In Kind Sponsors of the SDDMA