Kevin Whorton, Principal 

Kevin has worked with a wide variety of charitable organizations and associations with a strong track record in diverse fields including:
-  industry and marketing research
-  database marketing and analytics
-  strategic planning and management consulting
-  communications and marketing strategy

His experience includes executive staff roles within four large organizations, serving as:
-  head of direct response fundraising for Catholic Relief Services,
-  head of marketing and research for The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists,
-  director of member programs and founder of the NACDS Services Corporation for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, and
-  director of market research for the National Association of Home Builders.

While at CRS, he raised more than $200 million in charitable contributions from individual donors in three years, increasing overall fundraising while cutting annual expenses by more than 15% during that period. 

Among his e-marketing accomplishments have been:
-  co-founding the development of the educational/fundraising CRS site myglobalvillage.com
-  co-launching the successful retail portal Chaindrugstore.net for NACDS
-  establishing successful syndicated news services including "At a Glance" for the drug industry and CRSBriefing for supporters of international relief and development. 

Over the years Kevin has conducted more than 180 quantitative and qualitative research projects for 100 association and nonprofit clients, including needs assessments, compensation studies, public opinion polls, industry wide analyses, and product launch/market feasibility.

Kevin has a long history of commitment to the practice of nonprofit management including presenting to more than 75 national audiences, and serving volunteer roles with the ASAE, DMA Nonprofit Federation, and other organizations.
-  For the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), he has served as Vice Chair, Membership Chair, member of the Advisory Board, member of the Executive Committee, and Conference Chair for the 2004 and 2006 Nonprofit Conferences.
-  For the local Direct Marketing Association of Washigton (DMAW) he has served as co-chair of the annual Association Day program.
-  For the American Society of Association Executives, he serves as a current member of the Membership Section Council, Research Committe, and Associations Advance America.
-  For the ASAE Greater Washington Network, he serves on the Content Action Team and is past chair of the Member Action Team.
-  In the past he has served eight terms as a member of the International Section Council, Marketing Section Council (also serving as vice chair), APAC advisory board member, co-chair of Associations Make a Better World, and has served many times as a judge for the Gold Circle Awards.

Kevin earned Bachelors degrees in Business and Economics from Idaho State University; a Master's Degree in Economics at George Mason University; and completed PhD coursework in industrial organization at George Mason University.  He continued his professional development with MBA coursework in marketing at George Mason, and holds a certificate from the Hallmark Program for Retail Executive Management from Northwestern University/Kellogg School of Business.

Rebecca Connell, Research Analyst 

Rebecca is currently earning her Bachelors' degrees in Economics and Accounting at the University of Maryland with an anticipated graduation date of May 2011. She holds an AA in Business Administration from Frederick Community College and currently works with WM&R as a research analyst. She is skilled in data manipulation and coding, online survey design, and financial analysis for our industry research studies.