president’smessage


WILLIS TURNER, CAE, CSE willis.turner@smei.org


October 17, 2010 marks the 75th anniversary of the founding meeting of SMEI which took place at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. In this issue of Marketing Times, we pay tribute to the leaders whose visionary emphasis on sales and marketing as a profession has benefited society in so many ways. Countless hours of volunteer labor has gone into the history of SMEI and even today, someone in the world is working on SMEI initiatives and incorporating its founding principles into their work plan each and every hour of the day.


As you read through this issue, I hope you’ll enjoy the flash back in time and reflect on the strides made in our profession in the past century. Little did our founders know about the impact of changes from the industrial age to the information age, just as we are uncertain about the impact of many of today’s trends on the future of our business, careers and profession. When Thomas Watson and Raymond Bill organized the founding meeting and established an all male membership society, little did they know that in 1994 SMEI would elect Claudia J. Bowers, CSE as its first woman President. Nor could they have imagined that the a USA national association would become an international organization


and elect a non-US citizen, Donald C. North, CSE from Vancouver, Canada in 1995. When Presidents Don Estrin, CME and Walter Marzinke, CME presided over the development and launch of SMEI’s professional certification programs in 1985-1986, they most certainly didn’t know that today the programs accept more applications per year (not per capita) from The Peoples Republic of China than from any other country. Now you’re beginning to see the unending ripple effect created by a handful of passionate founding leaders multiplied by thousands of members over the years. So, let’s make this issue of Marketing Times a tribute to SMEI members past, present and future who have shown and will show their Passion! For the profession.


Above: SMEI Chair, Ms. Roemer and TCSAFEA Director, Mr. Bai, shake hands following the official signing ceremony to launch SMEI in P.R. China.


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Left: TCSAFEA Associate Director, Mr. Xiong and SMEI President, Mr. Turner sign the agreement.


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