President & CEO
Polaris Research, Inc.

Dr. Ralston has over 16 years of marketing experience across a variety of industries including Automotive (International Harvester, GM, Hyundai, Mazda), Call Centers (AOL, eTelecare), Casino (Atlantic City Hilton), Computers (DELL), Defense (Lockheed Martin, US Marine Corp), Education (Dallas County Community College District, University of North Texas), Entertainment (Club Corp, Busch Entertainment), Financial (Associates National Bank, HSBC, Delta Financial), Housing (Palm Harbor Homes), Insurance (AAA, Wausau Insurance Companies), Internet (AOL, Verizon DSL, Verizon FiOS), Packaged Goods / Grocery (Frito-Lay, MASECA, Minyard), Restaurant (Metromedia Restaurant Group, Ryan’s Buffet, Old Country Buffet, HomeTown Buffet), Retail (CompUSA, BlackBerry, Jiffy Lube, Mossy Oak, Sony, Sub-Zero / Wolf), Security (Stanley Security Solutions), Telecommunications (AT& T, Verizon, GTE, Bell Atlantic, Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages, Qwest, Airtouch, Alcatel, CANTV, nTelos), and Travel & Leisure (La Quinta, Travelocity).

Dr. Ralston received his bachelors degree in communication management from Spring Hill College, in Mobile, Alabama; a master's degree in interpersonal/organizational communication from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock; and a doctorate in sociology from the University of North Texas with a minor in econometrics and specialization in statistics.

Dr. Ralston actively publishes and presents with articles appearing in Nova Publishers books & journals (New Business and Finance Research Developments, Journal of Current Issues in Finance, Business and Economics), Journal of Business Research, The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Public Personnel Management, Marketing News, Quirk's Marketing Research Review and Social Behavior and Personality. He is an active member in the American Psychological Association and the American Marketing Association. He is also a member elect of Alpha Kappa Delta (International Sociology Honor Society).

Over the past ten years, Dr. Ralston has worked closely with Paul Buckley and Paul Bowman beginning with his tenure at GTE and later with Omnicom and Polaris Research. The unique capability of melding strategy, media, planning and the science of marketing ROI has been born of this collaboration and sets Polaris Research apart from other players in the field.

Media Strategy
PMB Direct, Inc.

Paul Buckley has 19 years of experience in media consulting with focus on maximizing marcom performance by closing the metrics loop, leveraging customer and prospect data and establishing a rigorous process on continuous learning and improvement. Paul's background includes 15 years with Rapp Collins Worldwide. As an agency leader Paul oversaw a team of professionals from strategic planning, data analytics, brand planning, media, creative, interactive and production to deliver successful marketing campaigns on behalf of several key agency clients such as Dell, Hewlett Packard, Travelocity, AT& T, Lowes, Sam's Club, Disney, Hyatt Hotels and New Century Financial.

Paul's thorough understanding of all aspects of direct marketing extends to a specialty in marketing analytics. Paul believes that analytics are critical to effective marketing and business management and are also critical to becoming a smarter, more intuitive marketer. At the heart of every marketing campaign are the proven learnings from years of historical campaign analysis and the opportunity to gain new insights through rigorous research and experimentation. It's this iterative, compounding process that fuels continuous improvement and best-in-class results for all businesses.

Paul is a recognized industry expert in integrated marketing programs that leverage behavioral and motivations insights to deliver relevant messages across a variety of media channels and audience segments. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan where he now conducts annual marketing seminars within their business school and is also a Conference Speaker for the DMA and multiple client industry organizations.

Strategic Consulting
Bowman & Partners, LLC

Paul works closely with our clients in a thought-leader role to develop customer management strategies that expand customers’ value through multi-channel marketing initiatives. He leverages the extensive expertise of senior partners to enable our clients to acquire, retain, and grow a more profitable customer base. By integrating the importance of customer insights into our analytic approaches, we increase customer value, engagement, and loyalty for our clients. Paul’s career includes more than 20 years of experience in establishing and managing customer programs that help grow customer value for companies within the telecommunications, retail, restaurant, pharmaceutical, and travel industries.

Paul is a recognized industry leader in driving customer loyalty and retention by changing customer behavior through integrated marketing programs that leverage behavioral and motivational insights across a variety of media channels and audience segments. Previously, Paul was Managing Director of Customer Strategies for Merkle and also Managing Director, of Direct and Loyalty Marketing at Hawkeye Group. Earlier, Paul held senior management positions at Rapp Collins Worldwide, Brierley & Partners and MRM. He is a recent recipient of both the DMA ECHO Award and the NCDM Multi-Channel Marketing Gold Award for customer programs he designed from insight through implementation.

Paul graduated from Indiana University with a Quantitative Business Analysis degree and holds an M.B.A from the University of Texas at Arlington. He was accredited with Telecommunications Certificates at both the Cox School of Business at SMU and Omnicom University.