Alan Quasha Report

In recent news for Compagnie Financière Richemont SA, Mr. Norbert Platt, the current CEO will be stepping down and retiring at the end of the year for health reasons. His position will be replaced, starting April 1, 2010, by Mr. Johann Rupert, the Group’s Executive Chairman. Mr. Platt will remain as the director of Richemont and he will act as an advisor to the Group, including Alan Quasha, a Non-Executive Director.

Commenting on the changes, Mr. Rupert explains, “Since he took up the role of Chief Executive Officer in 2004, Norbert has achieved remarkable results in terms of building the Group, rationalising its operations and improving our logistics infrastructure. Over the period we
have seen a dramatic growth in sales and profitability at Richemont.”

Vanterra Capital, with partners, Alan Quasha, Shad Azimi and Jason Young, have a specific set of investment objectives. They want to provide investors with long-term compound annual returns that go above normal market averages and other investment products.

While meeting their objective, they adhere to a number of important business principles. These include the following. They plan to always have their actions consistent with helping to build a private equity franchise. The partners know how important their reputations are and they constantly work to live up to expectations.

They strive to be transparent with all parties, as much as possible. They believe that relationships and people are essential to good business dealings. They invest with people that they trust, and with people whose judgment they respect.

I-Behavior is “the premier provider for database marketing solutions in conjunction with behavioral targeting, geared towards multi-channel marketers and advertisers.” I-Behavior can help companies create, build and maintain better customer relationships, on and off-line. Alan Quasha, as the Director of I-Behavior, shares his professional acumen and experience to make I-Behavior the extraordinary, innovative and successful company that it is.

As the director of I-Behavior, one of the world’s leading direct marketing ad agency, Alan Quasha must keep his finger on the pulse of this powerful form of advertising. But what is direct marketing?

There are two parts to direct marketing. One aspect is when advertising reaches consumers directly, without any intervening media. This is usually achieved using mail through the post office, e-mail ads, or telemarketing done over the telephone.

The second aspect of direct marketing involves “direct response” advertising, which consists of causing a specific “call-to-action” such as when an advertisement asks the consumer to “call a free number” or to “visit a website,” which is a trackable, quantifiable response, with disregard to the medium.
Although Lester Wunderman first used the term “direct marketing” in 1967, the practice has been in use since the invention of the typewriter in 1867, exactly 100 years previously.

Alan Quasha is the director of an innovative company known as I-Behavior. This company was founded by Lester Wunderman, who is presently the Chairman of the Board of Directors, where he presides over the world’s leading global direct marketing advertising agency.

I-Behavior was founded in 1958 and was original called Wunderman, Ricotta & Kline.
In the year 1967 Mr. Wunderman addressed an audience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (MIT) in which he coined the term “Direct Marketing” and defined it.

He has led the growth and development, practical and theoretical of the direct marketing industry and has been recognized for his contribution to this field. He was elected to the Direct Marketing Associations’s Hall of Fame in 1983. In 1998 he was also elected to the Advertising Hall of Fame.

Advertising Age named Lester Wunderman as one of the “Top 100 People in Advertising.”

The Brain Trauma Foundation does amazing research to improve the outcome of Traumatic Brain Injury patients around the world. One fascinating area of recent research is their examination of reaction times. BTF has a research project with experts from Cornell, UC Berkeley and UCSF, together with a grant from the James S. McDonnell Foundation, to look at possible links between reaction time problems and subtle brain shear injuries.

So far, research studies have shown that there is a correlation between subtle shear injuries correlating with attention and memory difficulties for those who have experienced traumatic brain injuries.

The problem with many of these tests is that attention can chance in an instant and the reaction time tests may miss these fluctuations. BTF, where Alan Quasha is the Chairman, has developed and published a unique test that uses eye tracking variables to evaluate attention. This system can be used to evaluate attention after sports concussions, mild TBI, and more with quick, on-the-spot evaluations.

As reported recently in the Wall Street Journal, researchers have recently found an amazing link. They believe they’ve found that many people with alcoholism and homelessness actually suffered brain injuries or had a long-forgotten blow to the head.

Certainly, it’s already accepted that traumatic head injuries can lead to cognitive and behavioral problems. What many people hadn’t realized or thought of before this study is that a severe past blow to the head can be an unrecognized source of social and vocational issues.

The Brain Trauma Foundation, with Chairman Alan Quasha, works to increase knowledge about brain trauma through research, fundraising and other avenues.

Read the full article for more interesting information.

Richemont is a very interesting company with ties to many countries and to many types of products.  They are a number of the world’s leading companies who manufacture and sell luxury goods.  They are particularly focused in the fields of jewelry, luxury watches and writing instruments.

As one of the members of the Board of Directors of Compagnie Financière Richemont SA, Alan Quasha is responsible, along with the other 14 members, for the strategic direction of the company and the appointment of senior management.  They also prepare the company and group’s financial statements and organize the shareholders’ annual meeting.

The Board of Directors, including Alan Quasha as a Non-Executive Director, represents a unique group.  It consists of leaders from nine countries including Norbert Platt from Germany, Johann Rupert from South Africa, Alain Dominique Perrin from Italy and many others.

While some business people like to be in the limelight, others prefer to work behind the scenes. Alan Quasha explains, for Leaders magazine, that he has always preferred to do his business quietly and to let the new CEO who comes in take the credit and the publicity.

One of the charitable organizations where Quasha works to make an impact is the Brain Trauma Foundation. Through his own experience, with a son who went into a coma due to a traumatic brain injury, Quasha learned a great deal about TBI and became involved with the organization. He is the Chairman of the Brain Trauma Foundation, where he brings his vast business experience to help the 5.3 million Americans who currently live with disabilities resulting from traumatic brain injuries.

Recent CDC Study findings demonstrate that the Brain Trauma Foundation’s Guidelines can not only save lives – but that they can save a great deal of money as well. Alan Quasha, in addition to his professional roles as President of Quadrant Management, Inc. and co-chairman of Carret Asset Management, serves as the chairman of the Brain Trauma Foundation.

Healthcare professional often have trouble assessing diagnostic and treatment options for traumatic brain injuries. In order to meet this need, the Brain Trauma Foundation created evidence-based Guidelines for healthcare professions. With these Guidelines, medical professionals can develop effective protocols to improve patient survival rates and outcomes.

One CDC Study has demonstrated that the BTF Guidelines could decrease deaths by 50% while improving quality of life and saving $288 million a year in medical and rehabilitation costs if these Guidelines were used more routinely.