MINNEAPOLIS—Carlson Marketing is continuing to deepen its leadership team with the hiring of Amy Harris, who led Citi’s Loyalty Marketing & ThankYou Rewards. She is the second notable industry leader hired by the Minneapolis-based loyalty management firm this year. The first was Peter DeNunzio, formerly president of the New York office of Draftfcb, who now is president of Customer Loyalty at Carlson Marketing, the U.S. arm of the global leader in loyalty management, Montreal-based Groupe Aeroplan.
“To take charge of our Financial Institutions practice, I was looking for a leader with demonstrated client-side experience in large-scale, multi-channel loyalty programs in the banking sector,” said DeNunzio. “Amy’s background is ideally suited to the needs of our expanding client roster. She has experience in customer-centered program strategy, business development, marketing, branding and deep roots in loyalty program execution.”
For the last seven of her 23 years with Citi, Harris managed key functions of Citi’s ThankYou Rewards Program and had been the managing director heading up the program since 2010. Serving over 11 million customers, ThankYou Points can be redeemed for travel, gift cards, merchandise and experiences. The program has pioneered many “firsts” in customer loyalty which Harris brought to market, including online variable travel from expedia.com, access to Amazon products and Sony music downloads. Most notably, Amy recently launched the “first-to-market” redemption mobile app whereby ThankYou members can redeem their points and pick up their rewards in any Best Buy store.
“I’m impressed with Groupe Aeroplan’s leadership in the loyalty industry and with their future plans,” said Harris. “I see this as an incredible opportunity to influence the design of loyalty programs across the industry.”
In addition to her work with ThankYou, in 2010 Harris drove the launch of the online deal site, Citi Specials, which offers exclusive shopping deals to drive engagement and loyalty.
Harris will start with Carlson Marketing September 26 as senior vice president and will report to DeNunzio.
About Carlson Marketing Worldwide
Carlson Marketing, the world’s leading relationship building company, designs and delivers loyalty programs for customers, employees and channel partners for some of the world’s best known brands across several vertical markets: Airline, Travel, Hospitality, Auto, Finance/Insurance, Retail, Consumer Packaged Goods, Pharmaceuticals and High Tech. Carlson Marketing’s two global service offerings – Customer Loyalty and Business Loyalty – are supported by six core capabilities: Strategy & Customer Planning; Decision Sciences; Creative, Interactive, Media & Mobile; Award Services; Technology Services & Operations; and Incentive & Event Management. Carlson Marketing – owned by Groupe Aeroplan, a global leader in loyalty management – employs more than 2,000 marketing professionals across 17 countries.