GMDC Hires Tom Duffy as VP of Member Development
General merchandise (GM) and health, beauty and wellness (HBW) trade association Global Market Development Center (GMDC) has appointed Tom Duffy its VP of member development. In his new role, Duffy will focus primarily on expanding the association’s reach within the retail and consumer product industry to create a comprehensive global network of those in the health, beauty, wellness and general merchandise value chain.
Before joining GMDC, Duffy’s most recent role was EVP of industry affairs at Acosta, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based sales and marketing agency in the consumer packaged goods industry, where, as a member of the executive leadership team, he oversaw marketing, communications and industry affairs initiatives.
Earlier, Duffy was VP of industry services at global information and measurement company Nielsen, where he was responsible for development of client, partner and industry relations, trade strategy and thought leadership development.
From 2004 to 2007, Duffy was director of business and industry partnership of Nielsen division TDLinx, the universally accepted store, outlet and account coding structure and premier source of retail/on-premise channel information. He was also director of marketing for FulTilt Solutions, a commercial software development company, and VP of marketing and administration for UCCnet, a tech startup.
Duffy has been heavily involved in GMDC over the years, however, serving as co-chair of the association’s education leadership council, in which capacity he was the architect of GMDC's exclusive GM hierarchy benchmarking initiative, a partnership with Nielsen and Retail Insights that rolled out in 2012 to give members the first standardized and detailed look into the $202 billion GM industry. The platform encompasses 18 major categories, among them apparel, baby, candy and housewares, with hundreds of subcategories. The Nielsen-coded data, reported from thousands of stores across North America, can be filtered by various channels for comparison, and include 20 million-plus SKUs. An interactive dashboard version of the tool launched earlier this year.
“Tom is a visionary in the industry and has served as a valued member of GMDC, helping chart the future for our association through leading-edge initiatives like our Nielsen hierarchy platform that spotlights tomorrow’s trends today,” noted Patrick Spear, president and CEO of Colorado Springs, Colo.-based GMDC. “He has a proven track record of cultivating relationships and creating innovative ‘go-to-market’ strategies that drive market share and brand loyalty with key audiences, influencers and industry communities. We are thrilled to have Tom on our team of thought leaders.”
“It’s a privilege to join GMDC,” said Duffy, who has been active in speaking, and has written numerous columns and white papers throughout his career. “The association has a rich legacy of driving tremendous value for members and partners for nearly 50 years, and I am excited to join this extremely professional, creative and talented team. I am eager to help leverage GMDC’s vision for future growth and expansion on behalf of our member community.”
GMDC serves more than 600 GM and HBW retailers, wholesalers, suppliers and service/solution member companies.