Staff Bios
Meet the AccuList USA® Team
President
David Kanter refers to himself as a list professional. He has over 25 years experience in Direct Marketing, the first seven years of which were on the client side; a bit unusual for a list broker.
David has conceived and implemented hundreds of successful direct marketing campaigns. His first direct mail package was developed when he was 18 years of age. At that time, David and his partner were operating a circuit of tabletop collectors shows throughout Southern California while he was attending Santa Monica College.
David graduated from Santa Monica College in 1976 and transferred to UCLA. David later graduated from UCLA with a double major in Political Science and History. He went to law school for two years. He resumed his activities in the show field and developed a national circuit of coin and stamp collector shows. David’s company was called Expos Unlimited. David also sold rare coins via direct mail and space ads operating as Numismatics Unlimited.
David shifted gears in 1983. He went back to his Alma Mater’s Career Placement Center, where he discovered a job listing for a position with a list broker and compiler in Marina Del Rey. David was hired immediately by Mike Wilson who marveled that David was the only person he had ever interviewed who was familiar with an SRDS (“the list bible”) and knew what a data card was. David worked full-time for Mike Wilson for approximately 2 and 1/2 years. His first catalog client was Valiant, a leading reseller of audio-visual equipment to businesses and institutions. He also managed circulation for National Education Media and Pyramid Films, both of whom were distributors and producers of educational films. David scaled back his coin and stamp show schedule to accommodate his growing list brokerage and circulation management responsibilities. Ultimately, he sold his circuit of shows to one of his customers.
After a failed attempt to buy out his boss, David left Mike Wilson in 1985 to start his own list company. Originally known as Kanter and Brown Direct Marketing, the company grew and in 1988, AccuList was born. Operating in Malibu for the next seven years, he counted Hewlett Packard, Multiple Zones, and First Interstate Bank among the company’s list of 300 clients. In 1992, after a year of negotiations, AccuList merged with the Alan Drey Company, who was then one of the nation’s largest list brokerage firms. David became Vice President of ADC Direct Marketing Services Inc where he reported to Pat Patten. While at ADC, David developed circulation plans for two fledgling catalogs: Magellan’s and Wine Country Gift Baskets. Both are now regarded as market leaders. When they started, they were mailing in the tens of thousands annually.
In January 1997, David left the Alan Drey Company and opened a new West Coast office for Statlistics in Ventura. David was responsible for managing their list brokerage division. After generating over a million dollars for Statlistics in less than one year, David was urged by his friends to reopen AccuList. In June of 1998, AccuList USA began offering list brokerage, list management, interactive advertising, and data mining services. Throughout all the changes, David maintained his connection with Magellan’s and Wine Country Gift Baskets, who both now confidently mail in 8 figure volumes annually, along with a dozen other small to medium sized business and consumer catalogers.
For over 20 years, David has worked with numerous copywriters, graphic designers, illustrators, typesetters, printers, letter shops, marketing consultants, and data processing houses. He has purchased millions of dollars in direct marketing services both on his own account as well as for his clients. His goal throughout his career has been to provide clients with the best product combined with the best service.
