Rosanio, Taeschler, Tesman, Dentino and Efchak
Enter New Jersey Advertising Hall of Fame

Three women and two men have be inducted into the New Jersey Advertising Hall of Fame at ceremonies emceed by Herb Barry at Mayfair Farms in West Orange. The new entrants are Linda Rosanio, co-founder and CEO of The Star Group, Cherry Hill; Debra Taeschler, founder, president and CEO of the Gráfica Group, Chester; Patricia Tesman, senior vice president of Gianettino & Meredith, Short Hills; Karl G. Dentino, founder of Dentino Marketing, Jersey City; and Edward J. Efchak, vice president – marketing for the North Jersey Media Group, Hackensack. They will be enrolled by Dr. Alan Oppenheim, dean of Montclair State University School of Business, the new home of the Advertising Hall of Fame, and Karen E. Dennis, assistant dean.

“The achievements of each of these eminent communications executives has significantly advanced the creative and economic values of the advertising industry in the Garden State,” said Ralph Gonzalez, chair of the New Jersey Advertising Hall nominating committee. “The committee members carefully weighed the contributions of the nominees in eight criteria — leadership, creativity, professional integrity, professional history, philanthropic, economic contributions, achievement
of national significance and personal activity — and all came through with flying colors,” he added.

Linda Rosanio
Extremely creative, personable and a high-profile role model, Ms. Rosanio started The Star Group at her kitchen table with several people and her credit card. Two decades later, the agency is one of the largest in the state, with widespread recognition and an impressive list of clients, including Margaritaville Shrimp, Comcast and Virtua Health, to name a few. Included among her honors is the 2004 Paradigm Award from the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, the top business citation bestowed on a female executive in the Philadelphia region. Ms. Rosanio is also the recipient of the Jane Bisbee Volunteer Award from the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Red Cross. The immediate past chair of the AAAA Philly Council, she serves on the boards of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Red Cross, the Pennsylvania Ballet and the Business Advisory Board of Rowan University’s School of Business. She is also on the board of the Garden State Discovery Museum Foundation.

Debra Taeschler
Since founding Gráfica in the basement of her home in 1986, Ms. Taeschler has been the driving force behind her company’s remarkable growth as one of the metro area’s leading full-service agencies. Under her leadership, Gráfica has become an agency of choice among many Fortune 500 companies’ leading organizations, including Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ, AT&T, Lucent Technologies, PSE&G, Novartis and the NJ Department of Law & Public Safety. A summa cum laude graduate from Rutgers University and holder of a post-graduate degree in Graphic Arts Management from New York University, Ms. Taeschler is the author of two publications on marketing and customer relationship management. She was named 2003 Distinguished Alumna of the Year by Rutgers University – Newark and serves on the boards of Rutgers – Newark Arts and Sciences Development Council and the NJ Chapter of Teach for America.

Patricia Tesman
Since joining Gianettino & Meredith in 1978, Ms. Tesman supervised such varied and prestigious accounts, such as Skanska, Garden State Art Center, New Jersey Devils, KIWI International Air Lines and Resorts International Hotel & Casino. She was also instrumental in the formation of the Metro Cable Marketing Co-op, a consortium of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut cable TV companies. In addition, Ms. Tesman directs the agency’s public relations activities, resulting in the introduction of a successful seminar workshop series and an employee communications program.

A Montclair State University alumnus, she is currently president of New Jersey Advertising Club and serves on the board of the Union County Chapter of the American Cancer Society, which honored her as the 1999 American Cancer Society Volunteer of the Year.

Karl G. Dentino
Mr. Dentino has headed Dentino Marketing (formerly Rosenfield/ Dentino), a leading independent direct-marketing agency based in New Jersey since 1987. In his 27-year career, he has directed successful direct-marketing programs for such clients as Avis, Chase, Citibank, MasterCard, Prudential, Caesar’s, Merrill-Lynch, Kraft, Procter & Gamble and Columbia Records. He was selected by the Direct Marketing Association as the 1989 Young Direct Marketer and as one of “200 Direct Marketing Luminaries” by Target Marketing. He was recently honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award by his alma mater, Rowan University.

A highly acclaimed teacher and lecturer, Mr. Dentino has been keynote speaker at conferences for the Direct Marketing Association, Bank Marketing Association, Australian Direct Marketing Association and New Zealand Direct Marketing Association, among others.

Edward J. Efchak
As vice president of marketing for the North Jersey Media Group, Mr. Efchak heads the company’s marketing, market research, public and media relations, customer relationship management and community relations for The Record, Herald News, and over 40 daily, weekly and specialty newspapers, in addition to its Internet operations. He is North American president of the International Newspaper Marketing Association (INMA) and a trustee for the National Council on Public Polls. He is past president of the Newspaper Research Council and past president and a director of the Newspaper Association of America’s (NAA) Research Federation. The NAA named him Award of Merit honoree in 1998. He is a graduate of Montclair State University, Northwestern University’s Kellogg/Medill Newspaper Management Center and Michigan University’s Institute of Survey Research.

The nominating committee members are Herb Barry of Titan Outdoor, Lewis Kraut of Prism Press, Suzanne Poor of Miller/Poor Associates, Michael Schumacher of The Newark Museum and Marvin Strauzer of Clear Channel Outdoor.

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