May 12, 2004, Trevose, PA – The Association of Independent Information Professionals, one of the world’s leading information professional groups, has named ASI President Timothy M. Andrews as the recipient of its prestigious 2004 Roger Summit Award.
The award is named for the founder of Dialog, which was the world’s first online business information service. AIIP presented the award last week at the group’s annual conference in Austin, TX, which also included a keynote address by Andrews.
“AIIP’s Roger A. Summit Lecture Award recipient is hand selected from among leaders in the information industry,” says Cindy Shamel, president of AIIP. “We always seek an individual who will inspire and challenge our members. We are particularly excited this year to have Tim as our Award recipient.”
“Tim has been immersed in the information industry since its earliest days. He is an industry luminary who has played a significant role in shaping the evolution of this dynamic industry,” Shamel continues. “Our members have long had great admiration for his innovative thinking.”
Among information professionals, Andrews is best known as founding president and chief executive of Factiva, a Dow Jones and Reuters joint venture for online news and business information that had revenue of $225 million at launch, 800 employees in 30 countries and customers in 40 countries.
Andrews spent 16 years at Dow Jones & Co. where he launched the first real-time news alerting products in the industry and introduced a Web-based version of Dow Jones Interactive long before other companies had recognized the importance of the Web. He also developed and launched Personal Journal, later incorporated into The Wall Street Journal Online.
Andrews brought his foresight and innovative spirit to the position he assumed in 2003 as President of Advertising Specialty Institute. “I’m proud of my accomplishments while at Dow Jones and Factiva,” Andrews said, “and especially pleased to be able to bring that background to ASI and its products and services.”
Since he joined ASI as president, the company launched ESP Online, the most reliable, comprehensive and popular marketing and research tool in the industry, and expanded its web hosting and storefront development tools for distributors and suppliers. ASI hosts more than 5,000 sites for its 20,000+ members. The company has also centralized its customer service function and appointed its first Vice President of Customer Service.
Prior to this, Andrews spent three years as CEO of Primedia Business Magazines and Media, where he was responsible for leading business, editorial and product strategy for the company’s 80 business magazines, 100 websites, 20+ trade shows and exhibitions and its group of 450 books and directories.
Advertising Specialty Institute is the largest media organization serving the promotional products industry, with a membership of 20,000 distributors (sellers) and suppliers (manufacturers) of promotional products. Suppliers use ASI print and electronic resources to promote their products to more than 17,000 ASI distributors. Distributors use ASI print and electronic resources, which contain more than 650,000 promotional products, to locate supplier products and to promote their services to buyers of promotional products. ASI was founded in 1950 and employs a staff of 500. The company offers catalogs, informational directories, newsletters, magazines, Web sites and databases, and provides a variety of interactive business, marketing and selling tools.