1. 1
In praise of Charlotte Valentiner (previously Bech)
Originals available upon request
“…thanks to you for the absolutely superb job you have done on D&B MarketPlace.
You have taken an account, which frankly had all the potential to be a peanut, and
have turned it into an absolutely superb business in every way. Creatively, financially,
and apparently relationship-wise as well. I know a number of people have worked
closely with you on this business and contributed to it, but at the same token, I’m not
confused that any success really sooner or later comes down to one person really
owning the situation. In this case, that is clearly you. Thanks for a great job.”
- Brendan Ryan, Chairman and CEO, Foote, Cone & Belding. Personal letter to
Charlotte.
“In just under a year with the Agency, Charlotte has successfully managed several
difficult and highly successful client initiatives. She has managed these efforts while
forging strong relationships with the client at the same time as she ensured a high
quality product from the Agency.”
- Bob Lieber, CEO Lowe Direct. Memo to staff.
“Brendan (CEO and Chairman FCB), From nowhere to $800,000 in (fee) revenues!
Great work by FCB Direct. Tina and John (Managing Directors, FCB) tell me that
Charlotte Bech’s leadership has been outstanding.”
- Charlie Taney, President Foote, Cone & Belding. Handwritten note on CEO memo to
staff.
“During Charlotte’s tenure with the Agency, she has successfully managed some of our
most complicated programs, with a high degree of professionalism, extended effort
and high quality standards.”
- Bob Lieber, CEO Lowe Direct. Letter to Mary Koelle, Centralized Marketing Manager
Xerox.
“Dear Mr. Lieber, your agency has helped Xerox develop some of the most positive
customer collaterals to ever hit our field selling force. …. continues to receive excellent
comments from our National Account Managers, other sales representatives, and
many of the support personnel using these kits. … My sincere and special thanks go to
the creative minds of Charlotte Bech and Fred Walker (copywriter). Although we
appreciate the efforts of other individuals, the direct support I received from these

2. 2
two warrants special recognition. … Please thank Charlotte and Fred for working so
effectively on this project.”
- Jim Green, Customer Marketing Manager Xerox. Letter to Bob Lieber, CEO Lowe
Direct.
“This is to say “Thank You” for doing an outstanding job on the Government Direct
Mail program. From strategy to execution to day-to-day management, the program
was very well handled. What you may not realize is that this program represents the
first multi-product, multi-business unit program ever executed to this magnitude.
From our daily VMX status to the field communication and the back-end process we
broke some incredible new ground. Yet you never broke the spirit that it takes to
execute a program with excellence. I appreciate that very much.”
- Sheila Cosgarea, Centralized Marketing Manager Xerox. Letter to Lowe Direct staff.
“I have enjoyed our working relationship more than you know … you have enormous
potential and will succeed at anything you put your mind to. I also cannot thank you
enough for your support and dedication to my business over the past 18 months … you
have established a new benchmark!!! I know that I am a tough client. I was trained on
a very strict quality standard.”
- Sheila Cosgarea, Centralized Marketing Manager Xerox. Personal letter to Charlotte.
“Charlotte Bech has been made Vice President, and assumes the title of Vice President,
Account Supervisor. Charlotte’s extraordinary initiative and outstanding commitment
to our business and clients has made her an obvious choice for this promotion.
Congratulations to Charlotte for a job done, well beyond well done.”
- Bob Lieber, CEO Lowe Direct. Memo to staff.
“Here is a new Vice President in Account Management: Charlotte joined the Agency to
work on the AT&T Global Information Solutions account, now back to its original name,
NCR. Originally hired as an Account Director, she was promoted to Management
Director nine months later. Currently she is developing a highly successful new
business model for Dunn & Bradstreet’s MarketPlace software, which actually uses the
client’s own software product to create cutting-edge database marketing programs.
Charlotte has been the leader in growing this D&B business from almost nothing to a
large and profitable account. (Charlotte, it was a real pleasure writing up your VP title.
You’ve really earned it! Congratulations.)
- Charlie Taney, President Foote, Cone & Belding. Memo to staff.

3. 3
“Charlotte, I love revenue as much as the next guy, but the part I love about your
leadership on D&B MarketPlace is your creative ownership and leadership.”
- Tina Cohoe, Managing Director FCB Direct. Handwritten note on CEO memo to staff.
“Charlotte brings an enormously important talent to FCB Direct – the ability to develop
comprehensive and sophisticated database marketing programs from strategy through
to execution. … Charlotte has forged a very strong partnership with her key clients, the
VP of Marketing and his direct reports. They trust her talents and judgment explicitly.
As a result, they consider FCB Direct’s work to be a very important part of their
company’s success. … Charlotte has the respect of the key groups she works with here
at the agency. Everyone speaks very highly of her capabilities and management. One
consequence of her leadership is that FCB Direct is producing great work and those
involved are extremely proud of it. … Charlotte’s tight controls and no nonsense
approach to cost management have resulted in consistently profitable projects and
programs. Her accuracy in budget development is a contributing factor to her high
credibility with the client. … For all of her outstanding work Charlotte was promoted to
Management Director in January of this year. … Overall performance evaluation:
Outstanding – consistently delivers a high quality performance against key
expectations and consistently adds value beyond expectations.”
- John Penberthy, Managing Director FCB Direct, Senior Management Performance
Evaluation.
“Charlotte has demonstrated her considerable planning and management abilities in
the development of a number of programs. She takes a very broad view, and thinks
through all elements of a program, from database needs to marketing communications
architecture to results analysis. She is a very severe and perceptive judge of creative
and brings a disciplined approach to the development process. … She gets high marks
because she is willing to push for high standards of production and to make clients
understand what it takes to make those standards a reality. … Overall performance
evaluation: Outstanding – consistently delivers a high quality performance against key
expectations and consistently adds value beyond expectations.”
- Michael Mesic, Group Account Director FCB Direct, Senior Management Performance
Evaluation.