Christian Retail and Nelson Ministry Direct Sales Teams Integrated
Under the Leadership of Gary Davidson

(Nashville, Tenn.) Thomas Nelson, Inc. announced today that they are joining their two Christian sales divisions under the leadership of Gary Davidson, Senior Vice President of Christian Retail Sales/Ministry Development Group. This move will join the Christian Retail Sales team and the Nelson Ministry and Direct Sales team, the group responsible for selling direct to churches and ministries.

“Over the past few years, we have struggled with how to maximize our impact with churches, ministries, and our Christian retail partners. Although these groups have a common mission and vision they were competing instead of collaborating,” said Michael S. Hyatt, President and CEO. “By aligning their efforts under Gary’s leadership, we hope to increase their productivity and profitability.”

With this move, the name of the ministry arm of the sales division will be change from Nelson Ministry and Nelson Direct to the Ministry Development Group. The new name of the group emphasizes their shift in focus from direct sales to aiding in the development of these ministries as they seek to impact the world with the word of God.

Davidson has over eighteen years of experience in Christian retail sales. He has worked for Thomas Nelson for eleven years, leading Thomas Nelson’s Christian Retail Sales team for the last six. Gary’s leadership team includes Tom Knight and Rick Shear in Christian Retail Sales and Beth Ryan, Randy Elliott, and Jack Countryman in Ministry Development.

“My team is excited about the opportunity to create synergies and partnerships between Christian retailers and their local churches and ministries, broaden the reach of Thomas Nelson products, and elevate the level of service to our key constituents,” added Davidson.

“Direct-to-church efforts have been a source of frustration for our retailers, as they’ve found themselves in the awkward position of competing with their own suppliers, adds Steve Potratz, owner and founder of The Parable Group. “Thomas Nelson has listened to our concerns and once again demonstrated leadership in the industry by taking the necessary steps to correct the situation. I look forward to the Ministry Development Group providing much-needed support from within the independent Christian retail channel to help our stores grow sales with local churches. This is a great move and we deeply appreciate Thomas Nelson’s support of Christian Retail in this way.”

Contact: Lindsey Nobles
Director of Corporate Communications
tel: (615) 902-1109
fax: (615) 902-1110
web: www.thomasnelson.com
e-mail: lnobles@thomasnelson.com

This entry was posted on Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 12:32 pm and is filed under Corporate Releases, Press Release, Promotions Announcements. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.