Julie Sue Auslander
While we live in a society where titles often dictate our persona, cSubs president Julie Sue Auslander chooses to step away from that traditional title, and instead prefers to be known as Chief Cultural Officer or Corporate Evangelist. Either title creates a picture of a dynamic professional who committed herself to a process of insight and discovery -- a process that shaped her role as a leader of a successful woman-owned business and, in effect, caretaker of an 18 person corporation.
With a career that began as a teacher and evolved to Assistant Principal, Julie Auslander trod slowly into corporate America without the slightest notion her "baby" would materialize as one of the fastest-growing companies in the United States, with its #1,050 ranking in the Inc 5000, and be selected a "Top 50 Women Owned Business" in New Jersey. Stemming from a personal need to manage her own magazine subscriptions and those of friends, Julie Auslander cautiously began building and nurturing a concept that grew organically from its inception at the kitchen table, dynamically formulated according to emerging client needs and industry preferences.
The budding business began with Julie knocking on doors, mailing flyers, making cold calls with unbridled tenacity, and a desire to shape a business that would allow her to be her authentic self, provide for her family financially and ensure her employees worked in an environment that delivered something far more than a "job." As in all start-ups, there were challenges at every turn, from money to medical coverage, yet she persevered, creating a platform for a business that would never be cookie cutter, never compromise its ethos of "doing well by doing good."
With a little luck and a guiding hand from a supportive purchasing agent, Auslander opened her first big corporate account in 1986. The company grew steadily, managing subscription programs for corporate and professional subscribers, and negotiating successfully with publishers to reduce the amount of money her clients spent on books and periodicals by 15%-25%. Today, cSubs has grown into a nationally recognized company serving Fortune 500 clients with the presence of clear purpose, the bond of real fraternity, and the celebration of individual empowerment.
The company's core mantra is to bring value to its clients in the form of unprecedented service. Auslander developed a customer-centric ecosystem, listening to client needs with a careful ear, focusing on how she and her team can provide a collaborative and high-value service.
Recognizing empowerment as a vital element of the modern business environment, Julie Auslander created a culture that fosters total employee engagement -- believing that if given what they need to succeed, her employees would drive the customer experience. This same culture of participation and contribution shared with her employees is shared among cSubs clients.
Auslander is committed to her own principles of ethics and interest in the well being of others, treating her employees as though they were each valued clients; acknowledging them as sustainable resources. At a time when the phrase "corporate culture" barely existed, she created employment opportunities that would help balance work and life accordingly; offering progressive features like flex time to ensure members of the cSubs team would not miss a child's school play, basketball game or bedtime story. An abundance of unique benefits includes telecommuting and family vacation incentive programs, honoring Auslander's commitment to transforming each employee's office experience.
With the same vigor applied to her business, Auslander's passion for supporting and helping women is ongoing. Her desire to transform the landscape for women business owners is a constant in her life. She mentors women entrepreneurs, serving as a source of encouragement and guidance.
Julie Auslander has been named "2008 Enterprising Woman of the Year" and made the Women's enterprise list of 2008 top business enterprises in the U.S. She earned her MA and MEd from Columbia University and has a BS from Pace University in New York. On a more personal note, she practices yoga, plays golf, and enjoys cooking for a vegetarian family. While her business is attached to her heartstrings, Julie Auslander considers her responsibility as wife and Mother of two Waldorf School children her most gratifying role in life.
Prior to Corporate Subscriptions and cSubs, David Rifkin was a founder and Senior Vice President of LoJack of New York/New Jersey Corporation, responsible for marketing a stolen vehicle recovery system linked to Federal and State Police crime computers and patrol cars located throughout the metropolitan area.
Before working on the LoJack project. David served in developmental marketing and advertising capacities at Nynex Corporation, where he was directly involved in the nation's first launches of cellular service, and at Western Union Corporation, where he was responsible for promoting the company's largest and most prestigious telecommunications services.
David earned his MBA With Distinction from New York University's Leonard Stern School of Business, and his B.Sc. from Temple University in Philadelphia.
An active contributor to his community, he has served as a village trustee, zoning commissioner and deputy mayor, as baseball coach and president of his town's little league, and as a school board trustee.
David is an avid skier, a frequent (but alas, quite average) golfer, a certified (perhaps certifiable) diver, and a very mediocre bridge player. He strives to be better, though, in his roles as devoted husband and father of two college-age children.
At cSubs, Ken is the chief architect of the applications and services central to the business. He heads up the ongoing development of the cSubs service, integration projects with customer systems, and the firm's research and new product development efforts.
Prior to joining cSubs, Ken was President and CEO of Comvision, Inc., a New York City web development firm he co-founded in 1994. At Comvision, Ken oversaw the growth of the firm from a small multimedia developer, to a web design firm, to a full-service practice specializing in web applications that perform core business functions. Ken's specialties at Comvision were user experience design, and business process re-engineering with internet technologies -- problem solving with web applications.
Before Comvision, Ken was Director of Design and Marketing at L&A Direct, Inc., a Virginia creative direct marketing agency. At L&A, Ken had the opportunity to express both his creative and technical sides, doing everything from hand illustration to designing complex desktop publishing workflows for catalog production. Prior to L&A Direct, Ken worked as Graphics Technology Director at Conair Corporation of Stamford, Connecticut. At Conair, Ken managed the introduction of then-brand-new computerized design and desktop publishing technologies, helping bring automation and technology-driven efficiencies to one of the largest in-house creative departments on the East coast.
Ken holds a B.A. degree in English from Dartmouth College. His extracurricular activites over the years have included stints as an emergency medical technician, ski patroller, tennis pro, and divemaster. Ken is a martial arts student, currently training to test for a black belt in 2011. He plays golf on occasion, hitting the ball long distances in the wrong direction, usually into the water. Ken and his wife are the proud parents of two girls attending third and seventh grades in New York City.
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