Stryker Buoncristiano Scholarship

Dr. Charles Stryker — “Charlie” — was a prominent entrepreneur in the data industry who died unexpectedly following an accident. His late career, through the company he founded, helped give rise to ad tech and mar tech startups and companies that help brands and organizations capitalize on “Big Data” and data-driven customer engagement across online and offline channels.

Dr. Stryker received a B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering and a Ph.D. in computer science in 1975 from New York University. Yet his dedication to advancing marketing practice, and professional development in our field, was lifelong.

He worked at AT&T within its Bell Labs unit, developing application of technology to address large-scale business marketing problems. His interest in complex statistics models led him to form Trinet in the mid70s, a Parsippany-based consulting firm providing data-driven analytics to large corporations.

Dr. Stryker was a president of InfoGroup, was on the faculty of the Wharton School, and served on many boards of both public and private information companies. In 2014, he was recognized as the Data Innovator of the Year by the direct marketing field and presented at a TED conference where he described the future of “Big Data.”

In 1996, Dr. Stryker founded Venture Development Center, LLC, where he served as chairman and chief executive officer. VDC is a preeminent advisory firm for the information services industry and the leading provider of data strategy, data monetization and custom data sourcing initiatives, supporting many of the major information services providers and representing over 120 other lesser known but highly valuable sources of unique and transformative data.

Michael Buoncristiano was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. He was a New Jersey resident for most of his life and spent the last 14 years of his life living in Hoboken, NJ with a view of the New York City skyline — the city he considered the greatest in the world. He was a Rutgers University Alumni with a degree in Economics and Business Administration and a U.S. Army veteran that specialized in foreign languages and spent several years overseas, including Germany and Hungary.

Michael was an industry leader in the field of Database Marketing in which he spent over 35 years. Buoncristiano spent much of his career at database services firm Wiland Services Inc. in Boulder, CO, Virginia, and New York as Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. He served on the board of directors of Wiland Services and catalog firm Concepts Direct in Boulder where he lived for 5 years in the early 1990s. Industry peers considered him “one of the pioneers of database marketing on the services side of the business.” He was surely one of the most innovative direct marketers serving clients in the Financial Services, Retail/Consumer Goods, Publishing and Fundraising arenas. His experience included the management of analytical services and the development and use of multivariate scoring systems to enable marketers to maximize sales and profits, spending over a quarter of a century perfecting database marketing from a technical standpoint. Mike joined Wiland as its first sales representative and went on to lead all marketing functions including strategic planning, product development, sales, advertising, client services and analytical systems. He opened Wiland offices all over the country. He and his nationwide sales staff built a huge clientele for Wiland. Later in his career, he launched his own business, Avanti! Direct Marketing, a database and information service company.

Very active in the Direct Marketing Industry, he was a member and officer of several industry trade groups including past President of the Direct Marketing Club of New York. Buoncristiano received the club’s Silver Apple Award in 1995 – which he considered a great honor. Educating others in the industry was a high priority for him. He was a frequent keynote speaker, published often, mentor to many and an active Board Member of the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation and active in their Collegiate Institute. He recollected entering the Direct Marketing industry accidentally but emphasized that given the opportunity, he would choose the same path. He remarked in accepting his Silver Apple Award that “we are in the people business and must focus our efforts on humanizing our everyday work-world with a ‘golden rule’ approach”.

Michael’s family includes four daughters, one of which is an executive in database marketing, five grandsons and two granddaughters. His other passions included baseball, travel, cooking and his family and friends.