Since being named President of Interep’s Marketing Group in 2001, the division has generated more than $120 million in new business for radio from clients including Pontiac Vibe, Retin A, Crest White Strips and scores of others. Under Debbie’s guidance, The Marketing Group serves as a solutions team for advertisers by thoroughly understanding their business needs and helping to address them.

“I don’t want ‘radio sales people,’” Debbie says, preferring instead to hire those with brand marketing and related types of experience, a consultative approach that has long been Debbie’s trademark.

Debbie’s achievements also have been recognized outside the halls of Interep. In 2001, she was accepted into the prestigious Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), Fairchester (Fairfield and Westchester) Chapter. YPO only accepts people who are presidents of companies or divisions with 50 or more employees or more than $1 million in total compensation for all employees; at least $8 million in gross annual sales; and an enterprise value of at least $10 million. Debbie, it should be noted, is the YPO chapter’s only female member.

Debbie began her radio career in 1980 at the Radio Advertising Bureau, where she directed the member service department. In 1985, she joined Interep as an Account Executive, was a part of starting a new company, Durpetti & Associates. In 1993, she became one of the first employees at a new Interep division called Radio 20:20, designed to help advertisers reach their markets through the strategic and creative use of radio and the Internet. She later opened the Boston office of Radio 20:20, where she personally developed more than $30 million in new business. She returned to New York in 2001 as President of Radio 20:20, now known as the Interep Marketing Group. Debbie is a six-time winner of Interep's prestigious Chairman’s Circle Award, presented each year to employees whose performance is deemed exemplary by a panel of judges.

Debbie takes pride in serving as a role model for other women at Interep. Two-thirds of her staff are female!

“When I started out in this business and attended my first conference, I didn’t see any other women,” Debbie recalls. “There were no role models for young women like myself, so now I am very aware that perhaps my success can be an inspiration for other women, and I try as well to help other women with their careers.”

Helping people with their careers is something with which Debbie has had considerable experience. She runs Interep’s Radio Marketing Associate training program and has run several training programs at ad agencies. As head of the Boston Ad Club’s programming committee for five years, Debbie ran the organization’s Diversity Day and Multi-Cultural Day programs. On her own time, she ran a Working Woman’s Group and a Women’s Investment Club.

“I can’t think of an industry I would rather be in,” Debbie said. “I have loved radio since I started listening to music as a young girl, and my entire career has been about marketing radio. It’s still an underutilized medium, so we have more challenges ahead in growing our share of the advertising pie. I relish the opportunity to do just that.”