River Direct Team
Backed by a heavily experienced team, our staff has over 30 years of experience advertising direct-to-consumer, both online and offline.
John Cabrinha
Co-Founder
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John has enjoyed a successful career in the direct marketing industry for over 37 years. He met his business partner, Dan Danielson, at SyberVision in 1987 where John was a Media Buyer and Planning Strategist. In 1990, John and Dan formed the highly successful Direct Ventures Marketing and shortly after, merged with Mercury Media, a mid-sized media buying agency, in 1991 under the Mercury Media banner. Mercury Media billed $15 million in media in 1991 and reached billings of $200 million when it was sold to an equity partner in 2006. John and Dan later formed River Direct, taking their years of experience and skills in direct response, direct to consumer marketing, and media buying to form a company based on the “convergence of media”: TV, Streaming TV (Connected TV/OTT), Radio, and Digital Media Advertising.
John was recognized as one of the 25 most influential people in the industry by Response Magazine, a leading industry publication. From 1996-1999 John served as a member of The Board of Directors for ERA. He held various positions including a member of the Executive Committee and the Ethics Committee. In 2016, he was inducted into the Direct Response Hall of Fame.
Dan Danielson
Co-Founder
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Co-founder of River Direct in Los Angeles, Dan is a 30+ year direct response veteran. He got his start in the industry in 1986, while working at SyberVision Systems Inc. There, he helped pioneer many direct response advertising principles to sell products and launched a string of successful direct to consumer marketing campaigns and strategies.
Dan has received many honors over his career, among them being named one of the 25 most influential people in the industry by Response Magazine. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Electronic Retailing Association (ERA) as treasurer and Chairman of the Board. Dan was inducted into the Direct Response Hall of Fame in 2016 and received The Lifetime Achievement Award from ERA in the same year.
Eric Elliott
President
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Eric brings more than 17 years of experience in direct-to-consumer marketing with a background in media operations, account management, media buying, and planning. Over his career, Eric has launched and managed hundreds of successful direct-to-consumer campaigns, many of those becoming household brands. Eric has extensive knowledge in TV media buying and led River Direct’s team of media buyers and planners in his prior role as VP of Media. As President, Eric leads the highly experienced executive team with meticulous attention to detail and strategy. One of his many goals is continuously growing one of River Direct’s core strengths, client ROI.
Julie Del Carmen
Director of Long-Form Media
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With over 30 years of experience in the direct response field, Julie del Carmen has managed and negotiated effective and profitable broadcast advertising for numerous national cable networks and broadcast markets. A graduate of the University of California Santa Barbara, Julie’s impeccable track record as a media buyer is the result of her casual but effective communication skills coupled with years of valuable market insight. This has helped her forge long-lasting and meaningful relationships with various media representatives who have come to know Julie as a consummate professional who delivers impactful results.
Bernadette Abasta
Chief Strategy Officer
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A veteran in the Direct-to-Consumer space, with professional experience from both the brand and agency side, Bernie’s 30-year experience enables her to have a unique 360-degree perspective on a client’s business. Prior to coming on board to River Direct, Bernie led Media Strategy and Client Services and was instrumental in growing her previous agency’s growth by 250% year-over-year in 2020. Cross-channel proficient, Bernie is responsible for helping River Direct stay at the forefront of linear and CTV media buying, strategy, and analytics.
Ramin Adnani
VP, Media Operations
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As VP of Media Operations, Ramin manages the day-to-day data flow and media traffic with his team. Before joining River Direct, Ramin served as the VP of Client Services at CallSource (one of the largest call-tracking companies in the United States), where he supervised Account Management and Customer Care departments. Ramin worked at Ronco, Inc. for Mr. Ron Popeil, the inventor of the infomercial industry, and worked for Sylmark/ILM. Ramin oversees the entire River Direct media operations team.
Monica Lenti
SVP, Streaming & Performance Marketing
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With more than 25 years’ experience on both the agency and client side, Monica has managed omnichannel campaign planning, activation and stewardship for over 25 brands in the TV and digital CTV/OTT streaming space. She has been integral in launching direct response divisions within agencies as well as negotiating sponsorships, integrations, and digital streaming across various clients. Monica has strategically and tactically bought and managed the advertising for clients like Johnson & Johnson, a $330-million-dollar Sprint account, Schering-Plough (Dr. Scholl’s and Pedicure Essentials), Hewlett Packard, Novartis, Care First of Maryland, Blue Cross Blue Shield of California, John Deere, Nerdwallet, Away Travel, Home Chef, Warby Parker, Zola, Lola, OnDeck, Fabletics, Tonal, MVMT watches and many other brands.