Joseph Segel

Joseph Segel (1931—) is the founder of over 20 American companies, most notably QVC, an American television network, and the Franklin Mint, a producer of mail-order collectibles. He has been honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Electronic Retailing Association [cite news | publisher = Business Wire |date=October 17, 2002 | title = 2002 Electronic Retailing Association Awards Honor Best & Brightest in DRTV, Electronic Retailing, Advertising and Sales; The FIRM Exercise Videos Win Infomercial of the Year | url= http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2002_Oct_17/ai_92939510 | accessdate= 2007-10-10] and an honorary doctorate from Drexel University. [Drexel University, [http://www.drexel.edu/univrel/commencement/degree_recipients.asp#1999 Honorary Degree Recipients] ]

Early life

At the age of 13, he started a successful printing business. At 16, he entered the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In 1951 he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics. As a graduate student, he taught introductory marketing classes while running the "Advertising Specialties Institute", his first significant business. A first in the industry,Fact|date=October 2007 it published a centralized directory of promotional materials and their suppliers, the Advertising Specialty Register.

In 1964, Segel took note of two concurrent events – the passing of General Douglas MacArthur and people lining up at banks to buy up the last U.S. silver dollars. In response, he founded the National Commemorative Society, which introduced a monthly series of limited edition, sterling silver commemorative coin-like medals honoring events and heroes in American history, starting with a medal commemorating General Douglas MacArthur. Later that year, dissatisfied with the quality of the coin-medals produced by a subcontractor, he recruited Gilroy Roberts, then Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint, to join him in starting the General Numismatics Corporation. GNC became the Franklin Mint in 1965, shortly after going public. The Franklin Mint quickly expanded to produce not only coin-like medals and casino tokens, but other collectibles, including car models, luxury board-game editions, and porcelain dolls.

Segel retired as chairman of Franklin Mint Corporation in 1973.

National Software Testing Laboratories

Segel founded the National Software Testing Laboratories in 1983. Harvard Business School, "20th Century American Leaders Database" [http://www.hbs.edu/leadership/database/leaders/808/ Joseph M. Segel] ] NSTL was subsequently acquired by McGraw-Hill and is now privately owned.

Public service

In 1971, Segel was elected chairman of the Board of Governors of the United Nations Association of the USA. Two years later, President Gerald Ford appointed him as a member of the U.S. Delegation to that year’s United Nations General Assembly, where he served under Henry Kissinger. He also organized a national campaign of the Advertising Council to improve public understanding of the United Nations, chaired a national conference on the United Nations for the American Society of Newspapers Editors and testified in support of the United Nations before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In 1986 he would write to The New York Times in defense of Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim's recently-discovered service as a Wehrmacht intelligence officer during WWII. [Segel, Joseph. [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50717F7345D0C718DDDAA0894DE484D81 Nazi Charge Against Waldheim Is Unjust] . March 12 1986.]

QVC

In 1986, Segel decided to start QVC ("Quality Value Convenience") after watching a videotape of the Home Shopping Network. Immediately, he identified many potential improvements, from the items offered for sale to their presentation. To lend credibility to the new company, QVC made a two year deal to sell Sears products. Fifty-eight cable systems in twenty states signed on for the 7:30pm to 12:00 midnight broadcast.Fact|date=October 2007 He raised over $20 million in capital and launched on November 24, with an audience of 7.6 million TV homes for the November 24 launch. He reached this wide audience by offering cable companies stocks for as little as 20¢ a share. Publicly offered at $10, QVC stock closed its first trading day at $20 per share.

Segel demanded that the presenters sell by informing, not pressuring the viewers about the product. This meant that presenters would have to study each product, explain the many benefits of the product, and know the products sales history in order to make the sell more informative and entertaining. He forbid the hard sell and, unlike the Home Shopping Network, established that customers could purchase at any time, with no last minute price cuts, and no high pressure tactics. QVC emerged as HSN's only serious competitor, out of hundreds of copycats. Today QVC employs a total of over 10,000 people, and does around $7 billion in business annually, making it the second largest American television network.

Joseph Segel retired from QVC in 1993.

Businesses started

# 1947 - Eastern Advertising Co., Inc. -- advertising specialties.
# 1949 - Desk-Sign Manufacturing Co., Inc. -- personalized desk signs.
# 1950 - Magicard Co., Inc. -- promotional mailing pieces.
# 1950 - The Advertising Specialty Institute, Inc. -- central informationservice.
# 1953 - Colorcrafters, Inc. -- pioneer in full-color printing.
# 1954 - Selective Gift Institute, Inc. -- business gift selection service.
# 1960 - National Business Services, Inc. -- consolidation of last 3 businesses.
# 1961 - Gem Publishing Co., Inc. – books featuring humorous sayings.
# 1962 - Jordan-Edwards Co., Inc. -- pocket appointment and record books.
# 1964 - National Commemorative Society, Inc. -- producer of commemorative medals.
# 1964 - The Franklin Mint (initially called General Numismatics Corporation).
# 1965 - Britannia Commemorative Society, Inc. -- producer of commemorative medals.
# 1970 - Le Mirador, S.A. -- Swiss resort hotel, spa and conference center.
# 1975 - Presidential Airways, Inc. -- private jet and helicopter charter service.
# 1980 - RateSearch Corporation -- computerized air freight rate analysis service.
# 1981 - PermaColor Corporation -- systems to preserve color photos.
# 1983 - Software Digest, Inc. -- PC software rating reports.
# 1983 - National Software Testing Laboratories, Inc. -- PC software testing.
# 1986 - QVC Network, Inc. – televised home shopping.
# 1997 - International Skincare Research, Inc. – Le Mirador skincare products for QVC.
# 1997 - SmokeStoppers, Inc. – smoking cessation programs
# 1997 - HealthLift.com – interactive health enhancement system.

References

External links

*Budd Margolis, [http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/budd_margolis/hsHistry.htm Home Shopping History: HSN & QVC]
* [http://home.comcast.net/~jsegel/BIOGRAPHY_Joseph_M_Segel.html Biography of Joseph M. Segel] (an autobiography)