CognitiveDATA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Merkle Inc. and a recognized market leader in data quality and innovative marketing technology, announced the appointment of Kim Zandstra as the director of its Database Product Group. In this position, Zandstra will oversee the development, deployment and operational support of the company's newly introduced, integrated marketing solution, IntelliBASE, which is an affordable, yet functionally robust marketing platform for the catalog industry. Zandstra will work out of the CognitiveDATA's Chicago office.

Zandstra joins CognitiveDATA with more than 15 years of experience in implementing and supporting marketing database solutions for direct marketers. Prior to CognitiveDATA, Zandstra worked in various professional services roles at Protagnia, Doubleclick and Alterian. She is a Chicago native and a graduate of the University of Illinois.

Rod Ford, President and CEO, CognitiveDATA, said, "Our new product, IntelliBASE, generated over twenty committed installs in a short period of time, and we needed to hire an experienced marketing professional to oversee it deployment. Kim Zandstra is a strong hire for us and perfect to lead the new marketing role for CognitiveDATA. Kim's experience working with mid-market database solutions and meeting client needs will allow our new offering to increase market share successfully provide catalog marketers with previously unavailable interactive customer marketing platform capabilities."

Zandstra said, "After hearing Rod's vision of creating an affordable marketing solution for catalog marketers that included embedding interactive channels into a single integrated platform, I realized CognitiveDATA was a great fit for me. The company has no shortage of vision, talent and resources, and has a tremendous track record in successfully bringing new innovations to the market. I believe IntelliBASE will provide catalogers with capabilities they have needed, but previously could not afford. I enthusiastically look forward to rapidly growing the Database Product team and improving the results of our catalog customers."