Management Team

John Lawler
Chief Executive Officer

John Lawler is a co-owner and Chief Executive Officer of Buyers Laboratory. John has 25 years executive experience with a track record of product innovation and M&A led growth in the global information services industry. Early in his career, John led businesses and growth initiatives for Dun & Bradstreet in North America, Europe and Asia. He is conversant in Japanese. John then became CEO of Martindale-Hubbell, leading the rapid growth and digital transformation of that $250 million business, primarily through product innovation and sales and marketing expansion. John has been involved in numerous acquisitions over the course of his career, and led the creation of a new division for LexisNexis, building a $425 million business unit through M&A and organic growth initiatives around content, software and services. Additionally, as CEO, he led growth and transformation for two middle market companies, Triumph Learning and Scantron. John earned a B.A. from Williams College and an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia.

Patti Clyne
Vice President of Sales

Patti Clyne is Vice President of Sales for Buyers Laboratory. Patti joined BLI in 2004 with over 15 years of experience achieving top line growth in managing sales, marketing and customer support operations. Prior to Buyers Laboratory, Patti spent 7 years with Thomson Financial Services and most recently was the National Director of Sales managing a $13 million dollar circulation sales division. An earlier role at TF was as Director of Inside Sales for the Thomson Financial Services Database Group selling software subscriptions, newsletters and online products. Previous to Thomson, Patti spent 10 years at McGraw Hill Publications Company managing classified, special sections and advertising programs for various trade magazines. During that time, she designed and implemented a unique sales strategy that broadened the advertiser base and increased market share by integrating inside and outside sales activities. Patti earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing from Hofstra University.

John Donnelly
Managing Director, BLI International

John Donnelly is Managing Director of BLI International Ltd. the international division of Buyers Laboratory. John joined BLI with over 15 years of experience in the information publishing and financial industries. John has been based in Asia for over 16 years with over 15 years in Hong Kong. For 12 years, he was a manager of various businesses for Thomson Financial (TF) Asia, part of the The Thomson Corporation, a NYSE listed global provider of integrated information solutions to business and professional customers. His most recent role at TF was as Regional Managing Director of Asia, responsible for management of a diverse portfolio of businesses and products directed at the Corporate Finance, Investment Management, Broking and Corporate marketplaces. In his roles John was responsible for regional operations across Asia including offices in nine Asian cities. Prior to joining Thomson Financial, John worked in financial and consulting positions in London, Philadelphia, Hong Kong and Tokyo. John earned a Bachelor of Arts in History at the University of Pennsylvania.

Joe Douress
Chief Marketing & Product Officer

Joe Douress is Chief Marketing & Product Officer for Buyers Lab, where he is responsible for all activities, programs, and results in the areas of marketing and product innovation. Prior to joining Buyers Lab in March 2013, he held senior roles with Dun & Bradstreet, LexisNexis, Elsevier Health Sciences and Sightlines LLC. With a unique ability to translate vision into execution, Joe has proven success in developing and launching new products, increasing revenues and market share and maximizing operating profits. At Elsevier, Joe executed a strategic marketing program that transformed revenues in the global hospital sector, driven by 30% digital growth. At LexisNexis, he crafted the strategy and execution plan that propelled lawyers.com to the #1 legal search site on the web. He also conceived and developed corporateaffiliations.com, boardcertifieddocs.com and redbooks.com. At Dun & Bradstreet, Joe increased the international credit customer base by 70% and crafted the business plan and led the technical implementation to migrate D&B’s business reference directory business from mainframe to desktop publishing in the early 90’s. Joe has co-authored best-selling global marketing books published by Prentice Hall and is founder of a charity that has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to benefit seriously ill children. He earned a BA with honors from William Paterson University and attended graduate school at Rider University.

Daria Hoffman
Managing Editor

Daria Hoffman has been covering the office products industry for Buyers Laboratory for 22 years. She has served as managing editor for the last 12 years, editing test reports, writing product evaluations and researching and writing special reports and buyer's guides. Currently, she is the editor of BLI's Laboratory Test Reports and Digital Imaging Review newsletter and she previously served as editor of BLI's Business Consumer's Advisor newsletter. She holds a B.A. in Communications with a concentration in Journalism from William Paterson University and her background before Buyers Laboratory was in military and community journalism.

Anthony Marchesini
IT Director

Anthony Marchesini joined Buyers Laboratory as its IT Director in April 2004. He is responsible for the development and delivery of BLI's PC and Internet based software services. He is also responsible for BLI's corporate IT infrastructure. Prior to joining BLI, Mr. Marchesini was Vice President of Software Development and General Partner of Paceart in Fairfield, NJ, which he helped to establish in 1986. Paceart was subsequently acquired by Medtronic in 2002. During his tenure with Paceart and Medtronic, Mr. Marchesini led the development of patented, industry-leading software solutions for cardiology patient management. Mr. Marchesini holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Seton Hall University in South Orange, NJ.

Anthony Polifrone
Managing Director

A Buyers Lab veteran of more than 30 years who helped to establish many of the key information resources and services BLI offers today, Tony Polifrone has managed the day-to-day operations of the business in increasingly responsible positions for the past 20 years. Prior to his current position as Managing Director, he served as President for 12 years and prior to that he held the positions of Vice-president and Managing Editor. A graduate of Rutgers University with a double major in English and botany, he started his career at BLI covering the office products industry, editing test reports, compiling databases, and writing and editing BLI's Copier Review and Typeline newsletters.

Michael Danziger
Senior Advisor

Michael joined BLI with over 25 years of experience as a senior executive in the information publishing industry. He was CEO of Thomson Financial's Database Group, an electronic and print publishing business with close to $600 million in revenues. He joined Thomson Financial when they jointly acquired Securities Data Company from Capital Cities Communications. Michael was a founding principal in two startup publishing businesses, Rand Communications (which, among other things, acquired Chemical Week Magazine) and IDD Information Services, was an investor in a group that acquired Progressive Grocer Magazine, and serves on the board of Information Holdings (NYSE:IHI), Institutional Shareholder Services and SNL Securities. Between Thomson and on his own behalf, he has been involved in close to 40 acquisitions and divestitures of information businesses. Michael earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mark Lerch
Senior Advisor

Mark joined BLI with over 20 years of experience as a senior executive in the information publishing industry. For 15 years, he was President and CEO of various businesses for Thomson Financial (TF), part of the The Thomson Corporation, a NYSE listed $8 billion global provider of integrated information solutions to business and professional customers. His most recent role at TF was as President and CEO of their Investment Banking Group, responsible for overall management of a diverse $350 million revenue portfolio of businesses and products directed at the Corporate Finance/Advisory and Private Equity marketplaces. Earlier roles at TF included President and CEO of Thomson Market Information Services and President of Securities Data Company. Prior to joining Thomson Financial, Mark was a founding principal in two startup publishing businesses, Rand Communications and IDD Information Services. Mark earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.