Erin McCarthy

Owner, BelleauWood Farms Alpacas

Active as an alpaca owner and breeder since 1996, Erin has developed an exceptional herd of alpacas and a thriving business.  She started BelleauWood Farms Alpacas on a shoestring budget using financing to purchase two female alpacas.  With the help of her family, she has built the farm to a thriving and growing herd of top quality animals.  In the summer of 2002, she launched a new endeavor with the opening of Luxury Wool, an expansion into the retail sales of alpaca garments and products.  Erin manages the herd health, sales and advertising, website design and maintenance, and strategic planning and development.

During her many years in the industry, Erin has actively volunteered her time, energy and money to the growth of the alpaca industry.  Due in part to Erin’s leadership of the national marketing programs, the  the Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association has increased membership 30% in the past 12 months.  AOBA marketing continues to leverage a relatively small marketing budget to receive significant airtime on national dish and direct TV with commercials and coverage on CNN, Larry King Live, Discovery, Animal Planet, A&E, History Channel as well as magazine coverage in Smithsonian, National Geographic, Martha Stewart Living, Country Home, Better Home and Gardens, Spin Off and much more.  In 2003, AOBA marketing has also successfully launched an aggressive public relations program with the goal of making alpacas a household word and making American alpaca products a much sought after luxury band.  The AOBA website www.alpacainfo.com has over 200,000 visitors annually that generate over 30,000 inquires and over 1,000 new breeders a year.  AOBA is also now getting daily press coverage in newspapers and TV programs around the country.

A volunteer at the national, regional, and local levels with alpaca marketing and education, Erin has organized multi-farm tours, educational seminars, industry research, and taught hundreds of prospects and new breeders about the advantages of alpaca ownership.  She has taught seminars on marketing and breeding strategies.  A statistician by profession and geneticist by hobby, Erin has spent hundreds of hours researching bloodlines and color genetics.  While raising show rabbits, she was able to quickly go from a new breeder to one of the top ten in the country and developed a 3^rd to 4^th generation down grand champion herd of her own stock.  She uses this knowledge to develop her alpaca herd and offer consulting services to her customers.  Erin uses her MBA and financial services background to help customers develop customized business plans for their own farms.  Erin has several alpaca partnerships, active and passive investors, and regularly consults with breeders on herd development.  She also takes on an occasional customer for web development and marketing strategy services as time permits.

Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association (AOBA) Member –

• AOBA Member since 1998.
• AOBA Board of Directors – 2003-2006.
• AOBA Vice President – 2005/2006.
• AOBA Marketing Committee (2001 – 2006) Responsible for advertising, public relations, direct response, media tracking, market research, online strategy and website development, and plays a key role in industry strategic planning.  During the two years Erin has served on the committee, membership in AOBA has almost doubled.
• AOBA Marketing Committee Chairperson (2002 – 2006) Lead efforts of AOBA marketing.  Managed a team of 14 volunteers, an advertising and public relations firm, and an award winning editorial team.
• AOBA 2002 & 2003 Annual Surveys – Designs, administers, analyzes and communicates the state of the industry and organization with the AOBA Annual Membership Tracking Surveys.
• Alpacainfo.com Web Design Task Force – Co-lead on the development of the 2002/2003 Alpacainfo AOBA website.
• AOBA Fiber Task Force – Marketing advisor for launching the inaugural Fiber to Fashion AOBA Winter Nationals targeting fashion, textile, and art design students & alpaca fashion industry experts in Las Vegas, NV.
• AOBA Marketing Education - Erin teaches marketing seminars at the AOBA conventions.  She is available to teach seminars at shows and farm events.

Alpaca Registry, Inc.

• ARI Dataprocessing / IT Committee 2006 – Restructuring the ARI Database and Online Registration system.

Carolina Alpaca Breeders CABO

• CABO BOD 2005-2006 – Working on launching the 2007 Carolina Alpaca Celebration CABO AOBA certified show.

Alpaca Fiber Coop of North American (AFCNA)

• Member since 2002.
• Board of Directors (2002/2003) Developing strategies for catalog, e-commerce, and business planning as well as industry strategic planning.

New England Alpaca Owners & Breeders Association (NEOBA)

• Member – 2000-2002.
• Marketing Committee – 2001.

Mid-Atlantic Alpaca Association (MAPACA) – Member since 1999.

South East Alpaca Association (SEAA) – Member since 2002.

Prior to becoming a full time alpaca farmer in December of 2003, Erin was responsible for Customer Segmentation for Bank of America.  In this role, she drove out the use of customer intelligence and advanced analytics to all of the lines of business within Bank of America.  Focused on creating a World Class Customer Relationship Management program for the bank, Erin was at the forefront of an evolution in marketing techniques.  Using customer segmentation and analytics, Erin worked to increase retention and organic growth, customer satisfaction, customer acquisitions, and ROI on advertising and marketing spend in an effort to create a brand for Bank of America that makes it the world’s most admired company.  While at the bank, Erin was trained in the Six Sigma process.  She was the project lead for the best-in-class analytics initiative for Customer Analysis, Modeling, and Market Research where she benchmarked Harrahs, The Royal Bank of Canada, Barclays International Bank, Eddie Bauer, and Sprint.  In addition, she has conducted several competitive intelligence studies.  When she joined the bank in 2001, Erin was the marketing analyst for Bank of America’s Premier Banking & Investments, where she provided analysis to senior management to make informed decisions about resource allocations and market optimization for licensed financial advisors.

Prior to joining Bank of America, Erin was Manager of Statistical Services and Market Research for The Vermont Country Store, a multi-channel catalog retailer.  During her three years in Vermont, she was responsible for migrating circulation strategies from RFM to statistical modeling based segmentation and targeting.  During her last 12 months with the company, Erin led a team of analysts that increased sales by 26% and profits by 24% in a single year.  An analytical thought leader for the catalog industry, Erin continually tested new segmentation and targeting techniques, data sources, and software tools to achieve world-class results with dramatic increases in profitability.  Erin’s work was featured in data analytics and information technology magazines including DM News and Information Weekly, and spoke at numerous industry conferences including the 2000 DiamondSUG Data Mining Conference, the SAS Data Mining 2001 Data Mining Conference, and the SAS 2001 Executive Conference.  Erin was responsible for e-commerce marketing including e-mail campaigns, affiliate marketing, strategic alliances, real time cross-sell engines, and search engine optimization.  In addition, she was responsible for market research to include tracking surveys, focus groups, customer segmentation, customer advisory board, web usability studies, and generational marketing strategy.

Prior to joining The Vermont Country Store, Erin spent 6 years with USAA Financial Services in San Antonio, TX.  While at USAA, she held several positions.  She began her career at USAA in Corporate Research developing tracking surveys for USAA Federal Savings Bank and USAA Investment Management Company to measure brand/product awareness, market share, penetration, and share of wallet for banking & investments.  Erin then moved to the Investment Management Company where she held the positions of Senior Marketing Analyst, New Customer Segment Manager, and Lost Customer Segment Manager for the Relationship Management team.  Utilizing advanced targeting techniques and creative strategy based on customer profiling, needs analysis, and operational market research, Erin was able to deepen customer relationships, loyalty, retention, and profitability.  While with USAA Investments, Erin spoke at the 1998 Business Strategies Financial Services Profitability & Retention Conference in Boston and the 1997 Direct Marketing of Securities, Insurance, & Other Financial Services Conference in New York, held by Business Strategies Network.

Erin earned a B.A. in English Literature with an A.A. in Management Studies from University of Maryland’s European campus in 1990.  She earned an M.B.A. in Business with a focus on International Business from Webster University in 1992.  In addition, Erin has completed coursework for credentials as a Chartered Financial Consultant and a Series 7 Brokerage License.  At the age of 18, she was a licensed real estate agent in the state of S.C..  Erin has spoken at numerous data mining and financial services industry conferences on topics including retention and profitability, marketing strategy, modeling tools, and customer relationship management.  Erin was also recruited by the Episcopal Bishop of NY to work with parishes as a generational consultant applying leading edge marketing techniques to evangelism for the Episcopal Church of New York State.

Erin currently resides in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.