It's difficult to tell Ad Hoc Associates
and Marlise Parker apart. Please read on.
How AHA! Got Its Name
Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary
defines ad hoc as:
1.a.: concerned with a particular end or purpose <an ad
hoc investigating committee>
b: formed or used for specific
or immediate problems or needs ad hoc solutions
2.: fashioned from whatever is immediately available
That sums it up.
AHA! was established in 1985 by Marlise
Parker and a computer associate. The reason it was named Ad Hoc was that its initial projects ranged from systems analysis
to desktop publishing to writing articles to spreadsheets and databases.
Author, author
I’m Marlise Parker, former chief
cook and bottle washer of Ad Hoc Associates. However, I’m not using the royal “we”, since there were a number
of independent techo-souls who lend a hand whenever necessary.
AHA!'s Chief Client
When Marlise Parker met Pete Gatseos
in 1989, Ad Hoc Associates' first project for him was a presentation that had to be on a plane to Birmingham, England, by
the end of a weekend, along with handouts. Pete put a large package on board by 4:00 A.M. Monday morning.
The presentation was remembered by an
American cable executive years later because of the custom graphics, done then by pixel editing.
Pete at that time headed Gatseos and
Associates, Inc., and he continued to farm out presentation projects to AHA! The Christian Science Monitor Channel, his client,
also required various types of handouts and documentation that Pete and Marlise invented as they went along. He had other
cable company clients for whom he did specialized market research in the industry.
When Pete joined TCI in 1994, Marlise
continued to design his projects and began research and writing for them. In addition, she designed a large and complex market
intelligence database for internal use by executive staff.
This team continued to work together
when Pete became Vice President of Strategic Research/Market Intelligence when his company became AT&T BIS.
Most recently, Pete was Senior Vice President
of The Cable Center and Director of The Magness Institute. As part of his responsibilities, he also occupied the Leo Hindery
Chair for Broadband Telecommunications, an academic chair within the University of Denver.
In addition to presentations, AHA! designed
computer videos for both The Cable Center and The Magness Institute, marking various international seminars and events. Marlise
also researched data on demographics and cable preferences/usage, as well as writing presentation drafts based on the
data for Pete.
