What'cha Drinkin'? with Adam Froman

Editor's note: Automated speech-to-text transcription, edited lightly for clarity.

Steve Quirk:

Hello and welcome to another edition of What’cha Drinkin’? I'm Steve Quirk, president of Quirk's Media. My guest is Adam Froman, CEO of Delvina. Hello Adam and welcome. So nice to see you. Let's start right off the bat with, tell me, what are you drinking?

Adam Froman:

I've finished off my bottle of Colonel Taylor Bourbon, a nice Kentucky bourbon. I'm enjoying it with you today and I’ve been drinking too much of this over the past nine weeks.

Steve Quirk:

That's all right. To be expected, I guess a little bit. I am having, this is from the city I live in, it's called Lakeville Brewing Company. They are a local brewery and my wife and I happen to be friends with some of the co-owners and I'm enjoying their Nehi Cream Ale. So, oh, I'm not really much a beer drinker, but this is pretty good, what I would call a traditional American beer.

I've gotten to know you from us sitting on the Marketing Research Education Foundation board. Something you and I are both passionate about is giving back both financial as well as of our time. Talk a little bit about the importance it is for you and your company about philanthropic work and giving.

Adam Froman:

Well, okay, so I'll do it from two levels. I'll do it from us as a company and then I'll do it particularly from why I chose the MREF. So as a company, over the past 20 years, having been through building a business as an entrepreneur, getting kicked on my ass a couple times, getting up, fighting through and eventually realizing that I can actually make a difference and help others. You realize that if you aren't taking care of those around you and supporting the next generation or supporting those that are less fortunate, you're really missing out on what's important in life. 

I guess it's my family values that I've had and have been brought up with. My parents have always been very supportive in giving and being part of the Jewish community, at our roots is to give back. So, I've always looked at it right across from how can we help those less fortunate? How can I help the next generation move up? How do I help others who are trying to advance themselves? And I, I never think that I'm so important that I can't stop and give back when that's been at my DNA. When we came into the U.S. with Methodify and we started really kind of pushing our agenda. I started meeting people like Steve Schlesinger and yourself. And I started seeing these people that are really successful. You're all very successful in your businesses, longtime businesses, but you, you've decided that it's sort of that kindred spirit, that helping to give back within your industry, but also beyond the industry. Not that you just give back, you don't hesitate to invest in it and put your money up, which I, I've always done. 

I find that I often feel alone when I'll step up and I don't hesitate to put money into something that I don't necessarily have a group of people that think that way. And I got invited by Steve to a cocktail party in New York and Raj Manocha and I came down to New York for the MREF and we just talked about it. And seeing what a guy like Steve Schlesinger does that he doesn't look to be thanked for, he's very involved, he's very humble about it. Seeing people like a Merrill that I've gotten to know, he is not involved with the MREF directly but I've seen what he is done in the Insights Association, what he does for Michigan State and these people became my friends and I just said, well, you guys are involved in this and Steve invited me down to this cocktail party. I love the idea of the MREF, helping to advance the next generation and give back to those less fortunate what they're doing in Haiti. 

The other fun thing is that coming from Canada, one of the proud things I have, and I want to remain being a proud Canadian, but I'm investing in the U.S. I'm investing in Canada, like we're growing our businesses and I could actually elevate the Canadian market research industry to participate in giving back and bring the MREF to Canada. So, it sort of served two purposes for me. One, I could sit around with people who were as giving and caring as I was, not just to be looking for a tax break, but to give of your time and your money. And also, I could play a leadership role in helping the MREF message get into a country like Canada, that has a robust market research industry and we can bring it there as well. So, I've really enjoyed the opportunity to be involved with another group of people that are in the same industry, but also share the same values.

Steve Quirk:

Yeah, that's great. Well, I certainly enjoy working with you and everyone else on the board. And I'm going to put a shameless plugin here for the MREF if you're looking to get involved. It's a great organization. You don't have to be wealthy to get involved. We take donations of any amount. We've got service projects and we do vision trips to Haiti to go see the school that we help support, the class of 2029, the great school, great kids, they'll light up your world when you go and get a chance to visit them. So hopefully go check it out MRGivesBack.org.

Steve Quirk:

I'm going to change it up one more time. We like to ask some fun questions here. So I have to ask you, if you were not doing what you're doing right now as CEO, what would you be doing? What other career? You could just wave a magic wand and have whatever career you wanted. What would it be?

Adam Froman:

Professional golfer.

Steve Quirk:

Ooh, OK. You're a golfer. 

Adam Froman:

I'm not good. I'm not good enough to be a professional golfer, but that would be, I love golf and if I could play it.

Steve Quirk:

Are you pretty good?

Adam Froman:

Yeah, I'm, I'm like a nine, but it's sort of, but not near. And also I'm way past the age of ever caring anymore, but golf is my therapy and it's my release and it's I've been playing since I was 15 years old. And it's a wonder, a strategy game to me. It's a great time to spend with people and I actually love the game. So if I didn't, it would be just playing golf all the time on tour. But you'd have to, there's no doubt that that's, I'm just going to play it for leisure.

Steve Quirk:

That is all right. That's great. I'm a horrible golfer. I tell people if the hole is 350 yards, I walk 800. But I love it because I love being out. Same thing, I love being in a foursome group and just having a good time. I rarely even actually keep track of my score, which drives my friends who are on the golf course with me up the wall. 

Adam Froman:

Yeah, I'm not taking you out. Don't worry.

Steve Quirk:

Yeah. So hopefully we can play golf sometime soon. So with that, I will let you go. Thank you so much, Adam, for taking your time and for all you do for the industry, it's greatly appreciated and hopefully we'll see you in person real soon.