1982 — Gary Taylor, who began his career as a television time-buyer with the Humbard Foundation, forms InfoCision as a telemarketing company.
1983 — Bill Forsyth, a former Bell Labs computer software expert who with Humbard pioneered the use of personalized direct-mail fund appeals from the Cathedral of Tomorrow, forms Classic Data Inc.
1986 — Classic Data handles millions of calls and credit-card checks for the mammoth charitable fundraiser, Hands Across America, and the mailings for Willie Nelson’s first Farm Aid benefit concert.
1988 — InfoCision now handles all facets of marketing strategy for its client ministries and charities, from buying media time to designing mailings.
Forsyth and his partners disband Classic Data. Most of its employees in data processing go to work for InfoCision.
1989 — InfoCision is rated 61st in the nation in Inc. magazine’s 500 list of America’s fastest-growing companies.
1994 — InfoCision is 17 on a list of the “Top 50 Outbound Telemarketing Service Agencies in America” by Telemarketing Magazine.
1999 — InfoCision lawsuit against Mothers Against Drunk Drivers claims MADD hired InfoCision to conduct telephone fundraising drives, but failed to pay $1.4 million for services.
2000 — InfoCision has 13 call centers in Ohio and West Virginia and employs about 1,600 people.
2003 — InfoCision wins Customer Interaction Solutions magazine’s Gold MVP Quality Award for the sixth consecutive time. The award recognizes teleservice companies that demonstrate a commitment to excellence, quality and high ethical standards.
The company also earns Inside Business magazine’s NEO Success Award that recognizes top performing companies in Northeast Ohio.
The Washington Post reports that in the first four months of 2003 U.S. House Republicans spent more than $16 million with InfoCision for campaign fundraising.
InfoCision cites the federal Do Not Call Registry as the reason sales are down 9 percent to $118 million from the previous year.
2004 — Carl Albright, 36, is promoted to president of InfoCision. Former president Gary Taylor becomes chairman of the board of directors, which consists of himself and his wife, Karen.
InfoCision now has 21 call centers in three states and 2,800 employees, about 1,400 of which are in call centers in Bath Township and Green.
The Taylors give $3.6 million to the University of Akron for the Gary L. and Karen S. Taylor Institute of Direct Marketing.
2007 — The company operates 27 call centers at 15 locations in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia employing about 3,500.
InfoCision announces that a new $20.8 million, 160,000-square-foot headquarters will be built.
The Taylors donate $10 million to the University of Akron for naming rights for a new football stadium.
InfoCision is named one of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States by Inc. Magazine.
2008 — InfoCision completes its $7 million expansion of its Austintown call center, making it the company’s largest facility.
InfoCision has 4,000 employees companywide.
2009 — InfoCision opens a day-care center for employees at its headquarters, hoping to retain and recruit mothers and fathers seeking a work-life balance. The company-run facility cares for infants through 14-year-olds.
Gary Taylor suffers a heart attack the day after celebrating the opening of InfoCision Stadium at the University of Akron.
2010 — InfoCision’s President and Chief Executive Carl Albright is honored as the Ohio recipient of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Under Albright’s leadership, InfoCision has grown by 50 percent.
InfoCision announces plans to hire 700 communicators and management professionals, including about 200 in the Akron area.
Gary Taylor continues to recuperate from a heart attack. The Taylor family — including wife Karen; daughter Lindsay Tadsen and son Craig — takes a more active role in the company.
2011 — InfoCision enters into a partnership with the Cleveland Sight Center that will provide training and jobs for residents who are blind or visually impaired.
The company announces it will open its first call center outside the United States in Fort Erie, Ontario. (It has since closed.)
2012 — InfoCision agrees to pay $75,000 after the Ohio Attorney General’s Office accuses the company of making misleading statements and failing to make required disclosures when it made solicitation calls on behalf of charities.
Bloomberg Markets magazine examines the company’s fundraising practices and reports that national charities were receiving, on average, 30 percent of donations made through the company.
A lawsuit seeking class-action certification is filed against InfoCision in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court charging the company “intentionally misrepresents to potential donors how much of their contribution will reach those in need.”
InfoCision CEO and President Carl Albright is replaced as CEO by Craig Taylor, son of the founder, and as president by Steve Boyazis, an executive vice president.
2013 — Gary Taylor dies at age 59.
This timeline was assembled by Beacon Journal librarian Norma Hill.