The Incentive Group: Our Company, Our Team

The Incentive Group, Inc. was established in 1990 and is headquartered in Yorba Linda, California. The East Coast office is located in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The Incentive Group team has over 50 years of experience in the areas of corporate sales promotion, employee incentive marketing, and corporate event planning. This extensive experience leads to a unique approach when planning your sales and marketing programs. We understand your goals because we have experience in building, managing, and motivating sales teams.

Dee founded The Incentive Group in 1990 and has successfully delivered meeting and event services to both large and small companies.

After receiving his BS in Marketing & Management from Shippensberg University in Pennsylvania, Dee began his business career in 1975 in Norfolk, Virginia with Xerox Corporation. Following six years of sales leadership, territorial management and President Club Achievement Awards, he was promoted to sales instructor at the Xerox International Center for Training and Management Development in Leesburg, Virginia.

In 1983, he entered the transportation industry as a regional manager and in 4 years was named Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing, responsible for international and domestic sales, sales training, marketing & advertising, agency development and national conventions.

"I decided to start The Incentive Group in 1990 following 3 years of orchestrating our national convention and coordinating several other incentive type trips for our customers to the US Open & PGA Golf Championships. I had worked with meeting planners during this time and found them to be very good at details and site selection but not at all experienced in corporate management and budgetary responsibility. I realized at that time that I could provide so much more to the corporate environment in terms of providing cost effective solution type programs to meet their employee or customer objectives."

—Dee Kline, President, The Incentive Group

Contact Dee

Roy "Cotton" Markert was a customer of The Incentive Group prior to joining the team in early 2004. "I saw first hand the value of the company, in bringing my sales organization, a creative, value added approach."

Previously, Cotton spent nine years at Xerox Corporation followed by 20+ years in the telecommunications industry. He was instrumental in helping to build wireless technology across 25+ markets in the mid 80's - early 90's. His general management role was to drive sales, oversee operations, and manage the P&L. His career also included senior management positions at a division of Sprint as National Sales Director and Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Mericom Corporation. Cotton's responsibility, at The Incentive Group, includes operations and business development for the company's east coast office.

"The Incentive Group becomes an extension of the client. The goals are mutually shared, and managed to deliver results. Performance is the key metric in measuring our success. That's what we offer as a value add, with experience and knowledge as the foundation" Cotton Markert, Vice President, The Incentive Group

Contact Cotton

Rebecca Croft, Account Executive of The Incentive Group

Rebecca Croft has over ten years experience in corporate meeting and event planning for Fortune 500 clients. Rebecca has provided corporate event management for a wide variety of clients and programs, with primary responsibility for all pre-planning and on-site management.
She spent several years designing and implementing incentive programs and sales meetings for the National Account Sales force at MCI Telecommunications. As an Events Account Executive at MCI she identified events prospects, negotiated contracts, and coordinated sales events for the Mid-Atlantic region. She has spent the last three years focused on national and international meetings and events. She has experience in all phases of event coordination for projects ranging in size from 10-500 participants on a local, national and international level.
Contact Rebeca

F. Woodhouse "Woody" Jacobus, Regional Director

Woody joined The Incentive Group as Director of Sales for the Western Region in January of 2005. Working with Dee Kline in the Operations segment of the business, Woody saw The Incentive Group's clients receive unique value and unparalleled attention to detail. "I now want to bring this outstanding service to new clients throughout the Western United States!"
Prior to joining The Incentive Group, Woody enjoyed a successful career with Xerox Corporation achieving consistent "President's Club" performance in numerous Sales Management positions. His career included local, regional, and national sales management responsibilities along with incentive and meeting planning and execution. As a Senior Sales Manager, Woody managed and motivated sales teams throughout the U.S. His understanding of the relationship between incentive planning and sales performance adds unique value to The Incentive Group and its clients. Woody retired from Xerox after 30 years and began a second career in sales training and consulting before joining The Incentive Group.
"My experience has taught me the importance of motivating and rewarding sales professionals through effective incentive planning and program management. Working with our clients, we become a part of their team focused on providing the sales organization a memorable experience designed to motivate and reward exceptional performance. We don't simply provide a service for our clients, we partner with them."

Contact Woody