The company ended—but the idea lived on... forever! Rene Beusch and I formed the International Voicemail Association as Chairman and President with membership by over 250 service providers and vendors attending conferences twice each year for over 20 years.  I arrranged the speakers, Suzanne organized the conferences and Nancy guided shopping trips and tours for the ladies..  Rene arranaged venues at first class hotels serving  sumptuous dinners and enjoyable entertainment!.  

We adopted global standards, shared new applications and designed a global voicemail network.  I continuing developing voice technology through Finnigan USA providing stregic planning, application development and patent enforcement services. The industry growth continued long after VMI was gone.  The IVMA made my career far more productive and enjoyable.

We helped bring Voicemal to the real world. We gave the service its name.  We built a company, drove adioption and generated global usage! Others helped invent the pieces. We turned it into a service the world could actually understand and use.

And somewhere along the way, the world learned to speak… even when no one was there to answer! 

The International Voicemail Association conducted conferences in major cities in Europe, Scandinavia and the U.S.  Membership in the IVMA was by invitation only and a maximum of 250 attendees was allowed.  A special program for spouses /partners included shopping and local tours. A special evening dinner and entertainment was provided for all attendees.