Vella, Carolyn M. 1948-

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Vella, Carolyn M. 1948-

PERSONAL:

Born September 6, 1948, in Washington, DC; daughter of Vito T. (an air force officer) and Juanita (a homemaker) Vella; married John J. McGonagle (a business partner), August 7, 1971. Ethnicity: "Caucasian."

ADDRESSES:

Office—Helicon Group, P.O. Box 199, Blandon, PA 19510.

CAREER:

Helicon Group, Blandon, PA, founding partner, 1980—. Retired breeder, exhibitor, and judge of pedigreed and household pet cats.

MEMBER:

Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals, Cat Writers' Association.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Certificates of excellence, Cat Writers' Association, 1995, for the article "Japanese Bobtail," Animal Talk, 1996, for Burmese Cats: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual, and 2005, for an article on Burmese cats; Meritorious Award, Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals, 2003.

WRITINGS:

(With husband, John J. McGonagle) Incorporating: A Guide for Small-Business Owners, AMACOM (New York, NY), 1984.

(With John J. McGonagle and others) Master Guide to Control of Corporations, with Checklists, Forms, and Agreements, Institute for Business Planning (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1985.

(With John J. McGonagle) Competitive Intelligence in the Computer Age, Quorum Books (Westport, CT), 1987.

(With John J. McGonagle) Improved Business Planning Using Competitive Intelligence, Quorum Books (Westport, CT), 1988.

(With John J. McGonagle) Outsmarting the Competition: Practical Approaches to Finding and Using Competitive Information, Sourcebooks (New York, NY), 1990, published as Outsmarting the Competition: Practical Approaches to Finding and Outsmarting the Competition, adapted by John Pearson, McGraw-Hill (New York, NY), 1993.

(With John J. McGonagle) In the Spotlight: A Guide to Showing Pedigreed and Household Pet Cats, Howell Book House (New York, NY), 1990.

(With John J. McGonagle) Burmese Cats: Everything about Acquisition, Care, Nutrition, Behavior, Health Care, and Breeding, illustrated by Michele Earle-Bridges, Barron's Educational Series (Hauppauge, NY), 1996.

(With John J. McGonagle) A New Archetype for Competitive Intelligence, Quorum Books (Westport, CT), 1996.

(With John J. McGonagle; and photographer) Breeding Pedigreed Cats, Howell Book House (New York, NY), 1997.

(With John J. McGonagle) Protecting Your Company against Competitive Intelligence, Quorum Books (Westport, CT), 1998.

(With John J. McGonagle) The Internet Age of Competitive Intelligence, Greenwood Publishing Group (Westport, CT), 1999.

(With John J. McGonagle, Lorraine Shelton, and T.W. Stanglein) Robinson's Genetics for Cat Breeders and Veterinarians, 4th edition, Butterworth-Heinemann (Boston, MA), 1999.

(With John J. McGonagle) Multiple Cat Households, TFH Publications (Neptune City, NJ), 2000.

(With John J. McGonagle) How to Use a Consultant in Your Company: A Managers' and Executives' Guide, John Wiley (New York, NY), 2001.

(With John J. McGonagle) Bottom Line Competitive Intelligence, Greenwood Publishing Group (Westport, CT), 2002.

(With John J. McGonagle) The Manager's Guide to Competitive Intelligence, Praeger Publishers (Westport, CT), 2003.

(With John J. McGonagle) Proactive Competitive Intelligence, Thomson Texere (Mason, OH), 2006.

Contributor to books, including Competitive Intelligence: A Framework for Web-based Analysis and Decision Making, Thomson, 2004. Contributor to magazines, including Quirk's Marketing Research Review, Secured Lender, Today's Office, Information Strategies, and Cat Fancy.

SIDELIGHTS:

Carolyn M. Vella told CA: "I write business books because competitive intelligence is a dynamic, fascinating business science, still in its infancy, which keeps it exciting. The field is still forming and changing, so the work is still forming and changing. Competitive intelligence practitioners are still developing this basic management tool, and we are enjoying ourselves while doing so.

"I write books about cats because cats are my passion and have been all my life. I can't imagine a day without a cat in it. They share everything I do. I even have one here on my lap now helping me to write this. Cats provide more than love; they are inspiration as well."