About the Author
Thomas N. Ingram (Ph.D., Georgia State University) is professor emeritus of marketing and department chair at Colorado State University. Before commencing his academic career, he worked in sales, product management, and sales management with Exxon and Mobil. Tom is a recipient of the Marketing Educator of the Year award given by Sales and Marketing Executives International (SMEI). He was honored as the first recipient of the Mu Kappa Tau National Marketing Honor Society recognition award for Outstanding Scholarly Contributions to the Sales Discipline. The University Sales Center Alliance has designated Professor Ingram as a Distinguished Sales Educator for his long-term contributions to sales education. Tom has served as the editor of the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, chair of the SMEI Accreditation Institute, and as a member of the Board of Directors of SMEI. He is the former editor of the JOURNAL OF MARKETING THEORY & PRACTICE. Tom’s primary research is in personal selling and sales management. His work has appeared in the JOURNAL OF MARKETING, JOURNAL OF MARKETING RESEARCH, JOURNAL OF PERSONAL SELLING & SALES MANAGEMENT, and the JOURNAL OF THE ACADEMY OF MARKETING SCIENCE, among others. He is the coauthor of one of the ’’Ten Most Influential Articles of the 20th Century’’ as designated by the Sales and Sales Management Special Interest Group of the American Marketing Association.
Raymond W. (Buddy) LaForge is the Brown-Forman Professor of Marketing at the University of Louisville. His research is published in many journals, including the JOURNAL OF MARKETING, JOURNAL OF MARKETING RESEARCH, JOURNAL OF THE ACDEMY OF MARKETING SCIENCE, among others. He has co-authored MARKETING; PRICIPLES & PERSEPCTIVES 5E, SALES MANAGEMENT: ANALYSIS AND DECISION MAKING 9E, PROFESSIONAL SELLING: A TRUST-BASED APPROACH 4E, STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP: BREAKTHROUGH THINKING FOR BREAKTHROUGH RESULTS, and THE PROFESSIONAL SELLING SKILLS WORKBOOK. LaForge has served on the board of many organizations, including as Vice President/Marketing for the Academy of Business Education; Vice President of Marketing, Teaching, and Conferences for the American Marketing Association Academic Council; and as Chair and Vice Chair for Awards and Recognition for the American Marketing Association Sales Interest Group. Buddy has received a number of awards to include the Outstanding Sales Scholar Award from Mu Kappa Tau, Special Recognition Award from the American Marketing Association Sales SIG, Top Thirteen Faculty Favorites at the University of Louisville, Distinguished Scholar Award from the Research Symposium on Marketing and Entrepreneurship, Distinguished Sales Educator Award from the University Sales Center Alliance, Undergraduate Teaching Award from the College of Business, Faculty Favorite Award from REACH Ambassadors, Beta Alpha Psi Outstanding College of Business Faculty Award, James M. Comer Award from the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Gerald E. Hills Best Paper Award from the American Marketing Association Entrepreneurial Marketing SIG, Sales Excellence Award from Louisville Sales Leaders, College of Business Student Council Faculty-of-the Year Award, Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Marketing Association Sales SIG, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Global Research Symposium on Marketing and Entrepreneurship.
Charles H. Schwepker, Jr. (Ph.D., University of Memphis), is the Mike and Patti Davidson Distinguished Marketing Professor at the University of Central Missouri. He has experience in wholesale and retail sales. His primary research interests are in sales management, personal selling, and marketing ethics. Dr. Schwepker’s articles have been published in the JOURNAL OF THE ACADEMY OF MARKETING SCIENCE, JOURNAL OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, JOURNAL OF PUBLIC POLICY AND MARKETING, JOURNAL OF PERSONAL SELLING & SALES MANAGEMENT, JOURNAL OF SERVICE RESEARCH, and JOURNAL OF BUSINESS ETHICS, among other journals; various national and regional proceedings; and books, including MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS CLASSICS and ENVIRONMENTAL MARKETING. He has received several honors for both teaching and advising, including the Hormel Teaching Excellence award and the Alumni Foundation Harmon College of Business Administration Distinguished Professor Award. Dr. Schwepker received the James Comer Award for best contribution to selling and sales management theory awarded by the JOURNAL OF PERSONAL SELLING & SALES MANAGEMENT and two Outstanding Paper" awards at the National Conference in Sales Management, among others. He is on the editorial review boards of the JOURNAL OF PERSONAL SELLING & SALES MANAGEMENT, JOURNAL OF MARKETING THEORY & PRACTICE, JOURNAL OF BUSINESS & INDUSTRIAL MARKETING, JOURNAL OF RELATIONSHIP MARKETING, JOURNAL OF SELLING AND MAJOR ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT, and SOUTHERN BUSINESS REVIEW, and has five times won awards for outstanding reviewer. He is a coauthor of SALES MANAGEMENT: ANALYSIS AND DECISION MAKING."
Michael R. Williams (Ph.D., Oklahoma State University) is professor of marketing and director of the Academy of Customer Excellence and Sales at Oklahoma City University. Prior to his academic career, Williams established a successful 30-plus year career in industrial sales, market research, and sales management and continues to consult and work with a wide range of business organizations. He has coauthored THE PROFESSIONAL SELLING SKILLS WORKBOOK, SALES MANAGEMENT: ANALYSIS AND DECISION MAKING, and a variety of executive monographs and white-papers on sales performance topics. Williams’s research has been published in many different national and international journals, including the JOURNAL OF PERSONAL SELLING & SALES MANAGEMENT, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PURCHASING AND MATERIALS MANAGEMENT, JOURNAL OF BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIAL MARKETING, QUALITY MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, and JOURNAL OF BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETING. His work has also received numerous honors, including Outstanding Article for the Year in Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, the AACSB’s Leadership in Innovative Business Education Award, and the Marketing Science Institute’s Alden G. Clayton Competition. In 2004, Williams was honored with the Mu Kappa Tau Marketing Society recognition award for Outstanding Scholarly Contributor to the Sales Discipline. He has also been honored with numerous university, college, and corporate teaching and research awards, including Old Republic Research Scholar, the presentation of a seminar at Oxford’s Braesnose College, Who’s Who in American Education, and Who’s Who in America. Williams has and continues to serve in leadership roles as an advisor and board member for sales and sales management associations and organizations, including the University Sales Center Alliance, National Conference in Sales and Sales Management, and Vector Marketing.
Ramon A. Avila (PhD, Virginia Tech University) is the George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of Marketing at Ball State University. Before coming to Ball State, he worked in sales with the Burroughs Corporation. He has held two visiting professorships at the University of Hawaii and another at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. Recently, Dr. Avila was awarded the title of 2009 University Sales Center Alliance Distinguished Sales Educator. In 2003, Ramon earned Ball State's Outstanding Faculty Award. In April 2002, Ramon received a Leavey Award. This award was given for innovation in the classroom, in his advanced selling class. Ramon was also presented with the 1999 Mu Kappa Tau's Outstanding Contributor to the Sales Profession award. He is only the third recipient of this award. Ramon has also received the university's Outstanding Service award, the university's Outstanding Junior Faculty award, the College of Business Professor of the Year award, and the Dean's Teaching award every year since its inception in 1987. Ramon also sits on five editorial review boards. Ramon's primary research is in personal selling and sales management. His work has appeared in the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Journal of Management, Industrial Marketing Management, The Marketing Management Journal, and the Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice, among others. He is the coauthor of The Professional Selling Skills Workbook and Sales Management: Analysis and Decision Making.
