Sara L. Cochran is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship in the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and serves on the Board of Directors of the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE). Sara is a Fellow with the Direct Selling Education Foundation and represents the Kelley School in the Indiana Startup Ladies. In addition to serving as a Contributing Editor for the Journal of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy (EE&P), Sara’s research has been published in the Journal of Small Business Management, Annals of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy, EE&P, Entrepreneur & Innovation Exchange, and Go-to-Market Strategies for Women Entrepreneurs. In the Kelley School, Sara is an affiliated faculty member of the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, advises the IU chapter of the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization, and serves on the undergraduate policy committee. Sara has been awarded the Association for Research in Business Education Dissertation Award, the Emerging Scholar Award from the USASBE Minority and Women Entrepreneurship Special Interest Group, a Schulze Publication Award, a DSEF Best Paper Award, and was a 2019 Columbia Business Times’s 20 Under 40 Honoree. An entrepreneur herself, Sara founded and previously owned an online boutique and currently operates a consulting brand. She holds a PhD in entrepreneurship education from the University of Missouri, as well as a BA in accounting and an MA in integrated marketing communications from Drury University.
Anne T. Coughlan is the Polk Bros. Chair in Retailing and Professor of Marketing, Emerita at the Kellogg School of Management. Dr. Coughlan’s main research interests are in the areas of distribution channels, sales force management and compensation, and pricing. Her coauthored work on “Direct Selling Distributors: Why Do They Stay or Leave?” won the best doctoral-student paper award at the 2017 Global Sales Science Institute conference. Dr. Coughlan is a coauthor of the book, A Field Guide to Channel Strategy: Building Routes to Market (with Sandy Jap), and was the lead author of Marketing Channels (a Prentice-Hall textbook) through its seventh edition. She serves on the Senior Advisory Board of the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management and is Editor-in-Chief of the SSRN Marketing Research Network and of its Quantitative Marketing e-Journal and the Marketing Science e-Journal. She is a Research Fellow of the Direct Selling Education Foundation and an Institute of Marketing Research Fellow of the University of Muenster, Germany. She has served as an Associate Editor and editorial board member of Marketing Science and on the editorial boards of Journal of Marketing and Journal of Retailing. For her excellence in teaching, Dr. Coughlan was the recipient of the school’s Executive Master’s Program Teacher of the Year Award for the best elective course in 1996 and again in 2003, as well as receiving the Sidney J. Levy Teaching Award in 2000–2001.
Victoria (Vicky) Crittenden is Professor of Marketing and Babson Research Scholar at Babson College. Vicky’s research appears extensively in journals such as the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Marketing Letters, Sloan Management Review, Psychology & Marketing, Business Horizons, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Journal of Business Research, and Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management. Her educational scholarship appears in such journals as the Journal of Marketing Education, Marketing Education Review, Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, Journal of Education for Business, Journal of Teaching in International Business, and Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education. Vicky is editor of Go-to-Market Strategies for Women Entrepreneurs: Creating and Exploring Success published by Emerald Group Publishing in 2019. Additionally, she currently serves as Editor of the Journal of Marketing Education. Vicky was honored to receive the AMS CUTCO/Vector Distinguished Marketing Educator Award in 2021, AMA Higher Ed SIG Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021, Circle of Honor award from the Direct Selling Education Foundation in 2019, AMA’s Pearson Prentice Hall’s Solomon-Marshall-Stuart Award for Innovative Excellence in Marketing Education in 2013, AMS Distinguished Fellow in 2008, AMS Lamb, Hair, McDaniel Outstanding Marketing Teacher Award in 2005, and Lyon College Distinguished Alumna Award in 1999. Vicky is a member of the Academic Advisory Board for CUTCO/Vector Marketing Corporation and serves on the Board of Directors of the Direct Selling Education Foundation. She previously served on the Harvard Business School Alumni Board, the Board of Trustees at Lyon College, and the Faculty Advisory Board for Emerald Group Publishing. She is a past president of the Academy of Marketing Science and past Chair of the AMA Teaching & Learning Special Interest Group.
An advisor to various private, public, and nonprofit organizations, William F. Crittenden has worked with organizations such as BAE Systems, Boston Beer Company, Boston Management Consortium, Lotus Software (IBM), Head Start, and Wal-Mart Stores. He also has worked with Funducion CANE in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Banco Nacional de Comercio Exterior of Monterrey, Mexico. Bill has served in various university administrative posts, including Senior Associate Dean and Dean of Faculty and Dean for Graduate Business Programs at Northeastern University where he is a Professor of International Business and Strategy. He currently serves on the advisory board of Orphans Futures Alliance (a 501 (c) 3). He has served on the advisory board of a software start-up and as a trustee on a charitable, fraternal nonprofit organization. Bill is a member of numerous professional organizations including the Strategic Management Society (founding member) and the Academy of Management. He is a former Chair of the Public & Nonprofit Division of the Academy of Management. He has served in a variety of associate editor, guest editor, and reviewer roles and currently serves on the Editorial Review Board for Business Horizons and is on the Advisory Board for Nonprofit Management & Leadership. He has authored or coauthored over 60 journal publications, a strategic planning workbook, and numerous book chapters/sections and business cases. His articles have appeared in academic outlets including Strategic Management Journal, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Journal of Business Ethics, and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science and practitioner outlets such as Business Horizons, Industrial Management, and Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management. Bill was voted one of Favorite Professors at Northeastern by the Senior Class of 2014, Cauldron Yearbook, and he was the winner of the Beta Gamma Sigma Teacher of the Year in 2002.
Linda K. Ferrell is the Roth Family Professor of Marketing and Business Ethics at Auburn University. She served on the faculty at Belmont University, University of New Mexico, University of Wyoming, University of Northern Colorado, Colorado State University, and University of Tampa. She comanaged two $1.25 million grant for business ethics education through the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative at the University of New Mexico with her husband, O.C. Ferrell. She was also jointly responsible for securing over $5 million for the first Bill Daniels Distinguished Professor Chair of Business Ethics at the University of Wyoming. Her research interests include marketing ethics, ethics training and effectiveness, the legalization of business ethics as well as corporate social responsibility and sustainability. She has published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, AMS Review, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Journal of Business Research, as well as others. She has coauthored numerous books including Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases (12th edition), Business and Society (4th edition), and Introduction to Business (12th edition). Professionally, Ferrell served as an account executive in advertising with McDonald’s and Pizza Hut’s advertising agencies in Houston, Indianapolis, and Philadelphia. She was recently honored as the Innovative Marketer of the Year for the Marketing Management Association. Ferrell has served on the Board of Directors of Mannatech, Inc., a NASDAQ-listed health and wellness company. She serves on the Board of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy-Center for the Public Trust. She serves on the Executive Committee, Board, and Academic Advisory Committee of the Direct Selling Education Foundation. She is on the CUTCO/Vector Academic Advisory Board. She is past president of the Academy of Marketing Science and past president of the Marketing Management Association. Ferrell also serves as an expert witness in ethics and legal disputes.
O.C. Ferrell is the James T. Pursell, Sr. Eminent Scholar in Ethics and Director of the Center for Ethical Organizational Cultures at Auburn University. He has served on the faculty at Belmont University, the University of New Mexico, University of Wyoming, Colorado State University, University of Memphis, Texas A&M University, University of Michigan, Illinois State University, and Southern Illinois University. O.C. is immediate past president of the Academy of Marketing Science. He was formerly vice president of publications for the Academy of Marketing Science and was past president of the Academic Council of the American Marketing Association. He serves on the board of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy’s Center for the Public Trust and is an advisory board member of Savant Learning. Additionally, he serves on the Academic Advisory Committee for the Direct Selling Education Foundation. He received the AMS CUTCO/Vector Distinguished Educator Award for contributions to the marketing discipline. Additional recognition includes being the first recipient of the Marketing Education Innovation Award for the Marketing Management Association, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Macromarketing Society, and special award for service to doctoral students from the Southeast Doctoral Consortium. O.C. is coauthor of several leading textbooks including Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases (12th edition), Marketing (19th edition), Marketing Strategy (6th edition), Business and Society (4th edition), Management (3rd edition), and Introduction to Business (12th edition). He has published in the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, AMS Review, Journal of Business Research, as well as others. He writes weekly business ethics summaries and reviews for the Wall Street Journal with a subscriber list of over 6,000. O.C. has served as an expert witness in some high-profile ethics, legal, and marketing cases.
W. Alan Luce is Senior Managing Principal of Strategic Choice Partners, LLC, (formerly Luce, Murphy Fong & Associates, LLC) a consulting firm dedicated to providing services to direct sellers and specializing in guidance for established and start-up organizations alike. As such, he has provided compensation plan design, sales force management, and strategic advice to more than 40 start-up, and dozens of existing, direct selling companies including Avon, Princess House, PartyLite Gifts, Inc., and Jockey Person 2 Person. In addition to his consulting practice, Luce has served on the Board of Directors of SimplyFun, LLC, Creative Memories, and Alcas Corporation (CUTCO/Vector), and on many direct selling company advisory boards. During his career, Mr. Luce has served as Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing for PartyLite Gifts, Inc. and as the Founder and CEO of DK Family Learning, which he took from start-up to more than $30 million in sales in four years in the United States and over $80 million in sales worldwide. Prior to that Luce served at Tupperware Home Parties where he spent 16 years, rising to the position of Vice President of Administration and General Counsel. He began his career in direct selling as Associate General Counsel for the Direct Selling Association. In addition to his work with direct selling companies, Mr. Luce has long been active in the DSA and the Direct Selling Education Foundation, having served on the boards and as Chairman of both organizations. In 2002, he was recognized for his vision and leadership in DSEF when he was selected to receive the Circle of Honor award and during the 2005 DSA Annual Meeting, based upon his career of industry leadership and service, he was inducted into the Direct Selling Hall of Fame. He is a frequent industry spokesperson and expert lecturer at college and university business schools on behalf of the Direct Selling Education Foundation.
Robert A. Peterson holds the John T. Stuart III Centennial Chair at The University of Texas at Austin. He has served as Chairman of the Marketing Department, Associate Dean for Research, and Associate Vice President for Research and Research Integrity Officer, all at The University of Texas at Austin. He has published more than 200 books and peer-reviewed journal articles relating to marketing strategy and management, consumer behavior, and marketing research. Professor Peterson has served as editor-in-chief of two major academic marketing journals, the Journal of Marketing Research and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and as founding co-editor of a third academic marketing journal, the AMS Review. A Fellow of the American Marketing Association, he has received numerous awards for his research, including the Jagdish N. Sheth Award, the John D. C. Little Award, the McCombs School of Business Career Award for Outstanding Research Contributions, and the Portuguese Medal of Science. In 2019, a supercomputer was named for him (“BOB”). He has served as an officer in various professional academic associations, including service as president of the Academy of Marketing Science and as a member of an advisory committee to the United States Census Bureau. Dr. Peterson is a past member of the Direct Selling Education Foundation Board of Directors and was the first academic to be named to the Direct Selling Education Foundation Circle of Honor. An entrepreneur and active consultant, he presently owns or is a partner in several small businesses.