2016 AMA Fellow Inductees Announced

The American Marketing Association is pleased to announce the selection of four extraordinary scholars to be inducted as AMA Fellows. The new Fellows will be honored at Winter AMA 2016 in Las Vegas on February 26, 2016 at a special reception. 

Ruth Bolton, Arizona State University

Dr. Bolton is Professor of Marketing at the W.P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University and served as Executive Director of the Marketing Science Institute from 2009-11. She studies how organizations can improve business performance over time by creating, maintaining and enhancing relationships with customers. Her recent research has focused on high technology, interactive services sold in global business-to-business markets. Dr. Bolton has published articles in the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Service Research, Management Science, Marketing Science, and other leading journals.  She previously served as editor of the Journal of Marketing (2002-2005) and Area Editor of the Journal of Marketing Research (2005-2007), as well as serving on the Editorial Review Boards of other leading marketing journals. She has also served on the Board of Trustees of the Marketing Science Institute and the Board of Directors of the American Marketing Association.  She received Ph.D. from Carnegie-Mellon University and previously held academic positions at Vanderbilt University, the University of Oklahoma, Harvard University, University of Maryland, and the University of Alberta. 

Katherine (Kay) Lemon, Boston College

The Accenture Professor and Chairperson of Boston College’s Marketing Department, Professor Lemon’s main areas of research expertise are customer management, customer equity, and the dynamics of customer-firm relationships. Her research appears in leading marketing journals including the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Management Science, and the Journal of Service Research.  She received the Early Career Contributions to Marketing Strategy Research Award recognizing her contributions to marketing strategy, the Elsevier Research Scholar of the Year Award (2008), and has received several best article awards for her research, including the 2009 Sheth Foundation/Journal of Marketing Award, given each year to the article that has made long-term contributions to the theory and practice of marketing. She currently serves as Executive Director of the Marketing Science Institute. Professor Lemon received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and previously taught at Harvard University and Duke University.

A. Parsu Parasuraman, University of Miami

A. Parasuraman (“Parsu”) is James W. McLamore Chair in Marketing, Professor, and Department Chair, Marketing at the University of Miami and an influential figure in the field of services marketing and service quality. He is widely known for his work on SERVQUAL, E-S-QUAL, and the Technology Readiness Index (TRI).  He has published over one hundred articles in prestigious academic and management journals, including the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science.  In addition to coauthoring Marketing Research, a college textbook, Dr. Parasuraman has co-authored books for management audiences including Delivering Quality Service: Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations, Marketing Services: Competing Through Quality, and Techno-Ready Marketing: How and Why Your Customers Adopt Technology (with Rockbridge president Charles Colby).  Professor Parasuraman received his PhD from Indiana University and previously taught at Texas A&M University. 

Vithala Rao, Cornell University 

Vithala Rao is the Deane Malott Professor of Management and Professor of Marketing and Quantitative Methods, Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University. He has published over one hundred and twenty five papers on several topics including conjoint analysis and multidimensional scaling, pricing, bundle design, brand equity, market structure, corporate acquisition and linking branding strategies to financial performance. His current work includes competitive bundling, diffusion of attribute information for new products, and trade promotions. His papers have appeared in the Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Management Science, Journal of Marketing, and Journal of Consumer Research, among others. He received Johnson’s 2000-01 Faculty Research Award and the 2005 Robert D. Buzzell Award for the Best Paper by the Marketing Science Institute. He recently received the 2008 Charles Coolidge Parlin Marketing Research Award presented by the American Marketing Association and the American Marketing Association Foundation recognizing his “outstanding leadership and sustained impact on advancing the evolving profession of marketing research over an extended period of time”. Professor Rao received his PhD from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and has taught at several other institutions including Duke University and Columbia University. 

The distinction of “AMA Fellow” is given to members in good standing of the AMA who have made significant contributions to the research, theory and practice of marketing, and/or to the service and activities of the AMA over a prolonged period of time. The AMA Fellow designation is intended to recognize marketing academics’ achievement, but it is also designed to create a space or fellowship, discussion, collaboration and continued contributions to the discipline.  Each year a new cohort is nominated from the academic community, selected by a group of distinguished peers and honored at Winter AMA. Last year, in the program’s first year, an inaugural cohort of 40 scholars was inducted as AMA Fellows. 

Nominations for new fellows are accepted on an annual basis. Learn more about the AMA Fellows and the nomination process​ today.