Don E. Schultz

Northwesten University

Don E. Schultz is presently Professor (Emeritus-in-Service) of Integrated Marketing Communications at The Medill School, Northwestern University. He is also President of the global marketing consulting firm, Agora, Inc., both in Evanston, Illinois.

Schultz, following his graduation from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in Marketing/Journalism, began his career as a sales promotion writer for a trade magazine publisher in Dallas. From there, he moved into publication sales and management. He then served as the Advertising Director for a daily newspaper in Texas. Following that, he joined Tracy-Locke Advertising and Public Relations in Dallas in 1965. He served as management supervisor for a number of consumer product, service and industrial accounts while running branch offices in New York and Columbus, Ohio.

In 1974, Schultz resigned as Senior Vice President of Tracy-Locke to launch a career in academia. He obtained a Masters Degree in Advertising and a Ph D in Mass Media from Michigan State University. He also taught in the MSU department of advertising while pursuing his degrees.

In 1977, Schultz joined The Medill School at Northwestern. During his tenure at NU, he has served as department chair and Associate Dean at Medill.

Schultz has held visiting professor positions at Cranfield School of Management, UK; Queensland University of Technology, Australia; and Tsingua University and Cheong Kong University, both in China. He is a fellow of the Institute for the Study of Business Markets at The Pennsylvania State University and a fellow at the Zyman Institute of Branding Studies at Emory University.

Schultz has consulted, lectured and held seminars on integrated marketing communication, marketing, branding, advertising, sales promotion and communication management in Europe, South America, Asia/Pacific, the Middle East, Australia and North America. His articles have appeared in a wide range of trade, academic and professional journals. He has published more than 100 refereed journal articles in his career. Schultz is a continuing columnist on marketing communications for MARKETING NEWS and a regular columnist on brands and branding for MARKETING MANAGEMENT. He was the founding editor of the JOURNAL OF DIRECT MARKETING (now Interactive Marketing).

Schultz is the author or co-author of 18 books ranging in topic areas from advertising strategy to sales promotion essentials to newspaper advertising management. His book Integrated Marketing Communications: Putting It Together and Making It Work is generally acknowledged to be the basis for IMC around the world and he is recognized as the founder of the IMC movement. Schultz's two most current texts are IMC: The Next Generation and Brand Babble: Sense and Non-Sense About Brands and Branding both published in 2004. He will release his newest texts Building Customer Brand Relationships and Brand Promises Management both in 2009.

Schultz is a former Director of the Promotion Marketing Association of America and past Chairman, Accrediting Committee, Accrediting Council in Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. He has also served as Director, Institute for Advanced Advertising Studies in Chicago, as a public member on The National Advertising Review Board and was a member of the Board of Directors for Virginia Commonwealth University's Ad Center.

Schultz was selected as the first Direct Marketing Educator of the Year by the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation in 1989. He was named Educator of the Year by the Chicago Chapter of the Sales and Marketing Executives Association in 1996. He was named Distinguished Advertising Educator of the Year by the American Advertising Federation in 1992.

Dr. Schultz has also served as Director, Penton Media, Inc., Cleveland; Insignia Systems, Minneapolis; The Simon Richards Group, Melbourne, Australia; dunnhumby, plc, London; Brand Finance, London; and others. He is also on the advisory board of several start-up technology companies.

Schultz resides with his wife and business partner, Heidi, in Evanston, IL.