Vol 1: Oct 2004
Message From the President
"Isn't it a pleasure when you can make practical use of the things you have studied? Isn't it a pleasure to have an old friend visit from afar?". I thought both of these analects of Confucius helped express what occurred at the MMA Conference last week in St. Louis. We made practical use of the things we studied-and took back to the classroom practical things we learned at the conference. And it was, indeed, a pleasure to have old friends visit from afar.
But we do go beyond Confucius in the MMA. We enjoyed old friends, but we also made new ones. One of this year's sessions, in fact, was conceived during the boat cruise in Nashville, where new friends became old friends. Enough of the Great Sage.
As I was thinking about the conference on the drive home, I realized why 've been a member of MMA for nearly two decades. After each conference, I come back recharged with new ideas for both research and teaching, and new friends I hope to see again at the next conference. Some of them have become collaborators and sounding boards, and over time, have come aboard the organization as officers, and helped improve the MMA.
The fall conference is a great example of how the MMA has evolved to meet what its officers perceive as the needs of the members. Nearly a decade ago, the fall meeting was for the officers. Peter Gordon and Bert Kellerman proposed a teaching oriented meeting in St. Louis, and thus was born the sessions, which feature marketing education, scholarship, practitioners, and a social activity (since copied by the MBAA). Again in response to member requests, the board has moved the conference to venues other than St. Louis. We have been blessed with exceptional volunteers to head the conference, including Peter and Burt, and their successors, Judy Wiles, Steve Corbin, Larry Zigler, Ron Taylor, and the steady hand of Marie Steinhoff.
It is trite but true to speak of an organization with great continuity-and great change. Since spring, the changes are quite evident-the transition to a new Executive Director, Charlie Pettijohn, and new newsletter editors, Tanuja Singh and Tim Aurand, a new fall chair, Ron Taylor, and (as always) a new spring program chair in Judy Wiles. The continuities are equally evident-in seasoned officers who have moved through the ranks, building on previous achievements-theirs, and their predecessors. In particular, I would like to thank my predecessors, especially Brian Engelland, Bob Erffmeyer, and Julie Toner, for setting the bar, and helping me to incrementally raise it higher; as well as Michelle Kunz for her energetic development of the new faculty consortium at the fall conference and the patient work of nursing the proceedings to birth; John Bennett for maintaining an invaluable website; and the publication council and editors, who have put us on the academic map.
This organization is in the hands of builders-we're financially stable and going forward with academic and educational pursuits that are enviable. Thank you all for your help. Our next gathering will be in Chicago, for the MBAA, where Program Chair and President-elect Judy Wiles is compiling the assortment of academic and practitioner sessions that have distinguished MMA. I look forward to the pleasure of greeting old friends who have come from afar, and to making practical use of what we have studied.
I hope you can take time to browse through these resources, and if you find additional items that are helpful, share them with the members of MMA. Thanks again to all presenters and attendees at the fall conference. As always, it’s one of the best meetings I attend all year. See you in Chicago, Spring 2005.
Dr. Frederick Hoyt
President, Marketing Management Association
Associate Professor of Business Administration
Illinois Wesleyan University
Bloomington, IL 61761
Marketing Insights is a publication of the Marketing Management Association