Contact: Michelle De Jean, Northern Illinois University
1(815) 753-8522
April 21, 2008
McKesson Pharmaceutical Group Professor of Sales Dan Weilbaker Named Board Member
DeKalb, Ill., – The Northern Illinois University (NIU) College of Business today announced Dan Weilbaker, McKesson Pharmaceutical Group Professor of Sales in the Marketing Department, was elected as a member of the Board of Directors for the Professional Society for Sales and Marketing Training (SMT).
The SMT is dedicated to improving sales and marketing performance through training. Its membership consists of corporate sales trainers as well as sales training consultants.
Weilbaker is the only academic member on the 12-member SMT board. Other board members include corporate presidents and senior-level executives. Along with his academic duties, Weilbaker also directs the NIU College of Business Professional Sales Program, the first collegiate program ever accredited by the SMT. The college's Professional Sales Program was also named one of 15 "incubators for greatness" by Selling Power Magazine.
"Dan's election as a member of the SMT board recognizes his many important contributions to the field of professional sales education," said Denise Schoenbachler, dean of the NIU College of Business. "Dan represents the college's commitment to bring together the classroom and the business world."
Weilbaker has taught at NIU since 1992 and has distinguished himself as an innovator throughout that time. In addition to helping establish the Professional Sales Program he drew attention for being the first professor in the nation to equip an entire sales class with laptop computers; for creating the world's first study abroad program in sales; and for teaching a nationally-publicized one-day seminar for students on how to conduct business on the golf course.
He also was the first marketing professor in the nation to receive a sponsored professorship in sales. Prior to the McKesson Pharmaceutical Group's sponsorship, the position was sponsored by Philip Morris Companies, UARCO and Standard Register.
Weilbaker earned his Ph.D. degree in Business Administration from the University of South Carolina. He also holds an M.B.A. degree from Ball State University and a B.S. degree in Pharmacy from Purdue University. Before joining the NIU College of Business, Weilbaker served on the business faculty at Ball State University and Bowling Green State University. Earlier, he held sales executive positions in the pharmaceuticals industry.
Editor's note: A photo of Dan Weilbaker is available upon request.
Founded in 1940, the Professional Society for Sales & Marketing Training (SMT) is the only association fully dedicated to accelerating business results for its member organizations by improving sales and marketing performance through training. SMT's vision is to continue its role as the leading resource and authority for the sales and marketing training industries. SMT members include corporations and their inside training executives and practitioners, consultants, suppliers, and academic institutions. SMT's extensive membership covers every industry and company size.
NorthernIllinois University's College of Business enjoys a national reputation for the quality of its programs, faculty, and graduates. Degree programs in the NIU business college combine business fundamentals, thought-leadership and an entrepreneurial mindset to provide students with a clear understanding of the challenges businesses face in a rapidly changing global business environment. Both BusinessWeek and U.S.News and World Report rank the college among the best undergraduate business schools in the nation. For the second consecutive year (2006 – 07), Crain's Chicago Business ranked the college's M.B.A. program among the top Chicago area M.B.A. programs. Fully accredited by the nation's foremost accreditation unit, AACSB International (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), the college has achieved continuous AACSB International accreditation since 1969, placing it among the top schools of business in all three ranking categories: Undergraduate, Graduate, and Accountancy. The NIU College of Business was founded in 1961 and moved into its state-of-the-art facility, Barsema Hall, in 2002. It also offers classes at NIU campuses in Naperville, Hoffman Estates, and Rockford. For more information on the NIU College of Business, visit www.cob.niu.edu.
The Northern Illinois University is a full member of the University Research Association (URA), a unique group of top public and private research universities that includes Harvard, MIT, Princeton, and Yale; among only four percent of all U.S. colleges and universities listed in The Carnegie Foundation's most productive category: "doctoral/research university-extended;" a member of the nation's most prestigious public higher education association, The National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges; and, home of a new scientific center dedicated to research with Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, one of the world's premier high-energy physics research laboratory.
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