Brief Bio

I grew up in upstate New York near Syracuse where I developed a fairly strong dislike of long cold winters. Consequently, it was only logical that I chose the University of Buffalo to spend my undergraduate years. Nevertheless, while there, I met some truly wonderful and inspiring people. Upon completion of my undergraduate studies, I was fortunate to receive a scholarship to enroll in the doctoral program at Arizona State University.

At that time, the department at Arizona State represented one of those unusual time-place dynamic synergies that happens quite rarely in one's life. The faculty were among the best and brightest and also at the perfect point in their professional careers. Indeed, I have always considered myself fortunate to have been given the opportunity to study with such an exceptional group of extremely talented faculty and exceptionally bright fellow graduate students. Upon completing doctoral studies, I moved back to upstate New York where I have been on the faculty at Ithaca College since 1989.

Professional Summary

I am a Professor of Marketing and teach in the areas of Consumer Behavior, Marketing Management for Services, and Pricing.  I also have an appointment in the Hotel School at Cornell University as a Visiting Scholar and Hospitality Research Fellow. My research focuses on the role of customer reward programs and on strategies for creating customer loyalty, rebate programs, and perceptions of price and value among competing hospitality and service products. I have also published several papers that examine the role of restaurant tipping as a form of service evaluation. My work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and has appeared in the Journal of Applied Psychology, the Journal of Socio-Economics, and The Cornell Hospitality Quarterly among others. I am on the editorial boards of the Service Industries Journal, The Journal of Applied Marketing Theory and consult with a variety of service organizations on marketing strategy, pricing, brand loyalty, and methods for increasing customer evaluations of value. In addition, my work has been covered in such popular press outlets as the New York Times, London Financial Times, LA Times, Washington Post, Ottawa Citizen, Las Vegas Sun, USA Today as well as CNBC.

Outside of work, my passion is golf and it is the course where I can be found on any nice warm day. I am even there on days that are not all that nice and warm. Most often, I am playing golf with my two boys, a couple of strong low single digit handicappers. Individually, and in team competition, you can usually find us playing in most of the local, regional, and state events. Despite my location, I am still not all that fond of long snowy winters.