I graduated as the valedictorian of my class from Northwestern High School (in Clark Country, just outside of Springfield). While in high school I was involved in almost everything--I was captain of the basketball, cross country, and track teams, was drum major of the marching band, participated in the Spanish Club, and had 9 consecutive years of perfect attendance.  I started college at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, but after two years of cold winters I transferred to Arizona State University, where I received a BA degree in Mathematics.

I started to work at Honeywell Information Systems right after graduating from college.  I worked at Honeywell for 10 years (in 1987 this division was sold to Bull HN Information Systems).  My responsibilities at Honeywell/Bull started with computer programming and evolved to project management.  Toward the end of my career at Bull I managed a team of eight engineers from six countries.  In the mid-1980s I began to pursue an MBA degree from Arizona State University.  However, before entering the MBA program I had no previous formal education in business, so I had to take many required prerequisite courses.  Going to school part-time while working full-time, I took about 5 years to complete the program.

Before I got married (in 1985), I was an active guy who liked to stay busy doing many different things.  I went hang-gliding, hiked across Grand Canyon (rim-to-rim-to-rim!) and down Havasupai Canyon, played tennis, basketball, and softball, and took several girls out on creative dates.  I met my wife Candy on a Christian leadership training trip to Europe.  Our first (creative) date was in Lucerne, Switzerland!  Cities of some of our subsequent dates included Rome, Athens, Nairobi, Jerusalem, and Edinburgh.  After we returned to the states, we dated long-distance for about a year and then were married.  We have been married for 23 years now, and have two daughters: Samantha (14 years old) and Mallory (11 years old).

Two factors were instrumental in my decision to pursue a career as a professor.  One influencing factor is the Services Marketing class I took (from Mary Jo Bitner) as part of my MBA program.  My interest in this area helped me in deciding to pursue an academic career in marketing, particularly services marketing.  The second factor is related to my experience as the Basketball Coach at Arizona College of the Bible.  I coached at the school for six years.  In spite of my coaching we had several good seasons, including a fifth place finish in the NBCAA tournament in 1988-89.  And, we even beat Paul Westphal’s team, Southwestern, before he became head coach of the Phoenix Suns!  (That is, he went on to become an NBA head coach of the Phoenix Suns and Seattle SuperSonics.)  I found I really enjoyed the college environment, so in 1990 I left my position at Bull and began studies at ASU (again).

During my PhD program at ASU, I did consulting work with several firms, including Dial Corporation’s Restaura Division, AT&T’s Long Distance Services Division, First Interstate Bank of Arizona, Walker Research--CSM Worldwide, and a large dental practice in Tempe, Arizona.  I have developed research interests in several areas, including services marketing, customer loyalty, relationship marketing, and word-of-mouth communication.  I completed my PhD degree in 1995 and taught at the University of Idaho for five years.  This is my ninth year at Bowling Green State University.  I have taught several different classes, including Principles of Marketing, Services Marketing, Marketing on the Internet, and Consumer Behavior.  I have also taught a class on Servicescape Design.  

I am a Christian, although I usually do not discuss religious issues in the classroom...in accordance with State of Ohio guidelines.  (I would certainly be willing to have further discussions on this topic with anyone outside of class.)   My family attended Cedar Creek Church (in Perrysburg) for seven years and now attend Grace Church in Perrysburg (you'll often see my wife singing with a vocal team during worship services wherever we attend).  

I like to travel, and have spoken at conferences in Sweden and Austria (1996), the Netherlands (2002), France (2003), and England (2008).  I have also been invited to speak at universities in the Netherlands (1998, 2002, 2008), New Zealand (2001), Australia (2001), Italy (2002), Switzerland (2002, 2003, 2004, and 2006), Germany (2002, 2004, 2006, 2007), France (2004, 2006, 2007, 2008), Spain (2005), Sweden (2006, 2007), England (2006, 2008), and Norway (2007).  I received a Fulbright Scholarship from the U.S. Government for Spring, 2006, and as a result I taught and conducted research at Maastricht University in The Netherlands.