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Dr. Robert J. Thomas
Bob Thomas is a Professor and former Senior Associate Dean
at The McDonough School of Business
at Georgetown University. From 1987 to 1990 he served as the Associate
Dean of Graduate Business Programs at Georgetown. In this capacity,
he directed the Georgetown MBA program, and chaired the committees
that led to the design of an innovative globalized general management
curriculum and a restructuring of the graduate business admissions
process.
Bob received his doctorate in Marketing from the Wharton School at the
University of Pennsylvania. His
dissertation on organizational buying behavior won first place in
the 1981 Academy of Marketing Science dissertation competition. In
1982 he joined the faculty at The McDonough School of Business, after
a two year visiting position at Wharton. He has taught courses in New Product
Development, Marketing Management, and Marketing Research and numerous executive education seminars
and courses in the U.S. and several countries.
Bob has published over forty articles in the areas of new product development, organizational
buying behavior, and forecasting. He recently recevied a grant from the Marketing Science Institute and APICS to
study the impact of global logistics on new product design. His book, New Product Development:
Managing and Forecasting for Strategic Success was a featured selection of the Fortune Book Club. His most
recent book, New Product Success Stories: Lessons From Leading Innovators, has also been
published on tape by Fast Track Publishing Company. He is on the Editorial Boards of the Journal
of Product Innovation Management, Advances in Business Marketing and Purchasing, and is an active member in
several academic associations, including the American Marketing Association, The
Institute of Management Sciences, and the Product Development and Management Association
(PDMA). He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the PDMA. His research interests are in the area
of new product development, market segmentation, and forecasting.
Bob has consulted with over fifty organizations in a wide variety of industries and cultures, including both consumer
and industrial products and services. He has worked with large and small clients on short-term projects and long-term
assignments. These assignments include strategic market planning, new product development, segmentation, forecasting,
model building, and planning and executing numerous marketing research projects. In addition, he has provided written
and oral testimony in an expert capacity before several regulatory groups, including the Federal Communications
Commission, the United States Postal Rate Commission, and the International Trade Commission.