Thomas C. Kinnear served as the D. Maynard Phelps Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Marketing at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He was formally Eugene Applebaum Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies and founding Executive Director of the Samuel Zell and Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, former Senior Associate Dean at the Ross School of Business, and former Vice President for Development and Executive Officer for the University. He headed the $1.4 billion Campaign for Michigan in the 1990s.
He has previously held a faculty appointment at the University of Western Ontario Ivey School, and visiting appointments at Harvard University, Stanford University, and the European Management Institute (INSEAD) at Fontainebleau, France. His research activity has resulted in publications in numerous scholarly journals including: the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Marketing Research,the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, and the Journal of Business Research. He is former editor of the Journal of Marketing and former founding editor of theJournal of Public Policy and Marketing.
He is co-author of several books including: Modern Marketing Research, (South Western Cengage),Principles of Marketing (Harper Collins), Marketing Research: An Applied Approach (McGraw-Hill),Promotional Strategy (Richard D. Irwin, Inc.), and Cases in Marketing Management (Irwin, Inc.).
He is currently CEO and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Venture Michigan Corporation, a $450 million venture capital fund of funds, and a member of the National Advertising Review Board of the Better Business Bureau. He is past-Chair of the Board of the American Marketing Association and former Chair of the Board of the American Marketing Association Foundation. He has served or is serving as a member of the Board of Directors or Corporate Advisory Boards for companies and community organizations and is the co-founder or early-stage funder of numerous start-up companies. He is also a Special Limited Partner for Arboretum Ventures, and advisor to EDF Ventures, and RPM Ventures.
He holds an undergraduate degree and LLD (honoris causa) from Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario, an MBA from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Michigan.