Professor Kumar earned his Ph. D at Purdue University and has previously taught at Vanderbilt University and Rice University. He has won numerous research and teaching awards and has been listed as an outstanding professor by Businessweek. His research interests are in the areas of brand management, service management, decision-making, and on issues at the interface of marketing, finance, and operations.

Professor Kumar's research has appeared in or is forthcoming in leading journals including Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Retailing, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Journal of Service Research, and Advances in Management Accounting. His research has been supported by the Marketing Science Institute, the Institute for the Study of Business Markets, Purdue Research Foundation, and H-E-B Foods. He is also a recent winner of the FeDex Excellence in Service Research Award and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Service Research.

Professor Kumar also holds a B.Tech in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Tehnology, Kanpur, and an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Prior to his Ph.D., he spent several years in product management across a variety of consumer and industrial companies. He has conducted numerous executive seminars at or has consulted with a number of leading organizations including Tyco, BMC Software, Shell Technology Ventures, Gaylord Hotels, Marathon Oil, TVA, Bristol Myers Squibb, Bridgestone Firestone, Louisiana Pacific, GSE International, the Securities Industry Association, the Delta Airline Pilots Association, the Filter Manufacturers' Council, and the Wholesale Florists Association. He has been quoted in or has appeared on NPR Radio, NBC Television, CBS Marketwatch, Oakland Tribune, The Tennessean, Little Rock Democrat Gazette, Commercial Appeal, and the Knoxville News Sentinel.

E-mail: pkumar@terry.uga.edu