Bruce J. Walker is the Lansford Professor of Leadership and Professor of Marketing at the Trulaske College of Business at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He served as dean of the school business school for 20 years, making the transition from dean to faculty member on September 1, 2010. He was the recipient of the 2008 Pacheco Academic Leadership Award, which is presented to one administrator across the four UM campuses each year.
His research focused primarily on franchising, marketing channels and survey research methods and has appeared in numerous journals, including Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Retailing, and California Management Review. He is co-author of Marketing, a college-level introductory textbook that is used in business schools around the world.
Dr. Walker is a member of the board of directors of Boone County National Bank and Walsworth Publishing Company. He has also served as board vice president for the Missouri Innovation Center-Columbia and the task force that established Centennial Investors, an early-stage venture-capital program in mid-Missouri. In July 2010, he was appointed to the steering committee for the State of Missouri Strategic Initiative for Economic Growth.
Dr. Walker has been actively involved with the United Way, both at MU and in Columbia. He and his wife co-chaired the community-wide fund-raising effort in 1999, and he later served as United Way board president. He received his undergraduate degree in economics from Seattle University and his masters and PhD degrees in business from the University of Colorado.
Professor Walker was a member of the marketing faculties at the University of Kentucky and then at Arizona State University. He moved to the University of Missouri in 1990. He has taught a variety of courses, including principles of marketing. Dr. Walker has also co-edited or co-authored conference proceedings and books, including Retailing Today. He has been involved with both the American Marketing Association and the Western Marketing Educators Association. He served as vice president of Education Division of AMA and president of WMEA.
