DSEF launched the Fellows Program to support educational and research efforts to foster a deeper understanding of the direct selling channel and its impact. We now have more than 150 Fellows around the world from a wide range of disciplines – management, marketing, economics, entrepreneurship, sales, consumer studies – and provide them a rich offering of benefits and opportunities.

DSEF warmly welcomes our newest Fellows:

Dr. Ryan Mullins
Associate Professor
Clemson University

Dr. Lili Gai
Assistant Professor of Marketing
University of Texas of the Permian Basin

Dr. Laurie Babin
Professor of Marketing
The University of Louisiana Monroe

Dr. Robert “Bob” Reich
Assistant Professor
Lynn University

Dr. Brandon Gustafson
Assistant Professor of Marketing
Oakland University

Dr. Peter Whalen
Associate Professor of Marketing & Entrepreneurship
Ave Maria University

Dr. David “Dave” Locander
Assistant Professor of Marketing
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Dr. Erich Toncre
Director of Marketing Education and Assistant Professor of Professional Practice
Rutgers University

Dr. Barry Babin
M.P. Watson Professor of Business
Louisiana Tech University

Dr. Jung-Hwan Kim
Associate Professor of Retailing
University of South Carolina

Dr. Ali Besharat
Associate Professor of Marketing
Co-director of Consumer Insights and Business Innovation Center
University of Denver

Dr. William “Bill” Moncrief
Senior Associate Dean
Texas Christian University

Dr. Kate Karniouchina
Dean, Lokey School of Business and Public Policy;
Associate Professor of Business
Glenn and Ellen Voyles Professor
Mills College

Dr. Tracy Couto
Director of the Savage Center for Reflective Leadership;
Director of the Global Jesuit Case Series
Le Moyne College

Dr. Cindy Rippe
Assistant Professor of Marketing
Flagler College

Dr. Lisa Beeler
Assistant Professor of Marketing;
Director of Diversity and Internships for the Ralph and Luci Schey Sales Center
Ohio University

Dr. Montressa Washington
Assistant Professor of Management;
Co-Director of Shenandoah University’s Institute for Entrepreneurship
Shenandoah University

Dr. Jeremy Wolter
Assistant Professor of Marketing
Auburn University

Dr. Stefanie Boyer
Associate Professor of Marketing
Bryant University

 Dr. William “Bill” Steiger
Associate Lecturer of Marketing
University of Central Florida

Matthew “Matt” Read
Professor of Practice
Le Moyne College

During the DSA’s Annual Meeting in June, a group of exceptionally accomplished Fellows, Dr. Victoria Crittenden, Professor & Chair, Marketing Division of Babson College; Dr. Haya Ajjan, Associate Professor of Management Information Systems of Elon University; Dr. Anne Coughlan, Polk Bros. Chair in Retailing & Prof. of Marketing of Northwestern University; and Dr. Robert Peterson, John T. Stuart III Centennial Chair in Business Administration at University of Texas at Austin, shared new insights on how to empower a salesforce during a panel discussion titled “Your Distributors as Social Media Agents, Skilled Professionals and Emerging Market Entrepreneurs.”

This all-star panel covered how positive and negative sentiments exchanged on Facebook through “likes” and “shares” affect sales performance and satisfaction; which types of turnkey technology, training and communication are empowering direct sellers in emerging markets; and the 14 professional skills gained through the direct selling experience and how to use them to market and recruit.

At DSA’s Annual Meeting in June, 29 DSEF Fellows joined the Foundation for a Learning Journey to discover firsthand the challenges and topics important to the direct selling community.

To kick-off this academic learning experience, DSEF Academic Advisory Committee Member and DSEF Board Member, Dr. Victoria Crittenden, Professor and Chair, Marketing Division, Babson College, lent her leadership in a workshop before the conference began that illustrated the opportunities of the DSEF Fellows program.

Dr. Crittenden explained, the importance of having it for the Fellows in attendance. “The DSEF Fellows Workshop is always a great event at the DSA Annual Meeting. This year, we heard from eight Fellows about how they are bringing direct selling to their college campuses, individual classrooms, and research.” she said. “It was especially exciting to hear how some of our newest Fellows are already active in their engagement with direct selling executives and with the DSEF. In addition to the workshop, the conviviality among the Fellows was dynamic this year. Not surprisingly, several of the Fellows took that dynamism to the Casino floor, which was great fun.”

Dr. Crittenden planned and moderated the workshop designed to demonstrate how Fellows can collaborate with DSEF on research, campus events, experiential learning projects, etc. and inspire Fellows to become active, productive partners. These workshop interactions often lead to new teaching content that will ultimately reach 60,000 students a year, channel-validating research to help the industry counter misconceptions and executive visits to university campuses, to share real-world business experiences with students.