Three Prominent Academics Recipients of the Direct Selling Education Foundation Circle of Honor Award

Dr. Victoria L. Crittenden, Babson College; Dr. Linda Ferrell, Auburn University; and Dr. Greg W. Marshall, Rollins College Recognized for Outstanding Achievement

Washington, DC—June 2019— The 2019 inductees into the DSEF Circle of Honor are Dr. Victoria Crittenden, Professor of Marketing and Babson Research Scholar at Babson College; Dr. Linda Ferrell, Marketing Department Chair and Professor of Marketing at Auburn University; and Dr. Greg W. Marshall, The Charles Harwood Professor of Marketing & Strategy at the Crummer School of Business at Rollins College. All three sit on DSEF’s Academic Advisory Council and have held seats on its Board of Directors.

The Direct Selling Education Foundation (DSEF) announced the recipients of its highest honor at the Direct Selling Association’s Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas, on June 3, 2019. Created in 1988, the DSEF Circle of Honor recognizes direct selling industry leaders and academics who have made extraordinary contributions to the Foundation through personal efforts, involvement, and commitment to the mission and purpose of DSEF.

“For decades Vicky, Linda and Greg have brought significant value to the Foundation and the industry through their expertise, thought partnership and extensive networks,” said Gary Huggins, DSEF Executive Director. “Since 2016, when DSEF introduced a three-year plan to deepen our relationships with the academic community, the three have worked tirelessly to help us grow our Fellows program, publish direct selling-related research, include direct selling in textbooks, launch a new Doctoral Sales Grant Program, and help shape the vision for the Foundation of the future.”

Dr. Crittenden has published extensively on Strategic Marketing, Business Research, and Personal Selling. She’s currently the Collections Editor for Digital Social Marketing and Advertising; and Editor of the book, Go To Market Strategies for Women.

Dr. Ferrell has published research on the Sharing Economy and Supply Chain Management; Direct Selling: High Touch Embraces, High Tech, and Understanding Business Ethics; CSR, and Brand Attitude.

She also co-authors several leading textbooks, including: Introduction to Business, and Business Ethics; and Business and Society.

Dr. Marshall led the launch of DSEF’s new Doctoral Sales Grant Program, which provides recipients with a valuable research or dissertation opportunity and recognizes the integral role that sales excellence plays in the ongoing success of the direct selling channel. He also co-authors the textbook Marketing: Real People, Real Choices.

Huggins said that Drs. Crittenden, Ferrell and Marshall played an integral role in helping exceed the Foundations’ three-year goals, helping educate more than 70,000 university students about the direct selling channel of distribution and building the DSEF Fellows Program to more than 200 academic leaders across the country.

ABOUT DSEF
For more than 40 years, DSEF has partnered with members of the academic community to support research and education programs. These programs expand the knowledge and understanding of the fundamental principles of direct selling. The Foundation works with more than 200 professors in a variety of disciplines—such as entrepreneurship, marketing, ethics, sales, consumer studies, business and economics—to develop direct selling-related academic research, case studies and teaching content. In 2018, retail sales from direct selling were more than $35.4 billion annually and currently there are more than 6.2 million U.S. entrepreneurs selling in either a part-time or full-time basis, and more than more than 36.6 million people actively buying through the direct sales channel.

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