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Robert Palmatier is a professor of marketing, and he holds the John C. Narver Chair of Business Administration at the Foster School. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, as well as an MBA from Georgia State University and his doctoral degree from the University of Missouri. He did post-doctoral research at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Prior to entering academia, Professor Palmatier held various industry positions, including president and COO of C&K Components and European general manager and sales and marketing manager at Tyco-Raychem Corporation. He also served as a US Navy Lieutenant onboard nuclear submarines.

Professor Palmatier’s research interests focus on relationship marketing, channels, sales management, and marketing strategy. His research has appeared in Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, Marketing Letters, and International Journal of Research in Marketing. He has also published the leading textbook Marketing Channel Strategy, a monograph entitled Relationship Marketing, and chapters in various texts, including Channel Relationships, Relationship Marketing, Anti-Relationship Marketing: Understanding Relationship Destroying Behaviors, and Understanding the Relational Ecosystem in a Connected World. His research has also been featured in The New York Times Magazine, Electrical Wholesaling, Agency Sales, and The Representor, as well as on NPR and MSNBC.

He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, which in a recent study was rated third of all marketing journals in 5-year impact factor. In addition, he serves as an area editor for Journal of Marketing, Professor Palmatier sits on the editorial review boards for Journal of Retailing and Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing. His publications have received multiple awards, including the Harold H. Maynard, Lou W. Stern, and the American Marketing Association Best Services Article awards. He teaches marketing strategy in the doctoral, EMBA, and MBA programs at University of Washington.

Among the numerous industry and governmental committees on which Professor Palmatier has served, he chaired proposal selection committees for the National Research Council (NRC), National Academy of Sciences (NAS), and the Wright Centers of Innovation, which awarded grants of $20 million for the development of a new Wright Center of Innovation based on joint academic–industry proposals. He has served on NASA’s Computing, Information, and Communications Advisory Group, with the AMES Research Center. This advisory group assesses the current state of technology development within academia, governmental agencies, and industry related to NASA’s information technology activities and space exploration requirements; recommends future investment areas; and outlines a sustainable process to ensure optimal investment strategies and technology portfolios for NASA’s Space Exploration Enterprise. He also consults and serves as an expert witness for numerous companies including: Alston+Bird, Paul Hastings, Microsoft, Telstra, Starbucks, Emerson, Fifth Third Bank, Wells Fargo, Genie, Cincom, World Vision, and Belkin.