// IMC International // About Us / Key People

Dr. V. Kumar (VK) is the Chairman and CEO of IMC International. He has extensive consulting experience working on Marketing Intelligence, Database Marketing, CRM Analytics, and Marketing Strategy projects for several Fortune 500 firms. VK is currently listed in Who's Who Worldwide, for his leadership and achievement in the field of Marketing, and Who's Who among Global Business Leaders for his leadership and quality work.

Dr. V. Kumar (VK) is also the Richard and Susan Lenny Distinguished Chair Professor of Marketing, and Executive Director, Center for Excellence in Brand & Customer Management, J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia. VK was previously the ING Chair Professor, and Executive Director, ING Center for Financial Services at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut. Dr. Kumar teaches a variety of courses including Database Marketing, E-Marketing, Customer Relationship Management, New Product Management, Marketing Models, International Marketing Strategy, International Marketing Research and Multivariate Methods in Business. Dr. Kumar has taught in the MBA Programs in Australia, France, Spain, Holland, and Hong Kong. Dr. Kumar has lectured on marketing related topics at various universities in the U.S., Europe (including INSEAD in France, IESE-Barcelona in Spain, University of Kiel in Germany, Tilburg University and Nijenrode University in Netherlands, Finnish School of Business and Turku School of Business, Finland, Lancaster University, England, and Catholic University at Leuven in Belgium), Australia (e.g., University of Sydney, Queensland University of Technology, Griffith University, University of Queensland, Curtin University), Brazil (FGV University), Turkey (Koc University) and Mexico (Monterrey Institute of Technology, ITESM) and has also conducted numerous executive development seminars in the U.S., Europe and Australia. He has also been invited to be a keynote speaker in many conferences worldwide.

Dr. Kumar has extensive consulting experience working on marketing research projects for companies including IBM, HSBC, P&G, ING, Wells Fargo, ICICI, Pitney Bowes, Chick-fil-A, BP/AMOCO, AOL, MGM Mirage, Polo Ralph Lauren, AllState, PeopleSoft, Sigma Genosys, Houston Cellular, AT&T, Southwestern Bell, Exxon, Builders Square, American Airlines, Coca-Cola Foods, Channelview Bank, DuPont, First Interstate Bank, Houston Lighting and Power, GTE, San Jacinto Girls Scouts, Inc., Scientific Software Intercomp, Inc., and Texas Children�s Hospital. Dr. Kumar has also directed marketing research projects for clients including Coca-Cola Foods, Compaq Computers, Baker-Hughes, Houston Northwest Medical Center, The Daily Cougar Newspaper, Arch Chemicals, IKON, Bristol Myers Squibb, ABB, etc. Dr. Kumar is an expert on working with customer databases to build efficient direct marketing and database marketing programs for Fortune 500 firms dealing with consumer and industrial products. He also builds models and develops marketing programs with the point-of-sale retail scanner data. Dr. Kumar also interacts with A. C. Nielsen and Information Resources, Inc. in analyzing large scanner databases. Dr. Kumar has also served as expert witness in lawsuits related to market opportunities. He also served on the board of the business research division of one of the fastest growing advertising agencies in the United States of America for over five years and has also served on the Board of one of the Aditya Birla Group of companies.

Dr. Kumar�s has developed sophisticated statistical models and creative marketing strategies for solving marketing problems. Some of these models were implemented by IBM and P&G Asia Pacific recently where they reported gains in profits of over 20 million and 40 million dollars respectively. Dr. Kumar was recently recognized by the INFORMS Marketing Science Society for his work on Customer Lifetime Value based applications to IBM, and Marketing-Mix modeling based applications to P &G Asia Pacific. He also won the $100,000 Academic-Practitioner Challenge sponsored by ISBM/MSI/Northwestern University in 2006-07 for developing the most relevant and rigorous body of knowledge to solve B2B business problems.

Dr. Kumar received the 2007 Teaching Excellence Award, and 2007 MBA Teacher of the Year Award at the University of Connecticut, 1996 Melcher Award for Faculty Excellence in Teaching, 1994 NationsBank Master Teaching Award and the Melcher Faculty Teaching Excellence Award for five years between 1990-94 and 1995-96 at the University of Houston. For the academic year 1991-92, Dr. Kumar also has been recognized as the recipient of the University of Houston Teaching Excellence Award.

Dr. V. Kumar received the 2002-2003 Best Paper Award as well as the 2003 Research Excellence Award at the School of Business, University of Connecticut. He was also awarded the 1999 and 1997 Melcher Award for Faculty Excellence in Research, the 1994 College of Business Alumni Association Distinguished Faculty Award, the Kent Electronics Computer Research Excellence Award (1990-91) and the Melcher Faculty Research Excellence Award (1989, 1998 and 2000) at the University of Houston.

Dr. Kumar has several areas of special interest that include measuring Customer Lifetime Value, modeling diffusion of cellular services, analysis of scanner data, E-Commerce, Direct Marketing, developing new models and methodologies to forecast sales and market share, and identify market segments, Total Quality Management, Customer Satisfaction, and International Marketing. He has published over 125 articles in leading academic journals including the Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, Journal of Marketing, Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing Research, Management Science, Operations Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Retailing, International Journal of Forecasting, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Direct Marketing, Marketing Letters, and the Journal of International Marketing, and in many other international journals such as Australasian Journal of Market Research and Revista de Estadistica as well as in the proceedings of many national conferences in the U.S and abroad, books and book chapters. He has won several awards for his research publications in scholarly journals including the Don Lehmann Award twice (in 2002 and in 2005) for the best paper published in the Journal of Marketing/Journal of Marketing Research in a 2-year period, the MSI/Paul H Root Award twice for the 2003 and 2005 Journal of Marketing articles contributing to the best practice of marketing, the Outstanding Paper Award for the best paper published in Forecasting form the International Institute of Forecasters, and the Best Runner-Up Award for the paper published in 2005 in the Journal of Interactive Marketing. In 2008, VK was awarded the Sheth Foundation Best Paper Award for his paper published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. In 2009, VK was a finalist for the Harold H. Maynard Award for his paper that Best contributed to advancing the theory of marketing in the Journal of Marketing.

Dr. Kumar is a worldwide expert on marketing research methods and Customer Relationship Management Strategy. He has lectured on International Marketing Research in many continents. He has co-authored texts titled Marketing Research, 9th edition and Customer Relationship Management: A Databased Approach which were published recently. His other books include Essentials of Marketing Research, II edition, and International Marketing Research. His books have been translated into many languages (Chinese, Portuguese, Macedonian, Russian, and Spanish) worldwide. His book titled �Managing Customers for Profit� was just released by The Wharton School Publishing and is being translated in to 6 different languages worldwide. Dr. Kumar also authored a book titled �Customer Lifetime Value: The Path to Profitability� (Now Publishers, The Netherlands) which was released in September 2008.

Dr. Kumar is the Associate Editor for the International Journal of Forecasting and the Journal of Retailing and serves on the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, the Journal of International Marketing, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science and the Journal of Business Research. He also serves as a Guest Editor for the Journal of Marketing and Journal of Marketing Research. He is also a reviewer for the Management Science, Marketing Science, Journal of Strategic Marketing, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Advertising, and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.

Dr. Kumar is a member of the American Marketing Association, the International Institute of Forecasters, the Academy of Marketing Science, and the INFORMS (and the TIMS College on Marketing). He has served as a Track Chair, and Faculty Consortium Chair in the Academy of Marketing Science Conferences. Dr. Kumar was selected to co-chair the American Marketing Association's Summer Educators' Conference at Chicago in August 1992. He served as the Director of the Doctoral Program in Marketing at the University of Houston from 1992 to 1997. Dr. Kumar has served as a judge for three consecutive years in the "Houston Awards for Quality" Program. He also served on the Academic Council of the American Marketing Association as a Senior Vice-President for Conferences and Research and as the Vice-President of International Activities. Dr. Kumar currently serves on the Insurance and Financial Services Related Task Force organized by the Hartford Chamber of Commerce and has been elected again to serve on the Academic Council of the American Marketing Association as well its Knowledge Coalition Task Force, and the AMA Finance Committee.

Dr. Kumar was recently cited as one of the top five ranked scholars in marketing worldwide. Recently, he was recognized with two Lifetime Contributions Award for advancing the Theory and Practice of Marketing Strategy, and B2B Marketing. He was also recognized as a Marketing Guru by the IIT Kharagpur Alumni Association in 2006. A member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, Dr. Kumar received his Bachelors in Engineering (with Honors) and Masters in Industrial Management (with Honors) from the Indian Institute of Technology, and his Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Kumar is happily married to Aparna and blessed with two lovely daughters - Anita and Prita. Aparna is a dedicated homemaker using her master's degree in English Literature effectively by copy-editing Dr Kumar's books and articles for gratis. Anita has completed her Masters Degree at New York University and is currently involved in an entrepreneurial venture, FitMapped. She is also happily married to Rohan. Prita graduated from Stern, New York University and is now working for a private equity firm. Prita will be joining Harvard Business School in 2012. Both Anita and Prita keep their dad busy by competing for his time and attention.