Michael J. Ahearne is Associate Professor of Marketing and Research Director of the Program for Sales Excellence. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Houston, he was a professor at the University of Connecticut and Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Ahearne has been a visiting professor at Emory University, ESSEC School of Business in France, and the University of Ghent in Belgium. He has both a Ph.D. and MS in Marketing with a minor in Decision Sciences from Indiana University. He has a Masters in Business in Operations and a BS in Mathematics with distinction from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He has taught undergraduate, graduate, and executive courses in Marketing Management, Marketing Research, Sales Management, Sales Technology and eBusiness, and Global and Key Account Management.

Dr. Ahearne's research examines factors influencing the performance of salespeople, sales teams and sales organizations. His most recent research has focused on sales force automation and customer relationship management. Dr. Ahearne has published in the Journal of Marketing, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Journal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management and the Journal of Management.

His research on technology and marketing has been profiled in Business 2.0, Business Investors Daily, and INC Magazine as well as many other news outlets. He regularly presents his research at a number of national forums including the American Marketing Association, the Academy of Marketing Science, the European Marketing Association, the American Statistical Association and the Marketing Science Conference. He serves as a reviewer for the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Business Research, and Industrial Marketing Management.

Dr. Ahearne has substantial experience conducting marketing research in the health care and pharmaceutical industry. Prior to entering academia he worked for at Eli Lilly and Company and PCS Healthcare were he designed research and trained research personnel. He currently works as a consultant for a number of companies in the sales technology and pharmaceutical industries.