Benson P. ("Ben") Shapiro, the School's former Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing, has left full-time teaching at HBS to concentrate on research, writing, public speaking, and consulting. A well-known authority on marketing strategy and sales management, with particular interests in pricing, product-line planning, and marketing organization, Shapiro was a member of the School's faculty for 27 years. He will continue to teach in select HBS Executive Education programs.

"I cherish the memories and relationships of my career at HBS," says Shapiro, who has long been admired at the School for his congeniality and wit in addition to his professional achievements. "I would never have accomplished so much or had as much fun anywhere else. But I know that if I want to do all the other things I have planned, I've got to start on it now. At 55, the time is right for a change."

At the School, Shapiro taught a wide variety of MBA courses, among them Industrial Marketing, Sales Management, Creative Marketing Strategy, and Integrated Product Line Management. He also taught in many Executive Education programs and held various administrative positions, including senior associate dean for Publications, director of Research, head of the required MBA Marketing course, and faculty chair of Strategic Marketing Management.

Shapiro is the author, coauthor, or editor of fourteen books, among them Seeking Customers and Keeping Customers (both coedited with HBS associate professor John J. Sviokla), and nineteen Harvard Business Review articles, including "Leveraging to Beat the Odds: The New Marketing Mind-Set" and "Staple Yourself to an Order." He has served as a consultant to more than 170 companies and has taught in more than 100 executive education programs outside Harvard.

Shapiro, whose new office is located in Concord, Massachusetts, will continue to pursue independent research in areas such as performance-based pricing, software pricing, and professional-service pricing; the management of large, industrial sales accounts; and industrial product-line management. "Particularly with this last topic, the issues have become so complex that no one in academia has been able to keep up with them," he comments. "It will be a luxury to spend more time studying this area."

Shapiro will continue to teach in HBS executive education offerings such as the Owner/President Management Program and the Presidents' Seminar. "I look forward to maintaining my HBS relationships through the years ahead," he concludes.

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