Thomas S. Robertson is the Joshua J. Harris Professor and Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. An expert in marketing strategy and competitive behavior, his recent research has focused on ephemerality in retailing and the forecasting of retail sales. Dr. Robertson is author, co-author or editor of a dozen books and almost 100 scholarly articles and book chapters. He has won numerous awards for his scholarship and has lectured widely in North and Central America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa.
In 2014 Dr. Robertson completed a seven-year term as Dean of the Wharton School. In this role he raised substantial financial resources for the School, while championing global engagement, a strong culture of innovation, and business as a force for good. Under his leadership Wharton implemented a new MBA curriculum, a new initiative in public policy, creation of modular courses which run in ten countries, a research and teaching campus in Beijing, a commitment to lifelong learning for Wharton alumni, and the design of a portfolio of online courses reaching over two million participants worldwide.
Prior to his Wharton deanship, Dr. Robertson held posts at Emory University. He was Dean of Emory’s Goizueta Business School and is widely credited with positioning the school to compete as an international leader in business education. He also served as Chair of International Strategy, and founding Executive Faculty Director of the Institute for Developing Nations, a joint-venture research initiative with The Carter Center and President Jimmy Carter.
From 1994 to 1998, he served as Deputy Dean of the London Business School in charge of the School’s portfolio of degree and non-degree programs. In addition to his appointments at Wharton, Emory and London Business School, Dr. Robertson has held faculty positions at UCLA’s Anderson School and Harvard Business School.
Dr. Robertson is an active board member in the university and corporate domains. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Sorbonne, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Carlyle Group. Formerly, he was a director of CRA International, a trustee of Singapore Management University, and served on the Advisory Boards of Tsinghua University, Guanghua School of Management (Peking University) and Indian School of Business.
Born in Scotland, Robertson holds an M.A. in sociology and a Ph.D. in business from Northwestern University. He is married to Diana C. Robertson, Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the Wharton School, who serves as Wharton’s Vice Dean for Undergraduate Education. They have three grown children.
Creating Space for Creativity: Wharton’s IDEATHON 2020