Center Directors

Center Directors

Bernd H. Schmitt, Faculty Director

bschmitt (at) globalbrands.org

Bernd Schmitt is the Robert D. Calkins Professor of International Business at Columbia Business School in New York and faculty director of the Center on Global Brand Leadership, the leading global forum on branding issues for researchers and executives.

For the 2011-2013 academic years, Professor Schmitt will also be a visiting professor at Nanyang Business School and will head its new Institute on Asian Consumer Insight (ACI).

He is widely recognized for his major contributions to branding, marketing, and management through his unique focus on creativity, innovation and the customer experience. Schmitt has authored or co-authored seven books which have been translated into 20 languages, including Experiential Marketing (1999), Customer Experience Management (2003), and Big Think Strategy (2007).

He teaches the course Managing Brands, Identity and Experiences, and won an award for innovation in the classroom for the course Corporate Creativity. He has also taught several other courses, including Market Innovation, Consumer Behavior, Advertising Management, Nonprofit Marketing, Luxury Goods Marketing as well as the Marketing core course. He has held visiting appointments in China, Germany, Poland, South Korea, and Singapore.

Schmitt is a frequent keynote speaker at academic and professional conferences worldwide. He has worked with sponsors and clients that include leading companies in the consumer package goods, automobile, electronics, software, financial services, pharmaceuticals, beauty and cosmetics, hospitality, and media industries.

Schmitt's research focuses on language in consumer behavior, experiential marketing, brand management and international business. His research has been published in leading marketing and psychology journals including Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied.

Schmitt has been profiled on CNNfn's "Business Unusual" and has appeared on BBC, CNBC, CNBC-Asia, CNN, NHK and on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He has contributed articles to The New York Times, the Asian Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times.

Matthew Quint, Associate Director

matthew (at) globalbrands.org
Brand Leadership Blog
Matthew Quint is the Associate Director of Columbia Business School's Center on Global Brand Leadership, the leading global forum on branding issues for researchers and executives. Matthew works with the faculty director to develop the Center's overall mission and direction. He also implements the Center's communications strategy, and is the co-producer of the Center's BRITE Conference series. He is the author of the Center's newsletter, Brand Talk, and is responsible for maintaining and editing all of the Center's websites and blogs.

Previously, Matthew held other positions at Columbia University where he developed the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment, and managed print and digital communications materials for Columbia Law School.

Prior to moving to New York City, Matthew was the Assistant Counsellor (Nuclear Science & Technology) at the Embassy of Australia in Washington, DC. He worked as a policy researcher and strategic adviser on science and nuclear policy initiatives undertaken by the Australian government. This included detailed development of the strategy and negotiation effort which led to the extension of the Foreign Research Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel program, a highly regarded non-proliferation initiative involving more than 40 countries.

Matthew has a M.S. in strategic communications from Columbia University and B.A. in political science and history from Cornell University.

David Rogers, Executive Director, BRITE

drogers (at) globalbrands.org

David Rogers is the Executive Director of BRITE at Columbia Business School and the faculty director of the school's Executive Education program on Digital Marketing Strategy. He is the founder and host of the Center on Global Brand Leadership's acclaimed BRITE conference, where leaders from media and business discuss how innovation and technology are transforming the ways we build great brands.

Rogers is a widely recognized leader on digital strategy and brands, known for his unique insights into customer networks. His latest book is The Network Is Your Customer: 5 Strategies to Thrive in a Digital Age, published in 2011 by Yale University Press. He is the co-author, with Bernd Schmitt, of There's No Business That's Not Show Business: Marketing in an Experience Culture and co-editor of The Handbook on Brand and Experience Management.

Rogers speaks at conferences worldwide on the ways that digital trends are transforming business strategy. He received the award for Brand Leadership at the 2009 World Brand Congress. He writes regularly for BNET and has appeared on CNN, CNBC, Marketplace, Reuters, MSN Money, and Channel NewsAsia. David has advised and consulted on marketing and digital strategies for leading companies in the consumer packaged goods, technology, pharmaceutical, food & beverage, telecom, hospitality, non-profit, and media industries.

David is also a composer and musician whose music ("Rhythmically vital!" - The New York Times) has been heard from jazz clubs to Carnegie Hall.

Alison Abodeely, Program Coordinator

contact (at) globalbrands.org
Brand Leadership Blog
Alison Abodeely is the Program Coordinator for Columbia Business School's Center on Global Brand Leadership. Working with the associate director, the executive director of BRITE and the faculty director, she contributes to the planning, management and outreach functions of the Center.

Alison hails from the world of television where she has produced a variety of shows for MTV Networks, both in New York and Los Angeles. Additionally, she was Client Manager with the Visual Communications group at Weber Shandwick. During this time, Alison collaborated with the creative services team on branding and marketing initiatives for top-tier companies, including multicultural outreach for ABSOLUT and Nintendo as well as the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Prior to that, she helped launch an e-philanthropic campaign--TouchDC.org--in conjunction with Washington Grantmakers and AOL Time Warner Foundation.

A familiar face to the corridors of Columbia University, Alison is currently working towards her master's degree in Strategic Communications at Columbia. She also received her B.A. in American Studies and Mass Media from Barnard College.

Olivier Toubia, Research Director

otoubia (at) globalbrands.org
Personal Website
Olivier Toubia is Professor of Marketing at Columbia Business School and the Research Director of Columbia Business School's Center on Global Brand Leadership.

Professor Toubia's research focuses on various aspects of innovation and new product development, including idea generation, idea screening, preference measurement, and the diffusion of innovation. He is the winner of two John Little best paper awards, the Frank Bass outstanding dissertation award, and the John Howard dissertation award. Toubia teaches New Product Development in the MBA and Executive MBA programs.

Some of his recent research efforts have focused on the business value derived from online social networks. These efforts have included analyses of the value sellers derive from being linked together in online social commerce websites like the Amazon Marketplace, as well as the comparative value of promotional efforts launched through traditional direct mail campaigns versus offers provided through online social communities.

Alain Lemaire, Research Coordinator

apl2122 (at) columbia.edu
Alain Lemaire is the research coordinator for the Center on Global Brand Leadership. Currently, he works with Professor Olivier Toubia studying people's interactions on social networks. Prior to joining the Center, Alain interned at International Alliance Associates, a small private equity and business development boutique, where he worked on improving the company's technological infrastructure.

Alain holds a Bachelor of Science in Operations Research from the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Columbia University.

Jin Kyung Han, Director of Research, Asia Pacific

jkhan (at) globalbrands.org

Jin K. Han is Director of Research Asia Pacific of the Center on Global Brand Leadership at Columbia Business School and also Associate Professor of Marketing at Singapore Management University. Based in Singapore, Jin manages research initiatives, conferences, and projects for the Center in the Asia Pacific region. His expertise in the region stems from having worked in academic/research institutions in Hong Kong, Seoul, and Singapore. With areas of interest in strategic brand management, marketing strategy and innovation, Jin has published in top scholarly journals on these topics as well as having advised MNC’s across Asia.