Katie Claussen Bell, MBA '23
Executive Director, Kilts Center for Marketing
Katie Claussen Bell, MBA '23
Kilts Center Year in Review 2025 Advancing Marketing Theory and Practice at Chicago Booth
The Kilts Center has continued its commitment to supporting Chicago Booth’s marketing community by offering scholars access to a rich archive of consumer datasets, expanding its vast library of research papers, and fostering connections through programs and activities.
What makes this possible are the collective efforts and generous contributions of our community.
We are grateful for our partnerships with nine data companies, whose resources have supported academic scholars and expanded the Center’s research library. We also appreciate the dozens of alumni who have dedicated their time and expertise to helping current students prepare for careers in product and brand management, as well as Booth’s marketing faculty and PhD students, who have convened to share ideas and advance scholarship.
This 2025 report pays tribute to these and many other members of our community who have been instrumental in our success.
Jean-Pierre Dubé
James M. Kilts Distinguished Service Professor of Marketing and Charles E. Merrill Faculty Scholar
Jean-Pierre DubéSnapshots of Our Year
Incoming MBA students visit the Kilts Center during Student Orientation
Students engage with alumni at Marketing and Management Forum
Connecting at the Ann Mukherjee Marketing Summit
Posting on the ideas wall at Ann Mukherjee Marketing Summit
Students celebrate success in the Kilts Case Competition
Incoming students learn about the Kilts Center at Open House
Students and alumni connect and celebrate success at the Kilts Case Competition
Ann Mukherjee, AB '87, MBA '94 and Thomas S. Ricketts, AB '88, MBA '93 speak at the Ann Mukherjee Marketing Summit
Alumni engage at the London Booth Marketing Summit
Professor Chad Syverson presents at Ann Mukherjee Marketing Summit
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Data Relationships and Research
Fueling multidisciplinary academic research, the Kilts Center's data repository contains 14 datasets from 9 different companies, including Consumer Edge, Nielsen, NielsenIQ, Numerator, PDI Technologies, Syndigo, TransUnion, Price-Trak, and Visa.
2,000
The Center supported 2,000 global academic scholars who were actively using the data for multidisciplinary research.
550
Researchers registered 550 new projects this past year.
1,000
The Center collected an additional 1,000 working papers, publications, and presentations that feature data from the Kilts archive.
25 Business-Friendly Articles
Chicago Booth Review published 25 business-friendly articles spotlighting research by Booth marketing faculty and other scholars drawing on Kilts Center data. Here is a selection:
Consumers Say They Care about ESG, but Don’t Spend Like They Do
After learning about a company’s ESG activities, shoppers made only small and temporary adjustments to their buying habits.
Consumers Say They Care about ESG, but Don’t Spend Like They Do
The Economy Looms Larger Than It Used to in Shoppers’ Decisions
A Q&A with Chicago Booth’s Sanjay K. Dhar on how changing household fortunes drive consumer behavior
The Economy Looms Larger Than It Used to in Shoppers’ Decisions
‘Junk Food’ Taxes Could Help Curb Obesity
People with higher BMIs are more sensitive to higher prices on ‘vice’ foods than other consumers.
‘Junk Food’ Taxes Could Help Curb Obesity
Smartphone Apps Can Give Startups a Big Boost
Research analyzed their impact in an emerging market.
Smartphone Apps Can Give Startups a Big Boost
How to Make Healthy Food More Appealing to Americans
Describing how dishes are made increases people’s appetite for them.
How to Make Healthy Food More Appealing to Americans
Late Deliveries Annoy Customers . . . but Don’t Have To
Consumers prefer a time frame to an exact ETA—as long as it isn’t too big a range.
Late Deliveries Annoy Customers . . . but Don’t Have To
Could Depression Influence Grocery Choices?
Data from 112,000 households provide some clues.
Could Depression Influence Grocery Choices?1 of 1
Events and Alumni Engagement
13 Alumni Executives
At Marketing and Management Forum 13 senior-level alumni with backgrounds in marketing, product, innovation, digital, and general management led small-group roundtable discussions with over 100 MBA and Specialized Masters Program students.
250+ Alumni
Engaged with the Kilts Center by sponsoring marketing lab projects, speaking at events, mentoring students, sharing thought leadership, and more.
4,700 Event Registrations
From alumni events to student career workshops to academic conferences, Kilts programs attracted thousands of participants from the Chicago Booth community and beyond. On many occasions, the Center partnered with student-led groups, other research centers, and faculty leaders, to host these events.
130+ MBA Students
The Kilts Center’s Tech PM/PMM and CPG Case Interview Prep Workshops brought together 18 alumni volunteers to coach more than 130 MBA students. Students refined their interview skills, gained insight into recruiter expectations, and learned directly from industry practitioners.
40 Alumni Mentors
The Kilts Center Alumni Mentor Network connects Kilts Fellows with accomplished alumni, who provide career guidance, industry insights, and support. This program strengthens the Kilts community across generations and helps aspiring MBA students prepare for their careers.
— Furkan Akyurek, MBA Class of 2026
12 New Kilts Fellows
In FY25, the Center welcomed 12 new Kilts Fellows from the full-time, evening, and weekend MBA programs. These specially-selected students had access to a range of exclusive opportunities that helped enrich their Chicago Booth experience.
Front row, left to right: Emma Winburne, Sampada Bhootna, Lorena Leite, Ribicca Mamuye, Keya Amin. Back row, left to right: Julia Fischer, Kyle Balog, Natalie Chun, Kuan-Lin (Fermin) Liu. Not pictured: David Rak-Hyung Kim, Andre Soravassi do Carmo, Elaine Zhou.
— Lorena Prates, Kilts Fellow and MBA Class of 2026
Alumni Thought Leaders
Pursuing a Vision for a Healthier Economy
Veteran tech executive Christina Van Houten, MBA ’96, has a new company aimed at improving healthcare outcomes and costs through an AI-assisted intelligence platform.
Pursuing a Vision for a Healthier Economy
How AI is Reshaping Personalized Marketing
At the 2025 Ann Mukherjee Marketing Summit, Booth faculty and alumni leaders examined AI’s power to connect brands to customers.
How AI is Reshaping Personalized Marketing
AI Insights for Marketing and Business
Get highlights from the Kilt’s Center’s London Marketing Summit 2024.
AI Insights for Marketing and BusinessChicago Booth Marketing Faculty
James M. Kilts, Jr. Clinical Professor of Marketing
Kilts Center's founder, Jim Kilts, continued his remarkable support of the school by providing a generous gift to establish the James M. Kilts Jr. Clinical Professorship in Marketing, Booth’s first named clinical professorship in marketing, which was awarded to clinical professor Art Middlebrooks, MBA '88.
240+ Scholars Convened
More than 240 scholars convened this year through the Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME) Conference and the inaugural New Data for Consumer Insights Conference. Together, these programs fostered rigorous discussion, showcased cutting-edge research, and strengthened Chicago Booth's leadership in quantitative and behavioral marketing.
Our faculty regularly receive recognition for their research and expertise. Last academic year the following faculty were honored for their work:
Daniel Bartels
was named the Robert S. Hamada Professor of Marketing. He was also the associate editor for Cognition.
Daniel Bartels
Pradeep K. Chintagunta
served on the advisory editorial boards of the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, and Quantitative Marketing & Economics. He was an Associate Editor of the Journal of Marketing and International Journal of Research in Marketing. He was a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science.
Pradeep K. Chintagunta
Giovanni Compiani
was promoted to Associate Professor of Marketing.
Giovanni Compiani
Berkeley J. Dietvorst
served as guest editor for Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Berkeley J. Dietvorst
Jean-Pierre Dubé
served as Department Editor for Management Science. He was also a member of the editorial board of Quantitative Marketing and Economics.
Jean-Pierre Dubé
Ayelet Fishbach
served as Associate Editor for Psychological Science, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Attitude and Social Cognition, and Journal of the Association for Consumer Research.
Ayelet Fishbach
Guenter J. Hitsch
along with coauthors Sanjog Misra and Walter W. Zhang, won the 2025 Dick Wittink Prize for best paper in Quantitative Marketing and Economics. He served as Public Editor and Co-Editor of Quantitative Marketing and Economics and Associate Editor of Marketing Science and Management Science.
Guenter J. Hitsch
Malika Korganbekova
was a 2025 ISMS Early Career Scholars Camp Fellow at Columbia University. She also won the ISMS Sheth Foundation Best Dissertation Proposal Competition in 2024.
Malika Korganbekova
Sanjog Misra
along with coauthors Guenter J. Hitsch and Walter W. Zhang, won the 2025 Dick Wittink Prize for best paper in Quantitative Marketing and Economics.
Sanjog Misra
Bradley Shapiro
served as Co-Editor of Quantitative Marketing & Economics and Associate Editor of Marketing Science.
Bradley Shapiro
Avner Strulov-Shlain
was promoted to Associate Professor of Marketing. In 2024, he was awarded the Saroj & Vithala Rao Young Scholars Award by the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. He served on the Editorial Review Board of Marketing Science and helped organize the Behavioral Industrial Organization and Marketing Symposium (Ann Arbor, MI, 2023, 2024, 2025), and the Quantitative Marketing and Economics Conference (Chicago, IL, 2025).
Avner Strulov-Shlain
Abigail Sussman
received the AMA–EBSCO–RRBM Award for Responsible Research in Marketing (2024), served on the Journal of Consumer Research Editorial Review Board, and was an Associate (Action) Editor for Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
Abigail Sussman
Oleg Urminsky
was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Consumer Research.
Oleg UrminskyStay in touch
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