John Quelch (academic)

John Anthony Quelch
Born	(1951-08-08) August 8, 1951 London, England
Occupation(s)	Scholar, professor, university administrator
Years active	1970s–present
Known for	Executive vice chancellor at Duke Kunshan University; former dean of Miami Herbert Business School; former dean at London Business School and CEIBS
Notable work	Sales Promotion Management; The Global Market; The New Global Brands; Business Solutions For The Global Poor; Greater Good; All Business Is Local; Global Marketing Management; Consumers, Corporations and Public Health; Building A Culture of Health; Compassionate Management of Mental Health in the Modern Workplace; Choice Matters

John Anthony Quelch CBE (born 8 August 1951) is a distinguished British-American scholar and professor who currently holds the position of executive vice chancellor at Duke Kunshan University in Kunshan, China. From 2017 until 2022, he served as dean of the Miami Herbert Business School.

Quelch's previous appointments include Leonard M. Miller university chair professor and vice provost for executive education at the University of Miami, Charles Edward Wilson professor emeritus at Harvard Business School, and dean emeritus at the China Europe International Business School located in Shanghai.

Early life and education

Born in London to parents serving as a Royal Air Force officer and a nurse, Quelch’s formative years involved education across the Isle of Man, Australia, and England. He attended Town Close School followed by Norwich School.

He obtained both a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts from Exeter College, Oxford, where he was awarded an open scholarship in modern history and took on the role of editor for the student publication Cherwell. As a recipient of the Thouron Scholarship, he earned an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Additionally, he holds a Master of Science degree from Harvard School of Public Health and completed a Doctor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

Career

Quelch’s academic journey began with a visiting instructor post at the University of Hawaiʻi, followed by an assistant professorship at the School of Business Administration (now known as Ivey Business School) at the University of Western Ontario. In 1979, he joined Harvard Business School as an assistant professor and was granted tenure in 1988. By 1994, he had advanced to Sebastian S. Kresge professor of marketing and served as co-chair of Harvard’s marketing department.

In 1998, Quelch was appointed dean and vice chancellor at London Business School. During his tenure, the institution experienced a 50% increase in both revenue and student enrollment over three years, alongside a 30% growth in faculty size. In 2001, London Business School was honored with the Queen's Award for Enterprise and achieved an eighth-place global ranking by the Financial Times.

Returning to Harvard Business School in 2001 as Lincoln Filene Professor of Business Administration and senior associate dean for international development, Quelch spearheaded the establishment of an international network of research centers. Between 2006 and 2008, he directed Harvard Business School’s centennial events and held a directorship at Harvard Business School Publishing Company.

In 2009, during a sabbatical year as La Caixa Visiting Professor of International Management, Quelch chaired the academic advisory council at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai. From 2011 to 2013, serving as dean, vice president, and Distinguished Professor at CEIBS, he significantly improved its Financial Times MBA ranking from 24th to 15th and Executive MBA ranking from 18th to 7th. Under his leadership, CEIBS expanded its full-time faculty by one-third and increased revenue substantially, emphasizing enhanced research output, executive education programs, global expansion, and fundraising efforts.

In 2013, Quelch returned once more to Harvard Business School to become its first professor appointed jointly with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where he held a professorship in health policy and management. From 2013 through 2017, he maintained affiliations with Harvard’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, the Harvard China Fund, and participated on its China advisory board.

Miami Herbert Business School

In 2017, Quelch assumed the role of dean at the University of Miami School of Business Administration, which was renamed in 2019 to the University of Miami Patti and Allan Herbert Business School. Alongside this position, he holds the Leonard M. Miller University Chair Professorship and serves as vice provost for executive education at the University of Miami.

The University of Miami announced Quelch's departure from the deanship in December 2022, appointing an interim dean while initiating a search for a permanent replacement in January 2023.

Duke Kunshan University

In December 2023, Quelch was named executive vice chancellor at Duke Kunshan University located in Kunshan, China.

Research and publications

Quelch’s initial research applied marketing principles to preventive healthcare initiatives, with early work published in outlets such as Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly/Health and Society (1980) and various nutrition journals. He later concentrated on optimizing temporary price promotions, culminating in his 1989 publication, Sales Promotion Management (Prentice Hall).

During the late 1980s, Quelch redirected his focus toward global marketing, authoring several influential books including:

• The Global Market (Jossey Bass, 2005)
• The New Global Brands: Managing Non-Governmental Organizations in the 21st Century (Thomson, 2006)
• Business Solutions For The Global Poor (Jossey Bass, 2007)
• Greater Good: How Good Marketing Makes For Better Democracy (Harvard Business Press, 2008)
• All Business Is Local (Penguin/Portfolio, 2012)
• Global Marketing Management (6th edition, BVT Publishing, 2017)

Since 2013, his research emphasis has shifted toward patient-centered care and empowering consumers within healthcare. This focus is reflected in his books such as Consumers, Corporations and Public Health (Oxford University Press, 2016), Building A Culture of Health: A New Imperative for Business (Springer, 2016), Compassionate Management of Mental Health in the Modern Workplace (Springer, 2018), and Choice Matters: How Healthcare Consumers Make Decisions (Oxford University Press, 2018).

Quelch has authored eighteen articles for the Harvard Business Review, addressing subjects including customer involvement in governance, competition among global brands, valuation of nonprofit brands, governance in the public sector, societal effects of marketing, strategies during economic recessions, corporate social responsibility amid downturns, and government sales promotion initiatives.

His instructional materials have surpassed four million copies sold, ranking third among Harvard Business School authors historically. He consistently appears among the world’s leading case authors—ranking 22nd in 2018/19—and is listed among The Case Centre's all-time top contributors.

Pioneering educational methods, Quelch created Harvard’s inaugural interactive CD-ROM exercise in 1995 and developed twelve PBS marketing management programs released in 1999. His blog Marketing Know:How, published by Harvard Business School Publishing, has been translated into Chinese and Vietnamese.

In 2018, under his leadership, University of Miami students gained complimentary access to both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Acknowledged for his visionary contributions, Quelch received the William L. Wilkie "Marketing for a Better World" award from the American Marketing Association foundation as well as the "Alumni Award of Merit" from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 2020.

Other activities

In 2002, then-acting Massachusetts governor Jane Swift appointed Quelch as chairman of the board for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which manages Boston's airports, waterfront properties, and seaport operations. Serving in this voluntary capacity, he led the security and safety committee initially and subsequently chaired the strategy and services committee. He stepped down from this position in January 2011.

Between 2003 and 2013, Quelch held the role of honorary consul general for the Kingdom of Morocco in New England. His engagement with the Middle East region influenced his publication, Business Strategies For Muslim Countries (Prentice Hall, 2000).

Quelch possesses significant experience in corporate governance as a non-executive director for publicly traded companies across both the United States and the United Kingdom. After a 25-year tenure, he resigned from WPP plc in 2013. His board memberships have included companies such as Alere, Aramark, easyJet plc, Pentland Group plc, Pepsi Bottling Group, and Reebok. Additionally, he acts as a senior strategy advisor to Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com.

He has occupied leadership roles including honorary chairmanship of the British American Business Council of New England and has been a trustee or board member for organizations like the STARS foundation, Americans for Oxford, Accion International, and the national council of Better Business Bureaus.

Quelch has delivered consulting services and keynote speeches in more than sixty nations, collaborating with leading firms such as American Airlines, Apple, Barclays, Colgate-Palmolive, GE, IBM, Intel, Nestle, Novartis, Procter & Gamble, Qualcomm, Samsung, and Unilever.

Acknowledged for his impact, The Sunday Times included him in their 2006 list of "Top 25 Britons who call the shots in America." He earned leadership honors from the British American Business Council of New England (2008) and the World Affairs Council of Boston (2010). In recognition of his contributions to promoting British commercial interests, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2011. In 2020, he was also bestowed with the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

Memberships

Quelch holds membership in prestigious organizations such as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Trilateral Commission, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He participates on the international advisory board for British American Business, Inc., is a companion of the British Institute of Management, a fellow of the International Academy of Management, a freeman of the City of London, and affiliated with the Worshipful Company of World Traders. Furthermore, he is an honorary fellow at both London Business School and Exeter College, Oxford, and has been selected twelve times as a faculty fellow at the prestigious World Economic Forum.

References

• Quelch's biography on Harvard Business School site

External links

• Biography at Miami Herbert Business School
• Selection of TV interviews given by John Quelch