Wharton Faculty > Biography
Thomas S. Robertson comes “home” to serve as Wharton’s thirteenth dean. “It is such a privilege to be returning to Wharton,” Robertson said. “I relish the challenge to help build Penn’s global footprint and to champion Wharton as a force for good in the world. We have outstanding faculty and students and a dedicated staff; we are well positioned to create global economic and social value.”
Robertson comes from Emory University where he was Executive Faculty Director of the Institute for Developing Nations. He was Dean of the Goizueta Business School at Emory University from 1998 to 2004, and is widely credited with positioning Goizueta as a leading international business school.
An expert in marketing strategy and innovation with extensive international experience in higher education and the business community, Robertson most recently developed and implemented Emory’s university-wide plan for internationalization and created and launched the Institute for Developing Nations, a joint research initiative with The Carter Center.
Robertson led Goizueta into a new era of growth. He increased the size of faculty by 73 percent, doubled revenues, nearly doubled the school’s endowment, developed new international alliances, spurred major growth in executive-education programs, added a major new building and launched a new Ph.D. program.
From 1994 to 1998, Robertson was Sainsbury Professor and Chair of Marketing and Deputy Dean of the London Business School. Earlier in his career, he was an Assistant Professor at the Anderson School at UCLA, and Assistant Professor at Harvard Business School.
From 1971 to 1994, Robertson was a faculty member at Wharton, where he was the Pomerantz Professor of Marketing and Chair of the Marketing Department. He also served as Associate Dean for Executive Education and The Steinberg Conference Center, designed an innovative set of new senior-management programs and substantially increased financial contributions.
An expert in marketing strategy and competitive behavior, the diffusion of innovation and consumer behavior – Robertson is author, co-author and editor of a dozen books and almost 100 scholarly articles and book chapters.
Robertson earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in Marketing from Northwestern University in 1966 after completing his B.A. at Wayne State University in 1963.
