Institute for Research in Marketing
The Institute for Research in Marketing brings together the expertise of Minnesota Carlson's marketing faculty with top marketers and market research professionals from global brands, creating thought-provoking dialogue and driving the science and practice of marketing forward. This two-way conversation provides greater context for faculty research and encourages real-world adoption of that research, leading to better business strategies and more effective public policies.
Advisory Board
The Institute’s Board of Advisors consists of industry leaders from major firms and provides guidance, facilitates partnerships, and assists with national outreach and advocacy.
Support the Institute
Your gift will help strengthen collaborative industry/academi
About Ignite
With over 300 in-person attendees, as well as a national online audience, the Ignite Conference sparks creative ideas around current industry topics to help marketing practitioners keep pace with today's dynamic trends. Ignite fuses the distinct marketing perspective of some of the country’s leading business scholars with those of corporate leaders from premier global companies.
IRM Spotlight
Learn more about an Institute for Research in Marketing Advisory Industry Board Member:
Heather Lang
Chief Marketing & Experience Officer (CMOX) - Twin Cities Orthopedics (TCO) & Revo Health
As CMXO, Heather is passionate about bringing brands to life across every facet of the organization and seeing healthcare organizations thrive. From marketing to people, culture, recruitment, and organizational development, she takes a strategic approach to advancing brand and business objectives keeping the experience of patients and employees at the forefront. Heather believes firmly in driving value and measuring the impact to the organization, partners, patients, and the community.
Heather has been at TCO since 2011 and has been the CMOX since 2021.
At Twin Cities Orthopedics (TCO) & Revo Health, Heather is responsible for leading and overseeing strategic marketing, partnership, and communication efforts. In addition, leading the strategy for talent acquisition, HR delivery, benefits and compensation.
Learn more about an Institute for Research in Marketing Advisory Faculty Board Member:
Akshay Rao
Among his extensive teaching background, Akshay also served as the founding Director of the Institute for Research in Marketing, an academic-industry think tank established with the corporate partnership of seventeen multi-national firms, from 2005-2010. In 1997-2000, he served as the Director of the Doctoral Program and in 2003-2006 he served as Chairman of the Marketing & Logistics Management Department. He has served as a Visiting Professor at MIT and at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. At Minnesota Carlson he has received several awards for teaching excellence including the Curtis Cup Award for Outstanding Teaching in the Executive MBA program in 2012, and was recognized as an Outstanding Faculty member in the 4th and 5th editions of Business Week's Guide to the Best Business Schools.
Rao's teaching, research, and consulting have focused on industries ranging from food and airlines to apparel and financial services, and the problems of Consumer Behavior, Pricing Strategy, Channels of Distribution, Product/Brand Management, and Sales Force Management. A winner of the 1987 Robert Ferber Award for interdisciplinary research on Consumer Behavior, and a winner of the 2000 Maynard award for contribution to Marketing theory and his research has appeared in various journals.
Rao has served as a consultant to numerous organizations including 3M, Abbott Laboratories (Germany), Ambrosetti (Italy), Boston Scientific, the Carlson Companies, Jostens, McQuay International, Medtronic, The NutraSweet Company, Osservatorio Asia (Italy), and Qwest.
Currently, Rao is working on several research and consulting projects including (a) vaccine hesitancy, (b) communicating quality to uninformed consumers, (c) the role of political ideology on consumer behavior, and (d) misinformation (“fake news”). He has testified before the Federal Trade Commission on Slotting Allowances. He was Co-Chair of the American Marketing Association’s Doctoral Consortium (2003) and the Association for Consumer Research Conference (2004).