About the Author(s)

Leon G. Schiffman, PhD, most recently the J. Donald Kennedy Endowed Chair Distinguished Chaired Professor of Marketing at St. Johns University, The Peter J. Tobin College of Business. He is currently a professor emeritus at the university. He was previously the Lippert Distinguished Scholar of Marketing at the Zicklin School of Business of Baruch College of the City University of New York. In addition, he was Professor and Chairperson of the Marketing Department at the Graduate School of Management at Rutgers University, and a member of the faculty at Pace University.

Professor Schiffman is a nationally recognized expert on the behavior of the older consumer since his pioneering research on the psychological and sociological aspects of perceived age and innovative behavior of this segment. He has been published in numerous major marketing journals on a wide variety of topics and is frequently referenced by other researchers. He has spoken at over 100 national and international conferences in 35 countries. He has coauthored Consumer Behavior (Pearson), for all of its twelve editions, which have been translated into several international editions and have been adopted by over 175 higher education institutions in the US. 

The recipient of various awards and honors, Dr. Schiffman has also participated in more than 60 PhD dissertation committees, 25 of which he chaired. As a research practitioner, he founded a market research company where he has conducted qualitative and lifestyle research and strategic planning for such national and international firms as AT&T, Citibank, The Hertz Corporation, Lever Brothers, Mobil Oil, and Patek Phillipe. He has also served on several boards of directors. Currently he serves on the board of directors of the Mandl Medical College.   

Joe Wisenblit received his PhD and Master of Philosophy from the City University of New York, and his MBA and BBA from Baruch College. He has gained national and global recognition for his research into crisis communications, voluntary simplicity, economic stagflation, marketing solar energy, targeting mature consumers, and services marketing. His research spans across managerial and pedagogical facets and has been featured in top-tier scholarly journals and presented in scores of conferences and seminars.

Dr. Wisenblit’s landmark framework on integrating technology into the marketing curriculum, published in the Journal of Marketing Education, received an outstanding article award and has remained one of marketing’s most widely cited pedagogical works. Presently, his research is focused on targeting children on the internet and via mobile devices, including the impact of parental styles and children’s responses to mobile gaming apps developed by marketers. He is also completing an MFA in creative writing at Columbia University and writing fiction and nonfiction for children and young adults.