Ramon Avila, George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of Marketing and the founding director of the H.H. Gregg Center for Professional Selling, earned his bachelor's degree and MBA from Ball State University. He completed his Ph.D. at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (1984). He joined the Ball State faculty in 1984. Before coming to Ball State, he worked in sales with the Burroughs Corporation. He has held two visiting professorships at the Univerisy of Hawaii (1990-1991) and another at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University (2002). In April 2002, Ramon received a Leavey Award from the Freedom Foundation at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. This award was given for innovation in the classroom with his advanced professional selling class. Ramon was presented the 1999 Mu Kappa Tau's Outstanding Contributor to the Sales Profession. He is only the third reciient of this award. Ramon also received the University's Outstanding Faculty award (2003), the Outstanding Service award (1998), the University's Outstanding Junior Faculty award (1989), the College of Business Professor of the Year, and the Dean's Teaching award every year it was given from 1987-2002. Dr. Avila has presented numerous papers at professional conferences and has been the program chair and the Director for the National Conference in Sales Management. A frequent consultant, he has worked with major corporations including AT&T, Burroughs, Honeywell, Indiana Gas, Indiana Michigan Power, Indiana Bell, Midwest Metals, and Lees Inn. Numerous journals, including the Journal of Marketing Research, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Management, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, The Review of Business, and Mid-American Journal of Business have published Professor Avila's research. He is on the editorial review boards of four business-related journals. He is also the associate editor for the Mid-American Journal of Business. He was presented the 1987 Pi Sigma Epsilon Outstanding Paper Award and Mu Kappa Tau's 1988 Outstanding Paper Award by the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management. Professor Avila's teaching focuses on industrial marketing and professional selling and sales management. Dr. Avila has also been recognized for his community service with the Jaycees' Distinguished Service Award and Outstanding Young Educator Award. He frequently organizes sports-related fund raisers and community events. He serves as the co-advisor to the BSU chapter of the Pi Sigma Epsilon (sales and marketing) fraternity.