Thomas “Martin” Key is Chair of the Marketing, Strategy, and International Business Department and Associate Professor of Digital Strategy & Marketing at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Dr. Key was originally trained as a cultural anthropologist before launching his own business in 2003. After nearly a decade, he went back to university and earned a PhD in Business Administration with emphases in marketing and strategy. His research centers on theory building and conceptual development concerning digital and strategic marketing issues at the executive level and the study of marketing’s role in the academy and the firm. He has published in Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, European Journal of Marketing, AMS Review, and Journal of Strategic Marketing among others. He is a Daniels Ethics Initiative Fellow and Cybersecurity Fellow and frequently works with new startups as well as established firms to help them create strategic plans to grow and create value for their customers.

•   PhD, Marketing, Southern Illinois University (2012)
•   Master of Arts, Socio-Cultural Anthropology, Southern Illinois University (2003)
•   Bachelor of Arts, Anthropology, Southern Illinois University (2000)

• Director of AI Strategy for the Academy of Marketing Science (2023 - present)
• Department Chair Marketing, Strategy, & International Business, College of Business, University of Colorado Colorado Springs (2022 - present)
• Associate Dean of Strategic Initiatives (interim) College of Business, University of Colorado Colorado Springs (2021-present)
• Associate Professor of Digital Strategy & Marketing University of Colorado Colorado Springs (2020-present)
• Assistant Professor of Marketing, University of Colorado Colorado Springs (2014-2020)
• Assistant Professor of Marketing, St. John Fisher College (2012-2014)
• President/CEO, Key Industries, Inc. (2003-2009)

Clark, T., Azab, C., & Key, Thomas M. (2024), "Marketing's Next Era: The Scope and Impact of Marketing's Future, The Reach and Legacy of Shelby Hunt." Journal of Business Research, 170, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114278  

Clark, T., Key, Thomas M., &  Azab, C. (2023), "Contours of the marketing literature: Text, context, point-of-view, research horizons, interpretation, and influence in marketing." AMS Review, 13, 232-249. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13162-023-00267-1  

Clark, T., Key, Thomas M., & Azab, C. (2022), "Marketing as an emergent discipline: Commentary on Shelby Hunt's final contribution to our field." AMS Review.

Clark, T. & Key, Thomas M. (2021), "The Methodologies of the Marketing Literature: Mechanics, Uses, and Craft." AMS Review, 11, 416-431. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13162-02100210-2  

Key, Thomas M., Clark, T., Ferrell, O.C., Stewart, D., & Pitt, L. (2021), "Re-Institutionalizing Marketing." AMS Review, 11, 446-453, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13162-021-00220-0

Key, T.M., Keel, A.L., Czaplewski, A.J., & Olson, E.M. (2021), “Brand Activism Change Agents: Strategic Storytelling for Impact and Authenticity.” Journal of Strategic Marketing, https://doi.org/10.1080/0965254X.2021.1904435

Key, T.M. & Duening, T.N. (2021), “Strategic Entrepreneurial Storytelling: An Applied Framework for Better Pitches.” Contemporary Management Research

Sukle, M., Schultz, D, Czaplewski, A., & Key, T.M. (2021), “Colorado Marijuana Countermarketing for Youth: Don’t Be a Lab Rat Campaign.” Journal of Advertising Research

Olson, Eric M., Kai M. Olson, Andrew J. Czaplewski, & Thomas Martin Key (2021), “Business Strategy and the Management of Digital Marketing” Business Horizons, 64(2), 285-293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2020.12.004

Key, T.M., Terry Clark, OC Ferrell, David Stewart, & Leyland Pitt (2020), “Marketing’s Theoretical and Conceptual Value Proposition: Opportunities to Address Marketing’s Influence.” AMS Review, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13162-020-00176-7

Key, T.M., Challagalla, G. "Information transparency as competitive advantage: research approaches to platform ecosystem design and competition." AMS Review, 10 (1-2), 145-147. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13162-020-00172-x

Key, Thomas M. & Astrid Keel (2019), “How Executives Talk: Exploring Marketing Executive Value Articulation with Computerized Text Analysis”. European Journal of Marketing, 54 (3), 546-569. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-01-2019-0105

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