Michael Ahearne in

Michael Ahearne

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Board Member at Direct Selling Association
📍 Houston, Texas, United States

Michael Ahearne is the C. T. Bauer Chair in Marketing at the University of Houston, where he is a leading scholar on sales force effectiveness, motivation, and the use of AI in sales. He holds a PhD from Indiana University and is the author of the worlds highest-grossing professional selling textbook. Colleagues describe him as professional and an excellent business partner.

Outside of academia, Michael has a significant athletic background, including being a college All-American wrestler. He remains an avid weightlifter and is also a coffee enthusiast who enjoys practicing his skills as a home barista and creating coffee art.

Unique fact: Before his academic career, he played professional baseball as a pitcher in the Montreal Expos organization.

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Experience
10 Years
Current Role
Board Member
Job Level
Mid-senior
Location
Houston, Texas, United States
Personality Overview

How Michael shows up

Communication Style
Decision Approach
Work Preference

Behavioral traits and communication patterns that shape how this person evaluates opportunities, builds trust, and makes decisions in professional settings.

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Priorities

Topics Michael cares about

AI in Sales
Much of his recent research focuses on the application of Artificial Intelligence to enhance sales force effectiveness and performance.
Sales Performance
His primary, career-long research focus is on improving the performance of individual salespeople and entire sales organizations through proven methodologies.
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Career

Work history

4-2024
Board Member
Direct Selling Association
Foundation Board Member
American Marketing Association
6-2022
Academic Fellow
Marketing Science Institute
1-2016
Distinguished Research Fellow
ISBM - Institute for the Study of Business Markets
5-2023 - 9-2024
Board Member
Strategic Account Management Association (SAMA)
In the press

Media appearances

Rethinking Marketing: Michael Ahearne. Featured in American Marketing Association (AMA)
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Education
1992 - 1998
PhD
Indiana University Bloomington
1992 - 1994
Master of Science (MS)
Indiana University Bloomington
Social presence
in
Behavioral profile

DISC profile (public)

DISC behavioral profile

Dominance, influence, steadiness, and calculativeness scores with guidance on how this person prefers to communicate and decide.

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