John (Tom) Mentzer, was the UT Knoxville Chancellor’s Professor and Harry J. and Vivienne R. Bruce Chair of Excellence in Business in the Department of Marketing and Logistics.

Mentzer taught at UT for more than 30 years. He received his master’s degree in marketing and a doctorate degree in both marketing and logistics from Michigan State. He taught at Virginia Tech for 15 years before he was recruited to Tennessee.

Mentzer was one of the country’s leading scholars in marketing and logistics strategy. His research focused on the contribution of marketing and logistics to customer satisfaction and strategic advantage in supply chains; the application of computer decision models to marketing, logistics and forecasting; and the management of the sales forecasting function. He published more than 190 papers and articles, and nine books. Mentzer was recognized in 1996 as one of the five most prolific authors in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and in 1999, as the most prolific author in the Journal of Business Logistics. He was awarded the Academy of Marketing Science Outstanding Marketing Teacher Award in 2001.