MSI Appoints Smith’s P.K. Kannan and Wendy Moe as Co Executive Directors

The Marketing Science Institute (MSI) has named Smith’s P.K. Kannan and Wendy Moe as its new Co‑Executive Directors. The appointments take effect in July 2026 and coincide with MSI’s adoption of a Co‑Executive Director model designed to broaden the expertise guiding its research and programming, and to bridge the gap between academic marketing theory and real-world business practice.

MSI’s agenda is heavily oriented toward artificial intelligence, data synthesis and the future of marketing measurement—areas in which both Kannan and Moe have been influential.

Kannan, the Dean’s Chair in Marketing Science and a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, is internationally recognized for his contributions to marketing modeling, attribution, digital marketing and analytics. He has published extensively in top journals and previously served as Editor‑in‑Chief of the International Journal of Research in Marketing. In addition to his Distinguished University Professor designation in 2026, he was named this year as a Fellow of the American Marketing Association and a 2025 Fellow of the INFORMS Society for Marketing Science—an honor held by only about 40 scholars worldwide. He also received the AMA Tech SIG Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025 and the EMAC Distinguished Marketing Scholar Award in 2024.

Moe is the Dean’s Professor of Marketing at the Robert H. Smith School of Business and an expert in digital marketing, social media analytics, online consumer behavior, and AI-driven marketing. She also serves as an Amazon Scholar, reflecting her leadership at the intersection of academic research and industry innovation. Moe has held numerous editorial leadership positions, including co-Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Interactive Marketing, and has been an active contributor to the marketing academic community through both research and professional service. 

In announcing the appointments, MSI noted: “Together, Kannan and Moe bring complementary expertise spanning marketing strategy, analytics, consumer behavior, and emerging technologies. As Co‑Executive Directors, they will work closely with MSI and ARF leadership to ensure that MSI’s research program continues to evolve in ways that address the most important opportunities and challenges facing marketers today.”

Established in 1961, MSI connects 70-plus leading corporate brands with top researchers from major business schools to fund, test and apply scientific marketing research.

“[Kannan’s and Moe’s] leadership will guide MSI’s major initiatives, including its AI‑focused analytics and forecasting program, synthetic data validation efforts, and joint research collaborations such as the MSI–Adobe Causal Pathways Initiative and the Synthetic Respondents Research program,” MSI’s announcement further stated.