Lawrence Ring

Biography

Lawrence J. Ring is Chancellor Professor of Business and the Executive MBA Alumni Professor of Executive Education Emeritus at William & Mary's Raymond A. Mason School of Business.

Professor Ring received the Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management degree, the Master of Science in Management degree, and the Ph.D. in Industrial Administration degree from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University.  He was the founder and first director of William & Mary’s Executive MBA Program and also served the business school as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.  He has previously held academic appointments at the University of Toronto, the University of Virginia, and Purdue University, as well as seminar appointments at Nijenrode University (Netherlands), the International Management Institute (Switzerland), Monash University (Australia), Trinity College (Dublin), IAE (Argentina), Singapore Retail Institute, and the Stockholm School of Economics (Sweden).

Dr. Ring’s teaching and research interests center on the areas of marketing management and marketing and retailing strategy.  He has received various MBA Program Outstanding Teaching Awards eight times at William & Mary and once at the University of Toronto.  In 2011, he received the Thomas Ashley Graves Award for sustained excellence in teaching.  He is co-author of the books Decisions in Marketing (1984, 1989), Retail Management (2004), and Strategic Marketing (2011), and has published a variety of scholarly articles, technical notes, and cases. 

In addition to his work at William & Mary, he teaches in numerous executive development programs around the world.  In 1983, he co-founded the executive program, Strategic Planning and Management in Retailing. That program has been offered on an open enrollment basis over ninety times since then in North and South America, Europe, Australia, Africa, and Asia.  Various versions of the program have also been offered numerous times on a private/custom basis to numerous organizations. His current consulting and executive education activities include assignments with The Apparel Group (Australia), Bunnings Building Supply Company (Australia), Dairy Farms Ltd. (Hong Kong), the Home Depot, Intercontinental Group of Department Stores (Switzerland), Migros Turk (Turkey), Officeworks (Australia), PetSmart, Philip Morris USA, Radio Shack Corporation, Sonae Retail (Portugal), Shoppers Stop Department Stores (India), the United States Navy Exchange Command, and the United States Marine Corps Exchange.

Professor Ring is a member of the Boards of Directors of Mr. Price Group, Ltd., Durban, South Africa; and Retail Ventures Incorporated, Columbus, Ohio.  He previously served as a board member at Acme Markets of Virginia, Bon Ton Stores, Inc., C. Lloyd Johnson Company, Inc., Sportmart, Inc, and the Williamsburg Landing Corporation.   He was also a member of the International Advisory Board of Angus and Coote Limited, Sydney, Australia.

Areas of Interest/Expertise

• Marketing
• Marketing Management
• Marketing Strategy
• Retailing Strategy
• Strategic Planning
• Executive Education