Dan Smith and Rockney Walters honored with the Jack R. Wentworth Lifetime Impact Award

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Two accomplished retired marketing faculty at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business – Dan Smith and Rockney Walters — were honored on Sept. 26 with the Jack R. Wentworth Lifetime Impact Award.

Between them, Walters and Smith had a combined 70 years of service to the Kelley School. Walters retired after spending his entire 41-year career at Kelley. Smith led the school as dean from 2005 to 2013, and most recently taught in Kelley’s No. 1 ranked Kelley Direct Online MBA Program.

The Wentworth Award is named for the three-time alumnus who taught at Kelley from 1959 to 1997 and led the school as its dean from 1984 to 1993. Wentworth’s accomplishments as dean included laying the foundation for the school’s international involvement, creating study abroad and consulting opportunities for students, and launching the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation and the Center for Real Estate Studies. He passed away in 2017 at the age of 89.

The Wentworth Award recognizes the lifetime achievements of “truly exceptional individuals who had a substantial and enduring impact on the Kelley School and the marketing discipline through their research, teaching, and service.” Recipients are chosen for the highly selective award through a unanimous vote of senior marketing faculty and approval from the dean.

“There are moments in the life of an institution when we pause—not just to celebrate achievement, but to honor legacy—and this is one of those moments,” said Pat Hopkins, Kelley Dean and the James R. Hodge Chair of Excellence. “Today, we pause to honor two extraordinary individuals whose contributions to the Kelley School of Business and Indiana University have been nothing short of transformational. Their careers have been marked by excellence, generosity, and a deep commitment to the people and mission of this place.”

“Dan and Rockney, your impact runs deep in the life of this school,” Hopkins added. “It lives in the programs you built, the students you inspired, the colleagues you mentored, and the values you upheld. You have shaped minds, built futures, and left Kelley not only stronger, but more thoughtful, more connected, and truer to our mission.”

Dan Smith

Smith earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration from the University of Toledo and his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh. Before coming to Kelley, Smith was an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh and an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focused on brand strategy and product management, and he also consulted for several notable industrial and consumer goods companies, including Eli Lilly, Samsung, IBM, Alcoa, Arthur Andersen, Oscar Mayer, R.J. Reynolds and Saab USA.

He joined the Kelley School in 1996 as an associate professor and the Clare W. Barker Chair in Marketing, becoming a full professor in 1998. He quickly became known as a masterful teacher in the Full-Time MBA Program, and he received IU’s Eli Lilly Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award five times over a six-year stretch, and the Board of Trustees Distinguished Teaching Award in 2001. Over seven years, he rose through the ranks, serving as chair of the Full-Time MBA Program, chair of the Marketing Department, associate dean of academics and research and interim dean.

At the time he was appointed as dean, the Kelley School faced serious challenges. He led a strategic renewal that transformed Kelley’s trajectory, and enrollment grew, global partnerships flourished, and the Kelley brand rose to national prominence. He raised $180 million in private support, renovated the school’s 40-year-old building, and expanded undergraduate facilities with the addition of Hodge Hall—all while strengthening our relationships across the university and around the world.

In 2013, Smith was called upon by President Michael McRobbie to lead the IU Foundation as president and CEO, where he again brought vision and vitality to a major institutional effort, including the first capital campaign that involved every IU campus. He rebuilt the organization and led the $3.8 billion Bicentennial Campaign, doubling student scholarships and faculty endowments. His leadership touched every corner of IU, before stepping down at the end of 2020 to return to the Kelley faculty.

He returned to the classroom in 2022, teaching in Kelley Direct and mentoring students with the same passion and precision that defined his earlier years.

In addition to his administrative responsibilities and his teaching legacy, Smith’s research appears in 60 articles in leading marketing journals, book chapters and proceedings that have received close to 10,000 citations. During his time at IU, he chaired or co-chaired three doctoral dissertations, with one receiving honorable mention from the Marketing Science Institute.

Smith spoke about his decision to come to Kelley from the University of Pittsburgh, and his subsequent career.

“Whenever you go to a new school, it should be selfish, and I knew that this place would make me better. It would make me a better teacher. It would make me a better researcher and probably make me a better person,” Smith said. “And that indeed has played out … This place is magical, if you’re the right person for it.

“I wanted to help people improve their lives; I wanted to help the organizations where I worked improve their situations and I wanted to help the communities I called home. It’s always been my true north,” he said. “I can’t sit around and just watch things happen. I want to be part of solutions.”

Hopkins said Smith’s influence at Kelley “spans far beyond dates and titles. Dan is one of the most beloved and accomplished educators and leaders in our school’s history.”

Rockney Walters

To many of his friends and colleagues, Walters is simply known as “Rock,” which is appropriate given what Hopkins and others have said of him.

“If Dan Smith is a force of strategic renewal, Rockney Walters is a pillar of quiet strength and enduring excellence,” Hopkins said. “Rock has been a mentor, a friend, and a quiet steward of our culture. He welcomed new faculty with warmth and humor, shaped teaching practices across the department, and brought joy to our halls. He is the colleague you want beside you on a Friday afternoon, sharing a beer and a fresh perspective.”

Walters was “a highly sought after executive education leader and a soft-spoken influencer,” added H. Shankar Krishnan, the Nestle-Hustad Professor of Marketing, in a written tribute. “With his retirement, we are literally losing a rock on which our department is built.”

Before arriving at IU in 1984, Walters earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Florida, an MBA from the University of Kansas, and his Ph.D. in Business Administration from Purdue University, with a major in marketing and a minor in econometrics.

His teaching has been exceptional across every format — undergraduate, MBA, Kelley Direct, and executive education. He received more than 30 undergraduate teaching awards and was the recipient of the Eli Lilly MBA Teaching Excellence Award seven times. The Kelley School recognized him as a Ford Teaching Fellow from 2001 to 2008, and as a Max Barney Distinguished Teaching Fellow from 2008 until his retirement.

“His teaching style—Socratic, data-driven, and deeply engaging—has shaped countless students and faculty alike,” Hopkins said.

Later in his teaching career, Walters found fulfillment in teaching in Kelley’s executive education program, sharing his knowledge and insights with leaders from Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, Boeing, GE, and many other top companies. He frequently traveled to teach business leaders across the country and abroad, including in Australia, Europe and Asia.

“We have an amazing job,” Walters reminded his peers. “We are well paid to work in a park with historic buildings, surrounded by very intelligent people who are committed to intellectual growth, who are for the most part very kind. And we have incredible support … This is a great place to have a career. It’s hard to imagine you not being successful if you buy into that culture (at Kelley).”

Walters’ research pioneered the empirical understanding of retail pricing, price promotions, and category management, providing foundational insights into product substitution patterns, cross-category purchase effects, competitive store dynamics, and store performance drivers. He broadened his research and mentored many PhD students, resulting in joint publications.

He shared an anecdote to illustrate the importance of professional commitment — a story and the lessons he learned from his pre-academic career at Schneider Transport in Texas. On his first day on the job after getting his MBA, Walters was asked by his general manager to coach the company’s women’s softball team.

“What could I say? I love softball. At 5:30 in the afternoon, I go out on the field and there were 12 women ready to play softball. I had never met any of them and I think I’m the only person in the history of softball in Texas who coached wearing a tie, because I literally came from the office,” Walters told the awards luncheon audience. “But the point is they never forgot that. Little things really matter.”

Noting Walters’ efforts as a steward to Kelley’s culture, Hopkins said, “Rock’s legacy is one of quiet brilliance, deep care and lasting influence. He has made Kelley better in every way.”

The Wentworth Awards were last presented in 2023, when the recipients were Smith and Walters’ spouses and marketing innovators as well – Jonlee Andrews and Rosann Spiro – who also were in attendance.