Professor Spotlight: Bill Peterson – MKT 337H

Which courses do you teach?  I teach the honors and non-honors sections of Principles of Marketing (MKT 337). I’ve also developed a class on professional consulting, called Strategy Consulting for Marketers (MKT 372), for students who have an interest in pursuing consulting or want to gain an understanding of business strategy.

What do you enjoy most about teaching BHP students? I love to work with high potential students to maximize their opportunities and help build the skills they need for their post-graduation goals. I enjoy teaching BHP because the program offers a high concentration of those types of students. BHP has some of the most enjoyable students I’ve worked with. They are insightful, dedicated, and enthusiastic, which makes for a fulfilling classroom experience.

Can you tell me more about your independent consulting work? Outside of teaching, I work as an independent consultant with mostly Austin-area businesses to help them solve their operational issues and grow. Most companies need what I like to call basic blocking and tackling. It’s shocking how even the biggest companies we know of don’t have a solid STP (segmentation, targeting, and positioning) strategy. Consulting isn’t rocket science. It’s about implementing the fundamentals, which can be enormously powerful for most companies. As I teach in my class, marketing isn’t limited to just the marketing and promotional department of a company. It encompasses the foundation for the entire business, from how they choose to operate and strategize. I enjoy helping companies appreciate the fundamentals and seeing the results that come from it.

Tell me about how you got into teaching. I’ve always wanted to teach and made it a goal to someday do it. After working in industry, I started teaching at UT’s Professional Development Center, which offers informal classes for adult development. I quickly realized that teaching is much harder than it looks. From my time at UT’s Professional Development Center, I developed the skills and confidence to work with students. A while later, I heard about an opportunity with the Marketing Department in McCombs, and it just worked out. I was in the right place at the right time. I’m very fortunate to be able to do what has been a life goal of mine.

When and where are your office hours? My office is in CBA 5.176C.  This semester, my office hours are: Monday 5:00-6:30pm, Tuesday 1:30-3pm, and Wednesday 9am – 10am. I encourage students to stop by not only to chat about class work but also if they ever have questions about life, careers, networking, etc. I’m always available if a student needs to set up an introduction or informational interview with someone through me, and since I work with several businesses in Austin, the people at those companies often times let me know about opportunities that may be of interest to students.
Questions to consider asking Mr. Peterson in office hours:

1) His time at Dell and other previous industry experience

2) His independent consulting work

3) His ranch

4) Piloting his own plane

5)  Stories about his travels and being a foodie

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