Jeff is accepting the Society for Marketing Advances Distinguished Fellow award from Pia Albinsson
About Jeff Tanner
John F (Jeff) Tanner Jr. is an accomplished storyteller, educator, and consultant. His stories take you to another world, sometimes to another time, and always to a possible you.
Jeff was born in an Army hospital in New Jersey but moved at an early age to Dallas, Texas. He married his high school sweetheart, Karen, and they raised four children. Being a father was the greatest experience in his life – until he had grandchildren.
He loved to sell, beginning at age 11 selling Christmas cards door to door. One of his customers became a lifelong friend and godmother to his daughter. After graduating from the University of North Texas, he went to work as a sales rep for Xerox but returned to school for a master’s degree and fell in love with teaching and research. He went back to school again, this time for a PhD from the University of Georgia.
He also began writing – articles for business publications, scientific journals, and so on. While at Baylor University, he had two plays produced by regional theater: The Shaggy Maples Murder Mystery and Murder on the Old Plantation.
Jeff published 15 books on sales and marketing, including two that teach through the power of stories. Three are top sellers in their specialty: Selling: Building Partnerships (with Steve Castleberry, McGraw-Hill), Principles of Marketing: How Marketing Gets Done (with Mary Anne Raymond; Flat World Knowledge), and Sales Management: Shaping Future Sales Leaders (with Lenita Davis, Andrea Dixon. Bob Erffmeyer, Earl Honeycutt, and Emily Tanner; Access Capon).
In fiction, he’s currently seeking representation and publication for his novels. Jeff has written three mystery-thrillers set in Jazz Age Boston featuring Charlie Bohannon, Olivia Tremont, and Punchy Hambleton. Over the course of this initial trilogy, they encounter a one man behind numerous crimes, Joseph P. Kennedy. Based loosely on fact, these fictional characters meet other real-life people such as Jack Haley (the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz) and mobsters like Charles “King” Solomon, and others. The first is Hidden Kingdoms, followed by Dolls, and The Wolves of St. Stephens.
Jeff leans on his experiences as a breeder and owner of Thoroughbred racehorses in his book, The Heart is Why. This book begins the racetrack series. Currently, he is a partner in two horses: Girvinized and OneTrueDude, and lives with his wife, Karen, and his retired racehorse Penicillin. In this book, you’ll meet other horses he’s owned. He’s also Vice-Chair of Virginia’s Racing Commission.
In 2022, Jeff retired as Dean, the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University and began writing fiction in earnest. He also continues to publish scientific articles on marketing and public policy, as well as revising his best-selling textbooks.
