Featured Madisonian

Stephen Dull, Alumnus

Stephen Dull received a BA in international relations from James Madison in 1980 and was about to head to graduate school in the field when a death in the family forced a re-evaluation of his life and goals. After working for the State of Michigan for a year, he headed off to the University of Michigan to pursue an MBA in finance. At Michigan, Stephen discovered finance was too hard and marketing was much more interesting; and he received his MBA in marketing in 1983. Despite a government focused background, he managed to land a marketing position at Pillsbury, where he spent 5 years learning consumer marketing on childhood favorites. Since he was constantly told he ought to be a consultant, Stephen listened to the siren song of the headhunter and went to interview at the then leading consultancy, McKinsey. A world of ideas opened and he joined, and Stephen quickly discovered he knew nothing valuable about his chosen field. Stephen spent the next eight years learning the craft of marketing, working on a wide range of international brands and products with a highly diverse set of marketing problems. He spent his final two years building and leading McKinsey's B2B Marketing Center before waking up to realize that while McKinsey was a great place to work, he'd never learn about technology, which was then just beginning to reshape the field of marketing. Worn out, and slightly dissatisfied with his lot, Stephen walked down the street to join a few friends at Andersen Consulting, now Accenture, to get that exposure in technology. Stephen now is the Partner lead for Accenture's Branding practice, and helps leading brands improve the value of their brands. He is a frequent public speaker and has been quoted in numerous periodicals, including USAToday, the Financial Times and Investor's Business Daily. He led Accenture's thinking and research on online branding, and on how CRM capabilities drive financial performance. Both efforts won him Accenture's thought leadership award an unprecedented 2 years running. Stephen escaped Michigan winters and currently lives in Miami. When not on the phone, he devotes in inordinate amount of time and energy to collecting contemporary American master prints.

Since January 2005, Stephen has been the Vice President for Strategy for VF Corporation, the world’s largest apparel company. Stephen escaped Michigan winters and currently lives in Miami. When not on the phone, he devotes in inordinate amount of time and energy to collecting contemporary American master prints.