William D. Neal is Co-Founder and Co-Owner of SDR Consulting. In his corporate function as Senior Executive Officer, Bill has overall management responsibility for the strategic direction of the firm. As a Senior Consultant and Practice Leader, he is responsible for project management, client relationships, proposal development and research design. Bill leads the legal consulting practice at SDR.

Bill has authored over 40 articles, tutorials, and seminars on marketing research methods and strategy. He is a recognized expert in the fields of market segmentation, product positioning, product optimization, brand value, brand equity, and advanced research methods.

He is on the Editorial Review Boards of Marketing Management and Marketing Research magazines and is an ad hoc reviewer for several other marketing management and marketing research publications.

Currently, Bill serves on the Advisory Board for the Master of Science in Marketing Research degree program at the University of Texas - Arlington and on the External Advisory Board to the Center for Marketing Studies at the University of Georgia, which manages the Master in Marketing Research degree program. He previously served on the inaugural Advisory Board of the A. C. Nielsen School of Marketing Research at the University of Wisconsin and on the Advisory Board to the School of Business at the University of West Florida.

He has been a guest lecturer and speaker at many colleges and universities throughout North America and served for many years in AMA's national speakers program. Bill has been very active in the American Marketing Association since 1978, serving as President of the Atlanta Chapter, Regional Vice President, and Vice President of the Marketing Research Division. From 1991 through 1995, he served on the Association's Executive Committee and from 1991 through1993 as the Association's Chairman-Elect and Chairman of the Board of Directors. Bill started the annual Advanced Research Techniques Forum in 1989, the annual Customer Satisfaction and Quality Measurement Conference in 1990, the annual Behavioral Research Conference in 1990, and the annual Electric Utility Marketing Research Conference in 1995 - all highly successful professional development conferences for marketing researchers.

In addition, he conceptualized and developed MARKETING RESEARCH: A Magazine of Management and Applications and was instrumental in the launch of MARKETING MANAGEMENT - both highly acclaimed publications of the American Marketing Association.

In 1987, Bill initiated AMA's Marketing Research Tutorial Series now offered at every AMA research conference. He has served as an instructor in that program since its beginning. In 1995 Bill was the fourth person to receive AMA's Lifetime Achievement Award for service to the Profession of Marketing Research.

Recognizing his long term contributions to the profession of marketing research, the Marketing Research Association awarded Bill with an Honorary Lifetime Membership in 1997.

Bill received a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce and Engineering from Drexel University in 1966 and a Master of Science in Industrial Management with a specialization in Operations Research and Systems Analysis from Georgia Tech in 1973.