Mays Business Online

There was a priceless expression of surprise on his face when Mays Business School Distinguished Professor of marketing Leonard Berry turned away from his students to find Elsa Murano, president of Texas A&M University, had entered his classroom. President Murano interrupted Berry’s lecture to present the speechless instructor with one of the university’s highest recognitions, the Presidential Professor for Teaching Excellence award.

Matt Rubel, president and CEO of Payless ShoeSource, spoke to students during a recent visit to the Texas A&M campus about his mission to “democratize fashion” through reasonably priced footwear. He was the guest of Mays Business School’s Center for Retailing Studies, which recognized Rubel with the 2008 M.B. Zale Visionary Merchant Award for his efforts to reinvent the Payless brand.

The Center for Retailing Studies at Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School has announced that Payless ShoeSource CEO and President Matt Rubel will receive the 2008 M.B. Zale Visionary Merchant Award. The award, which recognizes vision and outstanding achievements in retailing, will be presented on April 2 and is part of the center’s 25th anniversary celebration.

An article by Texas A&M Distinguished Professor Leonard Berry has recently been recognized by Business Horizons and Elsevier, the world’s largest publisher of medical and scientific literature, with their best paper of 2007 award.