Strunk Joins Purdue HTM and the Center for Professional Selling

Author: Abby Lillpop

The White Lodging–J.W. Marriott, Jr. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Purdue University is proud to announce Daniel Strunk as a new clinical associate professor and managing director of the Center for Professional Selling.

Strunk brings more than 50 years of experience in marketing, sales, customer relationship management (CRM), category management, and education. His career has spanned roles as a line manager, consultant, educator, and author, contributing to the success of some of America’s most recognized companies, including Procter & Gamble, Converse, Ocean Spray Cranberries, The Quaker Oats Company, RJR, NBC, Wrigley, and ConAgra Foods.

Before joining Purdue, Strunk spent over two decades at DePaul University in Chicago, where he served as managing director of the Center for Sales Leadership, the largest program of its kind in the United States. While there, he co-authored a definitive text on CRM, authored Sales Strategy & Technology – an e-book used by 35 schools worldwide – and played a leading role in shaping the Category Management Association’s certification program, serving as chair of the certification development committee for 10 years. He also developed DePaul’s category management curriculum, a three-course sequence preparing students for careers in consumer-packaged goods. His teaching experience extends internationally, with appointments at the Bahrain Institute of Banking & Finance, the Helsinki School of Economics, and the Pan Asian Institute in Taiwan.

This semester, Strunk is teaching two sections of HTM 418: Sales & Sales Management Capstone and one section of HTM 363: Retail Technology – Category Management. His research focuses on how students select employers (SEMS), with prior publications in 2016–2019 and new studies planned for 2025.

His professional achievements have been widely recognized. He is a Category Management Association Lifetime Achievement Award recipient (2013), was named a Promotion Magazine Promotion All Star (1990), and authored the Harvard Business Review article “Teaching Sales” (2012). He has also been honored with Beta Gamma Sigma membership and the P.J. O’Connell Award for Excellence in Marketing from Boston College, where he graduated magna cum laude with a BSBA in 1973. He also earned his MBA, with distinction, from Boston University in 1975.

For Strunk, joining Purdue is an exciting new chapter. “I am excited to be a Boilermaker for the second time in my life – first as a journeyman Boilermaker of marine boilers at the Boston Naval Shipyard, and now as a Purdue faculty member. I intend to improve sales education at Purdue,” he said.

As managing director of the Center for Professional Selling, Strunk plans to strengthen the program by enhancing curriculum with analytics and technology, expanding partnerships with retailers and manufacturers in the consumer packaged goods industry, and improving the program’s financial stability by creating additional value for partners.

“I am truly looking forward to teaching a new type of student after 20 years at DePaul,” he added. “My goal is to broaden opportunities for Purdue students and ensure the Center for Professional Selling continues to thrive.”

With his decades of expertise, leadership, and passion for student success, Dan Strunk is set to make a lasting impact on Purdue HTM and the future of sales education.