The Marketing and Society SIG of the American Marketing Association is pleased to announce the selection of Sonya A. Grier, Arlene R. and Robert P. Kogod Eminent Scholar Chair in Marketing at American University, as this year’s MASSIG Lifetime Achievement Award winner.

Dr. Grier embodies the spirit of MASSIG through her critically important scholarship on some of today’s most pressing issues—race, marketplace equity and inclusion, social marketing, multicultural advertising, and public policy. With over 60 peer-reviewed journal articles and 21 book chapters to her name, her research appears in top-tier publications such as Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Advertising, American Journal of Public Health, and Preventive Medicine. She is a trusted voice on editorial review boards for Journal of Public Policy & Marketing and Advertising and Society Quarterly. Her work has been honored with the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing’s prestigious Thomas C. Kinnear Award which identifies the article that has made a lasting contribution in the area—not once, but five times, a rare distinction recognizing lasting impact. She has also received best article accolades from the Journal of Advertising and Consumption, Markets & Culture.

Just as notable is Dr. Grier’s contribution to these issues outside of her academic research. She has championed issues of race, equity, and inclusion in business since 1990 when she conducted an independent study as an MBA student on the lack of racially diverse business school faculty. In 2015, she co-founded the Race in the Marketplace Research Network (RIM) to address the marginalization of race-related research and researchers, creating a space for transdisciplinary research that advances the understanding the role of race and its intersecting socio-political constructs in the marketplace. This group then created the RIM Forum, an international gathering of diverse scholars, activists, creatives, and practitioners, who examine the role of race in the marketplace.

Dr. Grier’s commitment to diversity extends far beyond her research. As an untenured professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business, she authored her first case study, spotlighting the PhD Project and the need for greater faculty diversity in business schools. She also has mentored countless doctoral students and junior faculty through her work with the PhD Project where she served as a member of the inaugural advisory board. She has furthered her commitment to mentorship when RIM leadership created the G.E.R.R.I. symposium to honor her dear friend, Dr. Geraldine Henderson, to mentor and nurture emerging RIM researchers. Dr. Grier has also written and co-produced three short-film documentaries addressing cross-cultural and racial issues and published original photography to inspire dialogue and reflection around important social issues.

Unquestionably, Dr. Sonya Grier has made the world a better place through her professional and personal endeavors. She truly has been a groundbreaking pioneer in expanding efforts to bring racial and ethnic diversity into our field.  Her considerable contribution will be honored at the 2025 AMA Marketing and Public Policy Conference held this June in Washington DC.