IACOB CĂTOIU

Professor Iacob CĂTOIU – an Honorary Member of the Romanian Distribution Committee – was the distinguished representative of the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies at the formation, in 1996, of the Romanian Distribution Committee. As a Member of the Board, Professor Iacob CĂTOIU was directly involved (together with other distinguished Board members, such as: Professors Valeriu IOAN-FRANC and Virgil POPA, Dr. Aurel VAINER, Vice-President of CCIRMB, and Professor Gheorghe ZAMAN, Director of the Institute for National Economy) not only during the initial working visit of the Professor Léon F. Wegnez, Secretary General, International Association of the Distributive Trade, A.I.D.A. Brussels (also Administrator Secretary General of the Diplomatic Club of Belgium, and Co-Founder of the Diplomatique Gazette Brussels, General Manager of the Royal Belgian Committee for Distribution, and Member of France’s Academy of Commercial Sciences), but also in the preparation of the 24th International Congress of A.I.D.A. (organized in Bucharest, at Athénée Palace Hilton, on 18-19 May 1998, and having both a challenging central theme –“Retailers and Suppliers with shared ambitions to improve profit performance by continuously improving the quality of their service to consumers” – and reputed Keynote Speakers:  Riccardo Garosci, Vice President of Economic and Monetary Commission of the European Parliament, European Raporteur for „Green Book for European Commerce”, President of the “Commerce and Distribution” Intergroup of the European Parliament; Jean-Jacques Van Den Heede, Vice-President ACNielsen;  Michel Eeckhout, Executive Director, Technology and Information, Delhaize “Le Lion”, Belgium; Dr. Ulf Kalmbach, Project Manager, REWE-Zentral AG, Germany; Louis Guelette, IBM Vice President, Distribution; Nikos Skoulas, former Minister, President of NSA International, Greece; Georges Chetochine, Professor of Marketing at the University Paris IX-Dauphine, and Chairman of IGC International, France; Claude Sordet, Chairman & Managing Director CSC Conseils, France, and Member of French Academy of Commercial Sciences; Andrew Cookson, Partner, GIRA Group, France-Switzerland; Henry R. Hidell III, President of Hidell-Eyster International Inc., United States, and a member of the executive committee of the International Bottled Water Association; Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier, Chairman and Managing Director of the EuroHandelsinstitut, Germany, President of EuroShop, and President of the European Retail Academy; Maurice de Talansier, Manager of l’Observateur Cetelem, France; Jean-Pierre Ramaekers, Manager, TCC Continuity Company, Belgium-Netherlands; William S. Webb, Executive Director, The Institute of Retail and Distribution Management, London, United Kingdom; Benoit Hirszowski, Marketing Manager Tetra Pak Europe; Paul Schulz, Senior Vice President, Food Distributors International, United States; Eric Dean Rohlck, Member of the Corporate Member Division, Competition Bureau, Federal Trade Commission, United States; Mario Bertolini, Honorary President of AIDA, President of the Chamber of Commerce of Parma, Italy; Claude Magnan, Chairman Managing Director Elodis, Director of International Relations Intermarché, France; Pierre Arnold, Docteur Honoris Causa de l’Université de Lausanne et Legion d’honneur 1991, ancient PDG de Migros, membre de la direction du groupe horloger SMH, siège au conseil d’administration de Swissair; Marco Atzberger, Directorate of Studies, EuroHandelsinstitut, Germany.

Professor Iacob CĂTOIU is a true symbol of the Romanian Marketing fascinating world, being the first Romanian with both a PhD and a Master’s degree in Marketing in the US. He was also the first Dean of the Faculty of Marketing, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, which is well-known for understanding marketing’s full impact in the face of growing complexity, and in understanding the trends and also looking beyond them, while interacting with brands in the digital and physical worlds, and considering the emerging technologies and the rapidly adoption by the customers of the new technologies and incorporation into the everyday live, and adequately measuring ROI and proving marketing’s worth in different companies on different relevant markets.