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Marketing

Associate Dean for Executive Programs

Clinical Professor of Marketing

Portrait of Thomas O'Toole, Faculty at the Kellogg School of Management
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Thomas F. O'Toole is the Associate Dean for Executive Programs, and Clinical Professor of Marketing, at the Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University. He is responsible for Kellogg's Executive MBA degree program and Executive Education programs. His work and teaching focuses on subjects including: customer value growth strategy, customer centricity, customer ecosystems, loyalty programs, connecting data science to business value creation, data-driven marketing and digital business models. He developed and teaches a popular Kellogg MBA course on Customer Loyalty strategy. Additionally, he developed and teaches the online Kellogg Executive Education course on Customer Loyalty strategy. He teaches in many C-level Executive Education programs, including: Leading with Advanced Analytics and AI, Advanced Marketing Management, The CMO Program and The Customer-Focused Organization. He is the author of "Branding Services in the Digital Era" in Kellogg on Branding in a Hyper-Connected World (Wiley, 2019) and "Customer-Centricity as a Business Strategy" and "Personalization: Today and Tomorrow" in Kellogg on Marketing (Wiley, 2023).

O'Toole is a Senior Advisor at McKinsey and Company. For McKinsey, he provides strategic guidance to clients in multiple business sectors (e.g., travel, energy, retail, health care, financial services, hospitality) on customer strategy, enterprise data analytics, revenue strategy, digital enterprise transformation, loyalty programs and related subjects.

O'Toole writes for Forbes (Online) on a range of subjects spanning academia and business.

O'Toole currently serves on two Boards of Directors of: Alliant Energy (LNT), an S&P 500 company providing electricity, natural gas, renewable energy and logistics services and CWT, a global travel management company, serving corporations, partners and their travelers in over 140 countries. In 2016, he was appointed by the US Secretary of Commerce to, and then reappointed to, the Board of Directors of Brand USA, the nation's public-private enterprise to promote travel to the USA. Additionally, has previously served as a director of multiple public and private companies in a range of businesses.

Until his retirement at the end of 2016, O'Toole was Chief Marketing Officer, Senior Vice President and President, MileagePlus of United Airlines. At United, he was responsible for brand strategy, marketing, product development, ecommerce, digital channels, ancillary revenue, co-brand credit cards, customer data analytics, marketing systems, partnerships and other functions, including United's MileagePlus loyalty program. MileagePlus was, at the time, the largest travel loyalty program, and top-rated frequent flyer program, in the world.  He joined United as Chief Marketing Officer in 2010. 

Before United, O'Toole was Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Information Officer for Hyatt Hotels Corporation, where over 13 years was responsible for Hyatt's marketing, loyalty program, distribution, information technology and related functions worldwide. He joined Hyatt as Vice President of Marketing in 1995.

O'Toole's career has spanned an exceptionally broad range of C-level executive positions, business accomplishments and marketing disciplines. He is a frequently invited speaker at conferences and programs on customer strategy, leading edge marketing practices, data-driven marketing and related subjects. In 1998, he was named to the Advertising Age "Marketing 100".

O'Toole is active in civic, charitable, educational and philanthropic endeavors. He currently serves on the Boards of the CSU Foundation and the Big Shoulders Fund of Chicago.

O'Toole holds the degrees of Master of Applied Communication Theory and Methodology and Bachelor of Arts with concentration in communication research from the Cleveland State University. In 2013, he was named the Distinguished Alumnus of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.

  • B.A., 1979, Communication, Cleveland State University
    M.A., 1987, Applied Communication Theory and Methodology, Cleveland State University
  • Associate Dean, Executive Education, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2020-present
    Senior Fellow and Clinical Professor of Marketing, Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2016-present
    Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor of Marketing, Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2016
  • Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President, United Airlines, 2015-2016
    President, Mileage Plus Holdings, LCC, United Airlines, 2012-2016
    Senior Vice President, United Airlines, 2012-2015
    Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President, United Airlines, 2010-2012
    Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President, United Airlines, 2010
    Advisor, Diamond Management and Technology Consultants, 2009-2010
    Chief Marketing Officer, Global Hyatt Corporation, 2006-2008
    Chief Information Officer, Global Hyatt Corporation, 2006-2008
    Senior Vice President, Global Hyatt Corporation, 2003-2006
    Senior Vice President, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, 2000-2003
    Senior Vice President, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, 1998-2000
    Vice President, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, 1995-1998
    Vice President, Renaissance Hotels International, 1933-1995
    Senior Director, Stouffer Hotel Company, 1992-1993
    Director, Stouffer Hotel Company, 1989-1992
    Vice President and Account Group Supervisor, Wyse Advertising, 1988-1989
    Account Supervisor, Wyse Advertising, 1986-1988
    Account Executive, Wyse Advertising, 1984-1986
    Senior Project Director, Wyse Advertising, 1983-1984
    Project Director, Wyse Advertising, 1982-1983
    Marketing Analyst, Wyse Advertising, 1981-1982
    Junior Marketing Analyst, Wyse Advertising, 1981

Loyalty Co.: The Business of Customer Loyalty (MKTG-948-0)

Customer loyalty is foundational to value creation by a wide and growing range of enterprises. This course teaches a strategic approach to the development of customer loyalty. It provides a comprehensive framework for thinking critically about customer loyalty, a structured approach to the development of customer loyalty strategies and practical imperatives for the design, development and execution of loyalty programs and related marketing activities. The course is organized in three parts: customer strategy, loyalty strategy and loyalty programs. You learn how to design a loyalty program. Additionally, we focus on related subjects such as: customer differentiation and valuation, CRM and personalization at scale. The course concentrates on how to develop customer strategy, loyalty strategy and loyalty programs in actual practice. We use lots of current examples from a wide range of businesses (e.g., retail, travel, financial services, telecom, health care, CPG) including both B-C and B-B. The class sessions combine lecture, group discussion, a class debate and usually an outside speaker. The course readings are two short books and a set of articles. There are three assignments including two individual and one group assignment. The group assignment that culminates the course is to design a loyalty program for a cruise line. There is no final exam.

Field Study (MKTG-498-0)

Field Studies include those opportunities outside of the regular curriculum in which a student is working with an outside company or non-profit organization to address a real-world business challenge for course credit under the oversight of a faculty member.