LAUSR

Four years ago in January 2016, I began my first three-year term as editor of the Journal of Macromarketing. I accepted another three-year term that began in January 2019. However, because my wife Cindy received a diagnosis of brain cancer at the end of May 2019, I informed the Editorial Policy Board in June 2019, that I must end my time as editor at the end of 2019 in order to serve my wife more effectively as her primary caregiver. Making this move reduces the risk that the macromarketing community would be subject to a chaotic transition in the event my duties to Cindy suddenly intensified. I am glad to report: “So far, so good for Cindy.” You can follow her journey at https://www.caringbridge.org/ visit/cindy-peterson Joe Sirgy of Virginia Tech will become the new editor of the journal beginning January 1, 2020. I am very pleased Joe has agreed to be the editor and I am very enthusiastic about the prospects for the journal under Joe’s leadership. He has contributed to the journal as an associate editor for many years in the past. Joe founded the journal Applied Research in Quality of Life and served as its first editor. Google Scholar reports that Joe’s publications have been cited more than 30,000 times. Such citations give him an h-index of 81 which means he has had 81 articles cited at least 81 times. He has supervised the dissertations of numerous doctoral students, such as Babson College’s Dhruv Grewal. In sum, the macromarketing community has a very capable scholar and leader as its new editor. I will miss serving macromarketers as editor of the journal. There were a few tears in my eyes as I made the phone call in July to inform SAGE Publications’ Senior Editor for Social Science Journals Allison Leung informing her of my decision to leave the editor’s position two years early in my second term. Allison is a real pro and someone I appreciate much. And I can’t say enough about the effective work of my team of associate editors and how much I have enjoyed working with them, as well as the special-issue editors over the past four years. My thanks also go to the leaders of the University of Wyoming’s College of Business who have supported me as an editor by granting a course reduction each year that I have served as editor.