Jennifer Lynn Aaker

Who is Jennifer Lynn Aaker?

A social psychologist and marketer, Jennifer Aaker is the General Atlantic Professor of Marketing at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. Her research spans time, money and happiness. She focuses on questions such as: What actually makes people happy, as opposed to what they think make them happy? How do small acts create significant change, and how can those effects be fueled by social media? Her research has been published in both marketing and psychology journals, and has been featured in a variety of media including The Economist, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BusinessWeek, Forbes, CBS MoneyWatch, NPR, Science, Inc, and Cosmopolitan. She has served as associate editor or on the editorial boards of the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology and the Journal of Marketing Research. She has received awards for her research on the peacefulness of mixed emotions, understanding culture and consumers, and the psychology of consumer-brand relationship.

A sought-after teacher in the field of marketing, Professor Aaker teaches in many of Stanford’s Executive Education programs as well as MBA electives including Designing Happiness, Brands, Design & Social Technology, How to Tell a Story, and The Power of Social Technology. Recipient of multiple teaching awards, she has also taught at UC Berkeley, UCLA and Columbia.

A homegrown Californian, Jennifer has studied at the Sorbonne, and counts winning a dance-off in the early 1980’s among her most impressive accomplishments.