Knowledge@Wharton

Former Wharton dean Thomas P. Gerrity has been named director of the Wharton Forum on Electronic Commerce, a business-to-business partnership focusing on e-business.

Established in 1996, the Forum on Electronic Commerce brings together corporate leaders with a team of more than 50 Wharton faculty members from various disciplines to share insights and conduct research on a range of e-commerce issues. The Forum’s current research agenda includes studies on Web-based competition, Internet pricing strategies, emerging new models for Web-based enterprises, business-to-business e-commerce and online purchasing behavior. Among its initiatives, the Forum established the Wharton Virtual Test Market, which now has more than 18,000 panel members around the world participating in a large-scale behavioral study of Internet usage.

Forum members include: British Airways, Fannie Mae, Ford Motor Co., IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft Foods, Scottish Widows and State Farm Insurance. Affiliate and research members include AnswerThink Consulting Group, CDNow, eBay, Flycast Communications, Media Metrix, Peter Max and US Interactive.

Gerrity, an early pioneer in the strategic application of technology, was founder and CEO of the Index Group, a leading information technology and management-consulting firm. Under his leadership as dean of Wharton from 1990 to 1999, the school attracted record numbers of applicants, unprecedented financial support and widespread recognition around the world for its leadership in management education.