Andris A Zoltners

Andris (Andy) Zoltners was born in a displaced persons camp in Augsburg, Germany, in 1945. His Latvian family came to the United States when he was four, eventually settling in Milwaukee, WI, where he grew up. Andy graduated from Juneau High School, married his high school sweetheart Aurelia, and moved to Florida where he received a B.S in Mathematics from the University of Miami. He also received an M.S. in Mathematics from Purdue and an MSIA and a Ph.D., both in Industrial Administration, from Carnegie-Mellon. In 1973, he joined the business school faculty at UMass Amherst, where he met his life-long collaborator, Prabha Sinha. Andy moved to the Kellogg faculty at Northwestern University in 1976, where he taught for 35 years. Andy is the co-author of nine books on topics such as sales force management, sales analytics, and incentive compensation. He has written over 40 articles and book chapters and has co-authored over 60 digital articles for the Harvard Business Review. Andy was named Frederic Esser Nemmers Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Marketing. 

Andy cofounded ZS Associates with Prabha Sinha in 1983, applying their academic integer programming models to key sales force questions such as sizing, territory alignment and salesperson compensation. From a two-person team, ZS grew into a premier management consulting firm with over 15,000 employees and 35 offices in 15 countries. Andy was inducted into the Chicago Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame in 2005. In 2012, the Pharmaceutical Management Science Association honored Andy and Prabha with a Lifetime Achievement Award. 

A generous donor to his alma maters, Andy believed in education as a stepping-stone out of poverty. His work ethic and integrity served as driving forces behind both his success and the respect he won from others. He was an inquisitive and engaged colleague and teacher. Andy had a passion for understanding; his probing questioning led to insight and wisdom about research, teaching, and business. Andy was respected by his colleagues for his outstanding academic contributions and loved and admired by his MBA and executive students for his engaging teaching style. At ZS, he was an inspiring leader, engendering universal trust and loyalty.

Andy was humble and kind by nature. Gentle in his interactions, he treated everyone with respect. He was a loving husband and father. His kindness and generosity were unmatched. Andy rode his bike or walked to work nearly every day of his life. He never stopped moving—working, swimming, biking, kayaking, walking, or playing pickleball. He loved to dance, travel, watch the sun set, and eat ice cream. He was deeply loved and will be greatly missed. 

He is survived by his loving wife Moira and her family, his son Greggor and wife Angela and their children, Eric, Julia, Matthew, and Natalie, his daughter Jennifer and husband Jeremy and their children, Taylor, Samuel, Emma, and McKenzie, his nephew Lars Bodnieks and family, and his beloved Australian family, including his cousin Janis Grauds.

A memorial service will be held for him in the Alice Millar Chapel in Evanston, Illinois, on Saturday, April 22, at 10:30 am. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Project Success (https://www.projectsuccess.org/), the Brain Support Network (www.brainsupportnetwork.org), or The Michael J. Fox Foundation.