Bridging academia and industry: Reflections on the double legacy of Andy Zoltners (1945–2023)

When basketball aficionados discuss the late Kobe Bryant, they often point out that the superstar’s illustrious 20-year career can be neatly divided into two halves: the ten seasons in which he wore the number 8 on his jersey and the ten seasons in which he wore the number 24. Experts have remarked that each half of Kobe’s career would independently warrant induction into the National Basketball Association (NBA) Hall of Fame.1 Although he made his mark in a very different arena than Kobe, Andris “Andy” Zoltners—who passed away in April at the age of 77—also cultivated two legendary careers within a single lifetime. In Andy’s case, these two careers were not sequential but occurred largely in parallel and fortified one another during his five extraordinary decades as a Sales Management professor and consultant.