Aimee Drolet Rossi

Biography

Professor of Marketing Aimee Drolet Rossi specializes in consumer decision-making and teaches in the full-time MBA, Fully Employed MBA and doctoral programs at UCLA Anderson. Currently, she is the school’s marketing area chair.

Her research looks at the mental processes underlying consumers’ choices, specifically focusing on decision-making among older consumers (age 50 or older), consumer habits and meta-preferences. “Although there is much debate over the impact of population aging,” says Drolet, “what we do know is that fertility rates are getting lower, people are living longer, and the world population is getting older.”

She co-authored and co-edited The Aging Consumer: Perspectives from Psychology and Economics, named one of Choice Magazine’s Top 10 Outstanding Academic Titles in Business, Management and Labor in 2011. It examines how population aging and the changing consumption habits of older adults may alter the consumer market. Her research demonstrated, for example, that when it comes to goods like transportation services, vacations and food, people tend to decrease their share of total spending as they age. However, for goods like health care, donations and gifts, they tend to increase their share of total spending as they age.

Her latest research focuses on the development of habits and on moderation — that is, avoiding excess in consumption. “It could be any kind of garden variety consumer experience, whether consumer packaged goods or durables,” she says of her research.

Drolet Rossi received a B.A. in classical history and an M.A. in public policy at the University of Chicago, and an A.M. in psychology and a Ph.D. in business at Stanford University. Since arriving at UCLA Anderson in 1997 as an assistant professor, she has won the school’s Eric and “E” Juline Faculty Excellence in Research Award in 2004 and the Citibank Best Teacher Award in 2008. She is also a visiting committee member at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.

Despite being married to fellow UCLA Anderson Professor of Marketing Peter Rossi, who also teaches statistics and economics, she says they don’t necessarily discuss marketing at the dinner table.

“He’s an econometrics expert. If I pick up something he’s written, I can’t even understand it,” she jokes. “All these equations … there’s nothing to talk about.”

They are both avid fly fishermen, enjoying the sport all over the world, from Northern California to Alaska, from Michigan to New Zealand. When she’s not fishing for salmon or trout, Drolet Rossi keeps busy with Mesolithic stone tool taxonomy and curating her TV club on Facebook (favorite shows include X-Files and Arrested Development).

Education

Ph.D. Business, 1997, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University

A.M. Psychology, 1997, Stanford University

M.A. Public Policy (with honors), 1993, The Harris School, University of Chicago

B.A. Classical History (with honors), 1991, University of Chicago