Rick Kean has spent his entire career in business-to-business marketing and communications.
In 2005, seeking to improve the basic knowledge and skills among practitioners in business-to-business marketing, he created the Business Marketing Institute. Today the BMI is a web-based skills assessment, self-directed skills building and certification program for business-to-business marketers and marketing communicators.

At the Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM), Kean works to improve the practice of business-to-business marketing by providing a select number of major corporations with access to the knowledge, tools, techniques and resources necessary for success in business-to-business marketing

He served as Executive Director of the Business Marketing Association from 1992 to 2006, joining the predecessor organization, the Business/Professional Advertising Association as Executive Director in 1992. As an active member of the marketing community, Kean had served as a member of the B/PAA’s Board of Directors from 1982 to 1992.

Prior to joining B/PAA, Kean served as the Group Publisher of the American Marketing Association publications, the preeminent publisher in the field of marketing. There he was responsible for all AMA published products, including Marketing News, Marketing Research, the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Marketing Research, as well as academic texts, newsletters, books, conference proceedings and directories. At AMA he launched two new publishing properties, Marketing Management and Marketing Executive Report.

He spent 15 years with Crain Communications, a leading publisher of business newspapers and magazines, serving as the VP/Publisher of Business Marketing and prior to that Midwest Sales Manager of Advertising Age. He spent the early part of his career as a district sales manager at Standard Rate & Data Service, a publisher of international media directories.

He has received the G.D. Crain, Jr. Award from the Business Marketing Association for career contributions to business-to-business marketing and earned the Certified Business Communicator credential, a professional designation recognizing knowledge and professional conduct in the field of business-to-business marketing and communications.