Walter J. Salmon is the Stanley Roth, Sr. Professor of Retailing, Emeritus at the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration. He has been a member of the Harvard Business School faculty since 1956. He earned his BBA from the City College of New York and his MBA and DBA from Harvard Business School.

Professor Salmon's major fields are Consumer Marketing and Retail Distribution. He is currently studying how to balance consumer interests in breadth of selection with other interests in deciding where to shop. In addition, he is working with others on the faculty in the School's research and teaching programs in healthcare.

Professor Salmon's teaching assignments at Harvard Business School have included Retailing, Consumer Marketing, the Marketing course in the Advanced Management Program, the Program for Management Development and First Year Marketing. In addition, he participates in the School Seminar on "Making Boards More Effective" and has chaired the HBS Top Management Seminar for Retailers and Suppliers since its inception. Professor Salmon also served in the 1970's as Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and in the late 1980's and early 1990's as Senior Associate Dean and Director of External Relations.

He is presently serving on boards of Circuit City Stores, Inc., Harrah's Entertainment, Inc., The Neiman Marcus Group, PetsMart, Inc., The Quaker Oats Company, and a number of other retail companies. In addition, he has been a director of the Tufts Health Plan since its inception and currently serves as chair of its Compensation Committee.