Dr Ana Cruz is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of York Europe Campus (CITY College), with over 20 years of combined academic and industry experience. She is a Fellow of Advance HE and an internationally award-winning marketer, recognised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and leading European industry bodies. Her work is characterised by a strong commitment to bridging academic insight with real-world application, particularly in the areas of strategic marketing, digital transformation, and strategic brand management.
Prior to her current role, Dr Cruz held academic positions at CITY College and the University of Sheffield International Faculty, where she developed extensive experience teaching across undergraduate, postgraduate, and MBA programmes. She has taught and led modules including Strategic Brand Management, Developing Market Presence, Strategic Marketing, Managing Corporate Reputation and Integrated Marketing Communications, delivering in face-to-face, online, and hybrid formats to highly diverse, international cohorts. She is also an experienced dissertation supervisor and module leader, with a strong emphasis on applied research quality and academic rigour.
Dr Cruz’s research and scholarly work focus on digital and social media marketing, stakeholder value creation, sustainability, and the evolving role of AI in marketing practice. She is co-editor and author of the widely adopted textbook Digital and Social Media Marketing: A Results-Driven Approach (Routledge, multiple editions) and co-editor of Strategic Digital Transformation (Taylor & Francis). Her work reflects a consistent focus on actionable insight and practitioner relevance, often integrating qualitative approaches such as netnography and stakeholder-centric frameworks.
She has led and contributed to major international projects, including a European Commission–funded Erasmus initiative on digital marketing skills development, which delivered a pan-European curriculum and a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) reaching over 15,000 learners. Alongside her academic work, Dr Cruz is actively engaged in consultancy and executive training on multiple marketing topics including brand strategy, digital transformation, and new product development.
Dr. Cruz is also one of the judges of the Construction Marketing awards in the UK and one of the judges of the Global Marketing Challenge.
Before transitioning fully into academia, she held senior marketing roles at Tata Steel Europe and WRAP-The global Environmental Action NGO in the UK, leading strategic communications, brand development, and large-scale stakeholder engagement initiatives. This industry experience continues to inform her teaching and research, ensuring strong alignment with contemporary business challenges.
Industry Awards
2008 – Runner-up, Best Product Launch, Chartered Institute of Marketing B2B Marketing Awards
2008 – Winner, Sustainable Product Development of the Year, Chartered Institute of Waste Management
2006 – Winner, Best Stand, Budma Construction Exhibition
2006 – Runner-up, Best Internal Branding, Chartered Institute of Marketing B2B Marketing Awards
2006 – Runner-up, Innovation Award, Economic and Social Research Council
2005 – Winner, Best Doctoral Paper (Knowledge and Learning Track), British Academy of Management Conference
2004 – Winner, Best Technical Literature, Construction Marketing Awards
