Getting to know Dr. Joy Karriker

Pictured, left to right, Dr. Joy Karriker, Pol Solanellas Manzaneres, Amber Kennedy, Heather Whitley, and Amber Whitley

A native of Virginia, Dr. Joy Karriker joined the College of Business in 2005 after earning her Ph.D. from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Before that, she earned her MBA and BA from James Madison University in Harrisonburg. She then worked in various consultative, staff and management roles with companies including the Marriott Corporation, A.N. Culbertson & Company, Inc., and the UVA Health Services Foundation and Medical Center. She also was principal of her own strategy consulting firm for startup businesses

Karriker is currently an associate professor of management and a COB Faculty Fellow, teaching graduate strategic management and helping coordinate the COB’s study abroad program. “I love the ‘coaching’ component of teaching, and I am proud of our COB programs and students,” she says.

Making Waves

Karriker’s MBA student teams are getting noticed. These teams were ranked several times recently in the global top 25 (and as high as #3) out of approximately 3,800 teams. Last spring, one of her teams earned an Honorable Mention in the Aspen Institute Business & Society International MBA Case Competition, among a pool of elite business schools. Karriker is the COB’s 2019/20 nominee and a university finalist for the ECU Alumni Association’s Outstanding Teaching Award.

Karriker currently represents the Management Department on our Graduate Committee, is a member of the ECU Academic Awards Committee and serves as a Faculty Senate alternate. Last fall, she completed her long tenure as conference coordinator for the Southern Management Association (SMA) and recently transitioned to her new role as an elected board member. In October 2019, she received SMA’s Volunteer of the Year Award. She also remains active in strategic planning facilitation for various organizations and serves on the editorial review board for the Group and Organization Management Journal.

This year, Karriker presented research at the Academy of Management (AOM) annual meeting and led professional development sessions at AOM and SMA’s annual meeting. She most recently published articles in the International Leadership Journal, the Journal of Organizational Psychology, and the Journal of Management Development, reflecting her research interests in organizational justice, micro-foundations of strategy and leadership development

Did you know?

She has been married to Todd Karriker for more than 30 years, and they have two adult children: Forrest, who works for a genome editing company doing cancer research in Durham, and Elise, who is a Realtor with the Rob Hall Team of Re/Max Preferred Realty in Greenville. She has had a lifetime love of music and is a first soprano with the Greenville Choral Society. She most enjoys spending time with her family (which includes their dog) and friends, traveling, snow skiing, singing, and being a loyal fan (most especially football – Go, Pirates and Go, JMU Dukes!).

• Categories:
• Management