Hope Koch, PhD

Professional Summary

The 2023 Hankamer School of Business Distinguished Professor, Hope Koch is the first in her family to attend university. Koch started her education at a community college and eventually earned a PhD in Information & Operations Management from Texas A&M University. Koch holds the Godfrey Sullivan Endowed Chair, teaches management information systems courses in the School of Business, and sponsors the Baylor Chapter of the Association for Information Systems student organization. Koch focuses on attracting students into technical fields and then facilitating their placement in fulfilling career positions. She has built lasting relationships with some of the best firms in America including ExxonMobil, Phillips 66, Accenture, USAA and McLane Company.

Koch teaches and conducts research on the latest technologies and the future of business. Over the years, she has studied the technology implementations of many firms to ascertain the resulting improvements to the operations of those organizations and to better understand the overall value-add for society. In addition to making a positive difference to society, Koch’s research has garnered multiple awards for her and her co-authors, many of whom are her students. Her papers have won “best of” awards in Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Journal of Strategic Information Systems and the European Journal of Information Systems. In December 2022, the Association for Information Systems selected her paper “Realizing Value From Shadow Analytics: A Case Study” as one of the top five best papers published in the entire information systems field.

Koch started her professional career as a certified public accountant for McLane Company, Inc., a leader in supply chain services and a wholly owned subsidiary of Walmart and now Berkshire Hathaway. She is incredibly grateful to McLane not only for the long-term support the organization has provided her over the course of her career, but also, and perhaps more importantly, for introducing her to her husband Kevin. Hope and Kevin are ardent supporters of education and fitness, donating time and money to those causes in Central Texas for decades. They helped establish and manage the Callaway Foundation, which annually grants about $500,000 in college scholarships including a program that supports every graduate from C.H. Yoe High School in Cameron, Texas. In 2021-2022, they co-chaired community efforts to successfully pass a $164 million bond to improve public schools in Temple, Texas. In 2023, Temple College appointed Hope to their Board of Trustees.

In their spare time, Kevin and Hope enjoy training for marathons, triathlons and mountain climbs. They successfully completed the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon in 2019 and in 2017 climbed Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa (19,341 feet). They are currently preparing to Climb Mount Katahdin in Maine.

Education

• 2003 - Doctor of Philosophy in Information and Operations Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
• 1997 - Master of Business Administration in Information Systems Management, Baylor University, Waco, TX
• 1992 - Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting, The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Belton, TX  

Courses

• MIS 3305 – Management of Information Systems
• MIS 5355 – Management of Information Systems
• MIS 6V99 – Dissertation
• MIS 5V99 – Thesis

Research Interests

• Emerging technologies and the future of business
• Engaged scholarship with a real-world impact
• Qualitative and action research

Boards

• State of Texas - Texas Artificial Intelligence Council
  • Appointed Member (Lt. Governor Appointee)
  • Advise state leadership on AI innovation, governance, risk mitigation and ethical guardrails
  • Contribute to statewide recommendations balancing economic competitiveness and public protection
  • Collaborate with legislative and executive leaders on responsible AI strategy
• Board of Trustees, Temple College
• Board of Directors, 1st National Bank Texas
  • Audit Committee Chair, 2025-present
• Chair, The Callaway Foundation, 2003-Present

Certification

• Certified Public Accountant

Selected Publications

• Dwyer, Sean; Browder, Russ; and Koch, Hope. "Resilience Seeking: How Leaders Can Expect the Unexpected," EIX (Entrepreneur and Innovation Exchange), July 2025, https://eiexchange.com/content/resilience-seeking-how-leaders-can-expect-the-unexpected
• Browder, Russ; Dwyer, Sean; and Koch, Hope. "Upgrading Adaptation: How Digital Transformation Promotes Organizational Resilience," Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Special Issue on Leading the Digital Transformation of Incumbent Firms, 18(1) 2023, pp. 128-164.
  • Most Widely Read and Top Cited article – April 2025
  • Winner of the 2025 Strategic Management Society Journals Best Video Abstract
    • Video
• Building Resiliency in an Age of Crisis - Baylor Business Review | Fall 2024 Issue
• Browder, Russ; Koch, Hope; Long, Anna; and Hernandez, James. (2022). Learning to Innovate with Big Data in Inter-Organizational Relationships. Academy of Management Discoveries, 8(1). 139-166.
• Green, Gina; Koch, Hope; Kulaba, Peter; Garner, Shelby; George, Carolin; Hitchcock, Julia; and Norman, Gift. (2021). Implementing an mHealth App to Combat Hypertension in India's Vulnerable Populations. IT&People, 35(4).
• Koch, Hope; Chipidza, Wallace; and Kayworth, Tim. (2021). Realizing Value from Shadow Analytics:  A Case Study. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 30(2).
  Journal of Strategic Information Systems 2021 Best Paper Award
  • The Association for Information Systems, its Senior Scholars, and the International Conference on Information Systems recognized this paper as a Best Publication of 2021
• Leidner, Dorothy; Gonzalez, Ester; and Koch, Hope. (2018). An Affordance Perspective on Enterprise Social Media and Organizational Socialization. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 27(2). 117-138.
  Journal of Strategic Information Systems 2018 Best Paper Runner-Up
• Koch, Hope; Gonzalez, Ester; and Leidner, Dorothy. (2012)  Bridging the Work/Social Divide: The Emotional Response to Organizational Social Networking Sites. European Journal of Information Systems, 21(6). 699-717. 
  2013 Stafford Operations Society Award for Best Paper Published in 2012

Select Keynote Speeches

• “Intelligent Agents and the Rise of the Agent Economy,” Waco Economic Development Group, February 2026
• “The AI Scares Me… But Its Helpful,” Bell County Museum Spring Speaker Series, April 2025
• “Artificial Intelligence, Technology, and Global Relations: Why the World Needs Strong Democracies,” World Affairs Council of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas, November 14, 2024

Awards

• Association for Information Systems Leadership Team Award, 2026
• Hankamer School of Business Research Advancement Award, 2026
• Distinguished Professor, Baylor University Hankamer School of Business, 2023
• Distinguished Baylor Woman of Central Texas, 2023
• Lifetime Leopard Award. Temple College 2022
• Beta Gamma Sigma External Honoree, Texas State University, 2021

Videos