The 2023 Hankamer School of Business Distinguished Professor, Hope Koch is the first in her family to attend university. Hope started her education at a community college and eventually earned a PhD in Information & Operations Management from Texas A&M. Dr. 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. Dr. Koch has built relationships with some of the best firms in America including ExxonMobil, Phillips 66, Accenture, USAA, and McLane Company. Dr. 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, Dr. Koch’s research has garnered multiple awards for her and her co-authors, many of whom are her students. Dr. 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 & 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 and First National Bank Texas appointed her to their Board of Directors. 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).