Few people have the opportunity to influence more than 6,000 lives each day — and for Amy Kristof-Brown, dean of the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business, it’s a chance to create meaningful, positive change in the lives of the students she serves. “We get the opportunity to create new things for people to […]
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Click here to purchase a paywall bypass linkFew people have the opportunity to influence more than 6,000 lives each day — and for Amy Kristof-Brown, dean of the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business, it’s a chance to create meaningful, positive change in the lives of the students she serves.
“We get the opportunity to create new things for people to have in their lives — whether it’s new majors, new job opportunities, a new degree, whatever it might be — (it’s) exciting because they give opportunities to other people,” she said of the school.
Since moving to Iowa from Baltimore in 1997 to take a position at Tippie, Ms. Kristof-Brown’s sphere of influence has steadily increased. She began as an assistant professor in the department of management and organizations, working up to associate and then full professorship in 2008.
She crossed over to the administrative side of academia because it was a way to have “maximum impact,” she said.
“That comes with voicing opinions,” she said. “And suddenly you get moved into, ‘well, if you think that we could do this better, maybe you should lead the committee that helps us do that better.’ That starts to open doors to positions where you can start to execute some of those ideas. So I would not say that I started out having any desire to move into that track, because I was doing a job that I loved, and I loved teaching. I loved doing research.”
Ms. Kristof-Brown’s commitment to making a positive impact reaches well beyond the Tippie College of Business. Since 2018, she and her husband of nearly 30 years, Kenneth Brown — also a professor at Tippie — have been philanthropically involved with United Way of Johnson and Washington Counties, both giving and raising funds for the organization.
The two are members of the nonprofit’s Tocqueville Society, a network of individuals and families who demonstrate commitment to their communities through generous annual contributions. Named after Alexis de Tocqueville, the French historian and political philosopher who admired the American spirit of volunteerism and community building, the Society recognizes and celebrates leadership in giving.
“What I like about (United Way) is that they provide a fabulous way of vetting different organizations and figuring out who’s doing things well (and) where their areas of greatest need (are). I don’t have the time to do that myself, so I appreciate the fact that United Way does that and then helps those organizations do things even more effectively,” she said.
While Ms. Kristof-Brown is passionate about the business sector, she’s equally enthralled with the arts. Both her daughters, Ellie and Maddie, were involved with dance growing up, and Maddie performs with a professional ballet company in Austin. Last year, Ms. Kristof-Brown joined the board of directors of Ballet Des Moines.
“I’ve always had a love of (dance). I’ve always enjoyed watching it,” she said. “I had an aunt who took me to both dance and theater, and so I’ve always had a huge appreciation for the arts, particularly in that space — and then having our kids (grow) up here in Iowa City, it’s (the) number one small city for the arts. That’s one of the things that we really lean into in Iowa City, is feeding the arts.”
Embracing her leadership role as dean, Ms. Kristof-Brown acknowledged the role models who helped shape her path: former Tippie dean Sarah Fisher Gardial and professors Sara Rynes-Weller and Nancy Hauserman.
“Those were people that I really looked to, and I thought, ‘I want to be like them.’ I want to have that kind of impact. I want to be able to stand in front of a room of 500 students and have them hanging on every word that I say. I want to be able to publish an article that people are giving awards to later because it had such an impact — those were people that I always look to and really had incredible respect for,” she said.
Ms. Kristof-Brown has acquired numerous academic awards through the years herself, and encourages up-and-coming Women of Influence to recognize their own potential.
“Doors are opening all the time, if you’re willing to share your ideas and your skills,” she said. “They may not always be the doors that you think are going to be there, but you bring something to the table, and if you’re not sharing it — because you’re not confident, because you think somebody else might do it better — then you’re withholding something of value to whatever organization you’re working for.”
