Member Spotlight: AOM Historian Regina Greenwood

It could be said that Regina Greenwood is known for cultivating long and meaningful relationships, and there is no better example than her history with the Academy of Management. Although her AOM membership officially began in 1995 when she began her doctoral studies, Regina’s Academy affiliation dates back to 1974 when she attended her first Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington almost fifty years ago. Regina has since established herself as an accomplished professor, scholar, author, and proudly holds the title of AOM Historian, overseeing AOM’s archives.    

Regina’s introduction to the Academy of Management came through her husband, the late Ronald G. Greenwood, an AOM member, fellow scholar, and management history professor. Through the years, Regina would accompany Ron to Annual Meetings as they both developed personal and working relationships with colleagues through their interaction within the DIGs, namely the Management History Division.  

“I would go to a lot of the meetings with him… It was a very common practice at the time, that you would have your family vacation wherever the Academy went.”  

In 1995, while raising their family and with encouragement from Ron, Regina pursued her doctoral degree and enrolled at Nova Southeastern University where her husband often taught. Coincidentally, the professor in her first management history course was none other than Ron himself! That same year she officially joined the Academy of Management and attended her first Annual Meeting as a student member.  

When Ronald passed away a short time later, the Management History Division invited her to a memorial that was held in his honor. “My great gift from my late husband was inheriting all his friends at the Academy of Management and having this wonderful knowledge of the Academy (Annual Meeting) and what it could do for a career…. It has been my home ever since."  

Regina’s roots with the Management History Division run deep. She has held several titles over the years, including volunteering with the Membership Committee, her role as Membership Director, and serving as Division Chair. In 2015 she authored, A First Look at the First 30 Years of the First Division: The Management History Division. “I was fortunate to know and work with a lot of people who were very service-oriented, who enjoyed volunteering and being part of the Academy at a deeper level… All of those things led to a richer experience at the Academy and helped me enjoy it a great deal more – and I met a lot more people.”   

As to how Regina came into her current role of AOM Historian, she credits Charles “Chuck” D. Wrege, former AOM Historian and co-author to both Regina and Ron. As colleagues they shared an interest in management history. They collaborated on research and developed a shared relationship with Cornell University’s Kheel Center (home to AOM’s archives). “I’m delighted to do this,” she stated. “I get to meet and work with wonderful people. Everyone at Cornell is dedicated to history, preserving knowledge, and sharing it with others. The Kheel Center is well-known as a labor repository, and we’d like to make the management sections as rich as the labor section. That’s something we will work on. It’s a question of having the material available and then making it available to scholars.”  

With its rich history dating back to 1936, and with Regina’s management history knowledge and extensive Academy ties, AOM could not have found a better suited individual to serve as its Historian.  On what interests her the most about AOM’s history, Regina reflects, “I think the Academy is a unique institution. If you read the history, you can see how it developed, the different paths it could have taken, and then what it ended up being.”  

Reflecting on her years with AOM and the value of membership, Regina shares, “People like Dan Wren, Art Bedeian, Jane Gibson, Al Bolton, and so many more, really became my friends and mentored me and nurtured me and helped the Academy become my professional home….I hate to say so few names because there are so many more. I highly recommend the Academy as a professional home for everybody. I think it’s a remarkable institution with all sorts of advantages. Volunteering is a great path forward to learning more and getting more benefits out of membership. The Academy is not about demanding your attention, time, and energy; but about offering you the wonderful resources and support in your work. Where else can you find that nowadays, a one-way street to benefit you?”