Christopher P. Neck, Ph.D.

Dr. Christopher P. Neck is currently an Associate Professor of Management at Arizona State University, where he held the title “University Master Teacher.”  From 1994 to 2009, he was part of the Pamplin College of Business faculty at Virginia Tech.  He received his Ph.D. in Management from Arizona State University and his M.B.A. from Louisiana State University.  Neck is the coauthor of the principles of management textbook, Management:  A Balanced Approach to the 21^st Century (Wiley 2013); the upcoming introductory to entrepreneurship textbook, Entrepreneurship, (SAGE, forthcoming). Neck is author of the books Self-Leadership: Empowering Yourself and Others to Personal Excellence (Forthcoming, SAGE Publications); Fit To Lead:   The Proven 8-week Solution for Shaping Up Your Body, Your Mind, and Your Career (2004, St. Martin's Press; 2012, Carpenter’s Sons Publishing); Mastering Self-Leadership: Empowering Yourself for Personal Excellence, 6^th edition (2013, Pearson); The Wisdom of Solomon at Work (2001, Berrett-Koehler); For Team Members Only: Making Your Workplace Team Productive and Hassle-Free (1997, Amacom Books); and Medicine for the Mind: Healing Words to Help You Soar, 4^th Edition (Wiley, 2012).  

Dr. Neck’s research specialties include self-leadership, leadership, group decision-making processes, self-managing teams, and employee/executive fitness.  He has over 100 publications in the form of books, chapters, and articles in various journals. Additionally, each semester Neck teaches an introductory management course to a single class of anywhere from 500 to 1,000 students.   Dr. Neck was the recipient of the 2007 Business Week Favorite Professor Award.”   He is featured on www.businessweek.com as one of the approximately twenty professors from across the world receiving this award.  Neck recently received the Order of Omega Outstanding Teaching Award for 2012.  This award is award to one professor at Arizona State by the Alpha Lamda Chapter of this leadership fraternity. His class sizes at Virginia Tech filled rooms up to 1000 students.  He received numerous teaching awards during his tenure at Virginia Tech, including the 2002 Wine Award for Teaching Excellence. Also, Neck was the ten-time winner (1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009) of the “Students’ Choice Teacher of The Year Award” (voted by the students for the best teacher of the year within the entire university).  Also, some of the organizations who have participated in Neck's management development training include GE/Toshiba, Busch Gardens, Clark Construction, the United States Army, Crestar, American Family Insurance, Sales and Marketing Executives International, American Airlines, American Electric Power, W. L. Gore & Associates, Dillard's Department Stores, and Prudential Life Insurance. 

Jeffery D. Houghton, Ph. D.Dr. Jeffery D. Houghton completed his Ph.D. in Management at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) and is currently an Associate Professor of Management at West Virginia University.  Dr. Houghton has taught college-level business courses at Virginia Tech, Abilene Christian University (TX), Lipscomb University (TN), The International University (Vienna, Austria), and for the U.S. Justice Department-Federal Bureau of Prisons.  Prior to pursuing a full-time career in academics, he worked in the banking industry as a loan officer and branch manager.   

A member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, Dr. Houghton’s research specialties include human behavior, motivation, personality, leadership and self-leadership.  Dr. Houghton has published more than 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and his work has been cited over 1600 times in academic journals. He currently teaches undergraduate, masters and doctoral level courses in management, OB, and leadership.  Dr. Houghton was named the 2013 Beta Gamma Sigma Professor of the Year for the WVU College of Business and Economics, awarded annually to one faculty member within the college as selected by a vote of the student members of Beta Gamma Sigma and he received the 2008 Outstanding Teaching Award for the WVU College of Business and Economics, awarded annually to one faculty member for outstanding teaching. In addition to his research and teaching activities, Dr. Houghton has done consulting and conducted training seminars for companies including the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, and the Bruce Hardwood Floors Company. 

Emma Murray BA, H. Dip, DBS IT

Emma Murray completed a Bachelor of Arts Degree (BA) in English and Spanish at University College Dublin (UCD) in Co. Dublin, Ireland. This was followed by a Higher Diploma (H.dip) in Business Studies and Information Technology at the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business in Co. Dublin, Ireland. Following her studies, Emma spent almost a decade in investment banking before becoming a full-time writer and author. As a writer, Emma has worked on numerous texts, including business and economics, self-help, and psychology.  Within the field of higher education, Emma has assisted in creating and writing business course modules for students in the US and the UK. Emma worked with Dr. Christopher P. Neck and Dr. Jeffery D. Houghton on Management:  A Balanced Approach to the 21^st Century (Wiley 2013); and is the co-author of Management:  A Balanced Approach to the 21^st Century Second Edition (Wiley 2016). Emma is the author of The Unauthorized Guide to Doing Business the Alan Sugar Way (2010, Wiley-Capstone); and co-author of How to Succeed as a Freelancer in Publishing, (2010, How To Books). Emma lives in London, United Kingdom.