Business professor shares how her experience in finance led her to academia

Kristin Boyce is a professor in the School of Business who oversees the Women in Business club and serves as the director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, and her journey to Liberty University is one of unexpected circumstances and obedience to God’s calling. 

Boyce attended Wilmington University with plans to follow her long-time dream of becoming a news anchor. But when her father, who had become a new believer, was diagnosed with cancer, the trajectory of her life completely changed.

“I was not a believer in my college days. I was very worldly and very sinful and was living it up, and my dad had become a new believer and was inviting me to church. I (said), ‘I am not going to church. … That is crazy,’” Boyce said. “But when my dad was diagnosed with cancer, I ended up going, and the whole trajectory of my life changed from there. I became a believer, met my husband at that church, got married, graduated college with a baby, bought a house and now I was a new mom and a new college graduate.”

Once her daughter reached preschool age, Boyce began looking for a job to start her career. Due to her husband’s position in law enforcement, her family could not go anywhere in public in northern Delaware. Her family began driving to southern Delaware to be away from his work. As they were driving every Sunday, Boyce noticed the exit they would get off had a Bank of America sign, and she continually felt that the Lord was leading her to go in and ask if they were hiring.

Boyce answered the Lord’s call and applied for the one open position: an administrative role. She received the job over five internal candidates to become the assistant to the site executive. 

“The HR lady ended up being a believer, and it was just really cool to see how the Lord connected us during that time,” Boyce said. “I started in 2004 at Bank of America, and that just started this whole business journey for me.”

Little did she know that in her second year of working at Bank of America, she would receive the Award of Excellence only given to the top 1% of bank employees. 

“They flew us to this amazing celebrity event in Arizona, and I just remember feeling so special and so thankful that I had the opportunity to do that,” Boyce said. 

Throughout her 10 years at Bank of America, Boyce served as a vice president in various roles, including learning and leadership development, small business banking, social media relations, foreclosure and bankruptcy and the Associate Engagement Center of Excellence. In her role with social media relations, Boyce received a patent with her name on it as she helped the bank launch its first social media presence on Twitter.

However, in 2014, she was one of the 3,000 employees let go  due to downsizing within the bank. Since she was in banking, she thought she was supposed to continue working in banking and applied for an opening at Capital One. But while Boyce was offered the position, she did not have peace about accepting the offer and felt this was not where the Lord wanted her. 

A few months before being let go by Bank of America, Boyce had begun helping a local Christian radio station, The Bridge, with weekend events. During the same week that Boyce was feeling uneasy about her offer from Capital One, she received a call from The Bridge offering her a full-time position as the director of donor development. 

In this position, Boyce had the opportunity to travel and meet top Christian artists such as Danny Gokey, run capital campaigns, and build relationships with major donors to help keep the ministry running since The Bridge operates solely on donations. She helped increase the radio station’s annual revenue from $400,000 to $2,000,000. Boyce values the time she spent at The Bridge, and she said that she has still kept in contact with her boss and colleagues to this day. After completing a five-year visionary plan at the radio station, Boyce felt compelled to transition to Virginia and pursue a job at Liberty. 

In 2019, she applied for the director of operations role at Liberty, but she did not get the position. Instead, Roger Bingham, an associate professor in the School of Business, offered her a position as a professor. 

“They called me back and (said), ‘We all talked, and you need to be a professor here.’ … That word (was) not in my vocabulary,” Boyce said. “I wouldn’t even know what to do.”

Bingham encouraged her to pray about the decision, and Boyce prayed for a year and a half. After much prayer and the Lord’s provision, Boyce began teaching in the fall of 2021. Boyce described her move to Liberty as “truly doing a trust fall into the arms of Jesus.” 

“I can look back and see how the Lord has connected the dots from banking to nonprofit to now teaching business and nonprofit classes. It’s so cool,” Boyce said. “To be here in this capacity is a calling, and I’m so thankful that I answered the call because I cannot imagine where I would be without the Lord.”

Jewell is a feature reporter for the Liberty Champion