Bellarmine University’s School of Business is enhancing its reputation for quality education and leadership with two appointments. The school has named Dr. Sharon Kerrick its assistant dean, and Dr. Keith Richardson has been appointed to an endowed chair in accounting.

Assistant Dean
Dr. Sharon Kerrick comes to Bellarmine from the University of Louisville, where she was associate director of the Forcht Entrepreneurship Center, taught in the entrepreneurship MBA program and led the undergraduate entrepreneurship minor, which she created in 2008.

"Sharon is recognized as a business leader throughout our community, and her unique business education skills will enable Bellarmine’s School of Business to raise its visibility on national and global levels," said Dr. Robert Brown, dean of the business school.

Kerrick has lectured on a number of business issues, including entrepreneurship, in several countries, such as Russia, the Czech Republic and Greece. She has published research in leading journals in the areas of entrepreneurship, e-learning and financial literacy, and her research has been referenced by Forbes.

Prior to joining U of L in 2002, she was one of the founders of a technology firm that grew to more than 300 employees during a 20 year span. She is an Enterprise Angels Fund investor and created the VetStart entrepreneurship startup program for military veterans. VetStart has helped launch more than 50 veteran-owned companies since 2012.

In 2014, Kentucky’s Small Business Administration named Kerrick the Kentucky Veteran's Small Business Advocate of the Year. She emceed the 2016 Alltech business plan competition and was voted as Outstanding Entrepreneurship Faculty for 2016 by the UofL College of Business student council.

Kerrick is currently chair-elect of the region’s Better Business Bureau, and serves on Louisville’s National Association for Women Business Owners Foundation, and the boards of the Louisville Water Company and Junior Achievement of Kentuckiana.

She has received numerous recognitions and awards, including Business First’s 40 Under 40, GLI's Technologist of the Year, Women 4 Women Champions for Her, Junior Achievement Worldwide Leadership Award and the University of Louisville’s Paul Weber Teaching Excellence award. She has been an advisor for two MBA teams that won the Global Ventures business plan competition. 

Kerrick holds undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees from the University of Louisville.

Endowed Accounting Chair
Dr. Keith Richardson emerged from a national search as the premier candidate to lead Bellarmine’s accounting recruitment and placement, and has been the named the Fr. Raymond J. Treece Endowed Accounting Chair.

“Our accounting program will continue to set the pace in the region, offering superior hands-on learning opportunities for students and a proven classroom to career path,” said Brown. “No one is better-suited to lead the effort to recruit and place students than Dr. Richardson.”

Richardson will bring his experience with Big Four accounting firms to the classroom and to his new role working witih students and accounting firms.

Richardson currently serves as a professor of accounting at Bellarmine, and has previously taught at Indiana State University, Central Washington University and St. Martin’s College. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon, an MBA from Pacific Lutheran University, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Puget Sound.

About the Business School
The W. Fielding Rubel School of Business offers bachelor degrees in accounting, business administration, economics and finance, along with a master of business administration (with weeknight, weekend and executive tracks) and an online master of science in taxation.  

The School of Business is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB), which places it among the elite business schools in the nation. Fewer than 15 percent of business schools worldwide have achieved this distinction. Additionally, The Princeton Review has recognized the school as one of the nation’s top business schools.