James' research included work on workplace diversity and managing through a crisis. During her graduate education, James took time away from school to work for
American Express. James was the president and owner of the Crisis Management Institute, which reported on business crises and provided crisis management training courses for firms and organizations. In 2001, James joined the faculty at the
University of Virginia Darden School of Business, where she also led the creation of the role of Associate Dean of Diversity. She was promoted to Senior Associate Dean for Executive Education in 2012. While she was dean of the Goizueta Business School, the Goizueta faculty body grew by 25%. In 2019, James was awarded the Earl Hill Jr. Faculty Achievement and Diversity Leadership Award by the
Consortium for Graduate Study in Management. James was elected to the
board of directors of financial services company
Morgan Stanley in November 2021. In 2022, she was named one of
Barron's 100 Most Influential Women in Finance. James is coauthor, with Simmons University President Lynn Perry Wooten, of
The Prepared Leader: Emerge from Any Crisis More Resilient Than Before (Wharton School Press, 2022). == References ==