MEET MEMO

Dr. Memo Diriker, a faculty member in the Marketing Department of the Franklin P. Perdue School of Business at Salisbury University, is the founder and now Director Emeritus of the University’s Business Economic and Community Outreach Network (BEACON). BEACON is the applied business and economic research unit of the Franklin P. Perdue School of Business. In January of 2021, after 32 years at the helm of BEACON, a fifth-generation serial entrepreneur Dr. Diriker returned to teaching and launched the StratACUMEN Group.

Dr. Diriker is currently serving as the Board Chair of TidalHealth, a regional health system with over 5,000 employees, and 100 locations including two hospitals, a nursing home, and 50 clinics covering the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland and Southern Delaware. He is also a member of the boards of Peninsula Ventures, Inc., United Way of the Lower Eastern Shore, Shore Hatchery, and the Epoch Dream Center. His previous board services include: Leadership Maryland (past chair), TidalHealth Peninsula Regional (past chair), Maryland Chamber of Commerce Foundation (past chair), Network of International Business Schools (vice-president), PAC-14 TV, Shore Hatchery Business Incubator, and Diakonia, Inc. Dr. Diriker is a past president of the Salisbury Sunrise Rotary Club and of the Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce. He has also served as the president of the American Marketing Association (AMA) in Boston.

Dr. Diriker is the recipient of many honors and awards, including a Maryland ICON award, an Influential Marylander Award; a Network of International Business Schools Lifetime Achievement Award; a MAC 2022 Connector Award; a Salisbury University Distinguished Faculty Member Award; a Diversity Award; a Visionary Award; the Jim Barrett Community Leadership Award from the United Way of the Lower Eastern Shore; an Outstanding Public Health Leader Award; a Heart of United Way Award, and a University System of Maryland Board of Regents Award for Outstanding Public Service. During his 32 years at the helm of BEACON, he has served as the principal investigator for over 500 applied business and economic research projects, totaling over $20 Million in external funding. In addition to a book he co-authored, Dr. Diriker has authored or co-authored many articles in academic and practitioner publications and is a popular speaker at many regional, national, and international events. He is a fluent speaker of three languages and highly experienced in leading international projects with multi-cultural teams.