Prescott Named First Holder of Katz School’s O’Brien Chair

By Sharon S. Blake

John E. Prescott and Thomas H. O'Brien

Pitt’s Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business has named Professor of Business Administration John E. Prescott the inaugural holder of an endowed chair created through a gift from The PNC Foundation.

The Thomas H. O’Brien Chair in Strategy was created following O’Brien’s retirement as CEO of PNC Financial Services Group to honor his nearly four decades of service to PNC and his longstanding friendship with Pitt.

O’Brien is “one of Southwestern Pennsylvania’s favorite sons, a person who has generously invested his time and talent in a broad range of community initiatives,” said Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg. “The University is very fortunate to be linked in such a visible way with a high-achieving and highly respected leader like Tom O’Brien, and we are deeply grateful to The PNC Foundation for making that possible.”

Nordenberg appointed Prescott to his new position upon the recommendations of Katz School Dean Frederick Winter and Pitt Provost James V. Maher.

“Professor Prescott has had a distinguished career in the field of strategic management,” said Winter. “He is a national authority on the topic of competitive intelligence and has founded a highly respected journal in this discipline. He is known not only for being a national expert in the area of corporate strategy, but also as a mentor whose list of doctoral students reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ in the field.”

Prescott’s research focuses on competitor analysis, networks, and international business. He was named this month to a second term on the Board of Directors of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals, an organization he founded. In addition to journal articles, his publications include his two most recent books—Competitive Intelligence: A Guide for Your Journey to Best-Practice Processes (APQC, 2004) and Proven Strategies in Competitive Intelligence: Lessons from the Trenches (John Wiley & Sons, 2001).

O’Brien, a Pittsburgh native, is a long-term member of Pitt’s Board of Trustees and a member of the steering committee for the University’s $1 billion “Discover a World of Possibilities” fundraising campaign, as well as a member of the Katz School’s Board of Visitors. He began his career at PNC in 1962 in its commercial loan department and, by 1988, had been appointed PNC chair, president, and CEO.