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Thought Leaders in Business: Robert Kelly, Bank of New York Mellon; A Message from Associate Professor Frederik Schlingemann
Pitt Business students enjoy tremendous synergies between exposure to and interaction with corporate executives and their academic coursework. Ranging from corporate visits, Best Practice Partner presentations, and case competitions, the value to our students is enormous in terms of networking opportunities and gaining first-hand knowledge from the field. The Thought Leaders in Business speakers' forum—made possible by the generous support of Katz alumni Shekar Narasimhan (MBA '75) and Ed Hurley (MBA '78)—is another excellent opportunity for our students to learn from and interact with top executives from a wide range of industries.
Given the turbulence in financial markets during the past year, the desire among our business students to better understand and learn from past experiences has been evident and overwhelming. The opportunity to hear from and discuss these important issues with Robert (Bob) Kelly, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, was very well received. In his Thought Leaders presentation on the financial crisis in the University Club, he touched on a number of fundamental causes of what went wrong. Mr. Kelly was among the first bankers called to Washington, D.C. to discuss the crisis and ways to deal with the state of the economy and financial system with Federal Reserve System Chairman and Board of Governors member Ben Bernanke and former Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson. Mr. Kelly is also leading an effort to provide industry input on the future of bank regulation. In his discussion, Mr. Kelly organized the issues very clearly and efficiently using examples that included government, banks and dealers, investors, rating agencies, regulators, and consumers—who, in his view, each share responsibility for what has gone wrong.
BNY Mellon has always had very strong ties with the Pittsburgh region and has been an important recruiter for the Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration. However, BNY Mellon is not just a regional player, but instead provides our students an opportunity to work for one of the leading banks in the nation. A striking set of statistics is that BNY Mellon has more than $900 billion under management and approximately twenty percent of the world's assets under custody or administration. BNY Mellon is located in 34 countries and will also celebrate its 225th birthday this year. The enthusiasm with which Mr. Kelly was welcomed to the school and the University is understandable and shows the strong commitment that Pitt Business has to its students in terms of mixing a rigorous academic curriculum with the important lessons and experiences of top-level executives and business leaders implementing strategies that further help to strengthen the economy and define its future.
Kind regards,
Frederik P. Schlingemann
Associate Professor of Business Administration
