By SUSAN JONES
For the second time in less than two years, Pitt’s Board of Trustees is looking for its next chairperson.
Doug Browning, who was first elected chair in June 2022, told the Trustees last week that he was stepping down immediately as chair and as a member of the Board of Trustees because of “an unanticipated personal matter,” according to a statement from Pitt.
Under the University’s bylaws, the vice chair with the most seniority on the board exercises the duties and responsibilities of the chair in this circumstance. Louis Cestello, PNC Bank regional president and a vice chair of the Board of Trustees since 2021, will fill in as chair until a new leader is found. He currently is the only vice chair and has been a trustee since 2017.
In October 2021, Cestello helped support his co-vice chair, Mary Ellen Callahan, when she assumed the duties of the chair after the death of Tom Richards, who had been in the leadership role since June 2020.
In addition, Rosalyn Jones, secretary to the Board and an officer of the University since July 2021 left that position as of Aug. 18 to return to Washington, D.C., to care for her mother. Jones came to Pitt in December 2020 as associate vice chancellor and deputy secretary to the Board.
Geovette Washington, Pitt’s chief legal officer, is now serving as interim secretary of the Board of Trustees. Washington also assisted the chancellor search committee.
Browning’s tenure
Browning, a 1971 political science graduate of Pitt and principal in the independent consulting company DM Browning & Associates LLC, had been on the board since 2013. He served for more than 28 years with the U.S. Customs Service and its successor agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and ended his tenure there as deputy commissioner and chief operating officer.
The Board re-elected Browning to a second one-year term as chair at its June meeting. He is the first Black person to serve as chair. During his time on the Board, he served on numerous committees, including Academic Affairs/Libraries; Governance and Nominating; Athletics; Affirmative Action, Diversity, and Inclusion; and Institutional Advancement.
“The University made tremendous strides during his 10 years on the Board, and the Pitt community is abundantly grateful for his service,” a University spokesman said in a statement.
At the June meeting, Browning thanked his fellow Trustees for “the honor of serving as your chair. The first year has been a little bumpy, and I appreciate your patience and understanding as I learn and appreciate the role and its responsibilities. I look forward to your support and guidance moving forward, and hopefully we can smooth out some of those little bumps.”
He also thanked Cestello at the June meeting for “his continued dedicated service to the board as its vice chairperson, your leadership and engagement with the board and support to me is greatly appreciated.”
Browning’s major accomplishment during his time as chair was organizing and executing a search for a new chancellor. After Patrick Gallagher’s announcement in April 2022 that he would step down as chancellor this summer, the Board decided to wait until a new chair was elected in June 2022 to start the search. Browning moved quickly after that, appointing former Board chair Eva Tansky Blum and Anantha Shekhar, senior vice chancellor for health sciences, to head the search committee.
The search resulted in the hiring of Joan Gabel, former president of the University of Minnesota, as Pitt’s 19th chancellor. Gabel started at Pitt on July 17.
“My sincere thanks to Chair Browning for his leadership and over a decade of service to the University of Pittsburgh and the Board of Trustees,” Gabel said in a statement. “As a Pitt family, we stand in appreciation for his unyielding commitment to serving others and his undeniable passion for this institution as an alumnus and Pitt parent, which has made the University stronger and better in every way.”
The next full meeting of the Board of Trustees is Sept. 29. It is unknown if a new chair will be elected then. When Richards’ died, it was more than eight months before his successor was named.
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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