Executives in Residence
The Pitt Business Executives in Residence (EIR) program connects the School of Business with accomplished professionals who bring deep industry expertise and strategic insight. As current or former senior leaders in a range of well-respected organizations, they know firsthand what it takes to reach the top ranks in the business world. Many EIRs work directly with students through career conversations, advising, and mentorship, while others focus their efforts on supporting the school’s programs, projects, and strategic initiatives. This page provides an overview of the EIRs and will help you identify which EIRs are available for student appointments.
Graduate Program EIRs
These EIRs provide personalized advising and career coaching, drawing on their experience as current or former senior leaders who understand what it takes to succeed at the highest levels of business. They are available for one-on-one meetings with students to discuss career goals, industry trends, professional skills, and networking strategies. Through these conversations, students gain tailored insights and actionable guidance to help advance their careers. In addition to working directly with students, these EIRs also support projects and initiatives within the Graduate Programs Office.
To meet with an EIR, book an appointment with them through Handshake or email careermanagement@katz.pitt.edu for more information.
Tom Balzer
Tom spent 38 years with Bayer/Covestro, most recently as a Senior Executive leading the North America Supply Chain and Logistics organization. He began his career in IT, supporting engineering, sales, and supply chain systems. He has extensive expertise in business process re-engineering and leveraging digital technologies to improve customer service and reduce supply chain costs. He has led teams through large SAP implementations and then leveraging the capabilities of SAP to improve supply chain performance. As part of a global company, Tom was a member of the risk management team chartered to identify and mitigate regional and global supply chain risks that could impact the North America business.. He holds a BS in Business from IUP and an MBA from Duquesne University.
Contact Tom at thb95@pitt.edu
Eric Fiedler
Eric Fiedler has nearly 30 years of global experience in the technology and HR consulting sectors. In 2010, he co-founded market-leading HR technology company Ajinga.com in Shanghai, China. Before founding Ajinga, Eric spent 16 years working in a variety of senior roles at the global HR consulting firm, Hewitt Associates. As an entrepreneur and an executive, Eric has experiences ranging from launching a successful startup to working in the C-suite of a public company. He has led teams and managed businesses in over 40 countries around the world. Eric is a results-oriented leader who understands the critical role people play in driving outstanding business performance. He is passionate about helping the next generation of leaders maximize their potential and find career success.
Theresa Gallick
Theresa Gallick has over 20 years of corporate experience working in everything from global, multinationals to high-tech start-ups. The bulk of Theresa’s expertise is in B2C Marketing, but she also has significant proficiency in B2B Marketing. As the principal in her own consulting firm, she has also worked with non-profits, service industries, and manufacturers. Besides advising marketing students, her specialty areas are applying marketing concepts like unique selling propositions, branding, target identification, and promotion to the job search process.
Contact Theresa at tgallick@pitt.edu
Terri Gregos Fitzgerald
Terri Gregos Fitzgerald was named Executive in Residence of the Pitt Business Center for Branding, a role assigned to a senior-level Pittsburgh-based professional who volunteers time to help guide graduate students and clients of the Center.
Terri has supported Center for Branding Workshops and Independent Study Projects with the Allegheny County Bar Association, Pittsburgh Riverhounds, University of Pittsburgh Athletic Department’s Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) program(s), and Pitt’s Department of Physical Therapy On the Move program.
Terri has over twenty years of progressive leadership roles in Brand Management, Recruitment Marketing and Sales Promotion. This experience spans across industries including consumer brands-PepsiCo, pharmaceutical-GlaxoSmithKline, higher education-University of Pittsburgh, financial services-BNY Mellon, and consulting – Booz Allen Hamilton -where she has received CandE Award recognition from the Talent Board for her current work supporting the importance of Candidate Experience.
Contact Terri at TGF10@pitt.edu or on LinkedIn.
Susan M. Kapusta
Susan Kapusta has 25+ years of experience as a corporate communication leader, university professor and student mentor. She was also the president of the United States Steel Foundation at U.S. Steel, a Fortune 200 company. She specializes in applying communication concepts like audience assessment, purpose, content and medium to every career-building challenge. Susan earned her doctoral and master’s degrees in corporate communication from Duquesne University and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Robert Morris University. She was inducted into the Kappa Tau Alpha national communication honor society and has advanced certifications from Harvard Law School and Boston College.
Contact Susan at smk152@pitt.edu
Julie Murphy
Julie Murphy is a Fortune 200 executive with experience in a variety of industries including software, consumer packaged goods, manufacturing, and professional services. She has 30+ years of success working with extraordinary leaders to build businesses, organizational capabilities, and enterprise value for stakeholders. Most recently, Julie served as Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) at Ansys, Inc. Ansys, Inc. is an S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 (ANSS) market leader in engineering simulation software, with market capitalization of $28B and over 6,000 employees across the Americas, Asia, and Europe. Prior to her role at Ansys, Julie served as CHRO for a Blackstone Private Equity portfolio company. Earlier in her career, Julie was an HR executive at Heinz, a Fortune 200 company. Julie earned her MBA with a concentration in Strategy and Organizational Behavior from Carnegie Mellon University and BS in Industrial and Systems Engineering with Honors from North Carolina State University.
Contact Julie at JSM203@Pitt.edu
Joe Pietropola
Over 20 years at DICK’s Sporting Goods, Joe had a diverse portfolio of merchandising, ecommerce, technology, transformation office, analytics and P&L positions. As SVP Ecommerce (2019-2023), he was able to scale the business leading a 250-person organization accountable for online shopping experience, online order fulfillment, omni customer service and mobile app. Through Joe’s leadership the team doubled revenue in three years in concert with driving meaningful profit expansion through customer acquisition, improving shopping experiences, expanding merchandise margins, and optimizing fulfillment channels and advertising expenses. Joe partnered closely across functions to grow the DICK’s brand and omni-channel business. He created a two-year end-to-end digital ecosystem roadmap by leading vision and future experience design programs, creating the path for continued growth. Joe has introduced and grown new product categories, launched websites and digital capabilities, established new disciplines to capture growth opportunities and led enterprise strategic roadmap planning, governance and investments. He is known for setting clear vision, transforming culture and delivering results.
William (Bill) A. Slivka
Bill Slivka is a seasoned business executive in the consumer health industry with deep experience across U.S. and international geographies, classic brand marketing, product development, and new business acquisition and commercialization. His nearly 40 years in business have been with Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, and small independent consulting companies. Bill has been helping Katz MBA’s finetune career strategies since 2010, including resume and interview preparation. Bill also serves on several non-profit advisory boards in the Pittsburgh area. He is a graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Business School.
Contact Bill at waslivka@pitt.edu
James (Jim) C. Woll
With over 35 years of experience in general management and financial leadership roles in global organizations, Jim Woll has a broad background in high growth business environments. He held executive positions in international operations and corporate finance over a 25-year career at medical device manufacturer Respironics, Inc., culminating in the sale of the company to Dutch multinational Royal Philips for $5 billion. Jim also worked with start-up robotic surgical system manufacturer, Blue Belt Technologies, that was acquired by Smith & Nephew plc for $275 million. At Katz, he specializes in improving our experience-based learning programs.
Contact Jim at jcwoll@pitt.edu
Practice interviews with the Executives in Residence helped me to revise my resume and prepare for interviews. Another service I would recommend is taking the help of your career advisor to work on your resumes, and yes, multiple versions of your resumes. It’s no longer ‘one size fits all’ and you want to make sure that you are nailing each version!
Program & Project-Based EIRs
These Executives in Residence play a vital role in advancing Pitt Business through their expertise and leadership on strategic initiatives, specialized programs, and school-wide projects. They contribute by guiding co-curricular programming, supporting consulting field projects, mentoring and coaching student teams in program-specific contexts, and enhancing operations and innovation across the school. Their engagement with students is typically tied to specific projects or events. They are not available for general student advising appointments.
Albrecht Powell
Albrecht is a transformational leader and business strategist who aids organizations in transforming through new strategies, operational models, process reengineering, and advanced technology solutions. As a Managing Director at Accenture he brings 34 years of accomplished IT, business, and operational excellence experience helping hundreds of Fortune 500 organizations across products. Albrecht currently leads both Accenture’s Pittsburgh Office and their Enterprise Data practice and has held numerous profit and loss line responsibilities. In addition to his passion for driving 360 degree client value, he spends much of his time helping build a sustainable world and is a member of CEO’s for Sustainability and the Pitt Center for Sustainable business.
Barrie H. Athol
Barrie Athol retired from BNY Mellon as Chief Strategy Officer. Prior to that he led the $17.6 billion merger between Mellon Financial and The Bank of New York. Before joining Mellon, Barrie held a variety of senior strategy, marketing, and corporate development roles in the professional services, technology, and industrial/manufacturing segments. He earned his MBA here at University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Graduate School of Business, and now helps co-develop and co-deliver programs in Katz’s Center for Integrated Learning.
Contact Barrie at barrie.athol@pitt.edu
Edward (Ned) C. Sherry
Ned Sherry has worked in three major areas during his career — with large corporations, small privately held companies, and in the consulting field. Most recently, he was the vice president and managing principal for a large career transition and coaching firm. Ned previously held the role of president at four manufacturing companies and was the vice president/general manager of Pennzoil Corporation’s Marketing Division. He also served in various capacities at Exxon Corporation, including management assignments, sales, marketing, finance, public affairs, and real estate.
Contact Ned at nsherry@pitt.edu
Linda Trevenen
With nearly 40 years in the healthcare medical device sector, Linda Trevenen has held global leadership roles across product marketing, general management, and business transformation in companies like Allergan, Johnson & Johnson, Dentsply, and Philips. Renowned for her customer-centric approach and results-oriented leadership, Linda is an end-to-end thinker who creatively innovates solutions from concept to commercialization in B2B and B2C channels. She has led marketing excellence, clinical education, and channel development and has published in the areas of segmentation and pricing. Known for her strategic vision and collaborative approach, Linda consistently drives growth by fostering partnerships, transforming culture, and delivering exceptional outcomes. She embraces nurturing the next generation of leaders in business and healthcare innovation.
Contact Linda at LIT104@pitt.edu