February 23, 2009
News View Article
Swanson School Alumnae Named Pitt 2009 Distinguished Alumni Fellow
The University of Pittsburgh Alumni Association has named Burton Marvin
Tansky (A&S '61), chair and chief executive officer of The Neiman
Marcus Group, Inc., and Tracey Thomas Travis (ENG '83), senior vice
president of finance and chief financial officer at Polo Ralph Lauren
Corporation, as Distinguished Alumni Fellows for 2009. The fellows will
be honored at the University's annual Honors Convocation at 3 p.m. Feb.
27 in Carnegie Music Hall, 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland.
The
keynote speaker at Honors Convocation will be Raymond W. Smith, a
former University trustee who received his MBA from Pitt's Joseph M.
Katz Graduate School of Business in 1969. Smith, who in 2008 was
elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, became
chair of Verizon Ventures in 1999. He also was a founding partner of
Arlington Capital Partners and the chair of Rothschild, North America,
Inc., the oldest international investment-banking firm in the world.
Smith's address is titled “Heisenberg's 'Certainty' Principle.”
The
convocation recognizes outstanding undergraduate, graduate, and
professional student academic achievement; student leadership; and
faculty accomplishments, including recipients of the 2009 Chancellor's
Distinguished Teaching Award, Chancellor's Distinguished Research
Award, and Chancellor's Distinguished Public Service Award._
Brief biographies of the alumni honorees follow.
Tansky,
a member of Pitt's Board of Trustees, joined Neiman Marcus in 1990 as
chair and CEO of Bergdorf Goodman, serving in various senior executive
positions before assuming his current position in 2000. After
graduating from the University in 1961, he began his career as an
assistant buyer at Kaufmann's Department Store in Pittsburgh. Prior to
his years at Neiman Marcus, Tansky worked for Filene's in Boston,
Mass.; Rike's in Dayton, Ohio; Forbes and Wallace in Springfield,
Mass.; I. Magnin in San Francisco, Calif.; and Saks Fifth Avenue in New
York City.
A trustee since 2003, Tansky initially served as an
alumni trustee from June 2003 to June 2007. He and his sister, Eva
Tansky Blum, senior vice president, director of community affairs, and
chair of the PNC Foundation, the PNC Financial Services Group, are
cochairs of the University's $2 billion “Building Our Future Together”
capital campaign. Tansky also is a member of both the Board of
Trustee's Academic Affairs/Libraries Committee and the Institutional
Advancement Committee.
In 2000, the University named Tansky a
Pitt Legacy Laureate and, in 1990, he received the Pitt Alumni
Association Award of Distinction. He is a lifetime member of the Pitt
Alumni Association. In 2006, Tansky, Blum, and their sister, Shirley
Gordon, supported and named the Tansky Family Lounge in the William
Pitt Union in memory of their parents.
Among Tansky's honors
are a 2006 Superstar Award from Fashion Group International; a 2005
Museum of Arts and Design Visionaries! Award; a 2004 Gold Medal Award
from the National Retail Federation, considered the highest honor in
retailing; and, in 2002, an appointment as Chevalier de la Légion
d'honneur by the French government.
Travis joined Ralph Lauren
in 2005 following a corporate career at General Motors Corporation,
Pepsi-Cola/Pepsi Bottling Group, the Beverage Can Americas Group of
American National Can, and Intimate Brands, Inc. She spent several
years at Limited Brands, Inc., as chief financial officer from 2001 to
2002 and as senior vice president of finance from 2002 to 2004, prior
to landing her current position. At Ralph Lauren, Travis is responsible
for corporate finance, financial planning and analysis, treasury,
investor relations, information technology, tax, and corporate
compliance.
Travis serves on the boards of Jo-Ann Stores, Inc.,
the Lincoln Center Theater, the Executive Leadership Council
Foundation, and the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention.
She is treasurer of the Ralph Lauren Foundation and a member of
Financial Executives International, the National Association of
Corporate Directors, the New York Women's Forum, and the Executive
Leadership Council.
In 2005, “Treasury and Risk Management
Magazine” recognized Travis as one of the Top 25 Women in Finance; in
2006, “Black Enterprise” magazine named her one of the top 50 Women in
Business; and in 2008, she received the Best CFO award from
“Institutional Investor.” This year, “Black Enterprise” magazine named
Travis one of the Top 100 African Americans in Corporate America. In
addition to her Pitt degree, she received an MBA degree in finance and
operations management from Columbia University Graduate School of
Business.
