Alumnus Ed Scott Appointed to New Endowed Chair in Business
The Point
Fall 2012
When Edward Scott (BUS 1989) was a business student at Point Park in the late 1980s, he had the good fortune to connect with alumnus Robert Goetz (BUS 1974) at an accounting careers seminar on campus.
A principal with the international accounting firm Touche Ross (later Deloitte & Touche and now Deloitte), Goetz took an interest in Scott's budding career - which eventually led to a senior year job offer at the "Big Four" accounting company.
"So, as a direct result of a Point Park alumnus returning to campus in an effort to give back, my career received an invaluable boost," says Scott, who hopes to continue that tradition in his role as a new University faculty member: the George Rowland White Endowed Professor of Accounting and Finance.
Longtime University benefactors, (the late) George R. White and his wife Kathleen established the professorship with a $1 million bequest through their estate plan. The new professor will help lead an Urban Accounting Initiative to encourage education and careers in accounting and finance, particularly among young minority students.
Raised in the Hill District and Garfield neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, Scott began his studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania but decided to transfer to Point Park. "The University is known for providing a smooth transition for transfer students and non-traditional students, and I certainly benefited from that," says Scott, who recalls that two of his friends were inspired to transfer into Point Park based on his positive experience.
He returns to Point Park from Kansas City, Mo., where he recently served as vice president of international purchasing for the Kansas City Southern Railway (KCSR).
Business education is a longtime interest of Scott, who taught accounting courses at Community College of Allegheny County while working in his first professional position as an audit manager at Deloitte.
A former president of the Pittsburgh chapter of the National Association of Black Accountants, Scott later became accounting manager and economic development officer at the Urban Redevelopment Authority, then finance director at the Housing Authority, for the City of Pittsburgh.
He left Pittsburgh in 1998 to become capital investment accounting director for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, one of the two largest railroads in the United States. Scott went on to assume executive positions at KCSR, where he had the opportunity to expand his accounting expertise into the area of procurement. He earned an executive M.B.A. at Texas Christian University in 2003.
The Point Park professorship was an ideal opportunity to "get back to Pittsburgh and back into the classroom," says Scott, whose wife Patricia recently completed a master's degree in nursing education. The move has enabled their son, Ed Jr., to enroll as a freshman at Pittsburgh's Central Catholic High School, Scott's alma mater. In other family ties to Point Park, Scott's father, Charles Scott, Ph.D., is a longtime faculty member in the Department of Natural Sciences and Engineering Technology and his mother, Mary Scott, is a Point Park alumna.
In his first year, Scott plans to focus on getting to know School of Business programs, expanding alumni connections and sharing his own expertise in both accounting and supply chain operations. He says he looks forward to working with educator and civic leader Herman Reid Jr., Ph.D. on a new University collaboration with Manchester Academic Charter School in which middle school students will explore the fields of accounting and finance.
"What George and Kathleen White provided, through their very generous endowment, is a catalyst for opportunity," says Scott. "It's a privilege for me - and I feel a great deal of responsibility - to honor Dr. White by working toward realizing his vision for this professorship and ultimately, the School of Business."
Text by Cheryl Valyo
Photo by Martha Rial
The Point is a magazine for alumni and friends of Point Park University