Arjang A. Assad has been named the Henry E. Haller Jr. Dean of the University of Pittsburgh Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration. Assad will succeed John Delaney, who plans to assume a faculty position after nine successful years as dean. The appointment will be effective July 1.

“Dr. Assad’s vision for the Katz Graduate School and the College of Business Administration is well matched to our aspirations for the school and the University,” Pitt Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor Patricia E. Beeson said in announcing the appointment. “He is committed to building the school in ways that will enhance the scholarly contributions of the faculty and enable our students to succeed in a global, multicultural marketplace.”

With more than 20 years experience at two public research universities that are, along with Pitt, members of the Association of American Universities, Assad is currently serving as dean of the School of Management at the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York.

During his seven-year tenure as dean, the faculty and school have expanded both in size and reputation. Under his leadership, the school has developed key strategic priorities—including new programs in health care management, leadership, and entrepreneurship—that have advanced both the school and the university. He also has launched important initiatives designed to enrich learning opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students in the School of Management and has enhanced the school’s research agenda through faculty hires and the creation of research fellowships designed to recognize faculty achievement.

Assad holds four degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology—a doctorate in management science from its Sloan School of Management, master’s degrees in chemical engineering and operations research, and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics.

Widely recognized for his scholarly contributions to operations and quality management, optimization of distribution systems, and the history of operations research, Assad has authored or edited more than 50 refereed articles and book chapters, and has served as a member of the editorial boards of several prestigious scholarly journals, including Operations Research,Transportation Science, and Production and Operations Management. He has received numerous awards for his teaching, including the Kirwan Undergraduate Education Award, the University of Maryland’s highest campus recognition for contributions to undergraduate education.

Assad holds four degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology—a doctorate in management science from its Sloan School of Management, master’s degrees in chemical engineering and operations research, and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics.

Highlights of Dean Delaney’s Tenure

Under Delaney’s leadership, Pitt Business established itself as a world leader of innovative approaches to experience-based learning. Every student has the opportunity to complete hands-on experiences through internships, case competitions, management simulations, study abroad experiences, and consulting projects.

Recruiters have taken notice. The placement rate for MBAs who graduated this past spring was 96 percent within three months of graduation — a level that equals or surpasses the most elite universities in the world. For the third consecutive year, the internship rate for MBAs was 100 percent. At the undergraduate level, there is a 90% internship rate, with students averaging more than two internships.

Enrollment in the business school has increased nearly 20 percent during his tenure. Student satisfaction has improved by 78 percent among full-time MBA students and 36 percent among part-time MBA students since 2006. Additionally, student satisfaction with the Career Management and Academic Advising Center has improved by 177 percent among full-time students.

Delaney has helped bolster fundraising by reconnecting with Pitt Business’s more than 27,000 alumni who live and work in more than 90 countries. He has frequently traveled to events in Europe, Asia, and South America. As a result, the annual fundraising by the school is three times larger than it was before he became dean. The school’s endowment has increased 24 percent since 2008 and total giving has increased by 108% since 2006.

Under Delaney, in 2007, Katz established a Master of Science in Accounting program. It has grown from an inaugural class of 27 students to an enrollment this year of 128 students. The program’s graduates have obtained accounting positions at big four accounting firms and accounting organizations all over the world. 

Some of his other achievements include the establishment of the Center for Supply Chain Management established and the opening of the financial analysis lab opened in 2008. 

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PPG Industries, a $15 billion global supplier of coatings and specialty materials, recently made an acquisition that opened up new opportunities in the potentially promising niche industry of liquid insulation materials. PPG wanted to better understand this market’s potential — specifically for high-temperature applications on the piping systems of petrochemical plants — so it ‘hired’ a team of students from the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration to perform a consulting project. 

Over the course of 10 weeks in fall 2014, the team from Katz analyzed the market’s characteristics and then recommended a market-penetration strategy for PPG. The students completed this project for PPG as part of the Katz School’s three-credit Consulting Field Project course.

The students demonstrated that liquid insulation, while in the early stages of its technology adoption life cycle, holds several advantages over the current industry standard of mechanical insulation systems. 

For one, liquid insulation more effectively prevents a defect known as corrosion under insulation, which is an issue in temperature ranges in which water is changing back and forth between its liquid and vapor states. Second, liquid insulation reduces labor costs because the insulation is sprayed on versus being physically wrapped around the surface in multiple layers. Third, liquid insulation reduces inspection costs because the inspector has to only look for discolorations in the surface area versus having to remove the insulation layers to conduct the inspection. Finally, liquid insulation can be applied to hot surfaces, while mechanical insulation cannot, which means there is no need to shut down the plant’s equipment when it is being applied.

To assess the size of the liquid insulation market, students interviewed large manufacturers and industry groups. Next, they performed a SWOT analysis and the methodologies of Porter’s Five Forces and the Technology Adoption Curve. Students determined that a $200 million market exists today, and that the market has room to grow to $1.5 billion.

Sizing the market was only part of the students’ project. Next, they recommended how PPG could quickly gain a strong foothold in the industry. Step one would be to prove the reliability of liquid insulation, given it would be supplanting a more established technology.

Students recommended that PPG work with the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM International) to develop defined testing standards for liquid insulation in the petrochemical industry. Testing by ASTM International would require case studies from industry that validate the insulation’s fire and chemical resistance, corrosion under insulation, and thermal efficiency. To aid in the creation of case studies, PPG could create a beta test site. This would involve the participation of a large market player.

Step two for PPG gaining a foothold in the industry would be for PPG to target multiple stakeholders in the petrochemical industry. The students recommended that PPG target processing facilities in the U.S., as these have shown the most growth. No new refineries are being built in the U.S. Furthermore, PPG should also work with design engineering firms, as they would be the ones contracted by the plants for the maintenance work. Additionally, the students recommended that PPG work toward creating a national liquid insulation association, as the trade group can help build credibility and work toward industry interests.

The students completed their project for PPG as part of the Katz School’s three-credit Consulting Field Project course. As part of the course, students must participate in the school’s McKinsey Cup Competition. Here teams of students present their projects’ summary, findings, and recommendations to a panel of judges made up of Pittsburgh managers who, in turn, evaluate each presentation based on its analytical rigor and content. One winner is selected from the competition, and in the December 2014 competition, that winner was the PPG team.

The students who worked with PPG consisted of four MBA students and one undergraduate business student. They were Atcha Agbere, an MBA and MS in Engineering student; Juliano Fraga, a One-Year MBA student with an operations focus; Lynn Hartman, a Two-year MBA and Juris Doctor student with a finance focus; Alexandra Rhodes, a One-Year MBA student with a finance focus; and Olivia He, an undergraduate student from Pitt’s College of Business Administration (CBA).

Visiting Clinical Professor Bud Smith, who runs the course, says that since the creation of the Consulting Field Project course, more than 880 students have completed about 210 projects for 85 client organizations.

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