Chancellor Announces Merger of 2 Offices and Redefined Roles for Vice Chancellors Clark and Supowitz

Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg has announced that two of the University’s key offices will be reorganized, effective June 1. Those changes will affect the responsibilities of two members of the University’s senior leadership team—G. Reynolds Clark, who currently serves as chief of staff and vice chancellor for community initiatives, and Paul Supowitz, who currently serves as vice chancellor for governmental relations.

As of June 1, the Office of Community Relations will be merged into the Office of Governmental Relations, and the title of Supowitz will be changed to vice chancellor for community and governmental relations. In commenting on this change, Chancellor Nordenberg stated,
“The community and governmental
relations functions had earlier been combined under the leadership of Renny Clark. However, when Renny became chief of staff, now nearly seven years ago, he brought our community relations portfolio with him. Key to that decision was a sense that governmental relations was about to become far more demanding, and that certainly proved to be the case. However, Paul Supowitz has done an outstanding job of leading those efforts for Pitt through a very challenging period, and this seemed to be the right time to bring two closely related functions back into a single office.”

As a part of this change, Clark will assume the new title of chief of staff and vice chancellor for external relations. Chancellor Nordenberg commented on this further change by stating, “To some extent, this change of title reflects what already had been a shift in Renny’s responsibilities. He always had worked closely with Paul Supowitz on community and governmental initiatives. However, in more recent years, he also has become more heavily involved in both institutional advancement and public affairs. This new title signals the fact that he will be deployed in those areas as needed. For example, I expect him to be even more heavily involved in the Office of Public Affairs as we move through a leadership transition in that office.”

Supowitz came to the University, after eight years in private practice, to join the lawyers in Pitt’s Office of General Counsel. He moved to
the Office of Community and Governmental Relations in 2002 and served as associate vice chancellor, under Clark, until 2006, when he became vice chancellor and was given principal responsibility for the redefined Office.

Mr. Clark came to Pitt as Vice Chancellor for Community and Governmental Relations in 2000, following a 33-year career at Westinghouse. Among the many positions he held at Westinghouse were director of communications resources and community affairs and executive director of corporate services and community affairs. He also served as chair of the Westinghouse Foundation.