Robert A. Paul, Burton M. Tansky Nominated for Lifetime Emeriti Trustee Status on Pitt Board

Robert A. Paul and Burton M. Tansky were nominated for election as Emeriti Trustees for life at the Oct. 4 meeting of the Nominating Committee of the University of Pittsburgh Board of Trustees.

Robert A. Paul is chairman and chief executive officer of AMPCO-Pittsburgh Corporation. Throughout his career with AMPCO-Pittsburgh, which began in 1964, he served in senior leadership positions, including vice president, executive vice president, treasurer, president and chief operating officer, and president and chief executive officer. 

Paul was elected a University of Pittsburgh Trustee in June 2004 and served until June 2013. He was a member of the Executive, Health Sciences, and Investment Committees and continues to serve the Investment Committee as a community representative. Paul has also served the University in the role of University Director of the UPMC Board, a position he held for 10 years, as a member of the UPMC Executive Committee, and as chair of the UPMC Board’s Investment Committee. 

Paul has received the University’s 225th Anniversary Medallion and the Trustees Medallion. A generous donor, he is a member of the University’s Babcock Society, providing financial support to the AMPCO Prize for Excellence in Advising and other University initiatives.

Paul received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University, his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, and the Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School. He serves as chairman of The Louis Berkman Investment Company and Subsidiaries, general partner of Romar Trading Company, and as a director of Echo Real Estate Services. Among other responsibilities, he previously served as a director of the Pittsburgh Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. Paul is actively involved in the community as chairman and trustee and of the Fair Oaks Foundation; life trustee of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation; and vice president and trustee of the Louis and Sandra Berkman Foundation. He also serves as an emeritus trustee of Cornell University and is the former chair of its Investment Committee. 

Burton M. Tansky (A&S ’61) is non-executive chairman of the board of The Neiman Marcus Group. He retired as its chairman, president, and chief executive officer in 2010. He held senior level positions with Neiman Marcus Group since 1990, including chairman and chief executive officer of The Neiman Marcus Stores and chairman and chief executive officer of Bergdorf Goodman. Prior to joining The Neiman Marcus Group, he was president of Saks Fifth Avenue. 

Tansky was elected a Trustee in June 2003 and served until June 2013. He was a member of the Academic Affairs/Libraries Committee and Institutional Advancement Committee. From 2007 to 2013, he cochaired the University’s historic and record-breaking $2 billion Building Our Future Together capital campaign. He has provided generous and broad-based support of various University of Pittsburgh initiatives, including the Tansky Family Fund to support Alzheimer research and the Tansky Family Lounge in the William Pitt Union.

Tansky earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pittsburgh. A Pitt Alumni Association life member, he was named a Legacy Laureate by the University in 2000, honored as a Distinguished Alumni Fellow in 2009, and is a recipient of the University’s 225th Anniversary Medallion and the Trustees Medallion.

He has also been recognized nationally and internationally for his professional and civic contributions. Among other honors, Tansky was inducted into the World Retail Congress Hall of Fame in 2011; elected Retailer of the Year in 2005 by the National Retail Association; appointed a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, the highest honor awarded by the French government; and received the Design and Fashion Leadership Award by the Housewares Charity Foundation and the Superstar Award by the Fashion Group International. Tansky is a director of the Phoenix House Foundation, Inc. and is involved in a number of other national and local charities.