COGA, October 27-29,2014
Item 12.f
For Action:
Election of PHS Board Member
The Board of the Presbyterian Historical Society recommends to the
Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA) that Alvin N.
Puryear be elected to serve on the Board of the Presbyterian Historical Society
to a three year term as part of the Class of 2017:
Alvin N. Puryear, PhD
Alvin N. Puryear is Professor Emeritus of Management and Entrepreneurship at
Baruch College of the City University of New York, where he was the initial recipient
of the Lawrence N. Field Professorship in Entrepreneurship. As the Field Professor
and Professor of Management, he taught and conducted research in the fields of
business policy, human resource management, and entrepreneurial strategy. At
various times he also served as a College Dean, Chair of the Department of
Management, Founding Co-Director of the Baruch College/Cornell University Master
of Science in Industrial Relations Program, and Founding Director of the Lawrence
N. Field Center for Entrepreneurship.
Currently Dr. Puryear is a Management and Financial Consultant and Executive
Coach. Also he serves on the Boards of Directors of four corporations, three of
which are public companies: American Capital Ltd, a buy-out and asset
management firm; and American Capital Agency Corporation and American Capital
Mortgage Investment Corporation, both of which invest in mortgage-related
securities.
Prior to joining the Baruch College faculty, Dr. Puryear was an Associate
Professor at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Business Administration.
Previously he held executive positions in human resource management and finance
with the Mobil Corporation and information technology with Allied Chemical
Corporation.
During leaves-of-absence from Baruch College, he served as a Vice President
at the Ford Foundation and First Deputy Comptroller for the City of New York.
Dr. Puryear and his wife, Dr. Catherine Wiggins Puryear, are members of the
Williamsburg (VA) Presbyterian Church. In addition, he has been involved with
several denomination entities. Prior to the reunion of the northern and southern
streams of the denomination, he served as Chairman of the Program Agency Board
of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. After reunion, he
chaired two agencies of the Presbyterian Church (USA): the Central Treasury
Corporation and the Presbyterian Investment and Loan Corporation. Finally, he
served two terms as a Trustee of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and three
terms as a Trustee of Union Presbyterian Seminary.
Among his other past affiliations are the following: member of the Boards of
Directors of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Trust Company, Green Point Financial
Corporation, and North Fork Bank Corporation; trustee of Yale University, Loyola
University in Maryland, the Riverdale (NYC) Country School, the Community Service
Society of New York, and the Graduate School for Political Management at George
Washington University; and member of the Smithsonian National Board.
Dr. Puryear received a BA degree from Yale University where he was a Ranking
Scholar in Sociology. Subsequently, he received MBA and PhD degrees in finance
from Columbia University where he was both a Samuel Bronfman Fellow and a John
Hay Whitney Fellow.
June 2014