Advisory Board Member and Professor of Management passes away aged 69
David Pettifer, Professor of Management, sadly passed away on 10 February 2022, aged 69, after battling an illness for the last few months. David was an extraordinary friend, colleague, tutor, and Advisory Board member.
David was a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants and held an MBA. David’s first career was with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), one of the “big four” Accountancy firms. He became an advisor to, and a former leading partner with PwC. As a partner, from 1990-2007, he led major strategic and operational projects in several industries including financial services, energy, oil and gas, and retail. He was responsible for developing and maintaining client relationships with national and international organisations and led PwC's consulting practice in the North of England and was a member of the firm's Northern Leadership Team.
David had global responsibility for PwC’s Strategic Cost Management practice, which included the design and implementation of leading-edge approaches to planning and forecasting, value and cost management and decision support. He was also responsible for PwC’s innovative work on Corporate Level Strategy and Organisation Design, which assists major organisations to develop the value-creating role of the Corporate Centre. He led major assignments and directed the development of the firm’s concepts and methods in these areas.
During his later years with PwC, David formed an association with Ashridge Management Centre and the Ashridge team led by Professor Andrew Campbell, who were researching and publishing leading work in corporate level strategy and corporate structure. David contributed to several of the team’s published papers. His work with that network drew him towards Lancaster University Management School, after he retired from PwC, where he formed a close working relationship with Professor Gerry Johnson, co-author of Europe’s best selling Strategy book of text and cases.
From 2007, David worked with Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) where he was a member of its Advisory Board. He was also Honorary Professorial Fellow in the Centre for Strategic Management and contributed to several modules on the MBA and MSc in Management Programmes. David was a key member of the team that developed and delivered the Strategy module on the MBA – a module that for many years came to be ranked as the best in the world by business school students in the FT’s annual survey! It was something of which David was rightly proud. For many years he also delivered the Corporate Strategy elective and led the Consultancy Challenge on the MBA and the Executive MBA. David was committed to “strategy in practice” beyond the core theories; and his ability to blend theory and practice was of great value to students. Gerry Johnson says: “David was a delight to work with, not only because of his expertise and experience but because he was unfailingly positive and upbeat with a ready sense of humour. David will be greatly missed by all those who worked with him”.
As well as working with LUMS, David became Visiting Professor at Huddersfield Business School, and member (and inaugural Chair) of the School’s Advisory Board in 2010. Steven Michael, the current Chair of the HBS Advisory Board, says: “in my capacity as CEO of a local healthcare organisation, I recall receiving a call from Professor Chris Cowton (the previous Dean of Huddersfield Business School). He asked if I would be interested in joining a newly formed advisory board for the School. I agreed and duly attended the inaugural meeting a few weeks later. It was here that I first met Professor David Pettifer who was to be our chair. David was welcoming, respectful and engaging with all new members. His genuine sense of enthusiasm for all matters relating to improved understanding of business and management set such a positive tone in the early working days of the board. His polite, supportive, and encouraging approach allowed for both positive contribution and challenge. His passion for impactful approaches to strategy development and associated research enabled an authentic bridge to be built between the worlds of academia and management practice”. David stepped down as chair of the Advisory Board in 2016. However, his continued membership saw him continuing to provide insightful contributions and respectfully encouraging those from other board members. His contribution, leadership, wisdom, and impact will be remembered most fondly.
Jill Johnes, Dean of Huddersfield Business School takes up the story: “David chose to work with us because he felt that the School was (and had the potential to continue to be) such a positive influence on society – both locally and in the wider world. In 2017 the School developed its mission and vision, consulting with all our stakeholders (including the Advisory Board). David was particularly aligned with our strong engagement with responsible business and responsible leadership. David worked closely with me, as Dean, to push the responsibility agenda, and supported Sabrina Thornton (former MBA Director) in revalidating in 2020 our MBA for the responsible Leader, with a strong responsibility thread running throughout. More recently he has supported me in the development of the Responsible Management Forum under the leadership of Eshani Beddewela, and in growing the role of the Advisory Board in actively contributing to and supporting our mission and vision. We have really benefitted from their input and support on such initiatives as the revised MBA, the new PGT curriculum, and the introduction of Development Weeks for students. David was a wonderful friend, colleague and mentor, and it was a privilege to work with him and have his support”.
In 2019, David was appointed Professor of Management within Huddersfield Business School. David’s interests were in: Management Dominant Logic; Corporate level strategy and organisation design in multi-business firms; and Strategy as Practice. He drew on his research in strategy and management consulting and his engagement with practice to provide teaching to post-experience students on the MBA and MSc Management programmes.
David’s commitment to teaching was evidence by his Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. Lee Felvus, a recent Huddersfield MBA graduate says: “a lecture with David was always enjoyable, he had masses of knowledge, experience and credibility – you just knew that you were being taught by someone who had not only excelled in the business world, but also in academia. Above everything though, David was just an incredibly nice man. He spoke of his family in lectures with great warmth, was very generous with his time, and would stop by and say hi in the café just to check how we were getting on”.
David was also a keen mentor of staff, encouraging them in both teaching and research. Eleanor Davies, Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning says: “Encounters with David were never run-of-the-mill. His counsel was always thought provoking and ultimately transformational, aided perhaps by his unusual rendez-vous of choice (the Northern Tea House and Totties Garden Centre). It was a rare gift”. Radi Haloub, a colleague, says: “I met David when I started my career as a Lecturer in Strategy and Business Ethics at Huddersfield Business School in 2013. I still remember his great support, sense of partnership and selfless encouragement that inspired my teaching. His mentoring, encouragement and passionate teaching will be greatly missed”.