Darla Moore School of Business dean named

Posted on: 12/17/2013; Updated on: 2/10/2015
By Peggy Binette, 803-777-7704

The University of South Carolina has named a new leader for its top-ranked Darla Moore School of Business.

Peter Brews, a professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina and immediate past associate dean of its OneMBA program, will become dean of the Moore School Jan. 16.

Brews, 56, a native of South Africa, brings more than 25 years of international business education experience to the position, having taught at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business before UNC.

Michael Amiridis, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost, said Brews was selected for his exceptional leadership in business and executive education and scholarly achievements in international business.  

“Peter Brews’ wealth of business education expertise as well as his extensive experience in the international arena will bring a bold vision to the Darla Moore School of Business,” Amiridis said.   

Brews said he is eager to begin working with Moore School faculty, staff, students and alumni as well as business leaders to advance the school’s mission and further enhance its reputation.

“There are few business schools more exciting to lead at this time than the Moore School,” Brews said. “I look forward to guiding the school as it continues on its already impressive path of producing world-class research and developing world-class global business leaders.”

At UNC Kenan-Flagler, Brews teaches global context to full-time and executive MBA students and global strategy to students in the OneMBA, a program he suggested to the school soon after joining in 2000. In 2006 he was named associate dean of OneMBA and served in this capacity for seven years. Prior to UNC he was assistant professor at Duke University for six years, teaching strategic management and global business strategy in Fuqua’s full-time and executive MBA programs.

Brews started his career in banking and finance before charting a course in academia. He started as lecturer at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa and was visiting professor at various U.S. universities before serving as an assistant professor at Babson College for a year prior to Duke.

Brews earned his undergraduate degree in business and an LL.B and higher diploma in corporate law from the University of Witwatersrand. He went on to earn a master’s degree in industrial administration from Purdue University and two doctorates in business administration from the University of Witwatersrand and the University of Pittsburgh.

He has written extensively about strategic management for Internet-generation companies and over the past decade has developed a deep understanding of the struggle for productivity worldwide, focusing on how nations, firms and individuals are coping with the fast changing, complex, highly competitive global environment of the early 21st century.

Companies often invite Brews to share his views on the structure and evolution of the global economy and how globalization and the Internet and information technology are altering business practice and corporate competitiveness. The companies span industries and include The Boeing Company, Eastman Chemical Company, Caterpillar, Inc., Progress Energy, Siemens AG, Lucent Technologies Asia/Pacific, The Mandarin Hotel Group of Hong Kong, Ford Motor Company, LG of South Korea and Barclays Bank PLC.

He is an editorial board member for the Journal of Asia-Pacific Business and has earned numerous teaching awards for his graduate level instruction.

Brews succeeds interim dean John McDermott who has served in the position since June when Hildy Teegen concluded her tenure as dean after serving six years. Teegen is credited with strengthening the school’s academic curriculum and national standing and was instrumental in the planning and development of the new Darla Moore School of Business building, the university’s most ambitious construction project to date. The building is scheduled to open in May 2014.

University President Harris Pastides said Brews’ leadership and vision for global education comes at an important juncture for the Moore School.

“After an intensive search for a new dean, we have found a great match in Dr. Peter J. Brews who has wide-ranging experience in strategic management, financial management, corporate law and mergers and acquisitions,” Pastides said. “Dr. Brews has extensive international business connections and a keen sense of the global economy’s ongoing evolution. He is the right person at the right time.”

The Moore School enrolls more than 4,000 undergraduate students and nearly 900 graduate students. The school offers a wide range of programs, including nine undergraduate concentrations, seven master’s degrees and two doctoral degrees. In addition, the school offers an array of executive education programs and consulting services to businesses.

It is among the highest-ranked schools in the world for international business education and research. Known worldwide for its No. 1 ranking for undergraduate international business by U.S. News & World Report, the Moore School also is cited for having top programs in insurance and risk management, experimental accounting and global supply chain management.


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