Louis Cestello is Pitt’s new Board of Trustees chair, after the Board voted him in during their meeting on Sept. 29. 

Cestello is the head of PNC Bank’s regional markets and regional president of Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania, and has served as the Board’s interim chair since former Douglas Browning stepped down in August. He received a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Washington and Jefferson College and attended Duquesne University for his Masters of Business Administration.

Browning joined the Board of Trustees in 2013 and became chair in 2022 before stepping down on August 16 due to an “unanticipated personal matter.”

In a message released to the board, Browning said “for the past decade, it has been a privilege and honor to serve on this Board. I hope I have in some way made a modest contribution to the many successes and accomplishments that Pitt has achieved.” 

Following Browning’s resignation, Cestello released a statement after the announcement that he would step in as interim chair. 

“I look forward to serving as interim chair of the Board of Trustees for the University of Pittsburgh, and I’m eager to work with the entire board, Chancellor Gabel and her senior staff to continue building on the progress we’ve made to move this great University forward,” Cestello said. 

Cestello was elected during Chancellor Joan Gabel’s first Board of Trustees presentation in which John A. Maher, a Board trustee, put forward the motion to elect Cestello as permanent chair of the board. 

“I too want to echo my sincere appreciation for Lou scrambling his schedule, his life in order to step up in acting as chair,” Maher said. “I think it’s in the best interest of the University that you continue as chair for the remainder of this term and consequently I would like to make a motion for an immediate election of Lou as chair.”