Alphonso Whitfield, Jr. (MSIA 1966)

Alphonso Whitfield, Jr. was the Tepper School’ of Business' first Black graduate and led a varied and successful career.

After earning his undergraduate degree from Morehouse College, he taught high school physics. He became dissatisfied, however, and seeing opportunity in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, began his studies at the Tepper School at the age of 33.

Following graduation, he held educational publishing jobs, was plant manager for a Westinghouse electric scooter plant in Pittsburgh, then became an investment manager at Prudential.

He ultimately moved to the public affairs department, rising to vice president, responsible for socially beneficial investments. In 1996, he took a position in Atlanta to help turn around a struggling minority-owned savings bank.

Whitfield was proud to be the Tepper School’s first Black graduate and had fond memories of professors Tom Kerr and Lester Lave.