Meet PTS

Jim Gockley Serves Pivotal Role as Board Chair

Last June, longtime PTS Board member Jim Gockley assumed the role of Chair after having served in a leadership capacity on a number of the Board’s committees since 2005: Advancement, Finance (vice chair), Property (chair), and Executive. Having recently retired as executive vice president of the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (formerly Mellon Financial Corporation)—which he joined in 1983—Jim said he was excited about accepting his new role at PTS because “I now have the time necessary to devote to the leadership needs of this important resource for the church and community.” A major part of the time in Jim’s first months as Board Chair focused on the renovation of the Seminary’s Clifford E. Barbour Library, completed and rededicated last fall.

With an undergraduate degree from Washington & Jefferson College, a J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and decades of experience working for BNY Mellon, Jim is well prepared for such a substantial and multifaceted role in assisting with the Seminary’s leadership.

From 1996-2002, he had served Mellon as associate general counsel responsible for the delivery of legal services across the corporation’s institutional asset management, private wealth management, and global securities services business sectors. Having excelled in that capacity, in 2002 he was appointed a senior vice president and member of the corporation’s senior management committee.

Jim’s maintaining of high ethical standards earned him the assignment of becoming Mellon’s chief auditor and the management of the corporate-wide Audit and Risk Review Department, as well as the activities of its Ethics Office, Corporate Investigations, and Regulatory Support units. In 2006, he was named an executive vice president and appointed the corporation’s deputy general counsel. The genuineness of his commitment to his Christian faith is further evidenced in his provision of vital leadership as an elder at Shadyside Presbyterian Church, where he and his wife, Gretchen, and their two children have worshiped the past three decades. And not to be overlooked is Jim’s concern for our stewardship of God’s creation, which he has actively demonstrated by long serving on the Board of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania.

Excited about the new ways Pittsburgh Seminary is addressing the needs of today’s church and world through the preparation of pastors and Christian leaders, Jim is relishing the pivotal role he is playing as he uses his own unique gifts in pursuit of God’s call on his life.

Jim Gockley Serves Pivotal Role as Board Chair

Last June, longtime PTS Board member Jim Gockley assumed the role of Chair after having served in a leadership capacity on a number of the Board’s committees since 2005: Advancement, Finance (vice chair), Property (chair), and Executive. Having recently retired as executive vice president of the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (formerly Mellon Financial Corporation)—which he joined in 1983—Jim said he was excited about accepting his new role at PTS because “I now have the time necessary to devote to the leadership needs of this important resource for the church and community.” A major part of the time in Jim’s first months as Board Chair focused on the renovation of the Seminary’s Clifford E. Barbour Library, completed and rededicated last fall.

With an undergraduate degree from Washington & Jefferson College, a J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and decades of experience working for BNY Mellon, Jim is well prepared for such a substantial and multifaceted role in assisting with the Seminary’s leadership.

From 1996-2002, he had served Mellon as associate general counsel responsible for the delivery of legal services across the corporation’s institutional asset management, private wealth management, and global securities services business sectors. Having excelled in that capacity, in 2002 he was appointed a senior vice president and member of the corporation’s senior management committee.

Jim’s maintaining of high ethical standards earned him the assignment of becoming Mellon’s chief auditor and the management of the corporate-wide Audit and Risk Review Department, as well as the activities of its Ethics Office, Corporate Investigations, and Regulatory Support units. In 2006, he was named an executive vice president and appointed the corporation’s deputy general counsel. The genuineness of his commitment to his Christian faith is further evidenced in his provision of vital leadership as an elder at Shadyside Presbyterian Church, where he and his wife, Gretchen, and their two children have worshiped the past three decades. And not to be overlooked is Jim’s concern for our stewardship of God’s creation, which he has actively demonstrated by long serving on the Board of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania.

Excited about the new ways Pittsburgh Seminary is addressing the needs of today’s church and world through the preparation of pastors and Christian leaders, Jim is relishing the pivotal role he is playing as he uses his own unique gifts in pursuit of God’s call on his life.

Jim Gockley, chair, Board of Directors, Pittsburgh Seminary