William Richard King, the thirty-sixth President of The Institute of Management Sciences (TIMS), is a retired American university professor who studied and researched
management science
Management science (or managerial science) is a wide and interdisciplinary study of solving complex problems and making strategic decisions as it pertains to institutions, corporations, governments and other types of organizational entities. It is ...
and
information systems
An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect, process, information storage, store, and information distribution, distribute information. From a sociotechnical perspective, information systems a ...
at the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...
in
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. He was the Founding President of the
Association for Information Systems
The Association for Information Systems (AIS) is an international, not-for-profit, professional association for scholars of information systems that was established in 1994. The association publishes journals, organizes conferences, and provides ...
, co-founder of the
International Conference on Information Systems
International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) is an annual international conference for academics and research-oriented practitioners in the area of information systems. Previously known as the Conference on Information Systems (CIS), ICI ...
, and the founder of the America's Conference on Information Systems.
He has an
h-index
The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with obvious success indicators such as winn ...
of 77 when including all of the fields in which he has published according to Google Scholar.
Biography
William R. King was born on December 24, 1938, in Southwestern Pennsylvania to Dewey Clark and Cambria Edith (Jones) King. He grew up in a small town called Elrama in Southwestern Pennsylvania. He described himself as a "township kid" at the time he went to Clairton High School. In high school, he was chosen to speak for his class of 450 at the graduation ceremony. In a memoir which was written in September 2011, he recalled a story that happened in tenth grade and he thought his life changed at Clairton High School.
King received his bachelor's degree (with honors) at
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...
in 1960. In college, he was in the Air Force ROTC and was named "Outstanding Cadet" in his junior year and "Distinguished Military Graduate" on graduation. After graduation, he worked as an industrial engineer for Pittsburgh Steel Company. Then he enrolled in graduate school and received his master's degree at Case Institute of Technology in 1962, and Ph.D. in Operations Research at Case Institute of Technology in 1964. Professor
Russell L. Ackoff
Russell Lincoln Ackoff (February 12, 1919 – October 29, 2009) was an American organizational theorist, Management consulting, consultant, and Anheuser-Busch Professor Emeritus of Management Science at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylva ...
was his advisor. King shaped his professional goals with the help of Professor
Russell L. Ackoff
Russell Lincoln Ackoff (February 12, 1919 – October 29, 2009) was an American organizational theorist, Management consulting, consultant, and Anheuser-Busch Professor Emeritus of Management Science at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylva ...
and he transferred from a jet pilot to a scholar and consultant.
After getting his Ph.D., King was appointed Assistant Professor of Operations Research at Case and served from 1964 to 1965, a very unusual thing for a graduate to be so appointed. From 1965 to 1967, he served as a First Lieutenant in the US Air Force. He was an Assistant Professor of Statistics and Operations Research at the Air Force Institute of Technology.
In 1967, King became an Associate Professor at the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...
'
Graduate School of Business In 1968, he was promoted to Full Professor, the youngest person to be so named in the modern history of the University. After arriving at the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...
, King led the redesign of the doctoral program and the creation of a multi-school "MS in Telecommunications" degree, "Techno MBA" and MS-MBA Double Degree programs. These programs grew significantly under his leadership.
King remained at the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...
for 41 years. During this time, he had a number of Visiting (in-residence) assignments at
City University of Hong Kong
City University of Hong Kong (CityU) is a world-class public research university located in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1984 as City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and became a fully accredited university in 1994. Currently, CityU is ...
,
University of California-Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...
,
Singapore National University,
Auckland University
The University of Auckland is a public university, public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the largest, most comprehensive and highest-ranked university in New Zealand and consistently places among the top 100 universit ...
,
National Sun Yat-Sen University
National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU; ) is a public research-intensive university renowned as an official think tank scholars' community, located in Sizihwan, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. NSYSU is listed as one of six national research universities, ...
(Taiwan),
Travelers Insurance
The Travelers Companies, Inc., commonly known as Travelers, is an American insurance company. It is the second-largest writer of U.S. commercial property casualty insurance, and the sixth-largest writer of U.S. personal insurance through indepen ...
's Research Department, among others. He mentored over 100 Ph.D. graduates. In 2008, he retired as "University Professor", which is the most distinguished academic rank from the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...
.
Dr. King married his beautiful high-school sweetheart, Fay Eileen Bickerton, in 1958. They have 3 children and 10 grandchildren. As retirees, they are "snowbirds" who reside at their beachfront home in Port Charlotte, FL in the Winter and at their Pittsburgh home in Fox Chapel Borough in the Summer.
Recognition
William R. King received the
Marquis Who's Who
Marquis Who's Who ( or ) is an American publisher of a number of directories containing short biographies. The books usually are entitled ''Who's Who in...'' followed by some subject, such as ''Who's Who in America'', ''Who's Who of American Wome ...
Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.
[ In 2004, he received the "AIS LEO Award". LEO Award is an honor to recognize outstanding scholars who have an impact on the field of information systems globally and also have an impact outside the field. In 2002, he was recognized as Institute for Operations Research and the Management Science Fellow (INFORMS Fellow).] INFORMS Fellow receipts are expected to be outstanding lifetime achievements in operations research and management sciences and have significant accomplishments in advancing of operations research and management science. In 1999, he was awarded "AIS Fellow Award". AIS Fellow Award is an honor to recognize scholars who have a high degree of professional and personal integrity, and have significant contributions to the field globally. He was awarded Fellow of the Decision Science Institute and a full member of the Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dr. King has a profound impact on the fields of operations research, management science, and information systems. He established AIS (Association for Information Systems) and served as the first president of AIS from 1994 to 1995. His presidency of TIMS (The Institute of Management Sciences) led to the establishment of INFORMS in 1995.[https://aisnet.org/page/WilliamKing] He was co-founder of the annual International Conference on Information System. He founded the annual America's Conference on Information Systems.
Research and Professional Activities
King has authored 325 papers (according to Google Scholar) and 19 books.
King's research interest includes strategic planning, project management, information systems in management, system analysis, knowledge management, knowledge management systems, organizational learning, business planning, and strategic use of information systems. His findings in research have been applied to business and finance. King's method has been applied to develop FICO scores. He also developed a concept that laid out the foundation of strategic information systems. The McKinsey Foundation recognized "''Systems Analysis and Project Management''", a book he co-authored with David Cleland, as a seminal work to management. "''Project Management Handbook''", which he co-edited, was recognized as the AIIE's Book-of-Year Award.
King was very active throughout his career in the area of journals, having served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Management Information Systems Quarterly
''Management Information Systems Quarterly'', referred to as ''MIS Quarterly'', is an online-only quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal that covers research in management information systems and information technology. It was established in 19 ...
(''MISQ''), as Associate Editor of six other journals and having conceived of, founded and obtained a publisher for the highly-respected journal Information Systems Research
''Information Systems Research'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal that covers research in the areas of information systems and information technology, including cognitive psychology, economics, computer science, operations research, de ...
(''ISR'').
In addition to academic activities, King is co-owner of Cleland-King Inc., a consulting firm. He advised corporations and public organizations all over the world. The most interesting recognition King has received was a "King-is-a Liar" demonstration held in Red Square in Moscow. CIA analysts revealed that Vladimir Putin had plagiarized significant portions of one of King's books for his master thesis.
King served as a Senior Staff Member to the US Senate Budget Committee in 1976-1977. Sam Nunn
Samuel Augustus Nunn Jr. (born September 8, 1938) is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Georgia (1972–1997) as a member of the Democratic Party.
After leaving Congress, Nunn co-founded the Nuclear Threat Initiat ...
, a United States Senator from Georgia (1976-1997) as a member of the Democratic Party, was the appointer. King is a licensed private pilot and motorcyclist and a certified sailboat captain and SCUBA diver. He jokes that he is also a CPA - Certified Pesticide Applicator - a certification that he found useful to obtain when he bought a farm with an orchard.
Selected publications
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Selected books
* Organizational Transformation through Business Process Reengineering: Applying Lessons Learned (1998)
* Marketing Management Information Systems (1977)
* Systems Analysis and Project Management (1983)
* Marketing Scientific and Technical Information (2020)
* Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning (2009)
* Strategic Planning and Policy (1978)
* Planning for Information Systems (2009)
* School Days: Coming of Age in the Mid-20th Century (2012)
* School Days II (2013)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:King, William Richard
1938 births
University of Pittsburgh alumni
University of Pittsburgh faculty
Management scientists
Information systems researchers
Living people
Management Information Systems Quarterly editors