The Director's Manual

About the Authors

Peter C. Browning

As founder and managing Director of Peter Browning Partners, LLC, a board advisory service, Peter Browning has a wide range of experience in business. Beginning as a sales trainee, he spent twenty-four years with the Continental Can Company, including being President of two different divisions, last serving as Executive Vice President–Operating Officer. He joined National Gypsum Company in 1989, and in September 1990, he was elected Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of National Gypsum Company, seeing the company through and out of bankruptcy.

He joined Sonoco Products Company (a $5 billion global packaging company) in November 1993, where he last served as President and Chief Executive Officer before retiring in July 2000. In March 2002 he was appointed Dean of the McColl School of Business at Queens University of Charlotte, North Carolina, where he served until May 2005.

He is a native of Boston, Massachusetts. A 1963 graduate of Colgate University with an AB in history, he earned his MBA from the University of Chicago in 1976. The Harvard Business School prepared a case study regarding his success in effecting changes at Continental's White Cap Division. A case study has also been written on his experience at National Gypsum for use at the University of North Carolina Kenan–Flagler Business School.

Since 1989 he has served on the board of directors of thirteen publicly traded companies, including ten years at Wachovia Corporation ...