Peter V. Norden

Brief Biography

Peter V. Norden was the seventeenth President of The Institute of Management Sciences (TIMS). Norden received all three of his degrees from Columbia University, studying mathematics, mechanical and industrial engineering, and operations research. He led a forty-plus year career with IBM, specializing in the application of quantitative techniques to management problems and project management systems.

At IBM, Norden’s assignments spanned a wide array of responsibilities. He directed Scientific Software Development and helped market support for Knowledge-Based and Expert Systems applications for manufacturing, process, and utilities industries. As manager of an engineering and scientific support center in White Plains, New York, he was responsible for all of IBM’s scientific software, touching upon numerous operations research methodologies including optimization, simulation, project management, statistics, artificial intelligence, and decision support systems. Towards the end of his career, Norden was a consultant with the company’s Management Technologies practice, having held a similar position with their Manufacturing Research department.

Since 1952, Norden has been an adjunct professor of industrial engineering and operations research at his alma mater’s Graduate School of Engineering and Applied Science. He has also held positions with the Executive MBA program of the Lubin School of Business at Pace University. Though now retired from IBM, Norden continues to work at Columbia, teaching courses in industrial engineering. His publications have touched upon project management and other production developments.

Even after his presidential term (1971-1972), Norden remained a proactive force with TIMS. He helped establish Interfaces, the practice publication of today’s Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).  Norden was a founder of the College on the Practice of Management Sciences (CPMS), presiding over that society in its first year under INFORMS. For many years, he served as a judge and coach for the Franz Edelman Prize competition. For his dedicated service to the professional management sciences community, Norden was awarded the George E. Kimball Medal. In his acceptance speech, he rephrased Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address with an eye to the past and future of management science.

Other Biographies

INFORMS. Miser-Harris Presidential Gallery: Peter V. Norden. Accessed May 16, 2015. (link)