Remembering Rich Bettis

Professor Rich Bettis, a leading strategic management scholar who served on the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School faculty for almost 30 years, died peacefully on Jan. 22, 2025, after an extended illness. He was 77. He leaves a legacy of excellence as a teacher, mentor and scholar.

Born in Portsmouth, Ohio, Bettis was a first-generation college student at Ohio State University, where he earned his BS in engineering physics. He then worked at General Motors as a product development engineer for five years before he earned his MBA and PhD from the University of Michigan.

At Michigan Bettis formed a lifelong friendship and research collaboration with the late legendary Professor C.K. Prahalad, resulting in influential contributions to the strategic management field, including their seminal work on dominant logic in diversified firms that won the inaugural SMJ Dan and Mary Lou Schendel Best Paper Prize.

Bettis joined UNC Kenan-Flagler in 1992. The Ellison Distinguished Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, he received the prestigious Weatherspoon Award for Excellence in PhD Teaching in 2001 and the Weatherspoon Award for Excellence in Research in 2011. He retired in 2021.

He played a pivotal role as an editorial leader. He was a founding member of the Strategic Management Society and an editor of the Strategic Management Journal and other journals for three decades. “Above all, he was good at heart, had endless energy, loved his work and was a relentless supporter of junior colleagues and students,” wrote Professor Isin Guler.

Songcui Hu (PhD ’12) with Bettis

The Strategic Management Society and the Academy of Management, the two largest communities in the field, wrote about his profound impact on the field of strategy, noting that in “His research spanned corporate and behavioral strategy, and, in his later work, he championed replicability and transparency in empirical strategy research.

Beyond his scholarly contributions, Bettis was a dedicated mentor and advisor who shaped the professional lives of many doctoral students and junior colleagues.”

He also consulted for several firms and frequently spoke in management development programs. Clients included Bank of America, Dell, GE, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Motorola and Monsanto.

Bettis was known for his wit. A small example of it was on his CV where he noted, with an asterisk, that the “Society of Management Journal editorials are always listed in alphabetical order of the co-editors. If you have a child that may become an academic, I recommend changing the family name to Aardvark.”

He is survived by his beloved family: wife, Debbie Bettis; their son, Matt Bettis, and daughter, Kimberly Bettis, and their families; their “adopted daughter,” Songcui Hu; and his brother, James Bettis.

UNC Kenan-Flagler was a family affair: Matt Bettis and his wife, Pam Munch Bettis, are 2011 graduates of the Full-Time MBA Program.

Supporting the next Rich Bettis

“Rich and Debbie were an incredible source of support for me, especially during my early years in the U.S., both academically and personally,” says Hu (PhD ’12), associate professor of management and organizations at the University of Arizona. “Over time, they came to consider me their adopted Chinese daughter.”

Hu’s experience mirrors that of many other doctoral students. After they graduated, Bettis remained deeply committed to their career development while forging connections with their families. When Hu got married in Napa Valley, California, Bettis and his family attended the ceremony, and he officiated the wedding.

“Rich was an exceptionally kind person,” Hu says. “It’s easier to be a great academic scholar than to be a genuinely kind individual, and Rich was both in my eyes.”

The importance of Bettis to her life and the lives of other PhD graduates prompted Hu to establish a fellowship in his honor to support PhD students in their pursuit of research excellence. It will fund opportunities such as conference attendance, scholarly exchange, professional development, travel grants, research materials and data access, and promote replicability and transparency in empirical research.

Hu and her husband, Javid Hsueh, made an initial $10,000 gift to start its funding and seek the support of other PhD alumni, family, friends and professional organizations that Bettis belonged to reach an endowment of $100,000 over a five-year period. During this period, funds will be allocated for immediate use towards its purpose.

Bettis with his wife, Debbie, visit with Caroline, daughter of Jennifer Oetzel (PhD ’02).

An enduring legacy

His former PhD students now hold positions as professors and deans at universities across the U.S., spanning at least 14 states from the East to West coasts, and in Canada, China, Denmark, India, Italy, the Netherlands and Singapore. Tributes written by former students and colleagues at his retirement demonstrate the impact he had on their lives.

Bettis never stepped into the classroom with heavy-handed thoughts, wrote David Halliday (PhD ’17), a professor at George Washington University. “Within 20 minutes he had taught us the most important four pedagogical words in academia: ‘What do you think?’”

Jennifer Oetzel (PhD ’02), a professor at American University, wrote that he gave her excellent academic training, “but more importantly the confidence and professional guidance to succeed. One particular piece of advice has always stuck with me. You often said that there are lots of smart people in the world, but the key is to work with smart people who are also good people. That is certainly the case with you! Your advice has served me well and I now pass it along to others.”

Professor Olga Hawn, his UNC Kenan-Flagler colleague, wrote how Bettis reminded “us all about our purpose as UNC faculty of serving the people of the state and thus having a greater mission in our research and teaching. ”

“Rich always said that when discussing different viewpoints and ideas, ‘We can learn to disagree without being disagreeable,’” says Hu. “It was a fun, very fine journey that we started together. I will continue to carry his spirit forward and follow in his footsteps.”

A memorial service for Bettis will be held March 15 at 10 a.m. at Chapel Hill Bible Church. Read more about him and how to honor him here.

Please click here if you are interested in supporting the Rich Bettis PhD Memorial Fund.