Frank E. Resnik*
Class of 1988
- President & CEO Phillip Morris, U.S.A.
We are at a gateway to a new decade that will usher in a new, truly global era for business.
Frank Resnik was born in 1928 in Pleasant Unity, Pennsylvania, in a home where little English was spoken. His father, a Yugoslav immigrant, worked in the coal mines. At 13, Resnik began doing farm chores after school and working in the mills. Although he studied to be an electrician, no jobs were available in that field when he graduated from high school.
Resnik joined the U.S. Army and became an instructor and first field sergeant. He later went to college on the GI bill. He attended St. Vincent's College in Latrobe, where he received a small football scholarship. In 1952, he graduated with a degree in chemistry and began working as a chemist with Philip Morris U.S.A. in Richmond, Virginia.
In 1980, Resnik was named executive vice president of the Tobacco Technology Group, which built factories worldwide. In 1984, he was named president and CEO of Philip Morris. He became chairman in 1989 and retired in 1991.