Alumni-In-Residence: Pittsburgh's Chief Financial Officer

March 15, 2023

"Patrick Cornell headshot"Career Services has officially announced the next Alumni-in-Residence visitor, Patrick Cornell (MPA '15), the current Chief Financial Officer for the City of Pittsburgh.

Cornell started working with the City of Pittsburgh in 2015 as a Budget Analyst fresh out of GSPIA. As an analyst, he was responsible for the expenditures for several departments including Public Safety (Police, EMS, Fire, Animal Care and Control), Finance, and Human Resources. Since then, he’s been a Senior Budget Analyst, Assistant Director, and Deputy Director in the Office of Management and Budget. In his current role, he is overseeing the Operating, Capital, and Community Development budgets and teams, as well as the Department of Finance.

Originally from Maryland, Cornell graduated from Pitt in 2012 with undergraduate degrees in Mathematics and Economics. A year working as an English-language assistant in Tournon-sur-Rhône, France, sparked an interest in public service, public administration, and government. In 2013, he started the MPA program at GSPIA to hone his policy analysis skills. Outside of normal coursework, Patrick did research for the University Center for Social and Urban Research, traveled to Brussels to learn about the European Union, added Portuguese to his language repertoire, and studied Latin American public policy.

Outside of the City-County Building, Patrick is on the Treasurer of the Allegheny CleanWays board. He lives in Beechview. His most recent trip abroad was to Bolivia.

GSPIA's Alumni-in-Residence program serves to connect GSPIA alumni with students who are interested in their field through one-on-one meetings that can be used as a time to conduct an informational interview, seek career advice, and network.

Cornell will be on campus on Tuesday, March 21. Students can sign up for a meeting with him here.