Carnegie Mellon University
May 29, 2013

News Brief: Amir Rahnamay-Azar Named New Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer

On Tuesday, May 28, Carnegie Mellon President Jared L. Cohon sent the following email to members of the university community announcing that Amir Rahnamay-Azar, senior vice president for Administration and Finance at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has been named Carnegie Mellon's new Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer.

Dear Members of the Carnegie Mellon Community:

Amir Rahamanay-AzarI am pleased to announce that Amir Rahnamay-Azar, Senior Vice President for Administration and Finance at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has been selected to become Carnegie Mellon's new Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer. Amir will officially join Carnegie Mellon in mid-August.

Both President-elect Subra Suresh and I are delighted with this appointment. Amir is an enormously talented professional who exemplifies the university's very best qualities of hard work, collaboration and innovative problem-solving. His experiences at Georgia Tech, and previously at the University of Southern California, provide an excellent foundation for the many facets of the vice president and chief financial officer position. His commitment to fostering the success of our faculty, staff and students was evident throughout the selection process.

In his current role at Georgia Tech since 2010, Amir managed a wide range of functions, such as the institute's overall budget, capital planning and space management, institutional research and planning, organizational development, sustainability, real estate development, and financial services, which included treasury services and grants and contract accounting.

At USC from 1999 to 2010, Amir rose through the ranks from Staff Associate and Associate Director of Operations in the Office of Budget and Planning, to Associate Senior Vice President for Operations in the Office of the Senior Vice President for Administration. His tenure at USC also gave him valuable experience in leading a major research university in linking strategic directions to budgeting, resource allocation and financial reporting.

Amir earned his Ed.D. in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania, and his MBA and bachelor's degree in business administration from the California State University, Sacramento.

I want to thank the faculty and staff who served on this very important selection committee. Their diverse perspectives and deep commitment to this process yielded this outstanding outcome.

I also want to thank Provost and Executive Vice President Mark Kamlet, Associate Vice President for Finance and Controller Liz Milavec and the entire Finance Division for their continuing efforts during this time of transition. 

Please join Dr. Suresh and me in welcoming Amir, his wife Kristina, and their children, Sophie, Kate and Jack, to the Carnegie Mellon family.

Sincerely,

Jared L. Cohon
President

Amir Rahnamay-Azar, pictured above, comes to Carnegie Mellon from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he has been senior vice president for Administration and Finance since 2010.