Carnegie Mellon University announced today that Tricia O’Reilly will serve as chief of staff. O’Reilly has been serving as interim chief of staff since January 2023.

“Tricia has been one of my key advisors since she joined the university in 2016, having previously served as senior director for executive communications,” said CMU President Farnam Jahanian(opens in new window). “Her work on behalf of my office, including engaging with partners across campus and beyond, has already had significant impact, and I am delighted to be able to rely on her continued leadership.”

As chief of staff, O’Reilly works with partners across campus to advance the university’s strategic priorities on behalf of the president. She is a key advisor to the president and to the executive management team and plays a critical role in planning and decision-making, providing leadership for a broad set of university-wide initiatives.

“I am excited to support and advance university priorities and President Jahanian’s leadership during this time of tremendous opportunity for CMU,” O’Reilly said. “I look forward to working alongside the leadership team and with faculty, staff, students and external partners in support of our shared vision for the future.”

Prior to joining the university, O’Reilly worked at Stern, an advertising and communications agency based in Pittsburgh and Cleveland, where she developed public relations campaigns for global brands. She previously spent six years in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, where she led communications and publicity for the arts non-profit Coffee House Press, one of the nation’s leading independent literary publishers.

Tricia had been serving as interim chief of staff following Rick Siger’s appointment as secretary of community and economic development for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Siger had been chief of staff since 2020 and was also senior advisor on economic development. President Jahanian announced also today in an email to senior leaders that the university has launched a search for a chief economic development officer(opens in new window). Jorgenson Consulting is providing support for this search, and there is a search advisory committee of staff and faculty chaired by Dean Bill Sanders of the College of Engineering and Tim McNulty, associate vice president for Government Relations.