University Times

Paul O’Neill, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and retired Alcoa board chairman, is expected to be elected today as a University director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Board of Directors and a member of the UPMC board’s executive committee.

A resolution nominating O’Neill was scheduled to be presented to the Pitt Board of Trustees for action at its 9 a.m. public meeting in the William Pitt Union Assembly Room.

O’Neill was a Pitt trustee from March 1988 to June 1991, serving as a member of the academic affairs/libraries committee and chair of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs’ Board of Visitors. He was chief executive officer of Alcoa from June 1987 to May 1999 and chaired its board from 1987 until his retirement from that job in January 2001. He was Secretary of the Treasury from January 2001 to December 2002. O’Neill earned a B.A. in economics at Fresno State College and a master’s of public administration at Indiana University.

“The University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center are fortunate that Paul O’Neill is willing to serve in this important role,” said Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg. “He brings a level of understanding to the complex issues confronting southwestern Pennsylvania and its people unmatched by almost anyone else. As someone who has served on Pitt’s Board of Trustees, Paul has proved to be a strong supporter and friend of the University, and, as the retired chair of Alcoa and former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, he possesses the stature to help both Pitt and UPMC address the formidable health care demands that are surely ahead of us.”