ABOUT US

Greeting From Our President & CEO.

Audrey Russo

Bottom line – we’re here to serve you – Pittsburgh Technology Council members.

It is our mission to provide you with the necessary resources, relevant programming and worthwhile services that will help you succeed. For me, it’s simple: as southwestern Pennsylvania’s technology trade association, our interests are inextricably tied. If our region’s technology companies and the supporting business ecology succeed the region will succeed and conversely, if you fail we will surely fail to become a thriving and vital region.

I truly believe that the future of the region depends upon the success of Pittsburgh’s technology companies. The region will regain this international prominence only if the technology community is adequately equipped with the necessary tools and a fertile environment in which to grow. It is an economic imperative.

The world-class talent the region’s technology companies attract is putting Pittsburgh on the global map in terms of innovation and technology commercialization. We must take risks and invest in the next generation of companies that will, without a doubt, redefine current boundaries with disruptive technologies that will mold our daily lives in the future.

As an advocate for and a participant in the region’s technology community, the Council is uniquely positioned to play a critical role in Pittsburgh’s reinvention as a global metropolis that truly values diversity and freethinking. We are eagerly seeking partnerships that will move this vision forward. Join me in this regional renaissance.

Bio

Audrey Russo comes to the Pittsburgh Technology Council from MAYA Design where she served as vice president of operations and chief financial officer since 2005. At MAYA Design, Russo was directly responsible for profit and loss accountability. She also directed all business processes of the software and product design firm, including contract negotiations, talent development, client relationships, project management, business development and resource management.

Prior to her time at MAYA Design, Russo served as the global director of human resources and technology policy for Alcoa. Prior to that, she was manager of Alcoa’s global people strategy, business systems and information technology. As a senior-level human resources and information technology strategist, she led successful efforts to deploy and optimize global IT systems and improve global access to information. She developed internal controls to increase value and reduce waste across manufacturing businesses in almost every region of the world; she helped to shape policy for socially responsible business practices, and she managed the people strategy for the integration of three company acquisitions within one year.

Prior to her tenure at Alcoa, Russo served as director of client relations and performance support services for Reynolds Metal Company’s corporate information technology, where one of her accomplishments was the migration of common information technology systems across the company.

Russo also spent about a decade working as an independent business strategy and organizational change consultant. Her Fortune 500 clients included AT&T, Lucent and Reynolds Metals, in addition to several small and mid-sized businesses, institutes of higher learning and non-profit organizations.

Russo also previously had spent six years as an adjunct faculty member and project director at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, where she was appointed to the governor of Virginia's Executive Leadership Program. While on faculty there, Russo designed and implemented curriculum for a leadership development program. She taught graduate-level courses in strategic planning and interdisciplinary collaboration, and she also acted as a mentor for trainers, produced publications and lectured at conferences.

Prior to her time at Virginia Commonwealth, Russo served as director of the Southside Virginia Training Center in Richmond where she was senior manger of an intermediate care facility for people with chronic health care needs, developmental disabilities and patients whose needs were associated with aging. She was responsible for a $5 million budget, and she supervised 240 employees. She had oversight of all aspects of human resources, as well as compliance with federal, state and private regulatory commissions. It was here that Russo initiated the design and deployment of a patient records-automation system, while also managing the architectural transformation of the facility and hitting target performance outcomes despite labor conflicts occurring at the same time.

Russo earned her bachelor of science degree in social work from Ohio State University. After graduation, she served as director of social work for Toledo’s Northwestern Ohio Developmental Center and then as project manager of criminal justice services for Stark County Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. She also served for a time as unit director for Apple Creek (Ohio) Developmental Center.

She entered Syracuse University on a scholarship at the Maxwell School of Public Affairs, and she graduated from there with a master’s degree in public administration.

Currently, Russo is a member of CEOs for Cities: Pittsburgh Innovation Design Team. In addition, she serves as a board member of the Pittsburgh CORO Center. Russo also served on the executive board of the Rudlin Torah Academy in Richmond. Other previous affiliations include the Medical College of Virginia Treatment Center for Children, the Richmond Jazz Society, the Virginia Mental Heath Players, the Richmond Jewish Community Center, the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation, Virginia Mental Heath and Retardation Services and the Autism Society of Virginia.