Description of office: The duty of the Pennsylvania Treasurer is to safeguard the Commonwealth’s financial assets, which total more than $160 billion in public monies. The office manages several programs in order to better serve the financial needs of Pennsylvanians. The Treasury Department is also responsible for: reuniting unclaimed property with its rightful owner; investigating loss, theft, and fraud involving Commonwealth checks; reviewing real estate leases and contracts entered into by Commonwealth agencies; and maintaining the Pennsylvania contracts electronic library. The Treasurer has specific duties in addition to the oversight of the Department: serving as chair of the Board of Finance and Revenue, which selects banks to serve as depositories for state money; setting interest rates paid on Commonwealth deposits; and hearing and deciding state tax appeals.Term: 4 yearsSalary: $197,748Vote for ONE.
County
Allegheny
Occupation
Process Improvement Consultant
Education
BS Psychology & Economics, MS Psychology
Qualifications
Founded and ran a small business, Spent a year training on process improvement and organizational problem solving under former US Treasury Secretary O'Neill, 9 years doing process improvement for government systems in Allegheny County
I would expand the information you could see in the database of state contracts, including searching vendors by union/non-union as well as women and minority-owned businesses. I will provide a recommended vendor list that complies with US trade policies for fulfilling state purchases such as ensuring we are not purchasing from companies that use slave labor, child labor, or conflict-mined materials. I would not invest in foreign holdings and would reinstate the pension investment standards that existed before pension de-regulation in 2003.
Transparency is a word that is thrown around loosely in politics. However, it is only truly achieved if it is demonstrated at times when it is inconvenient and when we make mistakes. Elected officials identifying errors in the interest of improving performance rarely happens. That must change. The current Treasurer's Asset report only states what is going well. It does not identify opportunities for improvement. I would let the taxpayers know where I think we could improve or mistakes we may have made, the cause of the mistake and the correction. I also hope to move toward incorporating ESG (environmental, sustainability, governance) ratings into investment standards if that rating should be established as a viable measure.
County
Bradford
Occupation
Pennsylvania State Treasurer
Education
Bachelor of Science in Finance/ Minor in Economics Bloomsburg University | Certificate Cornell University Business Management Institute
Qualifications
Thirty-year decorated member of the U.S. Army Reserve with three deployments to the Middle East including a Battalion command | 34 years in private sector manufacturing, retiring as one of the first female vice presidents of Global Tungsten & Powders, an international refractory metals co.
I will build on the progress made during my time in office. Since January 2021, I’ve worked with my bipartisan team at the Treasurer’s office to set a new record for returning unclaimed property (more than $274 million in a single year, and more than $600 million altogether), to earn the first-ever Gold Rating from Morningstar for our PA 529 College & Career Program (making it one of the top two programs in the nation), and to nearly triple the assets in the PA ABLE savings program for people with disabilities (to over $115 million).
I will continue cutting fees for both of Treasury’s savings programs: PA 529 (so far, I’ve saved account owners more than $11 million) and PA ABLE (so far, I’ve cut fees three times).
Transparency is a core principal under my watch. Every dollar that comes to Treasury, and every dollar paid out, belongs to the taxpayers. They deserve to see exactly what’s happening with their money.
Before I took office, the Pennsylvania Treasury Department received a “C” rating for transparency. That’s unacceptable, so I immediately went to work improving transparency at all levels.
I added many new features to the Transparency Portal on Treasury’s website, making it easier for people to see our state’s expenditures, revenue, and budget. I added county-level data for all of Treasury’s programs, and I revamped the Fiscal Health Scorecard which allows people to easily compare Pennsylvania’s fiscal performance to other states.
