Pashman to lead the Allegheny Conference of Community Development
ACCD has sought to convene public and private leadership for local betterment for more than seven decades
Stefani Pashman, a local leader in the Jewish community and former CEO of Partner4Work, was recently named CEO of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development (ACCD).
The opportunity to oversee the organization and its affiliates is “a dream come true,” said Pashman, whose official start date is Oct. 2.
For more than seven decades, ACCD has sought to convene public and private leadership for local betterment, explained its new CEO. Notable accomplishments from the organization’s past include working to improve Pittsburgh’s air quality, building support for the Port Authority Transit of Allegheny County and helping to create the Pittsburgh Cultural District.
Pashman is eager to lead ACCD’s contemporary push beyond Pittsburgh to represent public and private interests throughout the 10-county southwestern Pennsylvania region.
Since arriving in the Steel City 12 years ago, the Washington University of St. Louis and University of Michigan graduate has held various leadership positions. As CEO of Partner4Work (formerly 3 Rivers Workforce Investment Board), Pashman managed a budget of $18 million and 25 employees on behalf of an organization committed to connecting “funding, expertise, and opportunities to develop a thriving workforce in the Pittsburgh region.”
Earlier, as special assistant to the secretary/director of policy at the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, Pashman pursued health care policy reform, with specific focus on both the Medicaid and Medicare programs.
Yet apart from such professional undertakings, Pashman has lent time to local organizations, including the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, National Council of Jewish Women, Jewish Family & Children’s Service, Rodef Shalom Congregation and the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.
“On my kids’ side, I served as commissioner of Dynamo (an East End soccer league) and as a team parent. I’m pretty involved with my kids’ activities,” she said.
Pashman and her husband, attorney Jeremy Feinstein, have three children: Nathan, a ninth-grader at Pittsburgh Allderdice; Abigail, a seventh-grader at Colfax Elementary School; and Gabriel, a sixth-grader at Colfax. Nathan, a nationally ranked squash player who recently medaled at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, was the subject of two recent stories in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.
Though Pashman is not a native Pittsburgher, “my kids are actually fifth-generation Squirrel Hill Jewish community members,” she said. “So we’ve got deep roots here and we feel it.”
Such connections give meaning not only to Pashman and her family, but to those they encounter, as people “appreciate” the idea of returning to one’s place of origin and investing in its advancement, she explained. It’s among the reasons Pashman is so passionate about her new position, which she feels will give her an opportunity to shape a city that has meant so much to her family.
Representing the region by “meeting the needs of the business leaders and folks who are key in moving Pittsburgh forward” is a “culmination” of prior endeavors, said Pashman. Having a job where the challenges include taking both the “marching orders,” as well as “the reins” presents an “exciting opportunity.”
“As chair of the Conference’s Workforce Strategy steering committee, I’ve had the opportunity over the last few years to work closely with Stefani. And as I look forward to becoming chair of the Conference in 2018, I am eager to continue working with her on the issues that are important to our quality of life and ongoing economic development,” said William S. Demchak, chairman, president and CEO of the PNC Financial Services Group and vice chair of the Allegheny Conference, in a statement. “Stefani is an accomplished leader, well respected by the many organizations and officials with whom the Conference partners, and under her leadership, the Conference will achieve great things on behalf of the people and businesses of the Pittsburgh region.”
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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