News Release

Pa. Treasurer to deliver commencement keynote

April 29, 2010

Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Rob McCord will deliver the keynote address at Penn State Harrisburg’s spring commencement Saturday, May 15. More than 500 undergraduate and graduate degrees will be conferred during the 9:30 a.m. ceremonies in the Giant Center, Hershey.

McCord took office as Pennsylvania’s 45th Treasurer on Jan. 20, 2009. Today, as chief executive of the state’s Treasury Department – which has a staff of more than 400 – he helps invest more than $80 billion per year and oversees a broad variety of operations designed to increase efficiency and improve Pennsylvania’s economic security.

Prior to his election as Treasurer, McCord founded the Eastern Technology Fund and served from 1998 to 2007 as co-founder and managing director of Pennsylvania Early Stage Partners – a family of venture funds. From 1994 through 1998, he worked as a senior executive at Safeguard Scientifics, one of the first venture incubators of its kind.

McCord also led the Eastern Technology Council from 1996 to 2007. The council served hundreds of fast-growing and innovative firms. Before joining the private sector, he spent a decade working on Capitol Hill where he specialized in budget and technology issues and also served as CEO of the bipartisan Congressional Institute for the Future, a think tank co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore and the late U.S. Senator John Heinz.

McCord earned his undergraduate degree in economics and history at Harvard University and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania. He resides in Montgomery County with his wife and two sons.