Rachel Decker Richelieu serves as vice chancellor of University Communications and Marketing at the University of Pittsburgh. In this capacity, she directs the integrated communications-and-marketing strategy supporting Pitt’s world-class research and scholarship, academic achievements, groundbreaking partnerships and innovations, and pioneering faculty and staff.
Richelieu oversees a nearly 60-person team of communications, marketing and creative design professionals responsible for strategic communications and marketing, including issues management, media relations and public relations, social media, design, video and multimedia, and web services. The office produces the University’s flagship news service, Pittwire, and alumni-focused Pitt Magazine.
Richelieu previously served as director of strategic communications for five years at MITRE, a not-for-profit technology and research-and-development company that partners with government, industry and academia to address global challenges. Before that, she was vice president of public relations and corporate communications for Strayer Education and held leadership roles at Hewlett Packard, BAE Systems and Pratt & Whitney.
Both prior to and following 9/11, Richelieu worked for the Pentagon Renovation Program and communicated the Pentagon’s public and media response following the terrorist attack and subsequent rebuilding. She also worked for the U.S. Department of Defense, hosting a ministerial of NATO Ministers of Defense, and the U.S. Department of State as operations program coordinator for the 2004 G-8 Summit hosted in Sea Island, Georgia.
Richelieu earned an MBA at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in communications at George Mason University. She is the daughter of a retired college professor and debate coach and lives in Oakland with her husband and two daughters.