The American Chemical Society (ACS) Board of Directors has selected Albert G. Horvath, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at ACS, as the Society’s next CEO, effective January 1, 2023. He succeeds Thomas Connelly Jr., retiring after nearly eight years with ACS.
Before joining ACS in 2019, Horvath served as Chief Operating Officer and Under Secretary for Finance and Administration at the Smithsonian Institution. He oversaw more than 2,200 employees in various Smithsonian offices, including facilities and maintenance, human resources, security, commercial enterprises, and financial operations. Horvath joined the Smithsonian in 2011 and served as its Acting Secretary for six months in 2015. In this role, he worked closely with museum and research center directors to bring the Smithsonian's vast resources — spanning history, art, culture, and science — to the citizens of the US and visitors from around the world.
Horvath’s tenure at the Smithsonian was preceded by more than two decades of working in senior leadership roles for some of the leading research universities in the country. He was the Vice President for Finance and Business at the Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), his alma mater, for two years before being named Senior Vice President for Finance and Business/Treasurer. He was responsible for financial, endowment, business, and administrative activities at all Penn State campuses, with a $4.2 billion operating budget.
Before joining Penn State, Horvath was Executive Vice President of Finance and CFO at Columbia University (2004–07), where he had oversight for all financial activities of the university, including the medical center, and developed a five-year capital plan and debt strategy. And before that, he worked at the California Institute of Technology, where he served as the Associate Vice President for Finance and Controller in 2000 before becoming the Vice President for Business and Finance/CFO in 2001, a position he held until joining Columbia University.
From 1994 until 2000, he was Controller at New York University, having previously served in senior roles at Carnegie Mellon University (1988–94). He began his career at Mellon Bank (1981–88) in his hometown of Pittsburgh before moving into higher education.
A native of Pennsylvania, Horvath earned his master's degree in business administration at Duquesne University in 1985 and his bachelor's degree in accounting at Penn State in 1981. He has served on numerous boards of directors, including the Smithsonian Channel, Green Door, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, and Council on Governmental Relations.
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