Obama Administration taps GSE grad

On May 26, Congress voted to confirm Penn GSE grad Jo Ann Rooney as Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness in the U.S. Department of Defense. Rooney, a 2005 graduate of the Executive Doctorate in Higher Education Management, was sworn in to the position on June 2. 

Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Rooney served as the President of Mount Ida College in Massachusetts. She previously served as President of Spalding University in Kentucky for eight years. At Spalding she was credited with leading a successful financial turnaround and implemented a unique block scheduling system, achieved significant academic improvements and expansion of programs, put in place major IT infrastructure initiatives, significantly expanded enrollment, and completed both a new academic building and laboratory and health science classroom facility.

A tax lawyer with extensive financial experience in the private sector, Rooney spent several years as Corporate General Counsel, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of The Lyons Companies, located in Massachusetts. Prior to the Lyons Companies, she practiced tax law in the Boston area and was a founding partner of the consulting firm of Stearns, Rooney & Associates in Hingham, Massachusetts.

She has served as Vice Chair of the Jewish Hospital Saint Mary’s Healthcare System, Chair of the Housing Partnership, Inc., a state-wide affordable housing development and counseling organization, and the Board of Trustees and executive committee of Regis University in Denver, Colorado 

In addition to her Ed.D. from Penn GSE, she holds an LL.M from Boston University School of Law, a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School, and a B.S. from Boston University.