Geovette Washington serves as senior vice chancellor and chief legal officer at the University of Pittsburgh. In this capacity, she is the senior-most executive for legal and public policy matters at the University. She leads the Office of University Counsel, which provides legal advice on a host of issues that are critical to Pitt’s success. In addition, she leads the Office of Policy Development and Management and the Office of Compliance, Investigations, and Ethics, both of which provide essential infrastructure for the University’s policymaking and compliance functions.
Washington joined the University after serving as general counsel and senior policy advisor for the Office of Management and Budget at the White House. Prior to joining OMB, she served as deputy general counsel for the U.S. Department of Commerce and was a partner in the District of Columbia litigation firm of Baach Robinson and Lewis PLLC (now Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC).
The daughter of two public school educators, Washington is a summa cum laude graduate of Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. She received her Juris Doctor from Duke University School of Law.
Active in civic and professional organizations, Washington serves as the chair of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh board of trustees and secretary of the International Women’s Forum of Pittsburgh. She is also a member of the Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts Board of Advisors and Senior Fellow of the Administrative Conference of the United States. Washington served as the lead for the Department of Commerce Agency Review Team as a member of the Biden-Harris transition team.