Biography
Rachel Decker Richelieu joined the University of Pittsburgh as vice chancellor for University Communications and Marketing in May of 2023.
Before to joining Pitt, Richelieu spent the last five years as director of strategic communications at MITRE, a nonprofit technology and research-and-development company that partners with and works across government, industry and academia to address global challenges. Before that, she was vice president of public relations and corporate communications for Strayer Education. Richelieu has also held leadership roles at Hewlett-Packard, BAE Systems and Pratt and 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 G8 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 from George Mason University. Richelieu, an avid marathoner, will relocate to Pittsburgh with her husband and two daughters.