Keeping School
Ties Alive

Q: Can you briefly describe your role? 

Amy McCloskey (SHRS ’95 & GSPIA ’18): As director of alumni relations for all of Pitt Business, I work to cultivate and maintain targeted and meaningful personal relationships with our Pitt Business alumni. 

Jodi Weisfield (MBA ’00): As executive director of development for all of Pitt Business, I lead a team responsible for raising funds and engaging alumni to advance the philanthropic priorities of the business school. 

Q: What is the most rewarding part of your job? 

AM: Meeting our Pitt Business alumni locally and throughout the world to learn about the successes and impacts they are creating in society and then connecting them to Pitt Business students and fellow alumni. 

JW: We have incredibly interesting alumni and friends who have gone on to have unbelievable careers. The most rewarding part of my job is getting to know them, hearing their Pitt story, learning what they have done with their lives and careers since graduating, and talking about how they can get involved both personally and philanthropically to benefit the school and our students. 

I get to meet some extremely interesting, creative, bright, and kind people who are passionate about Pitt. 

Q: What’s your favorite Pitt memory? 

AM: Too many to list but off the top of mind is Big East Tournaments, Uncle Sam’s sandwiches, and football tailgating. 

JW: This is a hard question because I have so many. Probably my favorite was when I was a student at Katz in the full-time MBA program in 1999-2000. I took an international research course and got to travel to Prague and Bratislava with my classmates, including five of my closest friends. I had never been to Europe before, and the experience was life changing. Katz had a relationship with a sister-MBA program in Bratislava and we did a two-day long case competition where there were teams of Katz students paired with students from the university in Bratislava. I was there only about 10 years after the fall of Communism so hearing these students talk about their lives and business was eye-opening. 

Q: Can you share a fun fact about yourself? 

JW: I was a piano performance major at Indiana University, Bloomington for my undergraduate degree. I came to Katz because I wanted to go into orchestra management (and spent almost 20 years with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra prior to coming back to Pitt). I was probably one of the few piano performance majors ever to get my MBA at Katz! 

Q: How would you encourage alumni to get involved with Pitt Business? 

AM: Reach out to me directly or complete our Alumni Engagement form. We have something for every interest and passion! 

JW: There are so many ways for alumni to get involved! We are always looking for opportunities for alumni to mentor students, be a guest speaker in the classroom, speak to student clubs, serve as judges for competitions, connect students with possible internships or employment opportunities, and, finally support the school philanthropically.