Geovette E. Washington

Senior Vice Chancellor and Chief Legal Officer
412-624-4747

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.

During her first five years at Pitt, Washington created two offices: 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. Washington’s move to the Department of Commerce followed 14 years in the District of Columbia litigation firm of Baach Robinson and Lewis PLLC (now Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC).   

Washington began her career as a law clerk to the Honorable Aubrey E. Robinson Jr., senior judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She then served three years as special assistant to Assistant Attorney General Walter E. Dellinger III in the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel. 

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 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 a 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.

Education

  • Wesleyan College, B.A. in History (1989)
  • Duke University, J.D. (1992)

Professional Associations

  • Wesleyan College Board of Trustees (Macon, GA), 2005-2010, 2016-present
  • Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh Board of Trustees (Pittsburgh, PA), 2017-present
  • Pittsburgh Legal Diversity & Inclusion Coalition Board, 2017-present
  • Pennsylvanians for Moderns Courts Board of Advisors, 2019-present
  • Girls Hope Board (Pittsburgh, PA), 2018-present
  • Administrative Conference of the United States (Washington, DC), Council Member, 2013-2015, 2016 to present
  • Past Board Member, William E. Doar Jr. Public Charter School for the Performing Arts (Washington, D.C.)
  • Past Board Member, Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia
  • Member, American Bar Association
  • Member, Allegheny County Bar Association

Bar Membership

  • Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
  • State of Georgia

Administrative Assistant

Dominic Maguire