Albert Horvath

As Under Secretary for Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer of the Smithsonian, Albert G. Horvath oversees many Smithsonian offices with more than 2,200 employees, including facilities and maintenance, human resources, security and financial operations. He reports directly to Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough. Horvath has more than 22 years of experience working in administration for some of the leading research universities in the country. He had been at Penn State, his alma mater, since 2007, serving as vice president for finance and business for two years until he was named senior vice president/treasurer. He has been responsible for financial, endowment, business and administrative activities at all Penn State campus locations with a $3.7 billion operating budget.

Before joining Penn State, Horvath was executive vice president of finance and CFO at Columbia University (2004–2007), where he had oversight for all financial activities of the university, including the medical center, and developed a five-year capital plan and debt strategy.

Horvath joined the California Institute of Technology in 2000 as their associate vice president for finance and controller, and he became Caltech’s CFO in 2001, a position he held until joining Columbia University. From 1994 until 2000, he was controller at New York University and, before that, served in senior roles at Carnegie Mellon University (1988–1994). He began his career at Mellon Bank in his home town of Pittsburgh before moving into higher education.

A native of Pennsylvania, he earned his master’s degree in business administration at Dusquesne University (1985) and his bachelor’s degree in accounting at Penn State (1981).