Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor has made three acting department leaders permanent members of his administration, appointing new leaders for the city’s fire, finance and technology operations.
O’Connor appointed Mat Davis chief of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire, Rea Price director of the Office of Management and Budget and chief financial officer, and Sylvia Harris director of Innovation and Performance and chief information officer, the city announced Oct. 2. All three had been serving in the positions on an acting basis.
Price assumes permanent leadership of Pittsburgh’s finances as the O’Connor administration works to address budget challenges identified while preparing its 2027 spending plan.
She has more than 14 years of combined experience with the city’s Office of Management and Budget, where she has held positions including senior budget analyst, operating budget manager and assistant director of operating and special revenues. She has also served as deputy director of the City Council Budget Office.
Price returned to city government in January as OMB deputy director and has helped identify, plan for and manage the city’s current budget challenges.
O’Connor submitted Pittsburgh’s preliminary 2027 budget and five-year financial plan to City Council on Sept. 30 following what the administration described as a 10-month review of the city’s finances.
Davis brings more than two decades of firefighting experience to the permanent fire chief position.
He began his career with the Dormont, Pa., Fire Department in 2004 and later became its chief. He has also worked part time for the Swissvale and North Strabane fire departments.
Davis joined the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire in 2023 as assistant chief of community risk reduction and became acting chief earlier this year. He has also worked as a fire instructor and mentor for recruits and other agencies.
Davis holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration from Point Park University and is a graduate of the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program.
Harris, meanwhile, becomes the permanent leader of the department responsible for Pittsburgh’s information technology infrastructure and services, cybersecurity, data governance, digital services and government performance initiatives.
She joined the city in 2008 and has held several technology and cybersecurity leadership positions during her 18-year tenure, including information security analyst, deputy director of operations, chief information security officer and assistant director of security.
Her work has included establishing and maintaining the city’s cybersecurity program, implementing a disaster recovery system and developing an incident response and training team.
Harris has more than 30 years of information technology and leadership experience and was named Local IT Leader of the Year in 2023.
As CIO and Innovation and Performance director, Harris will oversee technology operations and initiatives aimed at using data and digital services to improve city government performance.
The appointments place permanent leaders over three significant areas of Pittsburgh government as O’Connor continues to fill out his administration.
Photo courtesy of the City of Pittsburgh
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