MaryFrances McCourt
MaryFrances McCourt was appointed Carnegie Mellon University’s Interim Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in August 2026. As Interim CFO, she serves as a key strategic partner to university leadership, providing vision and direction for Carnegie Mellon’s financial priorities and stewardship of its capital resources.
McCourt oversees the university’s financial enterprise, providing direct leadership for the Finance Division while driving strategic oversight for financial leaders and partners across the university’s academic and administrative units to build the foundation for CMU’s intergenerational financial strength.
McCourt brings over three decades of both corporate and higher education financial experience to Carnegie Mellon. Throughout her distinguished career, she has established a reputation as a forward-looking, collaborative partner working to optimize financial resources to enable strategic priorities while delivering impact through core operations. McCourt is widely recognized for her ability to lead complex organizations, drive large-scale financial system transformations, and combine deep fiscal discipline with strategic capital planning. Her work is characterized by sophisticated financial modeling & analysis, and financial process modernization.
Prior to joining Carnegie Mellon, she served as the Chief Financial Officer for the University of Chicago, where she oversaw financial operations, treasury, human resources, compliance, and IT services for a $7.6 billion consolidated enterprise. Before that, McCourt spent six years at the University of Pennsylvania, ultimately serving as Senior Vice President for Finance and Treasurer, where she led the financial operations, treasury, research administration, financial aid, registration, bursar, and global support for Penn’s $12.6+ billion enterprise. She also served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Indiana University, successfully guiding the institution through the 2008 economic crisis to achieve its highest credit ratings of Aaa (Moody’s) and AAA (S&P).
McCourt also contributes her expertise through significant corporate and nonprofit board service, including her roles as a director and Chair of the Audit Committee for Amkor Technology and as a past board member of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO).
McCourt received a B.A. in economics, magna cum laude, from Duke University, an MBA from Case Western Reserve University, and completed coursework at Oxford University.