American Chemical Society announces Albert Horvath as Treasurer and CFO

WASHINGTON, Dec. 12, 2018 — The American Chemical Society (ACS) is pleased to announce the appointment of Albert (Al) Horvath as its incoming ACS Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer. He joins ACS from the Smithsonian Institution, where he served as Chief Operating Officer and Under Secretary for Finance and Administration. In that role, he was responsible for financial, business and administrative activities of the largest museum, research and educational complex in the world.   

Horvath will assume his ACS duties on Feb. 11, 2019, and will report to Thomas M. Connelly Jr., Ph.D., ACS Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer. He will become a member of the ACS Executive Leadership Team, as well as serve as an Officer of the Society.

“Al Horvath has a demonstrated record as a strong financial and organizational leader,” says Connelly. “In his role at the Smithsonian, Al has overseen budgets and assets of nearly $4 billion, managed major capital planning and construction projects and has a wide array of expertise and demonstrated accomplishments in internal controls, financial planning, endowments, procurement, and process and systems automation. In short, he is an excellent fit for ACS.”

“I am honored to have been appointed as Treasurer and CFO of the American Chemical Society,” says Horvath. “As I join the world’s largest scientific society, I look forward to working with my new ACS colleagues and its members in building on its past and current successes to make it a better and bigger ACS that is even more global in scope, reach and membership.”

At the Smithsonian, Horvath oversaw several Smithsonian offices with more than 2,200 employees, including facilities and maintenance, human resources, and security and financial operations. He joined the Smithsonian in 2011. He served as Acting Secretary of the Smithsonian from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2015.

Prior to joining the Smithsonian, Horvath spent more than two decades working in administration for some of the leading research universities in the country. He had been at Pennsylvania State University (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 for Finance and Business/Treasurer. He was responsible for financial, endowment, business and administrative activities at all 24 Penn State campuses with a $4.2 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 (Caltech) 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 (1981–1988) in his hometown of Pittsburgh before moving into higher education.

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

The American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society, is a not-for-profit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS is a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. ACS does not conduct research, but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.