Why We Moved to Pittsburgh: Stefani Pashman and Jeremy Feinstein

She was at the Office of Management and Budget during the Clinton and Bush administrations, overseeing HIV/AIDS programs.  He was at the Department of Justice, a member of the trial team on the Microsoft antitrust case.  Why would this Beltway power couple come to Pittsburgh?

"Everyone's a Beltway power couple!" laughs Stefani Pashman, CEO of the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board, a nonprofit tasked with stimulating the region's employment.  "In D.C., they're all from big schools, have big jobs.  Here in Pittsburgh, we can be part of a community, make connections, play leadership roles on boards."

"D.C. is great, but it's hard to feel a part of things," notes Jeremy Feinstein, a partner at Reed Smith.  "This community is much more absorbent.  It wants to bring people in, integrate them."

"It's so much easier to feel closer to the pulse," says Pashman.  "In D.C., people are moving all the time, so much happens..."

"...people have the biggest impact in Pittsburgh," continues Feinstein, seamlessly finishing his wife's thought.  "By and large, people have roots here, they know people.  In D.C., they're not from there, they come and go."

Feinstein knows a thing or two about coming and going.  While his family has deep roots in Squirrel Hill (mom Karen has run the Jewish Health Care Foundation for the past twenty years and is politically active, a force in the community), he spent his early years in Boston and moved to Pittsburgh at the age of 13.  He went from Shadyside Academy to Yale and then Michigan, where he met his future wife, a fellow student. 

Pashman, a Philadelphia-area native full of life, easily wowed the young lawyer when they reconnected in Chicago and they wound up with D.C. careers before moving their way across the Keystone State.  Pashman's post in the Rendell administration as a Special Assistant offered yet another view into the corridors of power.

"While you get a bird's eye view on the federal level, the state level is even closer since you get to see how policy is made," she says.  "In Pittsburgh, it's more.  I have an impact.

At the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board (TRWIB), we're at the intersection of corporations, education, government, labor and non-profits.  There's an interplay in job creation and we're exposed to all these groups and get to understand the people in them.  We research and formulate policy and then operate programs that retrain workers, address workforce challenges and work in the schools on an internship program for at-risk youth."

Pashman is certainly well cast in her role.  The Vibrant dynamo knows what needs to be done and is eager to get there.  "While most of our jobs are in the service sector, we still have a vibrant manufacturing sector, a legacy from grandpa's days in steel.  Two-thirds of the jobs in Pittsburgh don't require a college degree.  It's good for the local economy to keep the manufacturing sector.  I'm committed to this community and to effecting change for people.  I live here and I'm going to die here."

Feinstein began his stint with Reed Smith in Harrisburg, moving to the Pittsburgh headquarters of the global law firm while his wife was still with the Rendell administration.  He is a litigator on behalf of corporations including Highmark, USX and BNY Mellon.  Pro bono work has seen him advocate for the "lost boys" of Sudan and he also donates a "big chunk of time" to the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, on whose board he serves.

The couple made the decision to live in Pittsburgh full time in 2005.

"Getting Stefani to agree to the move was no small thing," chuckles Feinstein.  "I told her she could make all the other choices, things like schools and synagogue.  I'd defer to her, but I'd have an opinion."

"He drove me all around town," smiles Pashman.  "Fox Chapel, Mt. Lebanon, a lot of Squirrel Hill.  I'm a city person – in D.C., I'd always wanted to live in Cleveland Park!  Squirrel Hill is unique in that it's socio-economically diverse and close to downtown plus there are parks and a library.  I didn't get this in Harrisburg and longed for urban living."

The couple's three children attend Community Day in Squirrel Hill and Feinstein has easily moved into the Pittsburgh sports scene, running marathons across the region and playing squash in the City League.  The entire family skis at Seven Springs and Wisp during the winter.

"Jeremy is always saying 'these are my peeps!' and now I know what he means," says Pashman.  "This is his whole world."

"Seeing things growing and improving here has been great," says Feinstein, acknowledging his wife's characterization of him as cheerleader for the region. "When I moved here from Boston in 1984, the region was at its lowest point.  Steel was terrible, the Steelers were lame and people were leaving.  It felt as if our best days were behind us.  Twenty-some years later, the whole thing feels different.  It's not perfect but the atmosphere is one of 'things are getting better.'  Pittsburgh will do better in the coming decades."

"There's something cool about becoming a Pittsburgher," continues Pashman.  "Years ago, Jeremy's mother said to me 'you will make a great Pittsburgher' and years later, it means so much more.  I get what it means to be part of a community, have these work relationships, understand the heritage of the city, love the Steelers."

"That's the thing about being a Pittsburgher," says Feinstein, attuned to his wife's mindset.  "In D.C., it's not like the city cares back.  Washington's successes or failures have nothing to do with you.  In Pittsburgh, the city cares.  If you move here, bring your talents, people are excited.  Your presence matters."

New Girl In Town Elaine Labalme says it all begins downtown.

Photographs copyright Brian Cohen