Eighth Annual Women & Transformational Leadership Symposium
March 22nd, 2024
UPMC Events Center at Robert Morris University
10:00 am - 3:30 pm EST
Please RSVP by March 8th!
6001 University Blvd, Moon Twp, PA 15108 (please enter through UPMC Gate)
Parking Directions
This event is free and open to the public.
RSVP by March 8th @ 12:00pm EST!
Leaders in our Backyard: Stories from the Field
The Women’s Leadership and Mentorship Program is excited to announce that this year’s Women’s
Transformational Leadership Symposium will focus on local leaders. Both our keynote speaker and our
professional panel will share insights from their own experiences that include: why they chose their
field, what leadership roles they’ve held or currently hold, supports or barriers that helped or hindered
their leadership path, and how they found mentors to help guide them.
2024 Keynote Speaker
Cissy Rebich | Broadway Actor, Attorney, and Journalist
Cissy Rebich has worked as an actor, attorney and journalist. Born and raised in the Pittsburgh area, Cissy was a Duquesne Tamburitzan, and graduated from the music school with a degree in voice. Upon completion of her degree, she moved to New York and performed in many Broadway productions including: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Rags, Mame (with Angela Lansbury), Evita, and the original
production of Les Miserables (with Colm Wilkinson). She was critically acclaimed as Agnes Gooch in Mame with Sally Kellerman at the Burt Reynolds’ Theatre in Jupiter, FL, and appeared in concert at Carnegie Hall with the original cast of Broadway’s Chess. She also appeared in several films including Ragtime, Heartburn, and Woody Allen’s Radio Days.
While performing on Broadway in Les Miserables, she obtained her juris doctor from Seton Hall University Law School. She worked for five years as an assistant prosecutor in Morris County, New Jersey, handling cases in commercial litigation and insurance defense in the municipal, state, and federal court systems, and taught Legal Research & Writing to first year law students at Seton Hall. In 2008, she was appointed as a
Deputy Attorney General and assigned to the New Jersey Family Division in Essex County. Cissy appeared frequently as a guest commentator on Court TV and MSNBC, where she enjoyed describing the play-by-play actions of the courtroom for television audiences.
In addition to her Bachelor’s degree and juris doctor, she obtained a Master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. She completed an internship at The Nation magazine, and freelanced as a reporter for the City Desk of The New York Post, covering legal issues and local news.
Upon the unexpected death of her brother, Cissy returned to Pittsburgh and found employment with ReedSmith LLP, a global law firm, where she coordinated continuing legal education until retirement from the practice of law in 2023. She has since again enjoyed working as an actor, performing as Baruška in a performance of Once at Pittsburgh Musical Theatre on the West End and she will appear in a production of The Music man with Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera in July 2024. She is currently working on a solo cabaret act to be performed in the greater Pittsburgh area.
Schedule of Events
- 10:00am - 10:30am - Registration
- 10:30am - 11:30am – Opening Remarks and Keynote Speaker
- 11:30am - 12:30pm - Brunch
- 12:45pm - 1:45pm - Student Speaker Series (Motivation and Inspiration: How to Change the World!)
- 2:00pm - 3:15pm – Professional Panel Discussion
- 3:15pm - 3:30pm - Closing Remarks