Meet Matt McDonald M‘21, an RMU alum who was a recipient of the 2024 Pittsburgh Business Times 30 under 30 award.

“It was an incredible recognition,” McDonald said, “I think, to me, it was a marker of being able to know that I am in a position and field that is innovative and cutting-edge. It was a recognition of the team and I have had to date and the direction that we are going, so that was exciting for me. Also, it was exciting to be alongside two other RMU alums on that list… I think it is a recognition of the quality education that RMU provides, but even beyond that, I think just the connections that students are able to make within the Pittsburgh community–and RMU is a well-known school here in Pittsburgh–so, I think there is always an alum around the city that you’re able to make a connection with… I think it attests to the fine education and connections at RMU.”

Matt grew up in the Washington County and Pittsburgh area and earned his MBA from Robert Morris University in 2021. He says he was motivated to return to school because he wanted to strengthen his business skills after beginning his public relations and communications career.

“I chose RMU because I liked that it was a campus that was close to Pittsburgh,” McDonald said, “RMU also had different options for pathways you could go down when it came to the MBA program, so I pursued the Business Analytics Certificate on top of the MBA… I ended up taking all my RMU classes online because the COVID pandemic hit as I was entering the program… so it was really nice to have the flexibility of online classes as well.”

Matt has a great relationship with the facility in the School of Business and at RMU and believes that the experience the professors were able to pass on to the students was critical to becoming Unstoppable.

“... It was nice to learn from faculty that had experience in the business field and that they were able to pass on their skills and knowledge to us, the students… I think during my time there, they were able to increase my financial acumen, data literacy, and similar types of things that have become important in the workplace.”

Matt believes that his career advancement opportunities at Duquesne Light, as well as his ability to navigate the professional world, are supported not only by his hard work and dedication but also by earning his MBA from RMU.

Matt has recently been promoted and now works for Duquesne Light as a Senior Transportation Electrification Associate. He began his career at Duquesne Light as a Corporate Communications intern back in 2017 and went on to intern an additional summer afterward.  He then started full-time in 2019, after finishing his undergraduate degree.

Matt began his journey at Duquesne Light on the External Communications team, which saw him working on numerous sides of the industry including media relations, social media, executive communications, and thought leadership, but this exposure led him to find his current position in the Transportation Electrification Branch of Duquesne Light.

“Through that experience, I got a lot of exposure to different areas of the business and one of those areas was Transportation Electrification, which was a new team to Duquesne Light back in 2018. I was doing a lot of work with them to help them communicate their programs and offerings to customers, so I eventually made the decision to switch over to that team, full-time, about three years ago… The Transportation Electrification team exists to help our customers with the transition to electric transportation as the electric utility, so my role is focused on two different areas… 

The first is consumer education surrounding electric transportation and the purpose of that is to ensure that our customers are able to make informed decisions about driving electric–if they’re a residential or a commercial customer, making informed decisions about electrifying their fleet vehicles or installing electric vehicle charging infrastructure–whether it’s for the public or their fleets… The other side of my role is what we call ‘Load Management,’ which is the more technical side of my work and it is really beginning to emerge here at Duquesne Light. Recognizing that as electrification increases, it is important that we manage the increased load on the power grid because if we are able to manage that load, then we are able to drive down costs for customers and make sure that we’re keeping the power grid safe and reliable, as our customers expect… so that has looked like designing and implementing different load management solutions, which are things like ‘time-of-use electricity’ rates and launching the ‘Manage Charging Program’ for electric vehicles, so different programs that allow us to manage that increased load.”

When people think of Duquesne Light, they don’t think about the side of their business that focuses on electrification in transportation. Matt’s exposure from his earlier internships with Duquesne Light showed him a field that was emerging as the use of electricity continues to increase.

“... The electric utility industry is going through a transformation as electrification increases and electricity becomes more and more important to our daily lives, so I recognized that that was an area of the business that was new and innovative and that was only going to continue to grow over time–that’s made it cool to jump on it from the ground floor and see it really grow over the years.”

Matt believes that those who are thinking about going back to school should think about RMU’s MBA program, namely because of the programs’ flexibility for those with busy lives.

“I’d recommend it because of the flexibility the program provides. As I mentioned earlier, many people who are pursuing their MBA are also working full-time, so it is important to have the flexibility to take courses online and be able to do your coursework outside of the normal working hours.”

Finally, Matt wanted to give soon-to-be and future RMU alumni a piece of advice as they continue onto the next stage of their lives.

When asked what advice he would give to upcoming graduates and alumni, McDonald said “Stay curious and stay open to new opportunities, I never expected to be in the role or position that I’m in and I never expected to work in this industry, so I think it’s important to stay open to the different opportunities that you have and let your career kind of take you.”