Hon. Joseph Torsella

The Hon. Joseph M. Torsella is a successful civic leader who brings integrity, energy, and vision to the office of Pennsylvania State Treasurer. Under Joseph’s guidance, the Treasury manages $100 billion in public funds and has pre-audit authority over every check the Commonwealth issues. He also sits on nearly twenty government boards dealing with issues ranging from infrastructure to pensions to higher education.

From 2011 to 2014, Joe was the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations for Management and Reform. He was the architect and chief public spokesperson for the Obama Administration’s U.N. reform plans released in 2012 and was the United States government’s lead fiscal watchdog at the U.N. from its $36 billion in annual budgets to its $41 billion pension fund to its $2 billion headquarters renovation project. During his tenure, the U.S. reversed a decade-long trend of unbridled growth in U.N. budgets, brought new transparency to the U.N. through webcasting of meetings and publication of U.N. audits, and won milestone reforms toward ending sexual exploitation and abuse of civilian populations by U.N. peacekeepers and ending the unfair exclusion of Israel in U.N. bodies. Torsella’s plainspoken style earned him praise from U.N. watchers and from publications ranging from Le Monde to the New York Post, and he was recognized for his successful use of social media and public diplomacy to promote U.S. policy. As a U.N. outsider, Joe spoke frankly and colorfully about the need for the U.N. to end “business as usual” and frequently reminded his U.N. colleagues that the “obligation to our taxpayers” is to “do more with less.”

Prior to his service as an U.N. Ambassador, Joe served as Chairman of the Pennsylvania State Board of Education. In that role, Joe opened the board’s workings to the public – holding board meetings outside of Harrisburg for the first time in decades – and led the board to set forth an agenda around high school reform, teacher quality, healthy and safe schools, and college affordability. The Board’s hearings and proposals on making higher education more affordable won national notice and sparked legislative action in Pennsylvania.

From 1997 to 2003, Joe was the founding President and CEO of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, a non-profit museum and education center dedicated to explaining and celebrating American ideas and ideals. As the driving force behind the concept, construction, and opening of the $200 million facility on Independence Mall, Joe led the Constitution Center to international acclaim, financial stability, and an unparalleled institutional reputation. He returned to the Constitution Center for a second term as CEO from 2006 to 2009, persuading President George H. W. Bush to join the Center as its Chairman, and worked to establish the Center’s international program, which included democracy education work in Afghanistan. Joe was asked to lead the National Constitution Center by then-Mayor Rendell.

Between 1992 and 1993, Joe served as Deputy Mayor for Policy and Planning in Philadelphia under Rendell. He helped devise initiatives that helped resolve a $1.25 billion cumulative deficit. The New York Times hailed this nationally-acclaimed financial recovery as “the most stunning turnaround” in American municipal history. In addition to his career in government, Joe has served in a variety of high profile civic posts. In 2005, he co-chaired the Greater Philadelphia bid for the 2016 Olympic Games. A former successful small business owner, he serves on several corporate boards, and he served as a Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Public Policy at Drexel University.

Raised in Berwick, PA, Joe graduated from Wyoming Seminary high school. After graduating with honors from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Economics and History, Joe studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He lives with his wife, Carolyn P. Short, in Flourtown, Pennsylvania; they have four children.

Hon. Joseph Torsella acceptance speech as a  
Honorary Advocate of the Saint Pio Foundation