Elizabth Randol, Ph.D.
Published: March 11, 2010
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The best guides provide a ‘kick in the pants’
Elizabth Randol, Ph.D., director of the Women and Money Project at the Pa. Department of Treasury, never underestimates the power of transferable skill sets.
“There are few jobs that don’t benefit from someone who has played on multiple fields and I have always been fortunate to have jobs that feed multiple parts of my personality and tax all the skill sets that I possess,” she said.
A “restless person” who said she’s not happy unless she’s “on the verge of a meltdown,” she tries to steer clear of “death by analysis.” She said it’s “truly breathtaking to watch opportunities for action pass by as you languish in a quagmire of what-ifs. Mistakes will always be made and learned from, but you’ll never learn without making a decision.”
She moved to Scranton in 2001 to work as the director of the University of Scranton Women’s Center. She also taught philosophy, sociology and women’s studies. She subsequently left higher education to try her hand at politics — first as a campaign manager and then the first female chief of staff of Lackawanna County for the Washo and O’Brien administration.
In her current role, she builds partnership-based programs that address the economic security needs of women throughout the commonwealth, including resource-intensive seminars for women, the statewide launch of a financial education club model for women, and the recent creation of Treasury’s $10 million micro-lending program.
“I can honestly say I think I’ve gained 20 years of knowledge in the past 10 years of my professional life,” she said.
The most helpful people in her life are the “reality checks — people who give you a good kick in the pants when you most need it. My parents have always been my best reality checks and I sought such guidance from professors, colleagues, bosses, and friends,” she said.
She sits on a number of community boards — Women’s Resource Center, Nay Aug Conservancy, United Way, Scranton Tomrrow’s Main Street and Elm Street Committees — and most recently joining the statewide Planned Parenthood PAC. Her most recent obsession is Pages and Places, Scranton’s first book festival, which she helped found.
