2026 40 Under 40 Honoree: Donminika Brown (38)
“I hope to continue helping build a Pittsburgh that is connected, accessible, and full of opportunity.”
PHOTO BY LAURA PETRILLA
Donminika Brown
Chief Financial Officer, Pittsburgh Regional Transit
Donminika Brown’s route to the C-suite began in a salon. Wanting to strengthen her business skills, Brown enrolled at CCAC and later earned a bachelor’s degree at Pitt. Her grandmother suggested accounting as a practical career; a professor later steered her toward Pitt’s Katz Graduate School of Business and a scholarship. A salon client connected her with a small accounting firm.
Today, Brown is chief financial officer of Pittsburgh Regional Transit. That job recently put her at the center of PRT’s funding crisis.
Facing major service cuts and fare increases, Brown assembled a team that secured a waiver allowing capital funds to cover operations, postponing the proposed cuts for two years while protecting active projects and critical safety priorities.
“Every number represents a life,” Brown says — someone’s livelihood, health care or a child’s education. Hearing riders at public board meetings puts “faces, names and situations to numbers.”
Brown credits her own rise to people who opened doors for her, and she makes a point of doing the same for others. A sign in her office sums it up: “We lift as we climb.”
