Shaler Area School District hires business manager from Fox Chapel Area

The Shaler Area School District has a new business manager.

During a special voting meeting Wednesday, Sept. 10, the school board approved hiring Kimberly Pawlishak as director of finance and operations for a three-year term beginning on or about Dec. 10. Her salary was set at $140,000.

Pawlishak is coming to Shaler from the Fox Chapel Area School District, where she has been that district’s business manager since April 2017. She previously was the district’s interim business manager for eight months and an assistant business manager for four months.

Before Fox Chapel Area, she was a human resources and employee benefits administrator at Pine-Richland School District for about eight years, from June 2008 to July 2016.

Pawlishak said she her time at Fox Chapel Area has been rewarding. She said she is proud of the work she has done there and is committed to ensuring a smooth transition as she departs.

A resident of Shaler, she has three daughters, two at Shaler Area High School and one who will start kindergarten next year.

“As a Shaler Area resident with kids in the district — with family ties dating back generations — this opportunity is a perfect fit,” she said. “I understand the strong community pride and am highly motivated to contribute to the district and its students in this new role.”

Pawlishak will replace Jennifer Tressler. The board accepted her resignation Aug. 13, and it will be effective Sept. 24.

Tressler is leaving Shaler for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, where she will start Sept. 29 as assistant director of finance and comptroller.

Tressler, hired in December, started in February, replacing Sherri Jaffe, who retired after eight years. A certified public accountant, Tressler previously was chief financial officer and board treasurer for the Duquesne City School District and worked for the Quaker Valley School District as assistant director of finance.

To bridge the gap between when Tressler leaves and Pawlishak starts, the board approved hiring Doug McCausland, owner of McCausland Consulting Services, to provide interim director of finance and operations services beginning Sept. 23 and ending on an agreed upon date depending on the district’s needs.

He will be paid $150 per hour, Superintendent Bryan O’Black said.

McCausland previously was director of finance and operations for the Bethel Park School District from June 2020 to June 2024. Before Bethel Park, he was director of district operations for the Ambridge Area School District for nearly four years and a business administrator at Fox Chapel for 6½ years.