 After graduating from Carnegie Mellon, Fitzgerald was unable to find a job in engineering in the region and so moved to Rockford, Illinois to take a job with NALCO Chemical Company as a water treatment chemical sales associate.In the fall of 1982, Fitzgerald returned to Pittsburgh and started a small business which provided water treatment equipment and services for industry in the western Pennsylvania region.Fitzgerald became the first County Council member for District 11 in January 2000 and held the seat through 2011.