diff --git a/ompi/runtime/ompi_rte.c b/ompi/runtime/ompi_rte.c
index 68dfebde57f..7c554018b78 100644
--- a/ompi/runtime/ompi_rte.c
+++ b/ompi/runtime/ompi_rte.c
@@ -972,8 +972,6 @@ static bool check_file(const char *root, const char *path)
 
 int ompi_rte_finalize(void)
 {
-    /* shutdown pmix */
-    PMIx_Finalize(NULL, 0);
 
     /* cleanup the session directory we created */
     if (NULL != opal_process_info.job_session_dir) {
@@ -1033,6 +1031,9 @@ int ompi_rte_finalize(void)
 
     opal_finalize ();
 
+    /* shutdown pmix */
+    PMIx_Finalize(NULL, 0);
+
     return OMPI_SUCCESS;
 }