James Hassinger, Ph.D., has been named executive director of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, which provides planning and coordinating organization for transportation, economic and infrastructure development issues in the nine-county Pittsburgh region. He is expected to assume his position by Nov. 15. Currently, he is executive director of the Centralina Council of Governments, a regional planning organization based in Charlotte, N.C.
David Pollock, a founding member of law firm Pollock Begg Komar Glasser LLC, has been elected to the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.
Eric Anderson, a senior partner of law firm Meyer Darragh Buckler Bebenek & Eck PLLC, has been elected to the Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County. Membership is limited to 250 trial attorneys at a time.
Christopher King has been appointed chief financial officer at The Gustine Co., a commercial real estate company based on Pittsburgh’s South Side. He comes from SpaceWorks Inc., a Rockville, Md.-based e-commerce software company, where he was senior vice president and chief financial officer.
Katherine Brewer has joined the Pittsburgh office of law firm Eckert Seamans Cherin and Mellott LLC as a member practicing in its labor and employment law group. Nine other attorneys also joined as associates.
Linda Acheson Pool, an attorney with law firm Tucker Arensberg PC for 18 years, has been appointed its first chief operating officer.
Charles Rupprecht has been named executive vice president at BalTec Corp. in Canonsburg, which specializes in manufacturing assembly solutions. He will manage all sales and manufacturing operations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. He previously was director of sales and marketing.
Louis Lipps, a former wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers, has become director of marketing for mortgage broker company 1st Federated Mortgage Inc.
Joe Fidago has joined AGI Visual Concepts (formerly Ad Graphic Inc.) as sales director. He has been active in the region’s printing and advertising industries for more than 20 years.
Willie Hogue has been promoted to director of finance at ad agency Ten/United (formerly HMS Hallmark Ltd.). He previously was controller and has been with the firm for 12 years. Replacing him as controller is Scott Arthur, who worked at the firm for eight years before moving briefly to another marketing company. Jean Kennedy has joined as senior billing coordinator.
William Kelleher Jr., who chairs the bankruptcy and creditors’ rights group at law firm Cohen & Grigsby PC, has been recertified in business bankruptcy law by the American Board of Certification.
Calvin Levinson, a CPA with Horovitz, Rudoy & Roteman, has been named an honorary member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He is the retired senior vice president, treasurer and a director of the Levinson Steel Co. The certificate is given to CPAs who have been members for 50 years.
John Quain has been named a shareholder of law firm Klett Rooney Lieber & Schorling and chairman of its energy and utility law practice group. He is the immediate past chairman of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
Nancy Lynch has been named vice president of residential sales at Hanna Holdings Inc. She has been with Howard Hanna for 18 years and has served as manager of its Erie West office for 15 years.
Debra Miles, a bench jeweler with King’s Jewelry in New Castle for 19 years, has obtained her Certified Bench Jeweler Certification through the Jewelers of America Certification Program.
Joseph Franz has been named president of Information Systems Services Inc., a regional business information technology consulting firm. He succeeds Thomas O’Brien, who remains chief executive officer. He joined in 1994 as manager of sales and marketing and most recently served as senior partner.
George Semich, Ph.D., has been appointed director of International Honors at Robert Morris College. He has been an educator in the Moon Area School District for 31 years.
Lisa Binder has been appointed by Citizens Financial Group, which is purchasing 345 retail bank branches from Mellon Financial Corp., as group executive vice president of Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. She will head the retail banking and business banking divisions. She spent the last 10 years at Mellon Bank, serving most recently as manager of consumer financial services for Mellon Retail Financial Services.
Pat Fillipa, a CPA with Alpern, Rosenthal & Co., has been promoted from senior accountant to manager.LDA-L.D. Astorino Cos., an architectural and engineering firm, has promoted to principal Robert Beckjord, Richard Curry, Marilyn Gelzhiser, Yvette Kovats, Michael Linder and James Routh.
Charles Muchoney has been named general manager of Fire Fighter Sales and Service. Previously, he managed the company’s engineering department. The company offers fire protection services and prevention equipment.
Jim Yucas, president of Architect Atelier in the Strip District, has been awarded ”Special Recognition” in the 2001 Western Pennsylvania Golden Trowel Awards, presented by the International Masonry Institute. He was recognized for his architectural design of the New Gatehouse at Sherwood Oaks Retirement Community in Cranberry Township.
James DeGrazia has joined Great American Federal’s commercial lending department as assistant vice president and senior commercial lender. He previously spent more than 30 years in financial services with PNC Bank.
Ron Uriah, vice president of safety for Pitt Ohio Express, has won the ATA Safety Director of the Year Award, given by the ATA Safety and Loss Prevention Management Council. He has headed the transportation company’s safety department since 1988.
William MacKenzie has been appointed executive vice president at Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania, in charge of commercial banking for Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia. He previously served as senior vice president at Citizens Bank of Massachusetts. Citizens Bank also named Ralph Papa president of its Western Region. He remains president of Mellon Bank-Western Region until Citizens completes its acquisition of Mellon.
Emma Kapp has joined Discovery Entrepreneur Resources Inc. as director of business development. The firm provides business development, marketing and product management services to technology, manufacturing and engineering companies.
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation has elected its new board of directors. Members are Nick Calla, Ralph Castanza, James Cummings, Tony Detre, Mike Ferko, Duke Kingsly, Alan Lincoln, Kinda Loughner, Mary Ellen Meindl, Joe Natoli, Glen Perry, Tom Stevenson, Brian Tedeschi, Jane Weil and Amanda Wilson.Frank Kaiser, executive vice president for teammate services at GENCO Distribution System, and Jerry Fedele, senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of the West Penn Allegheny Health System, have joined the board of the Community College of Allegheny County Educational Foundation. The foundation exists to ensure the ongoing viability of the college.
Frederick Ricker, president of the Washington/Greene County Labor Council, was honored by Yanni Partners at its annual Labor Union Golf Outing as Labor Man of the Year. He has been a member of the Utility Workers of America, AFL-CIO, for 42 years and a member of the Washington/Greene County Labor Council for 40 years.
Henry Szymanski Jr., a CPA with accounting firm Schneider Downs, has been promoted to director of the auto services group.Steven Thompson, CPA, has joined the firm as a manager in the accounting, assurance and advisory services department.
Carl Eck, a senior partner and president of law firm Meyer Darragh Buckler Bebenek & Eck PLLC, has been elected president of the board of trustees of DePaul Institute, a state-approved nonprofit school for children with hearing, speech or language impairments. He has been on the board for many years, serving most recently as vice president.
Noel Sawyer has been appointed business development manager at marketing communications firm Quest Fore.
Fred Beorn has been named senior marketing adviser in the firm’s business development efforts. He most recently held executive positions with WeatherWise, a financial services risk management start-up, and various subsidiaries of Consolidated Natural Gas Co. (now Dominion Resources).
ReShelle Barrett, vice president at Bill Few Associates Inc., has earned Certified Financial Planner designation by the CFP Board of Standards. She has worked at the wealth management firm since 1991.
Mary Hackett has rejoined law firm Reed Smith as a partner in its litigation group. She originally joined the firm in 1987. For the past three years, she was chief counsel-litigation for PNC Financial Services Group Inc.
