A|E Works

JoAnn Rizzo, Laura Cherock, Michael Cherock, Safiya Hodari

AE Works is creating a world where everyone is relevant.  They do this by engaging with communities through the craft of architecture and engineering. Their product is buildings, spaces, and systems.  Designed by people for people, while working to improve the collective world.  They are architects, engineers, designers, and creators coming together to leave something better.

Emily Bayer

The Hacker Group

Emily Bayer is a marketing and communications professional, focused on B2C direct marketing at a full-scale agency. Outside of work, she can be found checking her Twitter feed, supporting grassroots initiatives, visiting new restaurants and attending sporting events at her alma mater, The University of Pittsburgh.

Will Bernstein

Allegheny Conference on Community Development

Will Bernstein is a Senior Policy Analyst at the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, where he works on issues of neighborhood development, municipal finance, transportation, workforce development and healthcare. Will is originally from Lincoln, Nebraska and has lived in Pittsburgh since 2005 when he attended the Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University

Christine Graziano

Pittsburgh Green Innovators

Christine has been dedicated to community building and the environment for nearly 20 years. Her education and practice in landscape architecture, natural resource management and planning serves her work with Pittsburgh Green Innovators well. At PGI, she directs a range of projects focused on education and green infrastructure to community solar and urban wood reuse and utilization.

Justine Kasznica

Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP

Justine is committed to Pittsburgh’s economic development and is actively involved in a variety of entrepreneurial and community outreach endeavors. She is a founding member of ReefBot, and she also served as counsel to BeatBots LLC, an international start-up robotics/toy company. She currently serves on the boards of the Thrill Mill, MIT Enterprise Forum and the Yale Club of Pittsburgh.

Regina Koetter

Marty’s Market

Regina Koetters is driven to unleash the unrealized potential of the country’s riverfront Rust Belt cities through regionally significant projects and investments. She chose Pittsburgh over every other city in the nation and in 2012, she launched Marty’s Market, a unique food market, café and coffeehouse dedicated to strengthening the southwestern PA food system.

Ashley Jones

NORESCO

Ashley’s passion and (by some crazy fortune) her job is to change people’s behavior – to help them adopt behaviors that will reduce their impact at work and at home. In her personal life you can find Ashley walking her dog, drinking, laughing, eating, and being with incredible people who she’s somehow tricked into thinking she’s interesting.

George A. Jones

Denali Sourcing Services

George holds an MBA from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, as well as a Mechanical Engineering degree from Vanderbilt University. He supports various entrepreneurial endeavors and has raised money for his own search fund aimed at acquiring an existing small business. When he’s not helping companies to save money in his current role at Denali Sourcing Services, George is either practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, golfing or dodging Pittsburgh traffic on his bike.

Paul Morack

Starbucks

Paul is the district manager for Starbucks, who is dedicated to making a difference in Pittsburgh communities. He has served on the board of directions for an environmental group in Beaver County and S.T.O.P. (Stand Tough on Pollution). Presently he sits on the board of the Pittsburgh branch of the Delta Foundation.

Kit Mueller

RustBuilt

Entrepreneur and co-founder of Rustbuilt, a community-based initiative with the sole purpose of shedding a light on the collective and valuable innovation and entrepreneurialism of the Rust Belt. Also an advisor of several organizations, including Emplified, Atmosferiq and Thinkerous.

Eric Meyer

Wigle Whiskey

Eric has always been interested in history, urban economic development and alcohol. He currently combines all of these interests at the whiskey distillery, which he co-owns with his family.

Adam Prevade

Dollar Bank

Adam is a passionate Pittsburgher, environmentalist, and Brookline resident dedicated to helping his neighborhood grow into a thriving community. He is a Loan Representative with Dollar Bank who works closely with homeowners and their contractors to provide quality financing for projects large and small. Outside of work, you can catch him telling jokes at open mics and comedy nights, walking his dog, Priscilla, and relentlessly tweeting and Instagramming about where and what he’s eating and drinking.

Lindsay Surmacz

Carnegie Science Center

A Pittsburgh native, Lindsay has a passion for finding creative solutions. She earned a degree in Creative Writing from Purdue University in 2011, and since then, uses her education to serve projects that exemplify the integration of art and science in education. Outside of work, her interests include music, theatre, astronomy, and arts & crafts.

Julia Thrower

EQT Corporation

Julia Thrower is a Business Analyst in Treasury at EQT Corporation. She brings nearly a decade of experience in financial modeling, quantitative analysis and information design working for companies including General Electric, Boeing, and Bombardier. Julia has a bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from MIT, and she is currently pursuing an MBA at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business.

Cole Wolfson

Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Cole Wolfson is the Director of Development at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Prior to his current job, he worked in business development at Innovation Works in Pittsburgh and Counterpart International in Washington, DC. Cole has an MBA from the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh and a BA in Anthropology from the University of Maryland.