APRIL 2009

View the 'Events' Section

Pittsburgh Regional Alliance and Allegheny Conference Welcome New CEO Dennis Yablonsky

As DCED Secretary, he played a lead role in formulating and implementing over $3 billion in state investment in Pennsylvania’s infrastructure, core communities and job producing businesses. As a business executive, he has led companies from the ground up and grown them to greater profitability and success.  As an economic development professional, he’s led groundbreaking efforts to turn spin-off companies into established performers. Read the press release or a recent article.

More Economic Development News

Site Selection: Pittsburgh a “Top Ten Metro,” $4+ Billion in Capital Investment and 290 Project Wins in 2008
Despite a challenging economic climate, the Pittsburgh Region boasted $4+ billion in capital investment related to 290 corporate expansion, relocation and development projects, keeping pace with “Golden Year” 2007. Plus, Pittsburgh was recently honored as one of nation’s “Top Ten Metros” by Site Selection magazine. Read more

Top Microsoft Dynamics Partner Establishes Pittsburgh Office
SIS Software, LLC, a leading Microsoft Dynamics partner working in the construction, manufacturing, distribution and professional services industries, recently announced that it has expanded its national coverage with the opening of a branch office in Pittsburgh, where it will focus on serving existing Microsoft clients in the region as well as offering tailored software solutions to new customers. This is the fifth location for SIS, joining corporate headquarters in Atlanta and branch offices in Dallas, Houston and New York. Read more

$52M Latrobe Specialty Steel Expansion Complete, 100 New Jobs Projected
“Latrobe Specialty Steel Co.'s $52 million vacuum remelting expansion project, designed to allow the company to increase and expand its position in the global specialty metals market, has been completed … near the company's Latrobe headquarters. Nearly 100 jobs are projected to be created.” Read more

Dish Network to Add 100 McKeesport Jobs
“Dish Network's McKeesport Customer Service Center is staying put … ‘We've signed a new lease, and we're hiring’ … The company has about 500 employees working at a former U. S. Steel Corp. steel pipe mill site along the Monongahela River … It hopes to find candidates to fill about 100 open positions…” Read more

Jadco Expands in Butler County
“Jadco, a provider of engineered solutions for impact and abrasion problems in heavy industry, has expanded manufacturing facilities in Butler County and added about 25 jobs since June. ‘We have leased about 9,000 SF in the Halstead Building in downtown Zelienople as well as added 6,000 SF to our Harmony plant … Despite what's in the news, there are still plenty of opportunities, and these capital improvements are the key to meeting the needs of our worldwide customer base.’” Read more

New York Engineering Firm Locates in Pittsburgh
Erdman Anthony, the Rochester, NY firm specializing in infrastructure engineering and support services in private industry and government has signed a lease in the Twin Towers building on Steubenville Pike. The deal was handled by Massaro Properties LLC, the O’Hara Township-based full service real estate company.

The Wall Street Journal: Nuclear Energy and Jobs Boom – Especially Here
“… The industry is growing again, particularly in western Pennsylvania … a region long associated with nuclear businesses … Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse, which builds and maintains reactors and is now part of Japan's Toshiba Corp., added 1,400 workers last year to handle the influx of business, and says it will keep adding 650 a year for the next half a decade … Larry Foulke, director of nuclear programs at the University of Pittsburgh, sees it in his classrooms: Pitt created an introductory nuclear engineering class in 2006 and expected 25 to enroll. Seventy-five signed up. For next fall's class, 104 have already pre-enrolled.” Read more

UPMC/GE Partnership Omnyx Innovates Tissue Technology, Hiring 15
“North Side’s Omnyx LLC plans to hire 15 people this year in anticipation of its medical imaging platform that will digitize tissue samples. The last frontier of digital medical technology, digitized tissue software technology is expected to roll out in 2010. Omnyx, a 9-month-old partnership of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and GE Healthcare, currently employs 40 people in three offices including 25 in Pittsburgh.”  Read more

Florida Agency Odato Marketing Group Expands to Pittsburgh, Hiring 4-6
“Sarasota-based Odato Marketing Group is opening a new service office in Pittsburgh in celebration of its fifth anniversary. A Pittsburgh native, Rich Odato says the expansion offers ‘the best of both worlds,’ bringing him closer to family, friends and business associates while tapping into the technical talent the region has to offer. Odato plans to hire a team of four to six, in web design and public relations, and will open a temporary office in the North Hills while selecting a permanent space downtown.” Read more

Cardiorobotics’ Snake Robots are Changing Cardiac Surgery, Hiring
“Cardiorobotics Inc. is poised to raise $9 million in Series A funding that will catapult the firm – and its technology – into spaces no heart technology has gone before. Cardiorobotics’ breakthrough cardioARM is the first system that allows surgeons to perform heart surgery through a single port of entry, dramatically improving patient recovery time and decreasing risk over current heart procedures that require opening the chest and deflating the lungs … The company plans to hire between four and nine as they approach the commercialization phase in the next few months.” Read more

Demand Fuels Hiring for Serious Windows
“Having shipped their first product about two weeks ago from the former Kensington Windows facility, Serious Windows officials are hoping to ramp up production and hiring daily.” Read more

Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Completes Expansion
“Advanced Manufacturing Technologies (AMT), a leading manufacturer of printed circuit boards and assemblies, has just completed a major renovation and expansion of its headquarters and production facility in Export. AMT, which was founded in 1990 in Latrobe, has been at its current location in Westmoreland Industrial Park III since 1996.” Read more

Ground Breaks on New Airport Area Industrial Park, Boasts Foreign Trade Zone
Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, Allegheny County Airport Authority officials, Governor’s Action Team members, Trammell Crow Company executives and community leaders recently broke ground on the PIT International LogisticsCentre, a master planned industrial park at the intersection of Business Route 60 and International Drive. The development is part of Pittsburgh International Airport’s 440-acre North Field site, which includes Dick’s Sporting Goods new world headquarters. PIT International LogisticsCentre will be located within Foreign Trade Zone #33, which offers companies the opportunity to reduce or eliminate duties on imported goods. Read more

The New York Times: “The Greening of Pittsburgh”
“Though the southwestern Pennsylvania metropolitan area is only the 22nd largest in the United States in terms of population, the city employed energy-efficient construction well ahead of larger cities. In 2005, Pittsburgh claimed more LEED-certified square footage – meaning it had met Leadership in Energy and Design standards for energy-saving designs and building techniques – than anywhere else in the United States. As other cities have caught up, Pittsburgh now ranks seventh nationally in the number of buildings with such certification, according to the local Green Building Alliance.” Read more

Despite Recession, Pittsburgh in a Building Boom
"While bigger cities like Miami and Phoenix struggle with mass foreclosures and stalled housing projects, Pittsburgh is enjoying something of a renaissance … Pittsburgh's development is ‘really genuine’ and leads to long-term success … ‘The reality is that Pittsburgh is something of a model." Read more

CNN: “Could the Lessons of Pittsburgh Save Detroit?”
“Detroit, Michigan is teetering on the brink of collapse but it might be able to save itself by taking a good look at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania … And it’s not just that Pittsburgh is surviving, it’s thriving. Foreclosures are down, while in the rest of the country they’re up. Unemployment has crept up to 6.5 percent, but it’s still well below the national unemployment rate of 8.1 percent.” Read more

Pittsburgh a “Bright Spot Amid the Economic Gloom”
“The story is rote by now: Pittsburgh transitioned … toward more recession-resistant fields such as health care and education, while still dabbling in energy, finance and bio-technology … [The region’s recently been highlighted in] Time magazine: Pittsburgh is ‘One Economic Bright Spot on Main Street;’ BusinessWeek: Pittsburgh is one of ‘The Best Cities for Riding Out a Recession;’ [and] The New York Times: ‘For Pittsburgh, There's Life After Steel.’’ Read more

HGTV: Pittsburgh Builds on Steel Legacy, Innovation Rules
“Long before southwestern Pennsylvania was home to the rigid, dying steel industry, it was a birthplace for ideas. Not only steel, but oil energy, electricity, aluminum manufacturing and air brakes all have their origins closely tied to the region … The steel industry … left behind the foundation for Pittsburgh's reinvention. That new economy started with health and higher education, two sectors built decades ago because of the success of steel. The next hope for Pittsburgh is its tech sector, rich with startup spinoffs from the local universities, often using the same land, the same workspaces and the same infrastructure that steel left behind." Read more

University of Pittsburgh Among First to Provide Innovative Anti-Terrorism Training
“University of Pittsburgh is the first public university in the country to train graduate student using cutting-edge cyber-security software that helps to track and connect the intricate network of criminals and terrorists.” Read more

Breakthrough Colon Cancer Vaccine Developed at University of Pittsburgh
"University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers have begun testing a groundbreaking vaccine that may help prevent colon cancer in people at high risk for the disease … [marking] the first vaccine that targets a specific protein and harnesses the body’s own defenses as a means of cancer prevention." Read More

Carnegie Mellon Computer Science Students Innovate a Global Product
“When OutSystem, the international software firm that offers IT departments unified solutions for web-based business applications, announced enhancements to its widely used development toolkit, the Agile Platform, last week, it credited many of the improvements to students in Carnegie Mellon University's Masters Program in Human-Computer Interaction.” Read more

Two Pittsburgh Law Firms in Nation’s Top 20
“Pittsburgh’s two largest law firms are among the nation’s Top 30 as ranked by global revenue, according to the industry publication The Lawyer. In fact, Reed Smith LLP and K&L Gates LLP cracked the top 20 of the annual list, and both posted impressive gains over the prior year. Reed Smith placed 16th with 2008 revenue of $980 million, up 10 percent from 2007. K&L Gates was 19th, with revenue of $959 million, up 27 percent, the biggest percentage increase among the 30 largest firms.” Read more

Mine Mapping Institute at IUP Receives $95,000 in Federal Funding
Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s "Mine Mapping" Institute for Mine Mapping, Archival Procedures and Safety has received $95,000 in federal funding to continue its work of archiving, digitally recording and geographically referencing historical coal mine maps. Read more

CB Richard Ellis Pittsburgh Broker Among Nation’s Top Sales Performers
“In January, Moody’s ranked Pittsburgh as the nation’s strongest commercial market, and now, a local broker is garnering top industry accolades. Jeremy Kronman, executive vice president with CB Richard Ellis Pittsburgh – the region’s largest commercial real estate services firm – has been ranked among the country’s top 100 sales performers and has received the industry’s prestigious Colbert Coldwell Award.” Read more

Local Firm Elliance Wins National ‘Best of Class’ Award
The Interactive Media Awards (IMA) has recognized Elliance® for its design of the Phipps Conservancy Web site, http://phipps.conservatory.org. Elliance’s experience with nonprofit web design enabled them to structure the architecture and design of the site to balance the core offe r— a visit to a world-class conservancy — and an emerging role for Phipps as a thought leader around sustainable gardening and living. Read more

Check Out the Pittsburgh Region on Facebook and Twitter
Stay up to date on what’s happening in – and what’s unique about – the Pittsburgh region by becoming a “fan” on Facebook. It’s a great way to stay connected to regional resources and information. Check us out on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

EVENTS

April 21, 2009 – TradeRoots PA Rally, Harrisburg (PDF file)
This rally is the kick-off event for TradeRoots PA, a private sector partnership to promote the importance of international business to the Pennsylvania economy led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the PA Chamber of Business and Industry, the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, and other key chambers and business groups. Contact Roger Cranville rcranville@alleghenyconference.org of the PRA at 412.392.4555 ext. 1030.

April 22, 2009 – Breakfast Briefing Featuring J. Christopher Donahue, President and Chief Executive Officer, Federated Investors, Inc.
Federated Investors, Inc. has grown to become one of the nation's largest investment managers with more than $407 billion in assets under management. Hear Mr. Donahue discuss the strategies that Federated has implemented to remain competitive and successful in this struggling economy. Hear from one of Pittsburgh’s most prominent financial leaders at the Sheraton Station Square from 7-9:15 a.m.

April 24, 2009 – Pathfinders: 2009 Youth Workforce Development Conference & Career Fair – “Bridging the Gap: Pathways to 21st Century Careers”
This 4th annual event brings together diverse members of the community to assure a strong and prepared future workforce for Western Pennsylvania.  Attendees include youth workforce development professionals, employers from the corporate and business communities, civic leaders, educators, community-based professionals and youths. Keynote Speaker:  Ken Gray, Ed.D., renowned author of Other Ways to Win and Getting Real: Helping Teens Find Their Future and Professor Emeritus in Workforce Education and Development, Pennsylvania State University. At the Omni William Penn Hotel in Downtown Pittsburgh from 7:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

June 4, 2009 – 11th Annual Entrepreneurs Growth Conference
Join us for this extraordinary one-day event that that has helped thousands of both large and small businesses, seize opportunities, overcome challenges, conquer new markets and maximize profitability. Achieve the full potential of your business — whether you're just starting out or striving for that next million-dollar-level with information on the latest business trends and growth-building strategies, inspirational keynote addresses from nationally renowned entrepreneurs and one of largest gatherings of entrepreneurial leaders and resources in Pennsylvania.'