Allegheny Conference CEO Dennis Yablonsky will deliver the commencment address at Penn State New Kensington.
Dennis Yablonsky to speak to Class of 2015
10 a.m., Saturday, May 9, Athletics Center
UPPER BURRELL, Pa. -- Dennis Yablonsky, Allegheny Conference on Community Development CEO, will be the principle speaker at Penn State New Kensington’s spring commencement ceremony at 10 a.m., Saturday, May 9, in the Athletics Center.
A native of the Pittsburgh region, Yablonsky is an experienced veteran of managing and leading entrepreneurial organizations as a private business leader, a nonprofit economic development professional and a high-ranking appointed government official. He took over the leadership of the Allegheny Conference and its affiliates -- Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, the Pennsylvania Economy League of Southwestern Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance -- in 2009. The organization works to improve the economy and the quality of life in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Prior to joining the Allegheny Conference, Yablonsky served as secretary of Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development from 2003 to 2008. He played a lead role in the development and implementation of an economic stimulus program that featured more than $3 billion of investment in the commonwealth’s infrastructure, core communities and job-producing businesses. He also helped develop the governor’s $650 million energy fund designed to reduce dependence on foreign oil and grow the energy economy in Pennsylvania.
Yablonsky spent 24 years of his career working and leading two successful software companies: Cincom Systems in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Carnegie Group in Pittsburgh. At Cincom Systems, an independent software company based in Ohio, he progressed through the company’s organization to become chief operating officer and to help grow the company into a $125 million global organization. In 1987, he became chief executive officer of the Carnegie Group in Pittsburgh. By 1999, Yablonsky turned the unprofitable enterprise into a $32 million publicly traded software solutions company that was integrated into Logica North America. In 1999, he was the founding CEO of the Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse and, in 2001, Pittsburgh Life.
He serves on the boards of the Regional Industrial Development Corporation (RIDC), Strategic Investment Fund, Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse (PLSG), Vibrant Pittsburgh, Senator John Heinz History Center and Pittsburgh Public Theater.
Yablonsky earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Cincinnati. He and his wife, Veronica, live in the Pittsburgh area and are the parents of two grown daughters.
For more on commencement, visit http://www.nk.psu.edu/Academics/graduation.htm
Allegheny Conference
Founded in 1944, the Allegheny Conference on Community Development is one of the nation's leading economic and community development organizations, combining strong private sector leadership with commitment from public sector partners. The organization's strategic focus is creating a more competitive economic climate and marketing the Pittsburgh region for investment, job creation and talent. The three affiliates provide research and analysis, advocacy and marketing to realize the vision of the Conference leadership. For more information, visit http://www.alleghenyconference.org/