Pitt's Institute of Politics Bestows Coleman Award on Two Notable Pittsburghers

PITTSBURGH-Marc Cherna, director of the Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS), and James E. Rohr, chair and chief executive officer of The PNC Financial Services Group, have been named recipients of the University of Pittsburgh's Institute of Politics Coleman Award for Excellence in Community Service.

The Coleman Award recognizes and celebrates outstanding community leaders for their contributions to the Western Pennsylvania region.

Cherna came to Allegheny County to take charge of the county's child protective agency and was appointed director of the human services department 10 years ago. He oversees DHS's five offices: Aging; Behavioral Health; Children, Youth, and Families; Community Services; and Mental Retardation/Developmental Disabilities.

Under Cherna's direction, the DHS Forensics Program received a 2005 Innovations in American Government Award from the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

Cherna has received numerous honors including the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators' Betsey R. Rosenbaum Award for Excellence in Child Welfare Administration, the Urban League's Ronald H. Brown Civic Leadership Award, the League of Women Voters' Good Government Award, and the National Association of Social Workers' Social Work Citizen of the Year.

With more than a 30-year career in human services, beginning as a youth worker, Cherna served as the director of Planning, Allocations, and Agency Relations at the United Way of Union County, New Jersey, for four years and as assistant director of the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services for 13 years.

He received the BA degree from the State University of New York at Binghamton and the MSW degree from the Hunter College School of Social Work in New York City.

Rohr joined PNC's Management Development Program in 1972 and held marketing and management positions in several corporate banking areas, including lending, treasury management services, and merchant banking. In 1989, Rohr was elected a vice chair of PNC, named a director in 1990, elected president in 1992, and designated chief operating officer in 1998. He became PNC's CEO and chair in May 2000 and 2001, respectively.

Rohr is a director of Allegheny Technologies Incorporated, Equitable Resources, Inc., and RAND Board of Trustees. A past chair of the Pennsylvania Business Roundtable, Rohr is involved with the International Monetary Conference and The Financial Services Roundtable. He also is a director and former chair of BITS, the technology group for The Financial Services Roundtable.

In addition, Rohr serves as chair of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. He is a board member and former chair of the Greater Pittsburgh Council of the Boy Scouts of America, a director of Carnegie Mellon University, and a member of the Notre Dame's College of Business Advisory Council. He also is a former director of the United Way of Allegheny County, chairing the 1999 general fundraising campaign that raised $39.1 million.

Rohr earned the BA degree at the University of Notre Dame and the MBA at Ohio State University.

This is the third year for the Coleman Award for Excellence. In 2006, the inaugural Coleman Award was bestowed to its namesake, Morton "Moe" Coleman, founder of Pitt's Institute of Politics. Last year, Maxwell King, then Heinz Endowments president, received the honor.

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