Five Nominated to Serve on Pitt's Board of Trustees

PITTSBURGH—The Nominating Committee of the University of Pittsburgh Board of Trustees today named five candidates for membership on the board. The full board will act on the nominations at its June 25 meeting.

Nominated to serve on the board as trustees are Eva Tansky Blum of Pittsburgh, senior vice president and director of community development and fair lending for PNC Bank, a member of The PNC Financial Services Group; Melissa A. Hart of Bradford Woods, Pa., a member of the U.S. House of Representatives; Robert A. Paul of Pittsburgh, chair, chief executive officer, and director of Ampco-Pittsburgh Corporation; and Robert P. Randall of Wexford, Pa., president and chief executive officer of the Three Rivers Aluminum Company (TRACO). D. Michael Fisher of Pittsburgh, judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, is nominated to serve as an emeritus trustee.

The Nominating Committee also will recommend that Pitt's board endorse an amendment to its by-laws that allows the chief executive of Allegheny County, currently Dan Onorato, to serve as an ex-officio nonvoting member of the board.

In addition, L.B. Foster Company Board Chair Lee B. Foster II and Pennsylvania House of Representatives member Dan B. Frankel have been named Commonwealth trustees. Foster, of Fox Chapel, Pa., was appointed by John M. Perzel, Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and Frankel, of Pittsburgh, was appointed by Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell.

Biographical information on the nominees and appointees follow.

Eva Tansky Blum, who also serves as chair of the PNC Foundation, joined PNC's legal division in 1977, became vice president in 1986, and was elected senior vice president and chief compliance counsel in 1990. She has served as senior vice president and deputy general counsel/director of regulatory affairs and has served as senior vice president and director of comprehensive risk management and compliance at PNC. She was named to her current position in July 2002. In 1999, she was named one of Pennsylvania's Best 50 Women in Business by former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge.

Blum earned the Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Pittsburgh and the J.D. degree at Pitt's School of Law. At Pitt, Blum is the immediate past president of the Alumni Association and is a member of the Institutional Advancement Committee of the Board of Trustees and the School of Law Board of Visitors.

D. Michael Fisher was nominated by President George W. Bush to serve on the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2003. Prior to his appointment, he served as attorney general of Pennsylvania for six years and before that as a member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly for 22 years—six in the House of Representatives and 16 in the Senate. Fisher earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in government at Georgetown University and the J.D. degree at the Georgetown University Law Center.

Fisher served as a Pitt trustee from 1984 to 1998 and currently serves on the Pitt School of Law Board of Visitors. At Pitt, he also has served on the Boards of Visitors for the School of Arts and Science (A&S), the School of Education, and the School of Medicine.

Lee B. Foster II, who was named chair of L.B. Foster in May 1998, has served that company in various capacities since 1973, among them chief executive officer, president, and director. He earned two Bachelor of Arts degrees at Pitt's College of Arts and Sciences, one in English literature and the other in anthropology.

Foster serves as director and executive vice president of Foster Holdings and director of Fostin Capital Corporation, Wabtec Corporation, Capital Guidance S.A., and Dakota, Minnesota, and Eastern Railroad. He serves as a trustee of the Carnegie Institute and sits on boards of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, and Pitt's Center for Latin American Studies, among numerous other nonprofit organizations. With members of his family, Foster established in his father's name the Jay. L. Foster Memorial Lecture and Resource Fund in Alzheimer's Disease in Pitt's Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH). He is also a trustee of the Adrienne and Milton Porter Charitable Foundation, which funds the Porter Prize in GSPH; the prize was established in 1983 by Foster's aunt and late uncle, Adrienne and Milton Porter.

Dan B. Frankel was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1998 and serves on the Appropriations, Insurance, Judiciary, and Democratic Party committees. He has been vice president of Hilb, Rogal, and Hamilton Co. and vice president of Frankel Co., a regional insurance brokerage firm. Frankel earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in political science at Kenyon College.

Frankel serves on the board of directors of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, as secretary of the Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau, and as treasurer of the Urban Redevelopment Authority of the City of Pittsburgh.

Melissa A. Hart is serving her second term in the U.S. House of Representatives, where she serves on the Financial Services, Judiciary, and Science committees, and is vice chair of the Subcommittee on the Constitution. In 1990, she was the first Republican woman elected to a full term in the Pennsylvania Senate, where she served for 10 years. She was a Pitt trustee from 1998 to 2003.

Hart earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in business and German at Washington and Jefferson College and the J.D. degree at Pitt's School of Law. She has served as a board member of the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale and the North Pittsburgh Civic Symphony.

Dan Onorato served as the Allegheny County Controller from 2000 to 2004 before being elected County Chief Executive in 2003. He served two terms as a member of Pittsburgh City Council from 1992 to 2000. Onorato has served as a board member of the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, National Aviary, Pittsburgh Children's Museum, and Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. He earned the Bachelor of Science degree in accounting at the Pennsylvania State University and earned the J.D. degree at Pitt's School of Law.

Robert A. Paul began his career at Ampco-Pittsburgh in 1964, when the company was known as Screw and Bolt Corporation of America. Paul has held the positions of vice president, treasurer, and executive vice president at the company. He serves as a community representative on the Investment Committee of Pitt's Board of Trustees and as a University director and member of the Executive Committee of the UPMC Board of Directors. He earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in economics at Cornell University and the Master of Business Administration and J.D. degrees at Harvard University. He was a member for many years of the Cornell University Board of Trustees and was chair of its Investment Committee.

Robert P. Randall began his career with TRACO in 1967 and became its president and chief executive officer in 1983. Located in Cranberry Township, Pa., TRACO has replaced all of the windows in the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty in New York City. Randall earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in political science at Pitt's College of Arts and Sciences.

Randall serves as president of The Charity Randall Foundation, which supported the renovation of the theater in Pitt's Stephen Foster Memorial, now known as the Charity Randall Theatre. He is also a director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Civic Light Opera Association of Greater Pittsburgh. On May 5, 2003, the Pitt Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business' Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence and the Family Enterprise Center presented TRACO with a Western Pennsylvania Family Business of the Year award.

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