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New Fay-Penn director brings outsider’s perspective

By Eric Morris emorris@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read
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Roberto M. Esquivel|Herald-Standard

Bob Shark (left), newly appointed executive director for Fay-Penn Economic Development Council, speaks with Fayette County Commissioner Al Ambrosini following Fay-Penn’s quarterly board meeting Thursday morning in Redstone Township.

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Shark

Fay-Penn Economic Development Council acknowledged the appointment of Bob Shark as the organization’s executive director at its quarterly board meeting Thursday at Shumar Industries in Redstone Township.

Shark begins his new position Monday, replacing former executive director Michael A. Jordan Jr., who resigned in February.

“It is an exciting opportunity to work in an executive director role in an economic development organization,” Shark said after Thursday’s meeting. “I looked at it as a great career move to come into Fayette County and assist the efforts that Fay-Penn has been putting forth here for years.”

The Windber, Somerset County, native spent the last 12 years serving in several capacities with nonprofit economic development organization Johnstown Area Regional Industries (JARI) in Johnstown, serving Cambria and Somerset counties.

Shark functioned as JARI’s technology director, Keystone Innovation Zone coordinator and vice president of procurement technical assistance. Shark counseled high-tech start-up businesses, facilitated technology transfer at universities, worked with high schools on workforce development and assisted in bringing both domestic and foreign companies into the Johnstown region.

“With Bob’s expertise and skills, he is a great choice to lead the Fay-Penn staff,” said William Blaney, Fay-Penn board chairman. “His successes in assisting clients with business development along with his project management abilities will be an asset to Fay-Penn’s main mission of maintaining and increasing employment in Fayette County.”

Shark’s recent work with JARI included advising more than 250 clients through government business capture worth over $1 billion, collaborating with Governor Corbett and other state officials to attract foreign investment into the Johnstown region’s aerospace and defense cluster and regularly interacting with U.S. House and Senate staff to increase business contracting activity in the state.

Prior to joining JARI, Shark worked in both the public and private sectors in management, technical and client relation roles. He holds a bachelor’s degree in natural science from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, a master’s degree in forensic chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh and master’s degree in business administration from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Shark said his science background led him to working in several environmental capacities, which in turn spawned his interest in approaching business development from a technical perspective.

This unique background has equipped him to better understand and assist businesses, he said.

“That science background has helped me to understand (businesses’) processes, as well as the problems they were having,” Shark said.

Shark said he will consult current Fay-Penn staff and board members to get a feel for how the organization operates before deciding how it should move forward from here. Shark feels his newcomer status comes with an advantage.

“One of the biggest things,” Shark said, “is having an outsider’s perspective — looking at some of the challenges that they’ve had in the past and blending (this perspective) with what’s going on now.”

Fay-Penn announced the hire of Shark on July 15.

“Bottom line is, I’m excited to be here to work with the people and help the local economy grow,” Shark said.

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