Electric Utility Exec Joins BC3 Board of Trustees

(Butler, PA) Robi Lombardo fosters relationships with leaders of every background in five western Pennsylvania counties, remains unflappable while officiating high school rivalry basketball games staged before impassioned standing-room-only crowds, advises nonprofit organizations as a volunteer and will help to guide Butler County Community College as its newest trustee, officials said.

Butler County Commissioners Leslie Osche, Kimberly Geyer and Kevin Boozel have appointed the Cranberry Township resident to complete the term of Nancy H. Staible, a retired physician’s assistant who served nearly eight years on BC3’s 16-member board before stepping down in June.

Staible’s term expires in June 2023.

As a regional external affairs consultant with FirstEnergy-West Penn Power / Penn Power – for whom he has worked 22 years – Lombardo is the liaison between the electric utility and 146 municipalities, 19 state or federal legislators, 18 school districts, three colleges or universities, county commissioners and all nonprofit organizations in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler and Clarion counties.

As a volunteer, Lombardo assists the Community Development Corp. of Butler County, the United Ways of Butler County and of Beaver County, the Butler County Chamber of Commerce, the Butler County Community Organizations Active in Disaster and the Beaver County Inclusion, Diversity and Awareness Council.

“I am super-impressed with Robi,” said BC3 President Dr. Nick Neupauer, who has served with Lombardo on boards for the Community Development Corp. of Butler County and for the Butler County Chamber of Commerce. “He is all about team. He is all about loyalty. I’m excited for his loyalty, forward-thinking and becoming part of our terrific board of trustees.”

“A natural problem-solver”

Lombardo, Osche said, “is the voice of calm in crisis and, as the face of FirstEnergy in the region, is always responsive to and supportive of community needs and opportunities. Now he brings vision to the BC3 board of trustees in helping to meet workforce needs of the future.”

Geyer called Lombardo “one of the most enthusiastic and community-oriented people you would ever want to know. The energy and positive can-do attitude that resonates from Robi is tenfold and contagious.”

“A natural problem-solver,” Boozel said. “He may think of things that the leadership team at BC3 hadn’t thought of. And I wouldn’t be surprised by that at all.”

“I like to be the guy in the board room who will take on the biggest challenge,” Lombardo said, “or throw some ideas out there that may not be what somebody else is typically thinking.”

BC3’s board of trustees is a policymaking body that provides direction and guidance to the college’s president and administration. The primary functions of the board include establishing basic policy, appointing the president and financial control of the institution.

“A truly great addition”

Like Geyer and Boozel, Joseph Kubit is a BC3 graduate. Kubit also serves as chair of BC3’s board of trustees and Geyer, as an ex-officio board member.

Kubit said Lombardo’s business acumen and management skills “are stellar.”

“These attributes, combined with his knowledge of and relationships in the communities that the college serves, make him a truly great addition to our board,” Kubit said.

The New Castle native, and former Lincoln High School head coach, has served as the head varsity girls basketball coach at Seneca Valley High, and as an assistant varsity boys basketball coach at Seneca Valley and at Lincoln High in Ellwood City. Lombardo, certified through the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, has officiated basketball games in western Pennsylvania for 10 years.

“It’s interesting to see the growth of BC3,” Lombardo said, “and how BC3 separates itself from other community colleges in the way that it has expanded into other counties. The brand name Butler County Community College, in being out in my networks and in my communities, is looked at as a multi-location institution of higher education.”

In addition to its main campus in Butler Township, BC3 has additional locations in Brockway, Jefferson County; Cranberry Township, Butler County; Ford City, Armstrong County; Hermitage, Mercer County; and New Castle, Lawrence County.

“When you are a good organization, especially an academic institution, not everybody can come to Butler for BC3,” Lombardo said. “But you can go to other counties. BC3 is able to reach out to students and give them the same quality education in multiple regions. It gives those students an opportunity they may not have been given if BC3 wasn’t in those locations.”

Lombardo, who holds a dual bachelor’s degree in marketing research and in management from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, will join on BC3’s board of trustees Geyer; Kubit, attorney, Montgomery, Crissman, Kubit LLP; Vicki Hinterberger, president and general manager of Butler Radio Network; Glenn T. Miller, funeral director, Thompson-Miller Funeral Home; Scott A. McDowell, chief financial officer, Blair Strip Steel; and Kenneth DeFurio, president and chief executive officer, Butler Health System.

He also joins William A. DiCuccio, M.D., retired medical director, Sunnyview Nursing Home; Gordon L. Marburger, dairy farmer; Brian K. McCafferty, owner, Kenmac Rentals and Sales; Gail A. Paserba, president, International Quality Consultants Inc.; and Jennifer R. Pullar, attorney, Pullar Legal.

BC3’s board also includes Dr. Bruce Russell, former BC3 interim vice president for academic affairs, and dean emeritus, Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania; Carmine A. Scotece, director of development and agency relationships, Alliance for Nonprofit Resources; Joseph Taylor, vice president and general manager, Armstrong Groups of Companies; and Nadine Tripodi, owner and CEO of Butler Technologies.