Pittsburgh, PA—The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission’s (SPC) Board of Directors has named Rich Fitzgerald as the organization’s new Executive Director. Fitzgerald will officially assume this role on Jan. 2, 2024 once his tenure as Allegheny County Executive concludes. As the federally certified metropolitan planning organization (MPO) and local development district (LDD) serving 10 counties in Southwestern Pennsylvania, SPC plans for the continued growth of the region.

“Thank you to the SPC and its board for this opportunity and thank you to Vince for his work to energize and elevate the organization during his tenure,” said Rich Fitzgerald, SPC’s incoming Executive Director. “While I’ve always had a regional focus, I look forward to putting my skills and relationships to work for all 10 of our counties. Together, we will continue to concentrate on infrastructure, communication, economic development, workforce and quality of life issues for our region.”

As the incoming executive director, Fitzgerald will lead a team of 50 staff members. The organization has seven departments which include: economic and workforce development; transportation planning; strategic initiatives and policy; information and data; finance; human resources; and communications and public relations. It acts as a cooperative forum for collaboration, planning, and decision-making. The organization’s staff members develop public investment plans and programs, and ensure that federal and state transportation requirements are being met.

“The Board is grateful to Vincent Valdes for positioning SPC to be the region’s leading agent of support to local governments for transportation, broadband, and economic development,” said Leslie Osche, SPC’s Board Chair and Butler County Commissioner. “He laid the groundwork for Mr. Fitzgerald to carry the Commission and our region to the next level. We are excited about the future of our region under Rich’s leadership.”

Fitzgerald will bring many years of executive leadership experience to SPC. Prior to serving as Allegheny County’s Chief Executive, Fitzgerald was a County Council member for 11 years, including being elected four times as Council President. He has served as Allegheny County Executive since 2012. During his tenure as County Executive, Fitzgerald was focused on growing and diversifying the economy, retaining and attracting younger workers, investing in transportation and infrastructure, and improving the county’s public services.

Before entering public service, Fitzgerald spent many years in the private sector. He founded and ran his own business, a water treatment services and equipment company. He grew up in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield-Garfield neighborhood before attending Carnegie Mellon University. There, he earned a bachelor of science degree in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in business. He and his wife live in Squirrel Hill and are the proud parents of eight adult children.

“The Board had several objectives when we launched the search process: to attract a candidate that intrinsically understood this region’s unique needs and characteristics, had a track record of leadership and growth cultivation, and would build upon the current strength, talent, and consistency of the SPC staff,” said Osche. “We interviewed a diverse group of candidates from the region and beyond. Rich Fitzgerald certainly exceeded the Board’s robust qualifications and competencies.”

The Board of Directors will officially welcome Rich Fitzgerald as SPC’s new Executive Director at the organization’s next Commission meetings on Dec.11. The organization’s current Executive Director, Vincent Valdes, will retire at the end of this year.

Media Inquiries: Caitlin O’Connor
Cell: 412-719-5366
coconnor@spcregion.org

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About Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission:
The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC) is the federally designated metropolitan planning organization (MPO) and local development district (LDD) serving Southwestern Pennsylvania. The organization’s coverage area includes Allegheny including the City of Pittsburgh, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland counties. It is responsible for planning and prioritizing the use of state and federal transportation funding and establishing economic development priorities for the region.

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From May 15-21, Individuals that Track their Commute Can Enter to Win Big Prizes.

Today, the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC), the region’s metropolitan planning organization, kicked off a one-week long Commuter Challenge—an effort to encourage local residents to take sustainable modes of transportation like carpooling, vanpooling, and biking.

The Commuter Challenge is an initiative of Commute Info, a ride sharing program that offers multiple solutions for individuals or businesses looking to travel in a more green, sustainable way.

“This fun, friendly competition is a way that everyone can take action,” said Anthony Hickton, Manager of the Transportation Demand Management program at Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission. “Very often, people want to help make our environment and transportation methods cleaner and more sustainable, but they don’t know how to do it on an individual level. Our Commuter Challenge incentives people to try taking public transit, vanpooling, carpooling, biking, or walking when getting to and from places.”

Individuals can participate in the challenge by tracking their eco-friendly commutes online at www.commuteinfo.org. Once individuals enter their commutes, they will be automatically entered into a drawing to win one of several prizes, including gift certificates ranging in value from $25 to $400 to places like Giant Eagle, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and the Carnegie Science Center. The grand prize is a $400 gift certificate to a local bike shop.

Each trip that individuals enter during this challenge week will count as one entry. Winner(s) will be notified via the email(s) associated with their CommuteInfo account and must respond within five business days to claim their prize. If winners do not reply within the required timeframe another winner will be selected.

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The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC) hosted the first of its kind, Regional Broadband & Connectivity Summit, bringing together regional stakeholders, industry and non-profit experts, and local, state and federal governments and agencies to address equitable and affordable access to high-speed broadband internet in southwestern Pennsylvania.

“The goal of this summit was to identify the region’s state of broadband access and affordability, discuss challenges and opportunities at the regional, state and federal level, and understand how local government, providers, and community institutions will need to work together to achieve digital equity and maximize broadband investments here in southwestern Pennsylvania,” said Butler County Commissioner Leslie Osche, who also chairs SPC.

In 2019, SPC identified broadband connectivity as a high priority for southwestern Pennsylvania’s long-range plan. To that end, SPC worked with a coalition of stakeholders to develop the Regional Connectivity Roadmap, which identifies and guides the deployment of high-speed connectivity programs and projects throughout the region. “It only makes sense that SPC, the agency that coordinates transportation & economic development investments, should coordinate broadband and accessibility investments also,” Osche said.

The summit included five sessions, during which panelists addressed the State of the Region, Legislative updates, federal and state funding programs, Digital Equity and Affordability, and Pennsylvania’s Statewide Implementation Plan. The State of the Region session began with an update from, Andy Waple, Deputy Executive Director for Programs for SPC, who told the audience “Within SPC, we have created a connectivity resource center to provide on-call technical services to our constituents and our members. Implementation, technical assistance, public engagement, media outreach: we are poised and ready to assist our members and constituents with whatever their broadband planning needs may be, and to help fund those activities over the coming years. We see connectivity as a form of transportation and that’s been so evident since the pandemic. An increasing amount of regional planning organizations around the country are taking similar approaches.” Commissioner Mike Belding of Greene County spoke about his county’s broadband development efforts, saying “this is a big problem with local solutions. As we say in Greene County, we’re rural but reachable.”

During the Internet for All Funding Panel, an attendee asked the panel if smaller boroughs that neighbor rural communities would be encouraged to partner together and take a regional approach to broadband development. Brandon Carson, Executive Director of PA DCED, PA Broadband Development Authority (PBDA), responded “Absolutely! We have $279 million available through the American Rescue Plan dollars allocated to the Commonwealth. We’re in the process of developing guidelines for three new programs. One of those is geared towards funding regional solutions.”

SPC was honored to have Anna Read, of The Pew Charitable Trusts, as their Keynote Speaker. Ms. Read, leads Pew’s efforts to examine how states and the federal government are working to connect millions of Americans to affordable, high-speed, reliable internet as part of the Trust’s broadband access initiative.

Armstrong County Commissioner and SPC Vice Chairman Pat Fabian closed out the Regional Broadband & Connectivity Summit by saying “at SPC, we believe that by working together with private and public partners and across local, regional, state and federal levels, we can lead the effort to make our vision of affordable, equitable broadband access a reality in every part of southwestern Pennsylvania.”

Further details, program slides and a recording of the day’s presentations can be found on SPC’s Connected website under the Resources tab.

Summit sponsors include Armstrong, AT&T, Comcast, DQE Communications, Henry L. Hillman Foundation, Michael Baker International, Buchanan Ingersoll Rooney, First Light, Kimley Horn, Crown Castle and Butler County Chamber of Commerce.

The Southwestern Pennsylvania (SWPA) Connected initiative today announced the launch of the Connectivity Roadmap, a guidance tool, to support the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC), county leadership, and regional stakeholders in the 10-county region and the City of Pittsburgh to develop and prioritize connectivity projects and associated programs to secure funding.

The Connectivity Roadmap was developed in collaboration with representatives of the 10 counties, state and local governments, and industry experts, and through public engagement in the communities most impacted by the lack of reliable or affordable internet. Southwestern Pennsylvania is now positioned to secure federal and state broadband funding through the roadmap’s implementation guide and tools.

“We are incredibly grateful to our partners and residents who helped us in the development of this roadmap,” said SPC Executive Director Vincent Valdes. “We’ll be working in earnest with our partners to identify the projects, programs, and funding needed to help the communities in our region that need it most. Our goal is to support our region in building the infrastructure to connect our residents and businesses to the internet and resources they need to thrive.”

Rather than identify a comprehensive set of future projects that may quickly become obsolete, the Connectivity Roadmap provides several tools to guide the selection of projects as priorities shift, including a Project Identification Decision Tree and Measures of Effectiveness. In addition, the roadmap includes 12 regional goals and over 70 strategies as well as recommendations and next steps for the SPC, county and city leadership, and other partners to improve broadband infrastructure, tools, and skills across southwestern Pennsylvania.

“The Connectivity Roadmap is a wonderful example of what we have been striving for, not only from a regional level but from a statewide perspective”, said State Representative Pam Snyder, D-Greene/Fayette. “Initiatives like this are exactly what the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority aims to highlight and encourage as collaboration and partnership between government, public and private parties is essential to advancing connectivity in our communities.”

Rep. Snyder serves as one of the 11-members of the PBDA board of directors, which is tasked with administering federal and state funds to support broadband expansion in unserved and underserved areas of the state.

“During this project, we had the opportunity to meet with residents through community conversations across the region to incorporate the real challenges faced in daily lives as part of the roadmap solution,” stated Jamie Baxter, executive director at Allies for Children. “Many of the personal stories we heard reinforced the mission of this initiative – that the internet is essential for our communities to connect and learn, it’s expensive and unreliable for many residents, and rural communities feel left behind.” The Allies for Children Community Conversation Report is also available online.

The Connectivity Roadmap was developed through public engagement including a public survey and internet speed test data that was received from more than 3,400 respondents, a series of five virtual stakeholder workshops, 17 in-person community conversations, and more than 25 phone interviews with industry leaders, internet service providers, and county planning directors. Data dashboards visualizing the access, adoption, and affordability across the region were used to create the Connectivity Opportunities Areas in each of the 10 counties.

“The Connectivity Roadmap provides us the tools we need to truly work together to prioritize projects to improve broadband and to reframe it as a public necessity,” said CMU’s Karen Lightman, director of Metro21: Smart Cities Institute. “It also provides the information and resources our communities need to better understand what the internet can offer.”

As part of the Connectivity Roadmap, materials have been developed to help residents educate themselves on internet terminology and find digital literacy courses to enhance their comfort. In addition, community meeting materials are available to assist local governments or communities in project planning and outreach.

To learn more about the SWPA Connected initiative and the Connectivity Roadmap, visit www.spcregion.org/connected/.

In recognition of
his outstanding service to TRB and advancement of innovations in public
transportation partnerships, Vincent Valdes is the 2021 recipient of the W.N.
Carey, Jr., Distinguished Service Award. Mr. Valdes is the is the Executive
Director of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC), the designated
Metropolitan Planning Organization for a ten-county region including the City
of Pittsburgh, where he leads a
team of planners, program managers, transportation specialists and engineers
working to create a common regional vision and transportation implementation
program for the communities of southwestern Pennsylvania.  The Carey Award—named in honor of W.N. Carey,
Jr., TRB’s Executive Director from 1967 to 1980—recognizes individuals who have
given leadership and distinguished service to TRB.

The award will be presented on Wednesday, January 12, 2022, during the Chair’s Plenary Session portion of the TRB Annual Meeting, January 9-13, 2022, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Valdes has
been engaged with TRB for more than 20 years. 
During that period, he has been a constant fixture and participant at
TRB’s Annual Meeting. As the Associate Administrator for the Office of
Research, Demonstration and Innovation with the Federal Transit Administration
(FTA) from 2008 to 2020, he was an invited presenter at every TRB Annual
Meeting as well as numerous specialty conferences. As FTA’s liaison on the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP)
Oversight and Project Selection Committee and on the American Association of
State Highway and Transportation Officials’ Committee on Research and
Innovation, he helped to program hundreds of TCRP and National Cooperative
Highway Research Program (NCHRP) projects. In addition to his roles with TCRP
and NCHRP programs, he is a strong advocate for TRB’s Technical Activities
Division as a premier source of ideas, knowledge, and information exchange; and
its role on attracting and mentoring the next generation of transportation
professionals.

During his time as FTA’s Associate
Administrator, he advanced innovative public transportation partnerships,
especially public-private partnerships. In January 2020, before he left FTA,
his office announced the Integrated Mobility Innovation Program, a competitive
program that will encourage agencies to initiate service such as Mobility as a
Service and integration of private providers with more traditional public
transportation services. A previous successful initiative was the Mobility on
Demand Sandbox, which like the Integrated Mobility Initiative, encouraged
agencies to experiment, especially with last mile solutions. Prior to that, he
led the development of the Rides to Wellness initiative, which tackled the role
of transportation in providing health care, especially to seniors, low-income
people, and those with disabilities.

In addition to serving in previous
roles with the FTA, Valdes was a lead planner with the District of Columbia
Office of Planning, and worked for organizations including Inter-American
Foundation, The World Bank, ICF Incorporated, and General Dynamics, Northrop,
and Pratt & Whitney.

Mr. Valdes holds a master’s degree in Urban Planning from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Boston University.

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The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC) is the region’s forum for collaboration, planning and public decision-making. As the designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the ten-county region including the City of Pittsburgh and the counties of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington, and Westmoreland, SPC is responsible for planning and prioritizing the use of state and federal transportation funds allocated to the region. As the Local Development District (LDD) and Economic Development District for Southwestern Pennsylvania (as designated by the U.S. Appalachian Regional Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce), SPC establishes regional economic development priorities and provides a wide range of public services to the region.