Our Team

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George L. Miles Jr.
Chairman of the Board of Directors

Former President and CEO of WQED Multimedia, the Emmy Award-winning public broadcaster for southwestern Pennsylvania. WQED Multimedia is the parent company of WQED tv13 (PBS), WQEX tv16 , WQED fm89.3, WQEJ fm89.7/Johnstown, local and national television and radio productions, www.wqed.org and the WQED Education and Community Resource Center.

Mr. Miles sits on the Board of Directors of American International Group, Inc. (AIG); Harley-Davidson, Inc.; WESCO International, Inc.; EQT Corporation; HFF,Inc.; Chester Engineers, Inc. and the University of Pittsburgh. He is a Director of the Mt. Ararat Community Activity Center's Executive Board.

He is the former Chairman of the Association for America's Public Television Stations (APTS), former Co-Chair of Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania and a former Chair of the Urban League of Pittsburgh, Inc.

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Edgar Berkey, Ph.D.
Board Member

Dr. Berkey, retired as the Vice President and Chief Quality Officer of Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC), a 1,100-person, non-profit research, development, and technology transfer organization headquartered in Johnstown, PA, with 25 regional offices from coast to coast. CTC operates four national centers of excellence in the fields of environment, manufacturing, information technology, and electronic commerce, serving both public and private sector clients. Dr. Berkey provided executive leadership to CTC's technical and scientific programs, organizational capabilities and client relationships; and champions the CTC Quality Committee.

Previously, Dr. Berkey was founder and President of the Center for Hazardous Materials Research (CHMR) and the National Environmental Technologies Application Center (NETAC). These non-profit organizations conducted a wide variety of environmental projects for both business and government clients, domestically and internationally. Projects involved environmental technology development, commercialization assistance, technology transfer, technical assistance, applied research, education and training, field and laboratory investigations. Dr. Berkey was also founder and President of SynCo Consultants, Inc., an environmental consulting firm which he sold, Vice President of Energy Impact Associates, and a Manager and Senior Scientist at Westinghouse Research Laboratories.

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Yvonne Cook
Board Member

Yvonne Cook joined Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield in March 2003 as President of the Highmark Foundation and Vice President for Community & Health Initiatives. In this position, Yvonne is responsible for the management and direction of the day-to-day activities of the Foundation and the development, implementation, administration and evaluation of innovative and effective community and health initiative activities that assist in the fulfillment of the corporation's social mission strategy. She is also responsible for the exploration and evaluation of market place needs and directs the corporation's degree of involvement in public policy, public health and social service activities.

Prior to joining Highmark, Ms. Cook served as the executive assistant to Allegheny County Chief Executive James C. Roddey. In this position, Ms. Cook advised the Chief Executive on health and human service matters, and provided oversight to the County's Minority/Women/Disadvantage Business Enterprise Department. She also served as a liaison between businesses and the County, managed projects initiated by the Chief Executive, and represented the County's interest on various boards and committees. Her professional experience also includes working as a Program Officer with The Pittsburgh Foundation and a Cash Management Marketing Representative with Mellon Financial Corporation.

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Gregory R. Spencer
Board Member

Gregory R. Spencer served in corporate Pittsburgh for over thirty years. He began his career as a laborer at one of United States Steel's operating plants and progressed to become General Manager of Human Resources for the entire corporation. He left United States Steel to become the Vice President of Human Resources at Equitable Resources and was later promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer.

He left Equitable in 2003 to become an entrepreneur and established his own diversified real estate business with his son. A few years later he and a young man he mentors established Bridging the Gap Development, Inc. which was created specifically to developed job opportunities for individuals who needed a second chance. They own a restaurant at the Greater Pittsburgh Airport and rental property rehabbed with people that had made poor decisions in the past. In 2007, Greg Spencer closed on the acquisition of a chemical manufacturing company based in Indiana County, Pa. At that time Randall Industries became one of the largest minority owned chemical manufacturing companies in the United States and now ships chemical products to China, Taiwan, and Australia.

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Frank G. Chester
Senior Vice President/Chief Talent Officer

Mr. Chester has over 30 years experience in Human Resources Management with various Fortune 100 companies where he successfully recruited and developed the best and brightest talent. As the Sr. Vice President and Chief Talent Officer for Chester Engineers, Mr. Chester, a former U. S. Army Captain, is responsible for managing and directing the functions and activities of the Human Resources team. Mr. Chester is focused on human capital acquisition through targeted recruitment and global talent marketing.

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Bruce A. Fletcher
Executive Vice President

Mr. Fletcher has over 39 years of experience in the planning, design, construction and operation of municipal water and wastewater facilities. As Executive Vice President for Chester Engineers, Mr. Fletcher currently directs the activities of Governmental Affairs Group in Pittsburgh and other areas of Pennsylvania. In conjunction with the other members of his team, he monitors the quality of service provided to existing clients on an ongoing basis and assists in the procurement of new clients/projects.

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Tom Johnson
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

As Chief Financial Officer for Chester Engineers, Mr. Johnson is responsible for managing the financial affairs of the firm including improving customer service and profitability. He counsels and advises Business Unit Managers on all accounting and financial matters. His responsibilities include reviewing, guiding and ensuring the preparation of annual and capital budgets; providing leadership and support to group and unit managers in assessing performance, determining actions required, and reporting to senior management; managing accounts receivables within or below company goals; and monitoring offices and operating/regional overhead cost variances. Mr. Johnson also identifies cost components associated with operating inefficiencies and accounting problems; works with offices to reduce indirect office expenses and educates engineering staff on cost controls, cost analysis and cost effectiveness. Mr. Johnson makes indirect cost control a number one priority with the goal of achieving budgeted indirect costs both in dollars and as a percent of salaries.