November 2002

<< BACK | NEXT >>

Robert Wooldridge | Age 40
Director, Innovation Transfer Center, Carnegie Mellon University

Robert Wooldridge says that his Old English sheepdog has 157 allergies. That's one thing to find impressive. Wooldridge takes technology from CMU and finds ways to commercialize it. He does it faster than anyone else, and with good results. That, too, is impressive.

The Mount Lebanon came onto the scene after the most famous CMU tech spin-off, Lycos (now Terra Lycos). But most of the spin-offs coming out of Carnegie Mellon aren't Internet-based. "Carnegie Mellon scientists make real things, real technologies with competitive advantage. It's not just a business plan," Wooldridge says of the companies he works with these days. "Our goal is to get more technologies to market and to do it faster."

Several local companies serve as good examples. South Side-based Acoustica makes computer chips that can recognize sound. The technology developed for the chips could conceivably become the basis for language translators down the road. Another company, Carnegie Learning in the Strip District, makes cognitive math and science tutors that are the result of 10 years of research.

In the last fiscal year, the Center has produced 23 product licenses, 11 option/evaluation agreements and three new start-up companies. Wooldridge attributes his success to a "high priority on getting things done." He works long hours if needed. "I come up with creative solutions that address a set of needs and a lot of different interests," he says. "Coming up with creative solutions to difficult problems is the fun of the job."

He also sees his 10-person office as a factor in the attraction and retention of talent to Pittsburgh. "A vibrant tech community creates jobs for graduates, and the core asset of a university is people, so attraction and retention of great faculty [is important]," says the Elizabeth native. "If the tech transfer office can be a competitive advantage [over other universities], if they see we do it faster and better, we are a small factor in recruiting and retaining talent to the university."

Timothy J. Kane | Age 33
Founder, Kinetic Workplace

Tim Kane makes it possible for thousands of people to get up every morning and not go to work. As president, CEO and founder of Kinetic Workplace, he works with an impressive list of clients to make it possible for their employees to work from home or other locations outside the traditional office setting.

"Telework is undergoing incredible growth," Kane says. "In 2001, we found there are 28 million teleworkers. [Industry research says that] by 2006, a third of the U.S. workforce will be teleworking: about 50 million people."

Kinetic Workplace focuses on larger companies -- generally 1,500 employees or more -- and works primarily in a consulting capacity to help the company set up hardware, human resources policies, training and tech infrastructure for remote workers. It also helps cut costs by reducing the amount of square footage clients have to lease. Some of those remote workers stay in one off-site location while others travel extensively. Plans for growth include newly launched Web-based training products to augment the consulting products the downtown-based firm already offers.

Kane was an early mover in the telework field. The Franklin Park native started Kinetic Workplace in 1994 with virtually no competition; business took off in 1998. In the shadow of the dot-bombs, many clients are skeptical of tech companies, but advances in broadband technology and Internet security have enabled Kinetic Workplace to continue to grow.

And Kane's company has a track record, he notes. He's put together a "trophy client list" working with Procter and Gamble, Sprint, 3 Com, Hewlett Packard and almost 100 others.

Kane is also beginning his second year as president of the International Telework Association and Council, a Massachusetts-based trade organization for telework professionals. The Ben Avon Heights resident was also named one of teleworking trade magazine Network World's 50 most powerful people in the industry for 2002.

But though many of his colleagues do work off-site, this leader in off-site workplace solutions doesn't work from the home he shares with wife, Kimberly, and their three young children, Cameron, Aislinn and Aidan: "because I have a 4-year-old, 2-year-old and a 1-year-old."

Ned Renzi | Age 37
Partner, Birchmere Ventures

"We are dream merchants," says Ned Renzi of his job. "Entrepreneurs all over the world have dreams and they come to venture capitalists for the money."

The Johnstown native started his career as a civil servant doing engineering research and development, and realized he liked the tech and business aspects. After receiving his M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh, Renzi joined the CEO Venture Fund in March 1998. Two years later, he and five partners decided to found Birchmere Ventures, a venture capitalist firm.

Venture capitalists aren't receiving the attention they were at the height of the dot-com boom, nor are they getting the volume of business plans. However, this isn't a problem, says Renzi. "The interesting part of it is that, today, the top 10 percent of business plans are much better than the top 10 several years ago, and I think that's a product of the economy."

Companies Renzi has helped include Precision Therapeutics, Entigo and CVent, and his company is currently managing two funds and are working to start a third. Renzi also serves as a board member for many of Birchmere's startups.

Renzi also helped found the local chapter of TIE -- The Indus Entrepreneurs, a organization that started in the Silicon Valley to help those of Indian descent start their own businesses. It now includes entrepreneurs of all ethnicities through chapters across the world. "It's a testament to the potential in Pittsburgh that we are able to sustain a chapter" here," he says.

Renzi lives in Murrysville with his wife, Cheryl, and children, Nicole, 8, and Matt, 6. "I lived in D.C. for seven years, but I never called it home," he says. "After I was in Pittsburgh for six months, someone asked me where I was from. I instantly replied: Pittsburgh."

Kristen Campbell Peckich | Age 37
Owner, La Pomponneé

In the 10 years she's been in business, Kristen Peckich has grown her upscale Mount Lebanon spa and salon, La Pomponneé, from six women and 1,000 square feet to 45 people and 6,500 square feet.

The $1.7 million per year business (gross revenues) started as a side project for the South Park native, who frequently did wedding day hairstyles and makeup for clients of Mount Lebanon-based bridal designer Tomasina. She saw a need for a salon that offered spa services in the area and opened La Pomponneé in 1992.

"Why just focus on brides?" she recalls. "I'll focus on everyone who wants pampered."

The business grew quickly, moving or expanding four times in the first eight years. The service list began to grow, including hairstyling, pampering treatments for nails and feet, hot stone massage and holistic facials. Peckich marked the firm's 10-year anniversary in February 2002 with an all-expenses-paid trip to Mexico for the original six employees, who all still work with her.

"Everyone takes initiative to grow the business," Peckich says of her staff. She saw evidence of that when a difficult pregnancy kept her away from the business for four months in 1994. "Even then, the business grew."

Today, La Pomponneé (roughly translated from French: "one who has been all dolled up") sees 150 clients a day for services from a haircut to yoga, pilates or meditation class.

Peckich, who lives in North Strabane with her two kids, Max, 8 and Zoey, 6, still sees room for growth in Mount Lebanon and would like to open a second location. Ideally, she'd like a member of her staff to manage it.

"Everybody that is involved in the business has the entrepreneurial spirit, and if I could help somebody to achieve their goals, I'd love to a part of that."

Keith LeJeune (not pictured) | Age 30
CEO and cofounder, Agentase

In the post-9/11 world, the work of 30-year-old Keith LeJeune seems all the more important. It was demonstrated in front of NATO representatives at a September conference in Cazaux, France, on developing environmentally friendly technology related to chemical weapon detection and decontamination. His work was recognized by President George W. Bush during his visit to see anti-terrorism advances in Pittsburgh last year.

"I was told that he even took one [sensor device] on Air Force One with him on the way home," LeJeune laughs.
LeJeune cofounded Agentase in 1999 with his mentor, Alan Russell. Their products are based on research LeJeune started as a Ph.D. candidate at Carnegie Mellon University. Using elements of molecular biology, chemistry and engineering, LeJeune and his coworkers take enzymes and alter their chemical reactions with other substances (primarily polymers, or plastics) and create new materials.

"What this technology offers to the local region is the chance to have a whole breadth of new technologies and development come out of these initial efforts. And that's what makes it interesting," he says. "You can work on 12 different products based on the same tech, but the applications are very different."

Two of LeJeune's products are already on the market. One is a sensor for the nerve agents that would be released by chemical weapons. The handheld sensor can tell first responders immediately if certain types of harmful substances are available. The second product is polyurethane material available as either a foam or a washcloth, which can detoxify pesticides or the byproducts of chemical weapons.

Agentase is exploring other applications for these biocatalysts. The most fantastical use LeJeune imagines is a membrane that can take oxygen directly out of air for use in the medical field as an artificial lung device or in a car engine to reduce environmentally harmful nitrogen oxide emissions.

"Keep in mind that's a stretch," he cautions, but adds that it isn't unreasonable to consider it possible.

Joseph Piccirilli (not pictured) | Age 39
Owner, Pittsburgh Brewing Co.

Joe Piccirilli isn't an easy guy to get hold of -- a danger that goes with the territory when writing about the region's top movers and shakers. And while pulling one of the nation's oldest regional breweries out of bankruptcy has certainly kept Piccirilli busy for the past seven years, the future growth and expansion just might keep him busier.

"I didn't want to see it close," Piccirilli says of his decision to buy the struggling brewery in 1995. "There are a lot of people working here. This is something I could roll up my sleeves and get involved in. Everything needed attention."

Piccirilli worked from a long-term plan, introducing automation and new equipment. He changed the sales and marketing of the products. He revamped the operation and worked with the relationship between the union and management. For the first time in a long time, the owner was on-site and taking a hands-on approach to brewery operation.

Piccirilli learned about business from his father, Tietro, at his Piccirilli Disposal Service, in Ambridge. He was president of the company before most of his contemporaries had finished college. Starting with two trucks and four employees, the business grew to 40 trucks and 130 employees before it was sold to Waste Management of Pittsburgh.

It's a similar kind of fairy tale ending for the Pittsburgh Brewing Co., which is now on a more solid footing. The introduction of Augustiner has been popular both in this region and across the country, while IC Light and Iron City are still popular local brands. Pittsburgh Brewing recently expanded into Chicago and Columbus markets. A "new ‘malternative' that competes with Smirnoff Ice and Skyy Blue" is planned for next year, according to Piccirilli.

Under Piccirilli's direction, the brewery is also involved in a multitude of community events, donating products and services, from beer to meeting space, to a variety of local causes, including the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank, the Blues Fest and the Sharpsburg Fire Department.

"It's the right thing to do," says Piccirilli of his community involvement. "We have 260 employees, and they are part of the community, too."

Suzi Pegg | Age 38
Account executive, Pittsburgh Regional Alliance; marketing director, British American Business Council, Pittsburgh Region Inc.

Suzi Pegg says she traded one steel town for another, and in the process built a bridge that is positively affecting both.
The Robinson resident came to Pittsburgh three years ago when her husband, Jeremy, was offered a computer programming job. She was leery, and in an effort to convince her, their honeymoon was a trip to Pittsburgh. One trip through the Fort Pitt Tunnel and Pegg was hooked. "I love it. It's a super city."

In her native Sheffield, England, Pegg was an active member of the British Junior Chamber, a nonprofit junior management organization for under-40s. During her years there, she held the title of British JC public speaking champion and British JC international representative as well as president of the Sheffield JC and its most outstanding member in 1990.

Once she relocated here, "Sheffield found me," says Pegg. Sheffield wanted to develop a business link with its sister city of Pittsburgh and mentioned Pegg to Roger Cranville, Pittsburgh Regional Alliance senior vice president for international business development. Cranville approached Pegg and got her involved on a volunteer basis.

"Now I'm far from being bored," laughs Pegg. Through her work as marketing director with the BABC, the Pittsburgh chapter has become a leader among the organization's 32 chapters. "People are looking to us to see what we're doing," says Pegg.

Some of her successes include the BABC 2003 Fall Conference coming to Pittsburgh, and trips to England by Pittsburgh mayor Tom Murphy and Allegheny County chief executive Jim Roddey. Pegg adds that she has two British companies that are interested in coming to the area that "will be huge." And all the work that Pegg does for both the PRA and BABC is volunteer. "I need a proper job," laughs Pegg.

For now, until she gets a "proper job" (she hopes with the PRA), Pegg enjoys getting out into nature, especially walking and biking on the Montour Trail. She also used to sing opera in England and is looking to get involved with that again as well as volunteering in the Pittsburgh community. And she looks forward with optimism at her new hometown's future.

"I really think Pittsburgh will be going places," says Pegg. "It's about time Pittsburgh has its day."

John J. DiGilio | Age 31
Legal and business research librarian/ instructor, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart

While his law school classmates were envisioning careers in the courtroom, John DiGilio was relishing the task of library research. That appreciation for research brought him to the University of Pittsburgh's School of Information Sciences to combine his law degree with his research abilities toward a M.L.I.S. Upon graduation, he landed a job as the legal librarian for all of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart's 10 offices, based in downtown Pittsburgh.

"[The classification of] ‘Librarian' carries a wide spectrum of jobs because of this information economy," say DiGilio, dismissing the stereotype that librarians are older women with buns amongst stacks of books. These days, librarian jobs can be based on virtual reference and Internet research, not books. "My real love of the research aspect in the library is getting to the core of the issue -- getting to the nuts and bolts.

"Somebody has to be available not just to point people to the proper research," DiGilio says, "but with so much being available today, they need individuals who can sift through it all to come up with the best research … given the wide variety of resources today."

Actively involved in two professional information-related organizations, DiGilio is president of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Special Libraries Association, which brings together specialized collections, such as medical libraries, law or even prison libraries. He's also a member of the Western Pennsylvania Law Libraries Association. He received awards from both organizations in 2001 -- a feat never accomplished before. The SLA recognized his activism within its organization with The Chapter Award, and he was the WPLLA's Librarian of the Year.

"I was completely knocked over, to say the least, because I'm still fairly new to the profession," DiGilio laughs.

He's also involved in the Mount Washington Community Development Corp., working to sustain and improve the area's parks and green areas. As Mount Washington-area representative for the Democratic Party, DiGilio conveys the issues important to the community to Democratic legislators and other elected officials.

"I'd like to see more people use their voice and get involved," says DiGilio, adding that they have no right to complain about the state of affairs if they do nothing to bring about change.
And the Pepperdine University-educated boy (originally from Nesquehoning, northeastern Pennsylvania) has become a real advocate for Pittsburgh. He's happy to open up his guest room to friends and family and show off the town. He's also impressed by the accessibility of Pittsburgh -- he doesn't own a car and has never felt "locked."

DiGilio also has found it easier to find common-interest groups here than in bigger cities like Los Angeles or London. "One of the big reasons I came here is the incredible diversity -- I didn't expect to find Buddhist groups, but I did," DiGilio says, referring to study groups he attends weekly to discuss Buddhist teachings and to meditate. "The diversity here is awesome, and people should come to realize it."

Wade Hampton II | Age 29
Owner, Swade Welding

In 1993, Wade Hampton had left Pittsburgh and was working on a Memphis, Tenn., assembly line making tractor trailers for $18 dollars an hour. He realized that his line was turning out 10 trailers a day that were selling for $100,000 a piece, making a million dollars a day -- for someone else.

He decided to get on the winning end of that equation by starting his own business. After spending several years learning the welding trade on the job, Hampton starting looking to launch a new business, but Tennessee wasn't the place. For one thing, there were too many big corporations squeezing the little guy out. For another, Hampton saw construction opportunities booming with plans for new stadiums and other projects.

"I wanted to help build my hometown," the Penn Hills native says of another motivation to come back. "Since Pittsburgh is growing and building, and I was growing and building, I figured we could do it together."

Such was the beginning of Swade Welding in 1998. The Minority Enterprise Corp. helped him launch the business, which started as a mobile welding service specializing in heavy equipment repairs, avoiding the need to transport large broken machines to a shop to be fixed.

Hampton and his company expanded into fabrication and manufacturing three years later, and he hopes to expand his steel-frame-erection work as the business grows, although repair remains the core function of the business.

The Munhall-based operation has six to seven projects going on for five companies across the region and expects to get more work in 2003.
Hampton says he's optimistic about his business, and with good reason. He's several years ahead of where his business plan says should be right now.

"I just see nothing but success ahead," he says, as the mechanic buzz of his business at work continues in the background. "I'm not satisfied until I get my million a day."

John Schneider | Age 36
President, Bill Few Associates

John Schneider has a head for business. At age 15, the West View native was playing the stock market and had his own subscription to The Wall Street Journal. He hasn't looked back.

After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh with a B.A. in economics, he went on to earn his certification from the Certified Financial Planners Board of Standards. The West View resident has been working for Bill Few Associates for more than 10 years, advising high network clients about investments, tax planning, stock options and estate planning issues. Last year, Schneider was appointed president of the money management firm in West View, and works as a senior financial advisor.

"It's been a good learning experience," says Schneider. A member of the firm's investment policy committee, he's also a permanent member of the board of directors. As president of the 15-year-old company, Schneider is continuing to focus on his 10-year goal, building it into the premier financial management company for high-net worth individuals in Pittsburgh.

About five years ago, Schneider added a new challenge to his life when he took over an economics class at La Roche College from a client who was a professor there. A couple of classes turned into an adjunct professorship at the college. He teaches economic theory and business ethics as well as economic fundamentals, inflation, international trade and more. "I love it," says Schneider. "I could see myself doing this down the road." Schneider also teaches an economics class in Carnegie Mellon University's Academy of Lifelong Learning.

You may recognize Schneider from his stint on CNBC's "Power Lunch," a program that looks at what's driving the markets and influencing Wall Street, or from his profile last year on WQED's OnQ magazine. And if all that hasn't kept him busy enough, Schneider also serves on the boards of La Roche College, WQED Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium, and Pressley Ridge Schools. He also works with the Pittsburgh Social Venture Partners. "It's [serving on boards] fun," says Schneider. "I actually learn a lot about Pittsburgh."

Pam Selker Rak | Age 38
Founder and president, CommuniTech

Pam Selker Rak comes from a heritage of strong women. Her grandmother, Anna Phillips, ran a farm market, restaurant and Dairy Queen franchise in the Clarion area during a time when women-owned and -operated businesses were a rarity. Her mother, Anna Selker, followed in those footsteps, running a farm market of her own.

"I think they are my biggest role models," says the Clarion native, now founder and president of her own high-tech marketing firm, CommuniTech.

"They are why I decided to go into business for myself." After 10 years of working in the marketing departments of high-tech companies like Marconi/ Fore Systems Inc., ANSYS Inc. and IBM/Transarc Labs, Rak branched out on her own. She started by taking clients on the side, but went full-time on her own in 1998, working with more than 30 clients and four full-time employees.

Beyond her own company in South Fayette, Rak works with developing the marketing profession here. Last year, when people in the marketing field were suffering from the economic slump and decline in business, "I wanted to figure out a way to keep the market moving." Rak says. "I decided to form the Pittsburgh Marketing Summit."

The first event, in February 2002, addressed issues of marketing in tenuous times. More than 100 people attended, and all the proceeds ($700) went to the Watchful Shepherd, a local nonprofit (and pro bono client of CommuniTech) that fights child abuse by fitting at-risk kids with wristwatch-like devices that they can activate for help when needed.

The Peters resident participates in the High Tech Task Force initiative spearheaded by U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart (R-4th District) to stay in touch with issues affecting the high-tech community. Rak is also affiliated with the Society for Technical Communications, PUMP and Kappa Tau Alpha (a national honorary journalism society), and she supports the initiatives of women business owners through Seton Hill University's National Education Center for Women in Business. She also launched Academia to Industry with Clarion University.

"It provides a communication link between the communications industry and the university," she explains of the program that helps prepare the students to enter the workforce and be more competitive. "It's a mentoring program for the faculty and the students."

It all sounds very, well, technical, but Rak approaches her business with a sense of humor, evidenced by Marc Com, a comic strip character offering free advice on the company website.

"He's a marketing guru -- he can solve your problems," she says of the spiky-haired bowtie-wearing cartoon character that serves as a mascot for CommuniTech.

<< BACK | NEXT >>