Indiana University of Pennsylvania will honor three regional achievers on April 4 at the IUP Legacy Gala in Pittsburgh.
The gala will be hosted by IUP President Tony Atwater and his wife, Dr. Beverly Roberts-Atwater, at the Carnegie Museum Music Hall Foyer.
This black-tie event will feature cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, and a silent auction beginning at 6 p.m. Dinner will be served at 7:30 p.m., with music and dancing at 9 p.m.
The program features the presentation of the Presidential Legacy Award for Civic Service to Bill Strickland, president and CEO, Manchester Bidwell Corporation and its subsidiaries, Manchester Craftsmen's Guild and Bidwell Training Center; the Presidential Legacy Award for Alumni Distinction to Lynette Singel Horrell, a 1984 graduate of IUP, office managing partner, Ernst & Young, Pittsburgh office; and the Presidential Legacy Award for Philanthropy to George D. Zamias Sr. and Marianna Zamias, the founders of George D. Zamias Developer.
Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner, a 1974 graduate of IUP, will serve as master of ceremonies for the event.
For more information or to reserve a table or seat for the IUP Legacy Gala, call 724-357-2145 or send an e-mail to rsvp-events@iup.edu. Tickets are $175 per person (table purchases are encouraged).
Items being offered include dinners at well-known regional restaurants, stays at area resorts, a horseback tour of the Gettysburg battlefield, and an outdoor custom landscape and architectural lighting system.
Bids on these items may be made at the event or before the event on line at the Legacy Gala Silent Auction website starting March 16. All proceeds from the gala benefit the University Fund for Academic Excellence.
“While Allegheny County is not physically ‘home' to IUP, we feel very at home in this community,” said Dr. Robert O. Davies, vice president of University Relations and executive director of the Foundation for IUP. “Almost 2,000 of our current student body of 14,200 and more than 13,000 of our 90,000 alumni not only make their homes in Allegheny County, but are community leaders.
"Last year's premiere event raised close to $150,000, well past the stated goal of $100,000. The University Fund for Academic Excellence is used to enrich the student experience, assisting with costs for students to participate in academic, programmatic, and experiential opportunities that expand the classroom experience."
Funds are available to students for scholarships; travel and expenses related to conference presentations, research supplies, and equipment; classroom materials and equipment; and faculty professional development that translates directly to improvement of current academic programming.
In his current work, Presidential Legacy Award for Civic Service recipient Strickland recently completed the development of a new 40,000-square-foot production greenhouse, created for horticultural training; a 70,000-square-foot medical technology complex; and a 62,000-square-foot facility as a mortgage-free asset for both Manchester Craftsmen's Guild and Bidwell Training Center. The facilities also serve as a demonstration site for Hewlett Packard and Steelcase products.
Strickland was born in Pittsburgh in 1947 and graduated from David B. Oliver High School in 1965. In 1969, he graduated cum laude with a bachelor's degree in American history and foreign relations from the University of Pittsburgh. He founded the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild while still a student at the university.
Throughout his career, Strickland has been honored with awards for his contributions to the arts and the community. In 1999, he received the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Arts Leadership and Service Award. In 1998, he received the Kilby Award and Coming Up Taller Award, presented in a White House ceremony by first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
In 1996, he received with the MacArthur Genius Award for leadership and integrity in the arts. Strickland was honored by Pittsburgh Magazine as the 2007 Pittsburgher of the Year and by Ernst & Young in 2007 as the Entrepreneur of the Year in Arts and Education.
He has served as chairman of the Expansion Arts Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C., and served a six-year presidential appointment as a council member. He has served on the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Pennsylvania State Board of Education, a trustee at the Carnegie Museums, and as a consultant with the British American Arts Association in London.
In 2002, Strickland was sworn in as a member of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. He also serves as a consultant, grant evaluator, and mentor in the field of arts and arts education, community development, and workforce development training.
He is the author of the 2007 book Make the Impossible Possible, co-authored by Vince Rause.
Strickland, his wife, Rose, and two daughters, Julie and Olivia, live in Pittsburgh.
Presidential Legacy Award for Alumni Distinction winner Horrell has more than twenty-five years of experience with Ernst & Young. Horrell started her career with the firm as an intern in 1984.
Early in her career, she worked with large manufacturing clients and technology companies, traveling extensively to San Francisco and New York City. She was promoted to partner in 1999.
Horrell took on additional responsibility while serving as partner, including becoming the Pittsburgh office resource production manager in 2005. In this two-year role, she supported hiring, staffing, and people management for the assurance practice.
In 2007, she became the office managing partner of the Pittsburgh office, leading a team of 250 professionals, while serving as assurance cluster leader for Pittsburgh, Charleston, and upstate New York. She continues to serve in this capacity.
In this role, Horrell oversees the assurance practice, including retail, distribution and manufacturing, technology, communications and entertainment, and health care practices.
She has extensive Securities and Exchange Commission experience, serving as coordinating partner on multiple initial public offerings and public registrants during her career.
Horrell actively participates in her community, serving on the boards of the United Way, Pittsburgh Technology Council, and an advisory board of Robert Morris University.
Horrell, her husband, Jeff, and their three daughters, Brienna, Kaitlyn, and Taylor, reside in Gibsonia.
Presidential Legacy Award for Philanthropy recipients George D. Zamias Sr. and Marianna Zamias have been consistent supporters of IUP student-athletes through participation in the Corporate Crimson Club and the university's priority needs through a challenge gift to the IUP Annual Fund. They have also supported IUP's Eberly College of Business and Information Technology, the university's annual homecoming celebration, and outreach efforts to new students.
The couple is responsible for the establishment of the Zamias Aquatic Center at the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown. They also established the Demos Zamagias Memorial Scholarship for student-athletes at UPJ.
One of the nation's first shopping mall developers, George Zamias has been ranked as one of the top 100 developers in the nation. He founded George D. Zamias Developer in 1957, a sole proprietorship owned by George D. Zamias. Since that time, he has been actively engaged in the retail real estate business and has developed more than 30 million square feet of retail space.
George D. Zamias Developer and Zamias Services Inc. own and manage twenty-two open air centers in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia covering 4.4 million square feet. The companies own and manage six enclosed malls in Pennsylvania: Cranberry Mall, The Dubois Mall, The Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills, Indiana Mall, The Johnstown Galleria, and Warren Mall, and four other malls in Georgia, New York, Vermont, and West Virginia, totaling 5.4 million square feet.
The companies have six properties with more than 2.4 million square feet currently in development.
A 1953 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration, George Zamias also earned a Master of Letters degree in real estate and insurance in 1954. He began his career by teaching real estate and other related subjects at the University of Pittsburgh. He then worked as a real estate salesman for Penn Real Estate Company in Johnstown from 1953 to 1961, at which time he became a licensed real estate broker in Pennsylvania. He started George D. Zamias Real Estate Company in 1961.
He became engaged in the construction and development of shopping centers in 1962. In 1967, he established Zamias Construction Company Inc. as sole stockholder.
In 1996, Zamias Services Inc. was formed as the successor company to George D. Zamias Developer as the leasing and management arm to Zamias affiliated and third-party owned facilities.
George Zamias was recognized in April 2008 by Retail Traffic magazine as one of the top fifty owners and as one of the top fifty managers. He is an active member of the International Council of Shopping Centers.
He and his wife, the former Marianna Dallee, are the parents of four sons, three of whom are active in the companies. They make their home in Johnstown.
Master of ceremonies Wagner is a 1994 IUP Distinguished Alumni Award recipient.
Wagner, of Beechview, is in his second term of office as Pennsylvania's fiftieth elected auditor general. He brings twenty-five years of public service to his role as the commonwealth's independent fiscal watchdog.
Before he was elected auditor general, Wagner represented Allegheny County as a state senator. He served in the leadership of the Senate and as the Democratic chairman of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee. He also served on the Appropriations, Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness, Rules and Executive Nominations and Policy committees.
Wagner was a member of the Pittsburgh City Council for ten years, representing all city neighborhoods, and was Pittsburgh City Council's president from 1990 to 1993.
After graduating from South Hills High School in Pittsburgh, Wagner was employed by Duquesne Light Company in various capacities and was a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers for five years.
While employed by Duquesne Light Company, Wagner enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and served from 1966 to 1968. Wagner received a Purple Heart and other military commendations while serving in the Vietnam War in 1967.
Following his military service, Wagner enrolled at IUP. While a student, he worked as a paramedic with Citizens' Ambulance Service.
He serves on the boards of the Senator John Heinz History Center, the Obediah Cole Foundation for Prostate Cancer, the Veterans Leadership Program, the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Sharing and Caring Inc., and World War II Veterans of Allegheny County Memorial Fund Inc.
He is a member of the American Society of Safety Engineers, German American National Congress, Italian Sons and Daughters of America, Knights of Equity, Ancient Order of Hibernians, Lions Club, Elks Club, and Moose Club.
Wagner also belongs to the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, Vietnam Veterans Institute, and Veterans Political Action Committee.
He received the Veteran of the Year award from the Vietnam Veterans Leadership Program and the Outstanding Legislator Award from the Pennsylvania Veterans of Foreign Wars. He also received the Clarion Young Democrats John Shropshire Award.
In the fall of 2008, Wagner was awarded a lifetime, honorary membership to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
Wagner is a member of St. Catherine of Siena Church in Beechview. He and his wife, Nancy, are the parents of Luke and Sara.
At the inaugural Legacy Gala in 2008, Atwater presented the Presidential Legacy Award for Alumni Distinction to Terry Dunlap, a 1981 IUP graduate and president of Allegheny Ludlum; the Presidential Legacy Award for Civic Service to Keenan Holmes, a 2003 IUP graduate and attorney based in Pittsburgh; and the Presidential Legacy Award for Philanthropy to the Fairman family, of Jefferson County.