Former Duquesne Light President Victor Roque has been selected to serve as interim president and CEO of the Hill House Association as a search for outgoing head Evan Frazier continues.
“I’m thrilled to be able to contribute my time and talents over the next few months to the Hill House, a historic and important agency, not just for the Hill District, but for the entire region,” he said. “It’s an honor to be called on to serve in such an important and meaningful way.”
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VICTOR ROQUE
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Currently president of the utility consulting firm Innovation Power Group, Roque is the Hill House board vice chair and former chair of its finance committee. Roque is also the past board chair of the Urban League of Pittsburgh and former board president of the Winchester Thurston school.
Hill House board Chair Greg Spenser has known Roque for years and called him a perfect fit, saying he is uniquely suited to guide the Hill House through its transition period.
“Victor has a stellar CEO record. He has played a key leadership role on the Hill House board for a number of years and knows the agency well,” Spenser said. “He not only brings exceptional executive talents to his role, he brings an understanding and concern of the issues faced by those the Hill House serves.”
Frazier, who after six years at the helm is returning to the private sector in January as Highmark’s senior vice president of community affairs, agreed that Roque’s familiarity with the agency is a huge asset.
“We are fortunate to have someone like Victor to lead Hill House through this transition,” he said. “Both Greg and I look forward to working with Victor to ensure continuity on projects at the neighborhood level.”
Roque said Frazier’s stewardship has put the Hill House in a strong position to continue to provide and expand its core services.
Under Frazier’s guidance, the Hill House Association turned an ancillary storage space into a revenue generating Family Dollar store, and acquired the neighboring office and retail space built by developer Irv Williams. Frazier also directed a $9 million capital campaign, more than half of which is going to restore the Kaufmann Center and Elsie Hillman Auditorium to a destination for music and culture.
The Hill House can now act as a major service and training provider via the community benefits agreement signed by the city of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and the Pittsburgh Penguins relating to the construction of the Consol Energy Arena’s future economic development in the Hill District and on the current Mellon Arena site.
“We are fortunate that Evan has left us a well defined agenda and I intend to move forward with it,” said Roque. “We will focus on our programming, fundraising, fiscal responsibility and a continued emphasis on neighborhood and economic development, early childhood learning, youth, family and senior services and workforce development. I’m also fortunate to have a terrific staff in place to oversee these projects, and I will rely on them heavily.”
(Send comments to cmorrow@newpittsburghcourier.com.)
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