May 11, 2020
PITTSBURGH - Ken Zapinski has joined Pittsburgh Works Together, a business labor alliance formed to promote the expansion of the region’s energy, manufacturing and traditional industries, as director of research and public policy.
“I’m incredibly excited to join the Pittsburgh Works team to help shape the region’s future,” Mr. Zapinski said. “As the country retools its economy to adjust to a new post-COVID world, it’s critical that we ensure that there are genuine opportunities for everybody, from Ph.D.s in lab coats to high school graduates who like to work with their hands.”
Previously, Mr. Zapinski led the energy, infrastructure, and transportation initiatives at the Allegheny
Conference on Community Development after an award-winning career as a journalist.
Mr. Zapinski’s projects at the Allegheny Conference included staff director of the Regional Air Service Partnership which focused on rebuilding service at Pittsburgh International Airport after US Airways’ bankruptcy. He brokered an agreement among the governors of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia to work jointly on natural gas economic development opportunities by forming the Tri-State Shale Coalition. And he led a multi-county county effort to convince the federal government to designate the Parkway West as an interstate highway to boost the region’s economic development prospects.
During his time in the media, Mr. Zapinski was an editor and reporter at newspapers including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, and the St. Petersburg Times. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois, and a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh Works Together is a new business-labor alliance which understands that a diverse economy that includes traditional industry alongside tomorrow’s technologies is the surest path to sustainable prosperity for everyone. The co-chairs are Tom Melcher, business manager of the Pittsburgh Regional Business Trades Council, and Morgan O'Brien, former president of Peoples Natural Gas Co.
Contact: Dennis Roddy
412.855.2676
press@pghworks.com
