Ron Wertz, President of Pittsburgh\'s Hillman Foundation, Receives Honorary Degree
(Posted April 30, 2007)
HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Ron Wertz, a native of Lewistown, Pa., graduated from Juniata College in 1959, earning a bachelor\'s degree in business administration. His wife, the former Ann Larkin, a native of Pittsburgh, also graduated from Juniata in 1959, earning a bachelor\'s degree in home economics. Ann Wertz taught home economics after graduating from Juniata. She later became an active community volunteer and full-time homemaker. She has held offices in organizations such as the Women\'s Committee of the Carnegie Museum of Art and the Junior League of Pittsburgh. During the 1980s and 1990s, she was co-principal in an advertising/public relations company. Ron started his career in higher education at Juniata in 1959 as assistant director of admissions. He was promoted to director of admissions in 1960. In 1963, he moved to Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., where he initially served as director of financial aid and placement, and later as director of development. He left Franklin and Marshall in 1969 to join the Hillman Foundation as its first executive director. In 1990, he was named president and trustee of the foundation, titles he still holds. Since joining the foundation in 1969, he has worked with members of the Hillman family developing their philanthropic interests and currently serves as either president or executive director of the family\'s foundations. He also is a consultant to the Hillman Company, a private investment firm. Ron has been an active volunteer for Juniata College. He served on the college\'s board of trustees from 1987 to 1993 and served on the President\'s Development Council. In 1994, he received the Harold B. Brumbaugh Alumni Service Award. He served as chair of the College Task Force that planned Juniata\'s 1993 capital campaign. Ann has served as class fund agent for the college\'s annual fund. Wertz, a resident of Pittsburgh, has been active in a variety of professional and community associations, including the Philanthropy Roundtable, the Council of Foundations and the Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania. His community involvement includes having served on the board of directors of Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Pittsburgh Children\'s Museum, St. Clair Hospital and the St. Clair Hospital Foundation. Ronald and Ann Wertz have three children: Laurie E. Wertz, who resides in San Francisco, Calif.; Michael S. Wertz, who lives in the Pittsburgh area, and Jeffrey L. Wertz, who lives in Aspen, Colo.. The Wertzes have four grandchildren.
Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.