Greensburg Community Development Corporation hires director

The Greensburg Community Development Corporation has hired a full-time executive director, finishing a search that began more than a year ago.

Greensburg resident Ashley Kertes will lead the nonprofit organization, also known as Think Greensburg, which works closely with city government to promote commercial development.

Kertes is a North Huntingdon native who graduated from Seton Hill University in December.

She officially starts next week, but she’s been spending her time familiarizing herself with the corporation and working on ideas so she can hit the ground running.

“What does the city need to do in order to grow some more?” she asked. “I have some big shoes to fill.”

Kertes replaces longtime GCDC director Steve Gifford, who left the organization for a new job in March 2017 after 12 years.

Interim Director Faye Rosetti has been working for the organization part-time since then, but the organization’s activity slowed without a full-time director, particularly in promoting its efforts to the public, said Greensburg Planning Director Barbara Ciampini.

“We haven’t been as vocal about the things that have been going on behind the scenes,” she said.

The corporation’s board started a search for a new director, but called it off in July 2017 because of a lack of funding.

The organization applied for grants to pay the new director’s salary, but none of them came through.

Gifford had a salary of $33,590 a year, and board members said it was hard finding qualified candidates at that price.

The corporation was able to hire a new director in part because the city doubled its funding this year — from $20,000 to $40,000 — Ciampini’s said.

GCDC has not disclosed Kertes’ salary.

The organization’s budget is funded through the city’s contributions, grants, fundraisers, property sales and a special fund created through a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes initiative.

“Ashley’s energy and excitement is just what the organization need,” GCDC Board President Janet Zombek said in a statement. “She is truly an asset and will promote the city and take the organization to the next level.”

There’s a few projects that will begin soon now that a new director is in place, Ciampini said.

First up is rebranding. Think Greensburg will be debuting a new website and logo soon, Ciampini said.

It’s courting buyers for a vacant building it owns at 205 S. Pennsylvania Avenue, and a building at 130 Depot Avenue owned by the Westmoreland County Land Bank.

The organization also needs to revise its comprehensive inventory of city properties, which hasn’t been updated since before Gifford’s departure, Ciampini said.

“(Kertes and I will work very closely together, as Steve and I did for 12 years,” Ciampini said.