DR.
FRANK K. SCHWEIGHARDT ELECTED DA VINCI SCIENCE
CENTER CHAIRMAN
VINCENT SORGI OF PPL ELECTED TREASURER
News Date
May 21, 2010
He came to the Da Vinci Science Center as a fresh Air Products retiree looking to spend a few hours a week showing children and families around the exhibits. Circumstance and passion led Dr. Frank K. Schweighardt to become an influential leader of one of the Center's most successful programs, the organization's interim CEO, and a trustee.
Schweighardt began another chapter in his remarkable Da Vinci Science Center experience Friday when he was elected chairman of the organization's Board of Trustees. Schweighardt will serve a two-year term, succeeding Peter C. Dent of Electron Energy Corp., who had been the Center's chairman since 2006.
Vincent Sorgi, vice president and corporate controller for PPL Corporation, also was elected board treasurer during Friday's quarterly meeting. Sorgi will serve a two-year term, succeeding Henry T. Lyons, Jr., the former president and CEO of H.T. Lyons, Inc. Dr. Kathryn C. Worrilow, a scientific consultant and an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology for the Penn State University College of Medicine, was elected to her second term as board secretary.
Elected to new three-year trustee terms at Friday's quarterly meeting were: Dr. John Jaffe, the former executive medical director of the Lehigh Valley Physician Hospital Organization; Richard Milker, vice president of technical services/R&D for Just Born, Inc.; James D. Nallo, a community leader and retired businessman; Joseph M. Pietrantonio, vice president, global operations for Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.; and Michael Salute, director - operations, patent sales, and licensing for LSI Corp.
Dent and Lyons completed their service as trustees Friday along with trustees Lewis Cyr of First Niagara Bank and Ellen Baker Ghelardi of The Dexter F. and Dorothy H. Baker Foundation.
Schweighardt came to the Da Vinci Science Center in 2006 shortly after retiring from Air Products to work on its exhibit floor. A holder of 28 U.S. patents and 17 foreign patents as a chemist, Schweighardt was recruited subsequently to help the Center develop its Explorer and Inventor clubs for member children.
Schweighardt's retirement took a sharp turn in the summer of 2008 when Frank Steslow, then the Da Vinci Science Center's executive director and chief executive officer, announced plans to assume a position with the Miami Science Museum. While the Center's Board of Trustees began a national search immediately for a permanent successor, it also searched for an interim executive director. Impressed by Schweighardt's achievements as global manager of process analytical at Air Products and dedication to the Da Vinci Science Center's mission, the board asked Schweighardt to suspend his retirement and lead the organization through its transition.
Schweighardt would serve as the Da Vinci Science Center's executive director from Aug. 2008-March 2009, earning praise for strengthening the Center's business models, streamlining its operations, clarifying its core strategies, and coordinating the search for a new CEO. The organization's board elected Schweighardt to a term as a trustee shortly before the end of his tenure. Schweighardt was elected vice chairman in May 2009.
Meanwhile, visitors still see Dr. Schweighardt doing what he likes best at least once a week, working with visitors on the Center's exhibit floor and wearing the volunteer red vest proudly.
During his 27-year career with Air Products, Schweighardt established a new line of ultra-pure gases for use in laboratories. Schweighardt was also chairman of the board for the International Forum of Process Analytical Chemistry in 2003 and has been a member of several professional organizations.
Schweighardt holds a doctorate in Molecular Biophysics and Physical Chemistry from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, and a bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Seton Hall University, South Orange, N.J. He and his wife, Yvonne, live in Allentown and have an adult daughter and an adult son.
Sorgi became PPL's corporate controller in March 2010. He was controller for PPL EnergyPlus from 2007-2010 and financial director of PPL's power generation unit for one year. Prior to joining PPL, Sorgi worked in a variety of financial positions for Deloitte & Touche and PSEG in Newark, N.J.
The son of a mason in a working-class northern New Jersey town, Sorgi is passionate about volunteering and helping under-privileged children. He has led PPL in giving food and clothing to inner-city children worth thousands of dollars in the past three winter holiday seasons. Sorgi also has been a volunteer tutor at Central Elementary School in Allentown, Pa.
Sorgi holds a bachelor's
degree in Accounting from Penn State University, where he graduated at the
top of his class in its College of Business.
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