Author: Pennsylvania Press Club

Guest Speaker
David Thornburgh
Senior Advisor to the Committee of Seventy
Chair of BallotPA

David Thornburgh is a nationally recognized “civic entrepreneur” who, in the course of his career, has launched a series of innovative high impact initiatives to tackle tough community problems.

He was named President and CEO of the Committee of Seventy, the Philadelphia-based good government group, in November, 2014.

Thornburgh came to Seventy from the University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Institute of Government, where he had served as Executive Director since 2008. While at Fels he doubled applications to the program, launched an innovative hybrid Executive MPA program and, during Fels’ 75th Anniversary campaign in 2012 quadrupled alumni giving and carried out 12 public programs that attracted over 1,200 alumni and political and community leaders. He also created a national Public Policy Challenge student competition in partnership with Governing magazine that drew teams from 12 top universities.

 

Guest Speaker
Berwood Yost
Director of the Franklin & Marshall College Poll

Berwood Yost is the Director of the Center for Opinion Research and the Director of the Floyd Institute for Public Policy at Franklin & Marshall College. He is also the Director of the Franklin & Marshall College Poll, which tracks public attitudes toward public policy issues and political campaigns. His scholarship is multidisciplinary and has appeared in journals that include the fields of criminology, human rights, political science, psychology, and public health.

Mr. Yost frequently writes about the results and implications of political campaigns in the state and has closely followed changes within the state’s electorate. His recent work has attempted to identify ideological and partisan patterns among the state’s voters and his forthcoming book, a co-edited volume from Temple University Press, “Are All Politics Nationalized? Evidence from the 2020 Pennsylvania Campaigns,” explores how political campaigns communicate with voters about the issues that are most important to them.

Mr. Yost also began publishing a newsletter about state politics in February of 2021 and regularly writes about state politics, polling, and public policy for a general audience.

 

Guest Speaker
Salena Zito
National Political Columnist and Reporter

Salena Zito joined the Washington Examiner in 2016 as a Western Pennsylvania-based columnist and reporter covering national politics and culture.

She is also a weekly columnist at the New York Post, contributes to The Wall Street Journal and co-authored “The Great Revolt: Inside the Populist Coalition Reshaping American Politics” with Brad Todd.

In 2018, she won first place for her columns in the Associated Press for her coverage of American politics, and she also won the Barbara Olson award for excellence and independence in journalism.

 

Guest Speaker
Rep. Kerry Benninghoff
PA House Majority Leader

Representing the 171st legislative district located in Centre and Mifflin Counties, Kerry Benninghoff was elected by his colleagues in June 2020 to serve as Majority Leader.

Prior to that he served on the Leadership team as Majority Whip and for two terms as the House Majority Policy Committee chairman. He also previously served as chairman of the House Majority Finance and State Government committees. He is the founder and former chairman of the bipartisan Cancer Caucus.

Prior to being elected to represent the 171st district, Rep. Benninghoff worked in construction, cared for patients as a hospital orderly and served Centre County for two terms as county coroner.

He is a graduate of State College Area High School and attended Pennsylvania State University. He is a graduate of the Certified Coroners Training Program conducted in Hershey by the state of Pennsylvania.

He resides in Bellefonte and is the father of five children – Michael, Heather, Amy, Kelley and Ryleigh.