Pittsburgh Regional Alliance president stepping down

After four years as president of the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, David Ruppersberger is stepping down as the leader of the 10-county region’s economic development marketing organization.

His resignation is effective March 15. The Pittsburgh Regional Alliance is affiliated with the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

With Ruppersberger at the helm, the PRA helped secure more than 140 business investment “wins,” according to a statement issued by the Allegheny Conference.

Chief among those was the 2016 decision by Shell Pennsylvania Chemicals to build a multi-billion dollar facility in Beaver County.

During his tenure, Ruppersberger helped formulate economic development strategies to pursue business investment and job creation opportunities for the region. In an April 2015 interview with the Trib, Ruppersberger said Pittsburgh has some advantages over places like California’s Silicon Valley in attracting new tech companies .

“Some are the ones we talk about traditionally — high quality of life and relatively low cost of living,” said Ruppersberger. “I don’t think you can just sell those things.

“I think generally what you’re seeing is people come here for a specific reason. There’s a technology or group of researchers that they’re particularly interested in accessing. So it’s that and a combination of the more amenities thing that makes us competitive.”

Allegheny Conference CEO Stefani Pashman said she was saddened by Ruppersberger’s decision to step down.

“I am grateful to have had the chance to work alongside him in efforts to market the region, particularly on the region’s Amazon HQ2 bid, which placed us among the top 20 metros vying for this signature tech investment.”

Ruppersberger was not specific about his future plans.

“I look forward to continuing to be involved in efforts to improve our economic vitality as I move on to the next chapter of my career,” he said.

The Allegheny Conference declined to share information about Ruppersberger’s salary. The organization has hired a search firm to identify candidates to succeed Ruppersberger with no target date for a successor.