Executive Committee Brief Bios

Lisa Adria Golden, M.D.

A&S ‘93
Officer, President

Education:
Allegheny General Hospital, Residency in Emergency Medicine, July 1997 – June 2000
Pittsburgh, PA
Medical College of Pennsylvania, Doctor of Medicine, May 1997
University of Pittsburgh, Bachelor of Science-Neuroscience, Magna cum laude, May 1993

Lisa received a Bachelor of Science in neuroscience, magna cum laude, from the University of Pittsburgh in 1993. Lisa is currently an emergency physician working clinically at UPMC Altoona.  Lisa is currently president of the Pitt Alumni Association and began her involvement with the alumni association by joining the Alumni Leadership Council in 2007.  She became a director at large on the PAA Board in 2009 and has served as Chair of the Scholarship Committee and has served on the Executive committee.  Lisa is an avid Pitt sports fan and resides in Windber, PA.

Valerie Njie

EDUC ‘71
Officer, President-Elect

Val has been an active member of the PAA Board since 2010 in a variety of positions including most recently as a Vice-President on our Executive Committee. In addition, Val has been an integral leader of the African American Alumni Council.

In 2015, Val was awarded the PAA Volunteer Excellence Award, which recognizes Pitt alumni who have enriched the lives of others through extraordinary efforts in the community. She has also won the African American Alumni Council’s Blue Gold & Black: Colors of Celebration Leadership Award.  Val is currently an Executive Director/Vice-President at the Bidwell Training Center, a state licensed, accredited career training institution that has trained and placed thousands of graduates in meaningful jobs throughout the region since 1968

Debra Thompson, Ph.D.

NURS ’77, ’81, ‘10
Officer, Vice President

Debra N. Thompson, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, owner and principal of Debra N. Thompson, LLC holds an Adjunct Faculty appointment as an Assistant Professor, at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Nursing. Debra has expertise in leadership development, patient safety and quality improvement. She has extensive experience in using industrial models in health care to improve safety, quality, and care outcomes. Currently, she works with a variety of healthcare organizations nationally and internationally to apply these principles. Debra has held a variety of administrative roles in both academic medical centers and community hospitals. She has coauthored multiple articles on organizational transformation, work redesign, and patient safety as well as presenting internationally and nationally. She is a member of the American Organization of Nurse Executives and serves as a member of the Foundation Education Committee. She served on the Patient Safety and Quality Committee. Debra is Past President, Eta Chapter of Sigma Theta International and is the current chair of the Research and Clinical Projects Committee, Eta Chapter Sigma Theta Tau International. 

Richard Sedory

A&S ’83, LAW ‘86
Officer/Vice President

Richard Sedory is General Counsel, Senior Vice President and Secretary for Wastequip, LLC. As Chief Legal Officer, he is responsible for overseeing and advising the leading North American manufacturer of waste handling and recycling equipment on all aspects of legal affairs, compliance, risk and defense. 

Prior to joining Wastequip, Rich was General Counsel for Transtar Industries and Axiom Automotive Technologies, and held senior Legal, Human Resources and Administrative positions at United Technologies, PNC Bank and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Rich is on the Board of Directors for the University of Pittsburgh Alumni Association, the Association of Corporate Counsel Charlotte Chapter, and chairs the ACC Charlotte Career Development Committee. He is also a Director for Patriot Container Corp, a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors and regularly presents at numerous continuing legal education seminars and cheerfully volunteers for pro bono and charity activities in the Charlotte area. Rich was also recognized as “General Counsel of the Year” by the Charlotte Business Journal in 2018.

Rich received his JD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and has dual undergraduate degrees in Business and Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh.

Rich and his wife Shelly reside in Charlotte, NC. They have two children, Sam and Holly, who are both Clemson grads. 

Arnold M. Epstein, J.D.

Education, 1969
Officer, Secretary

Arnold Epstein is Managing Partner at Brennan, Robins & Daley, P.C. in Pittsburgh, PA. He earned an undergraduate degree from Pitt in 1969, followed by a J.D. degree from the University of Akron School of Law. Since 1979, Arnold has been a part-time adjunct instructor in the Administration of Justice & Legal Studies Program at Pitt’s Graduate School of Public & International Affairs. He has taught introductory courses on law and legal issues to generations of Pitt students. Arnold is an enthusiastic life member of Pitt’s Alumni Association. He has served in a wide range of capacities, as Board member, leader of the Student Committee, Advocate Representative, Alumni Leadership Council member, Team Pittsburgh member, and now as Board of Directors At Large Representative. He has attended many Pitt Days in Harrisburg, meeting with Pennsylvania legislators to advocate for the University. 

Arnold lives in Churchill with his wife, Barbara, also a Pitt alum and Director of Pitt’s Health Sciences
Library System.

Lawrence “Guido” Gurrera

A&S ’05, LAW ‘09
Officer, Treasurer

Guido is a graduate of the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences in 2005 and the Barco School of Law in 2009. He is a partner in the Pittsburgh-based law firm of Edgar Snyder & Associates, focusing his practice on civil litigation. Guido received the firm’s inaugural “Firm Citizen” Award, which is given to the staff member who best epitomizes the firm’s core values. He is licensed to practice in all courts in Pennsylvania and Ohio, as well as the Federal District Courts of the Western District of Pennsylvania and the District of Maryland. He has served on the Boards of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice (formerly Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association) and the Western Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers’ Association. He has lectured to students in local universities and to fellow attorneys through the Pennsylvania Bar Institute. He volunteers with the Pittsburgh Pro Bono Partnership Criminal Records Expungement Program and the Western Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association Wills Project. In 2019, Guido received the University of Pittsburgh School of Law’s inaugural Distinguished Young Alumni Award.

Guido presently serves as Treasurer and has been on the Board of Directors of the Alumni Association since 2016. He has served as the chairman of the inaugural Young Alumni Advisory Team – a committee focused on increasing the engagement of Pitt Alumni who have graduated within the past 10 years. He also has served as chairman of a social media task force which examined the Association’s social media practices and effectiveness. He has previously volunteered in many capacities with the University including serving as the chapter adviser to Pitt’s Phi Alpha Delta pre-law fraternity and Sigma Chi, hosting Dinners with 12 Panthers, acting as an Ambassador for the Panthers Forward Program, and participating as a mentor in several programs for undergraduate and law students. Guido co-directs the Pitt Celebrity Golf Tournament, an annual golf event benefiting the Dick Groat Scholarship Fund which supports the academic needs of Pitt student-athletes.

He sits on the Board of Directors of Steel Smiling, a local non-profit working to provide mental health support to community members. Guido and his wife, Susie, just welcomed their first child, a baby girl named Risa Oakes. In their free time, Guido and Susie enjoy running, traveling, and all things Pitt (of course!).  

Helen Bowers

A&S ‘92
Officer, Director at Large Representative

Helen C. Bowers is a 1991 graduate of the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences.  She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Rhetoric and Communication.

Helen currently serves as a Client Relationship Manager for Optima Lender Services, LLC a national title and settlement company based in Cleveland, Ohio. Optima offers full title and settlement services on both residential and commercial properties nationwide. Although she is a vital member of the management team, Helen is also a team player who is always willing to assist in whatever capacity she can. She has excellent customer service and communication skills.  Helen enjoys working on special projects and often takes on project management tasks with successful end results.

Helen Bowers has been an active member of the African American Alumni Council (AAAC), an affinity group with the Pitt Alumni Association for the past 10 years, currently serving as Vice President and member of the Pitt Alumni Advisory Council. A native New Yorker, she has resided in Pittsburgh for 20+ years and has become very active in her community. Helen volunteers with a variety of service organizations in and around the Western PA area. As an undergraduate, Helen pledged Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., a Public Service Sorority and currently serves as Vice-President of the Sorority’s Pittsburgh Alumnae Chapter.

Lisa M. Polar, CEBS, MBA, SPHR

KGSB ‘98
Officer, SCR Chair

Lisa Polar is the Human Resources Director at Strada Architecture, a cross-disciplinary firm that employs a human-centered approach to design, where architects, interior designers, urban designers, landscape architects, and graphic designers regularly collaborate to create places that people truly enjoy.

She has over 20 years of experience in human resources management, with in-depth knowledge of employee relations, benefits, policy and plan administration, legal compliance, analysis/reporting, talent systems, vendor relationship management, employee communications, and client service. She has worked for various types of employers including a global public relations agency, an employer healthcare coalition, the trust department of a major bank, a national building materials supplier, and a metals service center.

Lisa has a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from Grove City College and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Graduate School of Business. She earned the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS) professional certification co-sponsored by The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, and the Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) certification from the HR Certification Institute. She resides in Pittsburgh with her husband and three children.

Gary Brownlee

A&S ’74, KGSB ‘78
Officer, Immediate Past President

Gary Brownlee, residing in Valparaiso, Indiana, is a Business Advisor with the Indiana Small Business Development Center at Purdue University. In that capacity he works with entrepreneurs and business owners on a wide range of financing and marketing matters. Mr. Brownlee was cited in early 2016 by former Indiana lieutenant governor, Sue Ellspermann, for his efforts to assist Indiana entrepreneurs in their capital-raising efforts. After earning his M.B.A. degree from Pitt’s Katz Graduate School of Business, Mr. Brownlee assumed positions of increasing responsibility for Mellon Bank (now Bank of New York Mellon), GE Capital’s mortgage finance unit and Indiana Federal Bank. He co-founded and served as Managing Partner for New State Mortgage, LLC in 1998, which originated residential mortgage loans to high quality borrowers in 12 states. Mr. Brownlee sold his interest in the company in late 2007. Mr. Brownlee has been active in the Pitt Club of Chicago since 1998 and serves as the Club’s Treasurer.

He is a co-founder of the Club’s endowed scholarship fund which annually awards two scholarships to Chicago area Pitt students. Since joining the Board in 2003 Mr. Brownlee has served in a variety of capacities, including Regional Board Representative, Secretary, Treasurer and President-Elect. Mr. Brownlee is married to the former Roberta Doyle and has two children.