Robert R. Spaulding
Short-Bio
Bob was appointed Erie County’s Director of Economic Development in 2006. He is responsible for streamlining and managing the economic development process in Erie County in support of business retention, expansion, attraction. He works in cooperation and collaboration with a number of other local, state and federal organizations and agencies with a focus on County and regional growth and prosperity.
Except for serving as the Chief Operating Officer of the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership for a number of years, Bob’s entire career was involved in the field of regulated and non-regulated energy. He was a 30-year employee with Penelec (Pennsylvania Electric Company) starting in 1967 as an Engineering Consultant at Corporate Headquarters in Johnstown. He moved through a number of senior management positions, ultimately being promoted to serve as the Regional Executive in three (3) of Penelec’s five (5) operating regions in Oil City, Altoona, and Erie prior to an early retirement in 1997.
He has worked as an independent consultant to business and industry relative to the deregulation of the electric and natural gas industry in Pennsylvania. He also served as an executive for a Pennsylvania based energy company engaged in brokering and marketing natural gas and electricity.
Bob is very active in a number of community organizations and boards:
Current
Hamot Health Foundation and Medical Center--Trustee & Director
Tri-State Trauma/Emergycare--Board Member
Leadership Erie--Board Member
PSU-Behrend College Council of Fellows--Member
PSU-Behrend College School of Engineering Board of Visitors--Member/Former Chairman
Congressman English’s Foreign Trade Advisory Board—Member
Northwest PA. Workforce Investment Board—Board Member
Northwest PA. Planning and Development Commission—Board Member
Bob was also a long time board member of the Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority serving as Chairman and Treasurer. He is a 1967 graduate of Penn State with a degree in Engineering Technology.