Category: News || By Submitted Report

The new CEO of the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank is a South Carolina man with more than a decade of experience at a similar organization.

D. Jermaine Husser takes over as chief executive officer of the Duquesne-based food bank on Aug. 1. He replaces longtime Greater Pittsburgh food bank executive Joyce Rothermel, who is retiring.

Husser is an Army veteran and native of the Charleston, S.C., suburb of Goose Creek. A graduate of Trident Technical College, Husser worked for the Lowcountry Food Bank in Charleston for 14 years, including six years as executive director, overseeing its annual $4.2 million budget and a $5.4 million building campaign. Lowcountry serves 385 partner agencies and distributes 17 million pounds of food to needy families in 10 counties.

Vice-chair of the South Carolina Food Bank Association and a member of the national action committee of Feeding America, Husser is a past president of the Rotary Club of Charleston, as well as its first African-American president. He and his wife Thetyka have a 3-year-old daughter, London Jade.

A spokeswoman for the Greater Pittsburgh food bank says that Husser was chosen after a seven-month nationwide search.

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The food bank's board was "especially impressed by (Husser's) passionate commitment to the mission of fighting hunger," says Rothermel, who is retiring after 24 years with the organization, formerly located in the old Potter-McCune warehouse in McKeesport. Husser's "energy is infectious," she says.

Rothermel, who will work alongside Husser for several weeks during the management transition, says that although a change in leadership may cause some people to worry, the food bank's management is "in good hands" with its new CEO and the existing staff.

"A new person at the helm will bring new productive opportunities," Rothermel says.

Founded in June 1980, the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank currently serves more than 380 agencies in 11 counties, distributing 21 million pounds of food to needy families through soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters, schools and community centers, and senior-citizen activities such as Meals on Wheels.

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Meanwhile, tickets are still available for the Pittsburgh Blues Festival, which runs July 22 to 24 at Hartwood Acres, north of Pittsburgh. Proceeds benefit the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

A spokeswoman says that in addition to more than a dozen acts, this year's Blues Festival features new merchandise vendors and new food vendors.

For tickets and more information, visit the food bank's website or call 412) 460-BLUE.

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