Bethel Park High School Alumni Hall of Fame inductees announced
The Bethel Park Great Alumni Hall of Fame was created in 2013 to recognize and honor Bethel Park High School alumni who have demonstrated outstanding accomplishments either personally or professionally after graduating from Bethel Park High School. Honorees were selected because they either significantly improved the lives of others, contributed significant volunteer or community service, or achieved significant advancement in their professional field.
The latest class was inducted on Jan. 16.
Andrew Amrhein (Class of 1978)
Andy Amrhein knew he wanted to be in the hardware business when he was 13, as he mopped the floors of Evey Hardware. His responsibilities at the store increased as he aged to include shift manager, and later, general manager, before purchasing the store from founder Ed Evey in 1995. Since 2005, Amrhein shares his home improvement expertise weekly on KDKA-Radio’s True Value Home Improvement Hour and on KDKA-TV’s “Pittsburgh Today Live.” He also shares his love of his hometown on BPTV’s “Around Town With Andy Amhrein,” showcasing the positive aspects of Bethel Park. Amrhein is entwined with many aspects of the community, serving on several Bethel Park School District committees, as a trustee for the Bethel Park Community Foundation, the Bethel Park Police Meritorious Awards Association and a board member for the Boy Scouts of America. Always willing to help a good cause, his efforts helped to make the newly-created Bethel Park Community Garden a reality. He was named the Bethel Park 2003 Citizen of the Year by The Almanac. He is extremely proud to support the community he has called home for his entire life.
Anthony E. Daniels (Class of 1959)
Anthony E. Daniels is the CEO of Manuel, Daniels, Burke International, LLC, a private investigation and security consulting firm established in 2000. He began his investigative career in 1967 with the FBI and served the Bureau for 27 years before retiring. As a charter member of the FBI’s Senior Executive Service, he was the recipient of the Presidential Rank Award for Excellence in 1990 and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Attorney General’s Award in 1993. Additionally, he has received numerous personal commendations from five different FBI directors over his career. He has overseen the Bureau’s Organized Crime, Drug, White Collar Crime and Investigative Support Program. At the time of his retirement, Daniels was the assistant director in charge of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Field Office, the second largest FBI office in the country. He also served as the assistant director in charge of the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., where he was responsible for the FBI’s world-wide training program. He has been an FBI spokesperson for the media and has testified on numerous occasions before Congress on behalf of the FBI. He currently resides in Northern Virginia.
Rebecca Masisak (Class of 1975)
Rebecca Masisak is the CEO of TechSoup Global, an award-winning non-profit social enterprise that supports people working for good around the world. After five years as a small business owner, a decade as strategy consultant and three years in a venture-backed technology start-up, Masisak brought her skills to TechSoup to help the organization deliver technology capacity to non-profits. Today, TechSoup has 660,000 non-profit customers in 122 countries, distributing more than $2 billion in technology and delivering technology capacity in 22 languages. In 2010, Masisak established a public foundation in Poland and acquired a public charity in the United Kingdom. Her many awards and recognitions include first place in a Yale, Goldman Sachs, Pew Charitable trusts Social Enterprise Business Planning Competition, the Full Circle Fund Technology Impact Award, articles in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and frequent requests to speak at conferences and the White House. She also volunteers for the Social Enterprise Alliance, S.A.G.E. (Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship), the Social Enterprise CEO Leaders Forum and the Ethics and Accountability Committee of the Independence Sector. She currently resides in Half Moon Bay, Calif.
Sgt. Todd Patterson (Class of 1979)
Todd Patterson feels blessed to have a great career that allowed him to serve the public. He moved to Washington, D.C., in 1983 to take a job with the FBI’s Office of Congressional and Public Affairs before fulfilling his ambition to become a police officer with the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department. He worked his way up the chain of command from patrol officer to sergeant of the Special Operations Division, where he worked with the Secret Service and State Department to coordinate various motorcade, route and site security involving the president and vice president. He also coordinated police escort details for events such as presidential inaugurations, the 2010 Nuclear Summit, IMF and World Bank meetings and President Reagan’s funeral. Patterson was in charge of all police Harley Davidson motorcycle and escort training for the MPD and was the director and treasurer of the National Police Motorcycle Training Seminar from 2005-2008. This event raised funds for C.O.P.S., an organization that provides support for families of police officers killed in the line of duty. During his career, he received hundreds of letters of accommodation, thank you and awards from Commanding Officers, Chiefs of Police, U.S. Attorneys, members of the Secret Service, State Department and citizens.
Jessica L. Wright (Class of 1970)
Secretary Jessica L. Wright was selected to serve as the United States Department of Defense’s Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness in 2013 after serving as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs since 2012. In her current position, she is the deputy senior policy advisor to the Secretary of Defense on recruitment, career development, pay and benefits for 1.4 million active duty personnel, 1.3 million Guard and Reserve personnel, 680,000 Department of Defense civilians and is responsible for overseeing the overall state of military readiness. Her distinguished 35-year career of military service culminated in her final assignment as Adjutant General of Pennsylvania and Commander of the Pennsylvania National Guard. She began her military career as an enlistee in the PA Army National Guard in 1975 and became the first female Army aviator in the Army National Guard. She was also the first female maneuver brigade commander in the Army. Her many awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, the Senior Army Aviator badge, the Chapel of the Four Chaplains Gold Award, ATHENA Award and the Philadelphia Union League’s Distinguished Soldier Award.