Malin Bergquist promoted Pittsburgh office staffers Lisa Altschaffl, supervisor; Timothy Carfang, supervisor; Michael Pede, staff accountant II; and Greensburg office workers Cole Beehner, to staff accountant II; and Emerson Long, supervisor.

Neil H. Alexander, director, HT Corporate services, a division of Hefren-Tillotson Inc., was appointed to the board of trustees of the Securities Industry Institute.

Four Pennsylvania professional tobacconists have qualified for membership in the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association. The new members include: Sean Cuncannun, 7 Valleys Custom Blends; Lee Lee, Smokings; Andrew Lee, Executive Cigars; Gregory Ionadi, Smoke N' Guns.

The Risk Management Association named officers for 2009-2010:

President: William D. Buseck, president, W. D. Buseck & Associates, LLC,; first vice-president: Mark Buchek, vice president/portfolio manager, NexTier Bank; second vice president: Robert Bruns, chief lending officer, Allegheny Valley Bank;secretary/treasurer: Timothy Glass, corporate lender, global client management, Bank of New York Mellon Corp.

Brady Communications hired Julie Klausner, director of client services overseeing new business acquisition and client relationships; Nina Markoff, account manager and Hsiung Leu, Web project manager.

Linda K. Ross was named director, communications, for the Pittsburgh Mercy Health System.

PPG Industries appointed Richard A. Beuke to vice president, silica products, and Patrick J. Kenny to vice president, corporate marketing.

Quest Fore welcomed a partnering with CJ Patrick in the interactive media department.

Mary Lee Gannon was hired as president of St. Margaret Foundation.

Peter Sukernek, vice president/general manager of the commercial division of Howard Hanna Co., was elected president of the board of Forward Shady Housing Authority.

The ASSET Inc. (Achieving Student Success through Excellence in Teaching) named its officers for 2009-10: President, Harry Goern, management consultant and retired Alcoa executive; vice president, Rebecca Lucore, executive director, Bayer USA Foundation; secretary, Tom Siegele, director of human resources, PPG Industries Inc.; treasurer, Richard Rose, Bethel Park school board member. In addition, ASSET welcomes two new members to its board: John Hoover, superintendent, Hampton Township School District; and Gary Norris, vice president, business development officer, Fifth Third Bank.

"Money Q&A" and "Company Town" are featured exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.