By Megan E. Sofilka
20
F E AT U R E
FALL 2009
Bridging Understanding
H
is client list includes top organizations like Verizon Wireless, Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield and the United States Army Corps of Engineers. As president and CEO of RDP Consulting Services, Inc., Ronald D. Porter ’67 has helped clients around the globe in England, Ghana, South Africa and Ethiopia. His journey has also taken him back home to where he was raised—Pittsburgh’s Hill District. This time it was for one of his clients: the Pittsburgh Penquins, a National Hockey League (NHL) team. As high school student shopping for colleges, he was prompted to visit Millersville by George Katchmer, who was then the Marauders football coach. Porter liked what he saw at Millersville and appreciated that he could return home periodically to visit his mother. Once in college, Porter faced challenges that went along with being an African-American during the civil rights era. “I vividly remember the folks who supported me at Millersville, and I also remember the people who were not supportive of black folks,” he recalls. “A solid education in English and my communication skills are a very important part of what I do. Secondly, being one of very few African-American students who were on campus those years helped me to develop coping skills and toughened me up for life. My overall experience at Millersville was positive.” After graduation he returned to Pittsburgh to marry and launch his
career, rising to vice president of human resources for Warner Cable Corporation. When the company was sold, Porter decided to start his own firm. Established almost 30 years ago, RDP Consulting, Inc., offers services including managing diversity, leadership development, strategic planning and conflict resolution. Building on his human resources experiences as well as his own life experiences, Porter “enjoys helping to build bridges of understanding among diverse people in the workplace and the community.” These bridges of understanding were
most recently witnessed by the Pittsburgh Penguins professional ice hockey team and the communities surrounding the construction of a new arena for the team. Three communities surround the arena: downtown, Duquesne and the Hill District. Overall, Pittsburghers are known for being fanatics for their hometown teams. So support for the new arena should have been a piece of cake—but one community, the Hill District, would prove to be a challenge. The Penguins approached Porter with the task of negotiating a community benefits agreement to garner support for
