’Mid the Pines Podcast

We caught up with Jake Loosararian '13, founder and CEO of Gecko Robotics to talk about his journey from "Grover to Gecko" and points in between. Find out more about Jake and his quickly expanding company that now has a presence in the Netherlands, a brand new 70,000 square foot Pittsburgh headquarters at Nova Place, and the largest 2022 investor funding round ($73M) in the Pittsburgh region to date.  

Our guests on the ‘Mid the Pines podcast are a husband-and-wife team, Nate Mucha, class of 2008 and Amy Fisher Mucha, class of 2009. Nate and Amy live and work in Kent, OH, each owning a growing business while raising a young family together. In work and life, this couple has surrounded themselves with a community of Grove City College alumni!

Amy Evans from Grove City College is joined by alumna Karin (Hawkins) Reed, class of 1992.  Karin is an Emmy award-winning journalist and CEO of Speaker Dynamics, a corporate communications training firm, featured in Forbes. While speaking through a webcam might be relatively new to much of the world, Karin has been teaching business professionals how to be effective on-camera communicators for nearly a decade. A three-time award-winning author, she has been quoted as a thought leader by various prestigious publications, including Inc. (Incorporated)  Magazine, Fast Company and Business Insider and was named an “Author who Inspires Us” by McKinsey and Company.

Karin and her team have been the chosen training partner for some of the world’s most recognized companies – from Nike to Lenovo (lə-NOH-voh) – and most respected academic institutions in the world –from Duke University to the Graduate School of Business at Stanford.

Joanie Baumgartner from Grove City College talks with alumna Kathy Hunt, class of 1991, also known as “Kitchen Kat.” Kathy is a professional writer, blogger, a trained chef, a cooking class instructor, and lecturer. She’s a lifetime learner with 2 master’s degrees and culinary school rounding out her Grove City College degree. 

She’s accomplished all this while also being a consummate world traveler, having visited 51 countries on six continents! She’s just launched her third book, the second cookbook she’s authored, titled “Luscious, Tender, Juicy: Recipes for Perfect Texture in Dinners, Desserts, and More.”

Christine (Bittler '97) Keener receives the Jack Kennedy Alumni Achievement Award at Homecoming 2021.  She is vice president of operations, in Europe and North America, for Alcoa, Inc., where she is responsible for the operational performance of 10 production facilities in Europe and North America employing over 6,300. Most recently, she served as VP Commercial & Strategy where she led marketing, sales, trading, new business development, metal planning, commodity risk management, and customer service for the global primary metal portfolio of $7-8 billion in revenue, and was accountable for setting the strategic direction and managing portfolio decisions and growth projects for the Aluminum business unit.

Dr. Brian Pall '94, director of Global Clinical Science, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc., accepts the Jack Kennedy Alumni Achievement Award at Grove City College's Homecoming 2021. Dr. Pall leads a team of research clinicians who are developing the next generation of contact lens products. Throughout his career, he has focused on soft contact lens product development from prototype to global launch. He has authored multiple peer-reviewed publications and has been granted four patents. He led the clinical development and launch of the world’s first commercially available medication-releasing contact lens.

On 9/11, Steve Frank '74 was a full-time Army National Guard LTC assigned as Director of Public Works, U.S. Army Engineer Corps. He was on a phone call with the Pentagon when he heard a loud "bang" and the line went dead. He had heard Flight 77 crash into the Pentagon in real-time, and was immediately deployed to Ft. Hood, Texas to assume command of the 4th Infantry Division’s Rear Operations Center (Division) Logistics Command Post. This is his story.

Jim Hogan '79 was retired from the Air Force and working as a civilian employee in the Freedom of Information Office at the Pentagon on 9/11. He recounts his miraculous evacuation from the building that day.