Though he moved to the other side of the United States, Brad Lawrence ’69 hasn’t forgotten his ties to Pennsylvania and Penn State. Brad still enjoys keeping up with the Pittsburgh Steelers and his beloved Nittany Lions on the gridiron. Through his travels, Brad has found Blue/White fans everywhere.
Lovin’Happy Valley from the West Coast
Brad Lawrence ’69 Shares How his Love for Penn State – and Kappa Sig – Keeps Him Coming Back
Though he moved to the other side of the United States, Brad Lawrence ’69 hasn’t forgotten his ties to Pennsylvania and Penn State. Brad still enjoys keeping up with the Pittsburgh Steelers and his beloved Nittany Lions on the gridiron. Through his travels, Brad has found Blue/White fans everywhere. At the heart of his roots is the time he spent at Penn State as a member of Kappa Sigma. Brad joined the fraternity in 1966, and was appointed secretary/treasurer of the IFC during his senior year. He credits this as a very important and developmental stage in his career. “It gave me a chance to be part of something bigger than myself,” he said. “I learned organizational skills, so many ways to get involved and enhanced ways to participate in your college experience. I think it makes you better alum.” The leadership skills learned has helped enable Brad to continuously enhance his
career. He has held management and executive positions in sales, marketing and operations positions with several companies including Rockwell International, Paccar, Conductive Rubber Technology, Flow international and PRI Automation. Brad joined his current employer Esterline, is a specialized manufacturing company serving aerospace, defense and medical markets, in 2002, where he started as president of the company’s advanced input operation. In 2007 he was named Group Vice President, and eventually was appointed as President and Chief Operating Officer in September 2009 and then Chief Executive Officer in November. The company has brought in $1.5 billion in revenue. Leading up to his successful career, Brad received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Penn State in 1969, where he earned an ‘Outstanding Senior Award.’ He received and an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh in 1982. Today, still keeps in touch with several of his Alpha Delta Kappa Sig brothers including Ken Ewing, George Strahan, Gary Wert and Larry Nucci. Also, he’s proud to report that ‘Hooch’ is nearby— Ron Stitler lives close by in Spokane, WA. Though Brad has a deep appreciation for Penn State, the west coast didn’t have to twist his arm to relocate. “Walking across campus at 8 a.m. with the snow coming down and the Mamas and the Papas in my head…I couldn’t get out to the west coast fast enough,” he joked Out west, he enjoys playing golf, skiing and fly-fishing. Brad learned his love for fly-fishing in Pennsylvania; in fact he used to take afternoons off during his days at Penn State to fish. During his fraternity days, Brad also was involved with intramural sports and spent time as a referee. He said it was a good way to make some extra money and maybe a few foes. One night he and some fellow fraternity brothers got into a scuffle at the Lion’s Den with some members of another fraternity. Ironically, a few weeks later during a game, he made a call against the other fraternity; but he was exonerated and everything smoothed over.Brad enjoyed many aspects of fraternity life, but said one of the mainreasons or strengths of Kappa Sigma were the background diversity. It didn’t matter whether you were wealthy, country, blue collar, a jock or a nerd everyone was treated alike. It was more of a learning experience with the different personality types. Today, Brad enjoys life with his wifeDonna (they’ve been married for 30 years) and his two grown daughters, Allison and Kelsey. They also have a Labrador retriever named Lily.