Dresser exec joins AWHS board

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June 18, 2008

Dresser-Rand president

signs on to Archbishop Walsh

Board of Trustees

By JEFF SHAW
Olean Times Herald

OLEAN - In an attempt to keep the school open in the face of major budget cuts, Archbishop Walsh High School is bringing one of Olean’s most prominent businessmen to its Board of Trustees.

Vince R. Volpe Jr., the president and CEO of Dresser-Rand, agreed to join the board after meeting with several of its members Friday. His daughter attended the school. Mr. Volpe was in Europe and unavailable for comment by press time today.

After the Buffalo Diocese of the Catholic Church announced it was cutting back funding to its private schools, Archbishop Walsh faces the possibility of closing due to lack of funds. Mr. Volpe will spearhead the effort to keep the doors to the school open, Board of Trustees President Robert McFarland said.

“He’s very excited about the prospect of helping restructure Walsh,” Mr. McFarland said of Mr. Volpe. “He wants to be very involved with the future path of the school.”

The current goal of the school is to increase enrollment to over 150 students within three years while growing financially and enriching academic and student life, Mr. McFarland said, and Mr. Volpe will help them develop ways to go about reaching that goal.

“(Mr. Volpe) will work with the present Board of Trustees, volunteers and community leaders that have wanted to keep Walsh open and grow the school,” he said.

Besides having business experience, Mr. Volpe is also well connected in the Olean community, Mr. McFarland said.

“We’re working closely with the Diocese of Buffalo and with St. Bonaventure University,” Mr. McFarland said. “Mr. Volpe is a board member at St. Bonaventure as well, so we’ll be working with them even more closely.”

One of Mr. Volpe’s key tasks will be finding ways to keep money coming into the school to keep it open.

“We’ve had ongoing fundraising efforts that showed good success, but Mr. Volpe on board is an important aspect of that,” Mr. McFarland said. “When you get someone that is a name as a community leader, it surely helps in the fundraising effort.”

Father Barry Allaire, the school’s principal, said Mr. Volpe joining the Board of Trustees shows his commitment to alternative education and his belief in improving the Olean area.

“He’s committed to this community and committed to this school,” Father Allaire said.