Highland Center Executive Director Resigns

Hello, this is Henry Budzinski.  With great regret and sadness, I tenured my resignation as executive director of The Highland Center at the end of January.

Being the executive director of The Highland Center has been one of the highlights of my life and a dream job. It was a position that enabled me to help Highland County in so many ways.

The Highland Center has made great strides within the community since I became the executive director. Under my leadership we tried to ensure that all members of the community felt welcome at The Highland Center. Building use has been up over 100% under my leadership included inviting organizations back to the Center who moved their meetings elsewhere, sponsored monthly meals for the community which brought hundreds of guests to the Center, and had the most successful Taste of Highland ever with over 300 guests and donations of approximately $10,000 just to name a few. All ages and sectors are now being served by the Highland Center from Highland Children’s House to Meals on Wheels. Economic development has been encouraged through the use of the kitchen facilities and spaces to support local businesses as well as the purchase of state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment to support Zoom meetings and large gatherings (when possible).

None of this would have been possible without the great staff of Lois Terry Warner and Eric Restenberger and the great support we received within the community, from local businesses and restaurants, and the many volunteers who gave up their time to support the Center. I just want to say thank you to everyone. I cannot say this enough.

I wish the Center the best and hope it will fulfill its mission of supporting economic development in Highland County.   Thank you very much Highland County.  I hope to see you all around our great community.  I also want to thank Allegheny Mountain Radio for this opportunity to thank the entire Highland community.

Henry A. Budzinski, Jr, PE