The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission elected two new board members — Evan S. Frazier, Senior Vice President of Community Affairs for Highmark Health, and Eric P. Zahren, Special Agent in Charge of the Pittsburgh Field Office of the U.S. Secret Service.
Pittsburgh natives Evan S. Frazier, senior vice president of community affairs for Highmark Health, and Eric P. Zahren, special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh field office of the U.S. Secret Service, have been elected to the board of the Carnegie Hero Fund. In announcing their election in September 2015, Commission Chair Mark Laskow said that each would serve on the Commission’s executive committee, which is the Hero Fund’s awarding body.
At Highmark, Frazier oversees corporate giving, sponsorships, community programs, employee volunteerism, and the Highmark Foundation. He has a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University’s School of Administration and a master’s from Carnegie Mellon University’s H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management and has taught international business and marketing at Point Park College, Pittsburgh.
“The idea behind recognizing everyday heroes who risk their lives to help others is truly inspiring to me,” Frazier said. “I’m honored to be on the board of the Hero Fund, as it carries out Andrew Carnegie’s vision to recognize outstanding acts of heroism from more than a century ago.” Frazier’s other board affiliations are with the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Central Catholic High School, the Jefferson Regional Foundation, The Pittsburgh Foundation, The Shyne Foundation, and the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute of Politics. He is the author of Most Likely To Succeed: The Frazier Formula for Success, which introduces his personal framework to inspire and motivate youth and adults to achieve.
A Secret Service special agent for more than 24 years, Zahren was named to head the Pittsburgh field office in 2010. In his position, he oversees all of the service’s protective activities and criminal investigations throughout Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Past assignments were with the Newark, N.J., field office and the presidential protective division, in which he served Presidents William J. Clinton and George W. Bush. Supervisory assignments were as resident agent in charge/attaché in Berlin and special agent in charge of both the office of government and public affairs and the international programs division.
Zahren, a graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania and the University of London, has long been committed to civic and non-profit work and has partnered with the Make-a-Wish Foundation, Boys and Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania, and Special Olympics, among others. He is a member of the Pittsburgh advisory committee of the Jefferson Awards Foundation and an advisory board member for the criminal justice program of the Community College of Allegheny County.
“I am honored and humbled to join the Hero Fund,” Zahren said. “I have long held it in the highest esteem. For the past 111 years it has recognized and supported civilian heroes, whose selfless acts bring hope and exemplify the very best of ourselves and our society.”
For more information, please see the Commission’s news release.
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