Rob Gleason | |
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Chair of the Pennsylvania Republican Party | |
In office June 3, 2006 – February 15, 2017 |
|
Preceded by | Eileen Melvin |
Succeeded by | Val DiGiorgio |
Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania | |
In office July 1, 1985 – January 20, 1987 |
|
Governor | Dick Thornburgh |
Preceded by | William Davis |
Succeeded by | James Haggerty |
Personal details | |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) | Jeanne |
Children | 4 |
Education | University of Pennsylvania (BA) |
Robert A. "Rob" Gleason, Jr. is an American businessman who formerly served as Chairman of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania.
A 1961 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, he is Chairman and CEO of Gleason, Inc., a business started by his grandfather. Gleason joined the business in 1965, after four years of active duty as a Captain in the United States Air Force, and was appointed agency in president in 1970, and served in the position until 1994. The company is ranked among the 150 largest property and casualty insurance brokers in the United States. In 2010, The Gleason Agency and Gleason Financial merged with Arthur J. Gallagher & Co, the fourth largest brokerage in the world.
In 1998, Gleason was appointed a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania. Gleason also served as a trustee of Saint Francis University (which was, at the time, a college) from 1978-1988, and was Vice Chair from 1991-1992. He is also affiliated with various civic, philanthropic and professional organizations, and has served as director and secretary for the Foundation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown and is also a trustee and former Chairman of Memorial Medical Center, a trustee of Conemaugh Health System, and Chairman of the Parish Finance Council of the Church of Our Mother of Sorrows. In May 2006, President Bush nominated Gleason to the Commission on Presidential Scholars.
He served in Governor Dick Thornburgh's cabinet as Secretary of the Commonwealth from 1985 to 1987. In 1993, the late Governor Bob Casey nominated him to be a member of the five-person Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, a position in which he served until 1997. In 1997, Governor Tom Ridge appointed Gleason to the State Transportation Commission.