John Verbanac is a businessman and political operative in Pennsylvania. Verbanic earned a B.A. degree from the University of Pittsburgh College of General Studies in 1990. He worked in government and politics in Washington, D.C., as a senior aide and political strategist for two U.S. senators and a member of Congress. Verbanac worked as consultant for Forest City Enterprises and Harrah's Entertainment in their efforts to secure a casino license from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. The fact that he also was worked as an informal adviser to former Pittsburgh Mayor Bob O'Connor during that time raised questions of impropriety. Following his time on

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...

, Verbanac entered into several entrepreneurial ventures and held a number of positions in other business endeavors. One of those positions was at Ketchum Communications Worldwide, a prominent public affairs firm, where he worked as vice president of public affairs. There, he handled the accounts for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, GNC, H. J. Heinz Company, Wal-Mart, and MCI Inc. From 1997 to 2000, Verbanac worked as executive vice president of

BrabenderCox BrabenderCox is a nationally recognized Republican political consulting firm, with offices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Unite ...

, a Pennsylvania-based marketing and advertising firm. He helped the firm restructure and launch Adams Marketing, a new venture for

, of which he became president. He briefly became a partner in IdeaMill, a Pittsburgh-based branding and advertising firm. In 2001, he joined with journalist

Albert J. Neri Albert J. "Al" Neri (September 1, 1952 – May 7, 2011) was a Pennsylvania political news correspondent, pundit, and political analyst. At the beginning of his career, Neri worked as a journalist following state and local government and politic ...

to found Neri-Verbanac Public Affairs, a Harrisburg-based public affairs agency. There, he helped develop '' The Insider,'' which became the "largest statewide political publication." The firm was sold in 2005 and Verbanac and Neri parted ways. In 2005, Verbanac served as a director of the real estate arm of Summa Group, a financial company dealing with service and technology companies. In 2007,

Joseph B. Scarnati Joseph B. Scarnati III (born January 2, 1962) is an American politician from the U.S. State of Pennsylvania. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the Pennsylvania State Senate as the member from the 25th District from 2001 to 2020, an ...

President pro tempore A president pro tempore or speaker pro tempore is a constitutionally recognized officer of a legislative body who presides over the chamber in the absence of the normal presiding officer. The phrase ''pro tempore'' is Latin "for the time being". ...

of the Pennsylvania Senate, named Verbanac as trustee of his alma mater, University of Pittsburgh. Verbanac's relationship with Pittsburgh Mayor

Luke Ravenstahl Luke Robert Ravenstahl (born February 6, 1980) is an American politician who served as the 59th Mayor of Pittsburgh from 2006 until 2014. A Democrat, he became the youngest mayor in Pittsburgh's history in September 2006 at the age of 26. He was ...

became a campaign issue in the 2009 Pittsburgh mayoral election. In 2010, ''Politics Magazine'' named him one of the most influential Democrats in Pennsylvania, even though Verbanac is a registered Republican according to Butler County voter registration records.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verbanac, John Living people People from Butler County, Pennsylvania University of Pittsburgh alumni American political consultants Year of birth missing (living people)