Jul 26, 2018 5 min read

“There is no typical day at this job, and that’s what I love about it,” says Christopher Whitlatch, chief executive officer of the Mon Valley Alliance (MVA).

On any not-so-typical day, Whitlatch may switch from helping local government find efficiencies, to meeting with business owners interested in relocating to the area. “I wear so many different hats, and I get to interact with people from all different walks of life,” he says. “That’s what makes it fun and exciting and drives me.”

This September marks two years with Whitlatch, 44, at the helm. The alliance, itself, is just a little over two years old, a merger between the Middle Monongahela Industrial Development Association and the Mon Valley Progress Council. When the position opened up, Whitlatch leapt at “the opportunity of a lifetime to really make an impact here in the Valley.”

The first thing he did as CEO? “I went out into the community, and I met with as many people as possible. A lot of what has happened over the years here in the Valley is, ‘You need to do this. You need to do that.’ I actually wanted to hear what they wanted to do. That shaped the initial strategy for the alliance and what we wanted to tackle.”

An issue he’s currently focusing on is blight. MVA has created a task force to fill vacancies, support local business owners, and “produce a more vibrant main street in all of our communities.”

Also in development under Whitlatch’s leadership (to name a few): a riverfront park and the revitalization of the Coyle Theater in Charleroi; an incubator space on Main Street in Monongahela, created in partnership with the Monongahela Area Chamber of Commerce; and a reconstituted council of local governments.

Casey Clark, owner of Off the Wall Arts and Perked Up Cafe in Charleroi, points to what she calls a “mini incubation space” on McKean Avenue, where her businesses are located, as proof of progress. “The Mon Valley Alliance is a collaboration of successful and positive community leaders, and we’re fortunate to have their input and actions in play,” she says.

Clark says that Whitlatch, in particular, is “such a visionary. He’s critical to the development and vision of the Mon Valley.”

When asked how he does it all, Whitlatch credits his team, board of directors and community members “who roll up their sleeves and help us get our work done. That’s the only way we’re going to succeed here – by working together.”

Previously the manager of marketing and communications with the Pittsburgh Foundation, Whitlatch draws on 20-plus years of experience in marketing and management. To keep his creativity flowing, he reads, often reaching for science fiction or thrillers. Speculative fiction writer Neal Stephenson is on deck right now. “I’m into not-too-distant-future fiction,” he says.

It makes sense, then, that his approach often reaches outside of the box. “One idea we’re currently pitching for funding is to use augmented reality in the fight against blight.”

Imagine this: Rather than stepping into a vacant, blighted building, you could experience the space as a microbrewery, an art space, a café. It could happen through the help of augmented reality, often accessed through a mobile phone app. Typically, the technology has been used to tell the history of a place or “install” art without actually doing so. By mapping new life over an existing physical site, the alliance would have the opportunity to “transform a blighted building and show what it might become to a potential entrepreneur.”

“I want to use traditionally what works, but I want to see what technology can do for us, as well,” Whitlatch says.

Whitlatch grew up in Uniontown – “not far from the Valley. They won’t let me say I’m from the Valley,” he says with a laugh – then attended New York University. He lived in New York for nearly 10 years before returning to Pittsburgh. Now a father of four, he and his wife, Melissa, reside in Cranberry Township, along with their rescue dog and cat.

Did we mention he has a “side hustle,” too? In 2006, Whitlatch founded Universal Wit, a social media consulting agency-turned-immersive gaming company, which transforms empty retail and industrial spaces into virtual places, everything from zombie encounters, to an Edgar Allen Poe “The Tell-Tale Heart”-themed experience.

The company has evolved, now offering tours of the Pittsburgh Cultural District, formerly the red-light district in the 1970s. On Friday and Saturday nights in the summer, you can find Whitlatch leading groups down Penn and Liberty Avenues, regaling them with stories worthy of a “Goodfellas” script.

That imaginative work ladders right up to Whitlatch’s true passion – storytelling, which he views as an integral part of his work at the Mon Valley Alliance. “There are so many good stories to tell here, and so many more that we can make good stories from.” He references the history of the Valley, from its industrial past, to its present-day evolution to recreation on the Monongahela River.

“The Valley is alive and breathing and constantly evolving,” he says. “There always can be a new story to tell here.”