Robert Pitner, Executive Director

I feel fortunate to have been asked to join Bridges To Learning, Inc. as their Executive Director. The path that brings me to this worthwhile endeavor started as a Peace Corps Volunteer living two years in a very rural village in Southern India. This village level life formed my frame of reference for the future and inspired my pledge to return to the task of providing opportunities, though education, to children in impoverished environments, particularly in developing countries. Education, whether administered under a coconut tree or in a class room starts the process of self-fulfillment and nothing is more fulfilling than being, in some small way, part of that process.

My professional career kept me involved in global settings through my position as Director of International Marketing for a large global bank and with it, years of worldwide travel. After 20 years of banking I pursued an entrepreneur career culminating in several CEO positions with both private and public companies. Through all my endeavors I have stayed active in charity work and involved at leadership levels with not-for-profit organizations. My educational credentials include an undergraduate degree from the University of Kansas and a MBA degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Robert Mac Murdo, Financial Officer

Of the many wonderful things you discover in retirement are the opportunities to give your time and energy for worthwhile causes. I had an engineering background and worked for AT&T in both engineering, marketing and business development for thirty years and wasn’t certain where I could use that in a way that met my objectives.

I always regarded education as a field of endeavor to pursue and when I met Jerri the answer was very easy. Jerri first asked if I could sponsor a child and that became the easy part. Then when I traveled to Vietnam to visit Jerri while she worked with the school I met my “godchild” and was hooked. Creating Bridges to Learning, Inc. provides the means to help so many and as in business there become goals to meet and tasks to be accomplished but nothing touches the heart more that the recipients, the children.