Times Leader

Former Pennsylvania senator Yudichak joins GSL Public Strategies Group

Former state senator John Yudichak has accepted a job in the private sector. Submitted Photo

WILKES-BARRE — Former Pennsylvania state senator John Yudichak on Tuesday announced he has accepted a position as Senior Advisor with Harrisburg-based GSL Public Strategies Group.

GSL Public Strategies Group, LLC provides a complete range of government consulting, government relations and corporate and crisis communications services.

The company website states that its experienced, bipartisan team of former Pennsylvania government and business leaders and public affairs professionals have unique expertise and broad experience. It further states that the team serves every client at the highest level possible, focusing on anticipating needs, planning strategically and executing plans that further our clients’ interests and help them to achieve their goals.

GSL is part of a platform of companies which includes Stevens & Lee, one of the 250 largest law firms in the country with more than 185 lawyers and 18 offices, 10 of which are in Pennsylvania.

“I’m extremely excited about this next chapter to join an exceptional team,” Yudichak said. “GSL is bipartisan in its approach and the firm has already proved to be a very effective group with much opportunity for growth.”

Yudichak, 52 of Swoyersville, who served 12 years in the State Senate and 12 in the House, said he hopes to make a difference in Harrisburg and in the welfare of clients by delivering positive results for clients and for Pennsylvania.

“I feel humbled, blessed and grateful to have served the 20th Senatorial District and the 119th Legislative District,” Yudichak said. “I learned the art of politics from my father, Joe Yudichak, and I sincerely hope I made as much a difference in peoples’ lives and in the communities as they did in mine.”

Yudichak said he looks forward to this new chapter in his career.

“I hope to contribute in a different way to create jobs and to create value in those communities,” he said.

Yudichak brings more than 20 years of strategic experience in shaping legislative, budgetary and regulatory policy in the Commonwealth. In his three terms as Pennsylvania State Senator in Carbon and Luzerne counties, he earned a reputation as a consensus-builder and he accomplished notable community and economic development objectives.

Yudichak served as Chairman of the Senate Community and Economic Development Committee, Vice-Chairman of the Aging and Youth Committee and Minority Chairman of the Senate Environmental and Energy Resource Committee, a role he held for nearly a decade.

Across his senatorial tenure, Yudichak managed multiple community and economic development projects in Northeastern Pennsylvania that transformed the region into one of the leading economic development areas in the country.

Yudichak said he forged coalitions with labor groups, like the Pennsylvania State Building and Construction Trades Council, and business groups, like the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association and the Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce, to advance the Local Resource Manufacturing Tax Credit, the Pennsylvania EDGE Tax Credit and the Sales and Use Tax Exemption for computer data center development.

Yudichak said he also worked with the Earth Conservancy to reclaim thousands of acres of mine-scarred lands and set the stage for national developers, like NorthPoint Development, who have invested $1 billion to create 8,000 new jobs in the South Valley of Luzerne County.

Throughout his career, he worked with Republicans and Democrats to author laws to support veterans (Sgt. Sherwood Baker Act), protect seniors (Senior Citizens Full Benefits Act), support law enforcement (Officer John Wilding Law), improve our environment (Coal Refuse Energy and Reclamation Tax Credit) and expand educational opportunities (SHINE Afterschool Program).

Yudichak earned his M.A. and B.A. from The Pennsylvania State University.