John Turack

John is a Community and Economic Development Extension Program Specialist based in Westmoreland County with Penn State Extension (http://extension.psu.edu/counties).  From 2010 until early 2024, he also served as the Executive Director for the Smart Growth Partnership of Westmoreland County, a partner program of Penn State Extension (https://stronggrowthalliance.org/about/), now known as the Strong Growth Alliance.

(www.facebook.com/smartgrowthpartnership) (https://stronggrowthalliance.org/community-projects/).

John is a native of Westmoreland County, and previous to working for Extension, served as a Township Supervisor in Washington Township, Westmoreland County; as the Main Street Program Manager for a non-profit revitalization organization in Blairsville, Indiana County; and earlier in his career as a private-sector retail manager. 

John has a BA in English Writing from the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, numerous local government-related certifications, and has completed some graduate-level classes with the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Department of Geography and Regional Planning.

John’s focus as an educator is in providing technical assistance to municipalities, community leaders, and non-profit organizations in the areas of community and citizen engagement, community visioning, and both strategic and municipal comprehensive planning.  He serves on Extension’s statewide educational program teams delivering educational programming related to Economic and Community Development (https://extension.psu.edu/community-development).  He and his Extension Leadership and Community Development team were recognized in 2024 for Excellence in Teamwork. In 2025, John was a leader for Extension teams that won national recognition for cross-team programming.

John also has served as a board member for the Allegheny County-based Local Government Academy (LGA) (http://www.localgovernmentacademy.org/), as an advisory board member for the Westmoreland Economic Development Initiative for Growth (WEDIG), as a board member for the Westmoreland Historical Society, and as an Associate Director for the Westmoreland Conservation District (http://wcdpa.com/about/associate-directors/).

John lives on a small family farm in Washington Township.  He and his siblings are the third generation of his family on this land, and he enjoys stewardship of its fields, woods, and of the 200+ year-old homestead stone foundation remnants still to be found there.