Norristown native mentioned in Wolf’s budget speech
HARRISBURG » There must have been something about Michael Rosenberger that stood out to Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration.
In his fourth budget address to the Pennsylvania General Assembly, Wolf singled out Rosenberger, a Norristown native, as an example of the kind of success technical education can bring.
In a section of the speech talking about work force development, Wolf said “at LCR Embedded Systems in Norristown, there’s a man named Michael Rosenberger — who is here today — who works on the manufacturing line, servicing a major contract. Eight years ago, he would never have expected to be in that high-level advanced manufacturing position. He didn’t have a college degree, and he was working at the plant as a janitor,” said Wolf.
“But Michael was a great employee — a smart guy who took the work he did to heart, no matter what it was. And he wanted to do more than just collect a paycheck. He wanted to build a career making things right here in Pennsylvania. So, thanks to a workforce training program through the Department of Community and Economic Development, he was able to get additional training at Montgomery County Community College,” said Wolf.
“With his new skills, he was able to move up to the assembly floor. And then he got promoted again, to the machine shop. Here’s a guy who had had no formal experience in machine shop work until he got this additional training — and, now, he’s the head of the entire machine shop at LCR, and a role model to his fellow employees. Michael’s making more money — and making an even greater contribution, not just to his family and his employer, but to his community,” said Wolf. “There should be a place in Pennsylvania’s future for people like Michael.”
Contacted later Tuesday, Rosenberger said it was a thrill to be singled out that way, to be in the Capitol chamber when the governor made his speech. It was also nerve-wracking.
“My anxiety was through the roof,” said Rosenberger, 29, who had to be talked into going at all by Louis Nichols, the operations manager at LCR, which is in West Norriton Township.
“You have to go,” Nichols said he told his employee. “I told him ‘things like this don’t happen every day. This is a big deal.’”
Rosenberger had to admit, “I definitely enjoyed it,” but he was still amazed to find himself there.
“I’m just a guy from Norristown,” said Rosenberger.
From there, things started taking off.
“There’s not any way you can miss a guy who works as hard as Michael,” said Nichols. “He’s very focused and you can’t miss his talent.”
Rosengerber was a janitor for about nine months at LCR, a company of about 60 which makes frames and housing for high-end electronic equipment for the military and aerospace industry, including industrial giants like Raytheon.
“In our business, quality is king. You don’t get a second chance,” said Nichols, who said the business began in Conshohocken as LCR Electronics, but has been at its Forrest Avenue location since 1985.
Asked if he likes the work at LCR, Rosenberger’s nervousness fell away and he said enthusiastically “Oh yeah, I love it.”
But how did all this result in Rosenberger’s trip to Harrisburg Tuesday?
Nichols said a contingent of government officials came through LCR on a tour in 2015 “and gave us a presentation on where they wanted the Southeast Pennsylvania region to go in terms of business and training.”
They were there promoting WEDnetPA, which stands for Workforce and Economic Development Network of Pennsylvania.
While there, “they stopped at Michael’s station,” said Nichols and apparently, Dennis M. Davin, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, remembered Rosenberger
“A few days ago out of nowhere, I get a call from Dennis Davin at the Department of Community and Economic Development about coming to the budget address,” Rosenberger said, adding “I guess it goes to show you that you never know who’s watching.”