Don White

Biography

Don White has been an advocate for businesses in the region and across Pennsylvania as the state senator representing the 41st District, including Indiana, Armstrong, and parts of Westmoreland and Butler counties.

A native of Kittanning, he has lived most of his life in Indiana. White graduated from Indiana Area Senior High School, attended Juniata College and honorably served in the U.S. Army before starting a career in the insurance business. He was first elected to the Senate in 2000.

Sen. White serves as chairman of the Committee on Banking and Insurance and is a member of the Environmental Resources and Energy, Law and Justice, Rules and Executive Nominations and State Government committees.

He also is a member of the board of directors of the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST), the independent authority that provides loans and grants for water, sewer and storm waste projects across Pennsylvania.

Among his legislative accomplishments, Sen. White was the prime sponsor of a law expanding Pennsylvania’s Keystone Opportunity Expansion Zones and creating Keystone Innovations Zones as a way to promote economic development in areas located near colleges and universities. With the support of local townships, boroughs and school districts, the family of Keystone Opportunity Zone programs have enabled business growth in the Indiana County Corporate Campus, Indiana County Commerce Park and the 300 Indian Springs Road multi-tenant building. Now flourishing companies, these have placed workers in the communities and generated tax revenue for the county. Sen. White also drafted a law that revamped Pennsylvania’s insurance solvency laws and minimized increases in workers compensation premium costs, helping small businesses and preserving jobs.

As the chairman of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee, Sen. White has actively worked to promote meaningful competition in the medical insurance marketplace, and to provide more options and make health care coverage more affordable for employers and individual consumers with more access to local hospitals and doctors. Sen. White has been a leader in efforts to strike a balance between necessary regulation of the coal and natural gas industry and responsible use of the region’s natural resources, while providing family-sustaining jobs and affordable energy and reducing dependence on imported oil.

As a lifelong resident of the district, Sen. White recognizes the issues most important to the families and communities he represents. Sen. White is committed to promoting economic development and improving local roads, highways and bridges; has been instrumental in securing millions of dollars for water, sewer and other infrastructure improvements; and worked for the runway expansion at the Jimmy Stewart Airport. Sen. White secured funds to maintain and enhance services of Indiana Regional Medical Center, helped Indiana University of Pennsylvania to acquire the site and state funding for construction of the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex, and advanced the funding for the ongoing development of Windy Ridge Business & Technology Park in White Township.

Senator White is a member of the National Rifle Association, the Indiana County Chamber of Commerce, the Alle Kiski Strong Chamber of Commerce and the Indiana and Armstrong county farm bureaus. He has proudly promoted the region’s agricultural community through his support of local fairs, 4-H, and youth livestock auctions. The Sen. Don White Scholarship Fund has helped to provide post-secondary education opportunities for young men and women who show livestock at the Indiana County Fair. He has been honored for his service in the Legislature and to the Indiana community, as a recipient of the 2014 Friend of the Food Industry award from the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association; the Guardian of Small Business award from the National Federation of Independent Business, for outstanding voting records on behalf of small- business owners in the 2013-14 session; the Distinguished Citizen Award for 2005 from the Laurel Highlands Council of Boy Scouts of America; and the Distinguished Citizen Award for 2008 from the BPOE.

Sen. White was inducted into the Pennsylvania Department of Military Affairs and Veterans Affairs Hall of Fame in 2007 for his efforts on behalf of Pennsylvania National Guard members, veterans and their families. He was awarded the IUP President’s Medal of Distinction through the Indiana County Leader’s Circle Program in 2012. He is married to Sarah “Anne” Broderick. Their daughter, Abby, is an Associate Surgeon, Instructor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School. Don and Anne recently welcomed their first grandchild, Ben, in October.