E. George Downer Jr. of Treasure Lake, DuBois, has announced his candidacy for election to the position of Clearfield County Commissioner on the Republican ballot.
Downer, born and raised in DuBois, graduated from DuBois Central Catholic in 1964. He is married to the former Carol Dunlap and resides in Treasure Lake.
The Downers have three sons, Christopher, Bryan and Jesse; eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
His parents, Oreta Downer and the late E. George Downer Sr., long-time residents of DuBois, were very active in the community.
He is the grandson of the late George W. Downer and Nora Rafferty Downer, founders of Twin Oaks, a family-owned business in Brady Township from the mid 1930’s until 1965.
Downer earned undergraduate degrees in behavior science and accounting/business administration and a Master’s degree in Management Science. Downer also has certification as a Lead Auditor ISO 9001:2000 and is trained in Six Sigma.
Downer enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve, Battery C, 92nd Artillery, DuBois, in 1964. After moving to Washington, D.C., he served in the 2070th D.C. USAR Command and General Staff College, Fort Myer, Va., until 1970.
His first of two separate careers was executive vice president of a savings and loan association (1966-1986) in the Washington, D.C. area. He managed the accounting department and then developed a branch office network.
He also managed a wholly owned subsidiary company of the savings and loan association. The bank was known for its customer service. Downer always emphasized that ”You will never work closer with a customer than when you work with their money.”
During his tenure in banking, Downer successfully wrote legislation and had it introduced into the Commonwealth of Virginia. The legislation was for parity among state and federal bank chartered companies in the state of Virginia. After introduction, Downer lobbied for the legislation and succeeded in having the legislation passed.
Downer began his second career, project management on federal contracts, in 1986. As a project manager, he managed contracts with the U.S. Army; U.S. Navy; U.S. Coast Guard; National Institutes of Health; and the Department of Homeland Security U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (Legacy INS).
While working on the contracts with immigration, Downer worked for two years at the headquarters in Washington, D.C., and earned recognition as a subject matter expert on quality assurance/control for immigration processing.
As a subject matter expert, he often demonstrated quality assurance/control procedures at national conferences for immigration. Protecting the nation’s security was paramount in all quality assurance/control procedures.
Downer’s responsibilities as the project manager on the immigration contract required supervision of offices located throughout the northeastern United States with a staff of 500 contract employees. Project Management included staffing, training, budgeting and quality control.
After living in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area for 38 years, Downer re-located to Treasure Lake, where he continued to work on immigration contracts until his retirement in 2014.
As a member of the Treasure Lake Lions Club, he has served as an officer for 10 years and is presently the first vice president. A member of Lions International, Downer received the Melvin Jones Fellowship For Dedicated Humanitarian Services award, the highest recognition in the Lions Club.
Downer also serves on the Executive Board of the Bucktail Council, Boy Scouts of America and is vice president of governance. He also belongs to the Treasure Lake Sportsmen’s Club, American Legion, Disabled American Veterans Auxiliary and National Rifle Association.
“My work legacy is one of leadership, commitment and integrity. I have always improved policy and procedures for organizations, which led to improved customer service, not only for my client, but also for their clients. I welcome the opportunity to work with the other Commissioners to make similar improvements in Clearfield County,” said Downer.