PITTSBURGH — NexTier Bank has made a $50,000 donation to the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship to use for funding its youth entrepreneurship education programs.

The donation will be used for students in the Greater Pittsburgh area who participate in NFTE's classes, workshops and summer BizCamps.

NexTier is based in Evans City.

HARRISBURG — Rick Hrip, Embarq vice president-external affairs for Pennsylvania and New Jersey, is retiring at the end of the year after 40 years in the communications industry.Hrip joined the company, then Peoples-United Telephone, in Butler in 1968 as a management trainee. In 1999, he moved to the company's corporate headquarters in Overland Park, Kan., and then was named senior manager-state regulatory with regulatory responsibilities for North Carolina and Virginia.In 2000, he returned to Harrisburg and began working as vice president-external affairs.He is a 1964 graduate of Butler High School and a 1968 graduate of Indiana (Pa.) University.

<B>David J. Dietrich</B>, vice president at the Family Business Center at NexTier, recently received his certificate in family business advising from the Family Firm Institute. Earning the certificate is the culmination of a two-year classroom and mentoring educational program.