Casey Bowser has been at Armstrong since April 2002, his first professional job out of college, he said.

He's a production coordinator for the creative services department, the in-house “advertising agency” which develops “anything with a logo on it,” Bowser said.

“I'm a liaison between the true leadership and the people who are skilled craftsmen in their positions,” he said.

Bowser said he uses a “suggestive” leadership style.

“What I do is so subjective that I can't tell people whether they're right or wrong. All I can do is prep (creative products) so that when it's ready to present, the decision makers don't get bogged down with things that should have been taken care of already,” he said.

“What I think a leader needs to have is real respect between the leader and those he's leading,” Bowser said.

In addition, a leader needs clearly defined objectives and an ability to get results, he said.

Bowser works for the part of Armstrong that Butler County residents know — the telecommunications company that provides cable television, Internet and telephone services. It was founded in Kittanning 60 years ago by Jud L. Sedwick and his brother Ned.

The Sedwicks still own Armstrong, but now it employs more than 2,000 people nationwide, according to its website.

It is also diversified. Armstrong owns Pittsburgh-based Guardian Protection Services; Armstrong Telephone that provides phones services to customers in four states; Armstrong Development that is a national real estate developer for clients such as CVS Pharmacy and J.P. Morgan Chase Bank; Armstrong Foods that owns and operates Ponderosa restaurants in Pennsylvania and Ohio; and AccuSpec Electronics of Erie, which was bought a year ago, that offers contract electronic manufacturing services.

“For someone who has been happily in the same place for 11 years, (Leadership Butler County) was great to see other places of business — how and what they do,” Bowser said.

“I didn't know half of the places existed,” he said.

He also appreciated the time he spent with other members of the Class of 2010.

He recalled an exercise on a team building day that tests a person's ability to remember classmates names.

“I'm terrible with names,” Bowser said.

Nevertheless, he believes he would be able to remember 75 percent of the names of his classmates, based on the Leadership Butler County team-building exercises.

Bowser works with only four or five people on a daily basis, and so appreciated bus tours which took him and other 2010 class members to different areas of Butler County and businesses or other sites there.

Since 2004, each Leadership Butler County class has been required to develop a project that benefits a local nonprofit.

“Our group wanted to make sure the money stayed here in Butler County,” he said.

“I was in the event group. We were tasked with developing the idea.”

To benefit the Blind Association, the class had a bowling tournament in which those with healthy eyesight wore masks that recreated degrees of blindness. In addition, the participants exchanged masks.

Some of the masks made participants blind; others mimicked glaucoma. Other masks had the middle of the eyes blocked, and some offered only dots of light.

“We wore masks to bring awareness to the association and to what blind people have to deal with,” he said.

The group raised about $5,600. It donated $4,000 to the Blind Association, $1,000 to the Humane Society, and $600 to the Leadership Butler County scholarship fund.

Bowser has been married for about 10 years, he said. He met his wife, Heidi, through community theater, where both are avid actors. Heidi already had two daughters, who were 13 and 10, when they married.

“It could have been a sitcom,” Bowser said. “Now it's relaxed.”

He believes that Heidi exemplifies leadership.

“My wife is a fantastic motivator,” he said. “She's doing personal training now and company wellness training.

“She's charismatic. She provides motivation, plus she really knows her stuff.

“She provides the knowledge and tools to help (her clients) get to where they want to go without wasting people's time,” he said.

“She also is the main cook in our household. She supplies me with very healthy eating options.”

Although he wishes he volunteered more time to charities, it's community theater that receives his free time.

“It's so much fun,” Bowser said. “People support the theater. To me, I get to play.”

Bowser has no plans to act soon, which is a rarity, he said. However, Heidi just finished appearing in Butler Little Theatre's production of “Rabbit Hole.”

<B>Age: </B>34<B>Address: </B>Butler<B>Family: </B>Wife Heidi Nicholls; daughters Casey Lazor, 22, and Ava Lazor, 19; son Luke Bowser, 6<B>Job title: </B>Production coordinator for creative services<B>Company: </B>Armstrong, 1 Armstrong Place, Butler<B>What company does: </B>A cable, internet and telephone service provider<B>Employees: </B>More than 2,300 nationwide<B>Community involvement: </B>Community theater<B>LEADERSHIP IS:</B>“What I think a leader needs to have is real respect between the leader and those he's leading.”In addition, a leader needs clearly defined objectives and an ability to get results.<B>INSPIRATION</B>“My wife (Heidi Nicholls) is a fantastic motivator. She’s doing personal training now and company wellness training. She’s charismatic. She provides motivation, plus she really knows her stuff. She provides the knowledge and tools to help (her clients) get to where they want to go without wasting people’s time.”