YOUR STORY MATTERS HERE: Tim Holt

By Jenny Monahan

Through his leadership within the men’s ministry and many of its endeavors, Tim Holt is a familiar face around Dutilh Church. Whether he’s participating in a small group, organizing a church-wide tailgate party for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds game, or hauling chairs around for Worship in the Park, Holt spends a significant amount of time engaging with the Dutilh family.

That dedication to helping others is a common thread that connects Holt’s personal and professional life. As senior director of human resources at UPMC’s insurance services division, Holt heads up the organization’s HR efforts.

“People are the competitive advantage in a business,” Holt explained. “If I can manage people effectively, I can be the best asset to the company. Helping with strategic planning, employee engagement, workforce development, and helping people find jobs—that’s the most rewarding. When you can help someone find a role that’s a good fit in the organization, those moments make it worth it.”

Holt said one of the most important qualities needed by someone working in HR is to like people. “As a leader, you need to look at how you’re going to be employee-centric and also an officer of the company. If you can balance those two things, you can help both the company and the people,” Holt explained.

Holt came to the HR field by way of his studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in management. Though he has worked in various business roles, Holt said his positions always incorporated oversight for human resources. By 2002, he was an HR manager for The Home Depot; in 2007, Holt moved to UPMC. He will have spent 14 years with UPMC as of January, and has steadily increased his responsibilities during that time.

Work is also the place where Holt first met his wife, Geralynn Hood-Holt, at a Hills Department Store in Lancaster, PA. Holt, who grew up in the rural Pennsylvania counties of Huntington and Snyder, ended up in Cranberry Township because of his interest in the woman who would become his wife.

“Frankly, I chased her across the state,” Holt said. They married in 1993 and have one son, who is now 23.

Though Holt was raised on 13 acres of land that included horses, beef, and chickens, he has embraced life in the more suburban Pittsburgh area.

When they first moved to Cranberry in 1993, Holt said, his wife drove around town and identified potential churches. Geralynn, raised Catholic, found a home at St. Ferdinand, while Holt, raised Methodist, started attending Dutilh Church. For more than 25 years, the couple has supported each other in their faith while being actively involved in different churches. Where Holt is involved with Dutilh’s men’s ministry, Geralynn helps lead the women’s club at St. Ferdinand; they attend services at both churches.

“It’s not necessarily always easy,” Holt said, explaining that events like capital campaigns—which both St. Ferdinand and Dutilh Church have had in recent years—can highlight the complexity of their situation. Yet they make an effort to support each other’s faith communities.

“I’ve helped to set up for the St. Ferdinand’s fish fry and festival,” Holt said, “and she has grilled at our tailgates. We’re both involved in the other’s churches.”

Rounding out Holt’s ecumenical engagement, he sits on the board of Holy Family Institute, an organization that assists families in crisis, as part of his role at UPMC. He has been involved as an Assistant Scout Master in Boy Scouts, who teach “Duty to God, Duty to Country, and Duty to Community,” and the Cranberry Township Lions, whose motto is “We Serve”; Holt has found opportunities to serve God in both organizations.

Though Holt says he’s not one to broadcast his faith, he lives it out in all areas of his life. “It’s not necessarily that I talk about God, but you have to see where God is in your work,” Holt said. As an example, at UPMC, Holt has been involved in creating Freedom House 2.0, set to launch in January.

Modeled after the Freedom House project that started in Pittsburgh in the 1960s to help people in under-resourced areas have better access to health care, Freedom House 2.0 will recruit people from disadvantaged communities in Pittsburgh for job training and improved health care resources. Holt has worked closely with the Rev. Paul Abernathy, an Orthodox Christian priest, and is excited to be part of the project.

“We’ll partner with Fr. Paul’s Neighborhood Resilience Project to help people with job training, finding jobs, and improved health care,” Holt said. “God is putting opportunities in my path to help people.”

Holt, who is part of Dutilh’s involvement with the Big C program at North Way Christian Community, also brought Fr. Paul in to speak at one of the group’s monthly events.

“Not everything [about faith] fits into a box,” Holt said. “Sitting in church, it all makes sense. Out in the world, it can start to blur. Being part of a church helps us make sure that our core is charged, so that we can keep our faith and look for those opportunities out in the world.”

Holt’s involvement at Dutilh helps to keep him grounded in his faith.

“I’ve made some really good friends, and I have had both mentors and mentees in this place. It’s unique to find that. Dutilh is an extension of family. There are guys here I can tell anything to, and some I just really like hanging out with,” Holt said.

Regardless of whether he is sitting in the pews, meeting in a board room, participating in Scouting and Lions activities, or setting up chairs at another church’s fundraiser, Holt hopes he lives out his faith through his actions.

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If you or someone you know in the Dutilh family has an interesting story or profession, send us your ideas! We would love to help tell the story. Email: communications@dutilhumc.org.