New hires and promotions

Marc Blaine has joined WTAJ-TV News as anchor at 4 p.m. and co-anchor at 5:30 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. alongside Paula McKenna.

A native of Los Angeles, Blaine Marc is a graduate of the University of Southern California, where he was a four-year letterman on the USC Crew team.

He is an award-winning broadcast journalist who most recently served as an anchor and reporter at KSTU-TV in Salt Lake City. He has also worked as an evening anchor and reporter in Bakersfield, Calif., and Augusta, Ga., and previously served as a news anchor, reporter and sports anchor in Chico, Calif.

Jim Gregory, a former state representative, has joined DeLeo Games of Altoona as director of customer relations and business development.

Gregory comes to DeLeo Games after a successful six-year stint as a representative of the 80th district of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. More recently, Gregory spent a year and a half as the Executive Director of the nonprofit Conservative Energy Network of Pennsylvania as a leading voice for energy generation in the Commonwealth.

Cliff Mechalske was recently named by Reclamere as a Cybersecurity Project Manager, bringing more than 30 years of experience across federal and enterprise environments.

His background includes work with the Department of Defense, enterprise cryptographic systems, and large-scale cybersecurity initiatives within the Veterans Affairs central office, where he supported identity and access management, zero trust principles, and risk management frameworks.

Beyond technical expertise, he brings a perspective rooted in continuous improvement: refining processes, strengthening policies, and ensuring organizations follow through on the controls they put in place.

Awards and honors

Amanda Stoehr Drumm of Altoona, director of marketing and communications at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University, received the Don Hale Award at the annual CUPRAP Conference in Lancaster in March.

The Hale Award is given annually to a CUPRAP member who has significantly contributed to the organization. The award is named in honor of Don Hale, CUPRAP’s second president. Also at the conference, Drumm received a CUPPIE Award in the long-story writing category for the “Serving Second Chances” feature story she wrote for the Duquesne Kline School of Law’s Salus Populi Magazine.

Submissions for Workplace can be sent to Walt Frank at wfrank@altoonamirror.com. Please include the name of the individual, his/her present address, original hometown and high school and college from where he/she graduated, and information about the person’s accomplishment.