Valerie Gaydos, the founder and CEO of Capital Growth, Inc., announced her candidacy for State Representative at Robert Morris University on Feb. 14.

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Gaydos is running for Pennsylvania State House Representative in the 44th District and held her announcement in Massey Hall on campus. This was important to her because her uncle, Thomas V. Gaydos, was the founding director of Colonial Theater.

“RMU is absolutely a fabulous part of my childhood. And my uncle, Thomas V. Gaydos, was the theatre director for 30 years. I spent a lot of time here, but I think he embodied the feeling of community and theatre and resilience,” said Gaydos.  

Chairman of the campaign, John Zimmerman, opened the event and then let John Oliver, mayor of Sewickley Heights, talk about Gaydos.

“It’s wonderful to see someone with business experience, particularly with startups and the entrepreneurial side of the business sector,” said Oliver. “I think that that attitude and to represent the feelings of those involved in making Pennsylvania a much stronger pro-business climate state.” 

Gaydos plans on running her platform in a different way than candidates in the past by using her entrepreneurial background to focus on the issues.

“The way I will be running is on issues,” said Gaydos. “Because I think everyone is tired of rhetoric, I think everyone is tired of nastiness, I think the people are tired of finger-pointing and blaming. I’m all about fixing things, and sometimes you just have to do it. And that’s what I’m all about, is just going in there and finding solutions to problems.”  

Gaydos is a Republican candidate who is pro-life, pro-growth and pro-business. She plans to use all of these during her campaign.

“The bottom line here is this is really all about community, it’s about building and growing things, being creative on how we fix things and make them better,” said Gaydos. “And it comes down to values. My mission here today was to demonstrate to you, not what I think, but how I think. Because I think that I will govern with responsibility, with accountability and with respect for others.”

Gaydos got to RMU for her announcement through John Locke, director of student activities and leadership development. In 2001, Locke received the Thomas V. Gaydos Performing Arts Endowed Scholarship.

“Theatre at Robert Morris is woven in the fabric as much as anything,” said Locke. “When they moved to this campus in 1964, there was this barn, and in 1967 the barn became a theatre and it remained a vibrant part of the school.”

To sign up for information on Gaydos, text “Vote Val” to 22333. For more information on RMU Colonial Theater, visit rmu.edu/theatre.