Candidate for
Mayor; City of Pittsburgh

HOMETOWN SON Franco Dokmanovich Harris--Dok to his friends--is a native Northsider who now lives in Shadyside. Dok attended the fomer St. Peter's for kindergarten then attended Sewickley Academy where he was on the Varsity Tennis and Wrestling teams.

EDUCATION AND SERVICE He majored in Politics with a focus on Political Economy while at Princeton. He actively served the Princeton Community both on the student government and executive board of the University Council, which set the University budget and approved major policy decisions and was a member of the Princeton Shakespeare Company. Dok also tested his entrepreneurial spirit starting Princeton Student Broadcasting the student television channel. Dok's Senior Thesis was a plan for building community based and owned corporations in Pittsburgh.

GETTING STARTED IN BUSINESS After Princeton, Dok moved to Washington, DC and began a career in the financial services industry at Capital One. He worked in new product development as a business analyst developing products that led to two filed patents. After a few years of banking, Dok felt the pull back to the city of his birth and returned to Pittsburgh in 2004.

BACK TO SCHOOL Upon returning home, Dok started the joint JD/MBA program offered by the University of Pittsburgh in conjunction with the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon. Outside of school he volunteered for the Kerry Presidential campaign and spent a lot of time getting reacquainted with his home town.

AWARD WINNING ENTREPRENEUR Despite the busy schedule of school, Dok was lured by the opportunity to foster entrepreneurialism and he joined a medical device startup company. As part of this exciting team he won both the McGinnis International Business Plan Competition as well as the Moot Corp International Business Plan Competition--called the "Super Bowl of Business Plan Competitions"--and got to ring the bell at the NASDAQ. He was named Entrepreneur of the year by Carnegie Mellon University in 2006 and a CALI Leader for the Future Award Winner in Business Planning and Entrepreneurship at the University of Pittsburgh.

COMMUNITY SERVICE During Law school Dok served as a student clinician at the Law School's Community Economic Development Clinic, a legal clinic where he counseled clients in matters ranging from starting their own small businesses to those trying to keep their family homes out of foreclosure. Dok also taught classes at Neighborhood Housing Services, teaching financial literacy and legal issues to first time homebuyers and helping them to avoid common pitfalls as well as abusive practices from lenders.

THE FAMILY BUSINESS After graduating from this dual program in 2008, Dok joined his family business, Super Bakery Inc., a leader in fortified bakery products. He works with new business development and enjoys the opportunity to use both his legal and business acumen at a company dedicated to health, wellness and good nutrition for children.