Principals

Robert J. Butch, Jr. brings together expertise in budgeting and financial planning with operational and capital perspectives on facilities management. He utilizes these skills in his role as Principal and Treasurer of The Stone House Group. Mr. Butch has served as Budget Director for Gettysburg College and as Assistant Director of Facilities. He currently provides oversight and monitoring of the implementation of the College’s $150 Million Long Range Campus Plan. Mr. Butch has also served as the Start-Up Budget Manager for the Lehigh Valley Academy Charter School that is in its second year and has grown to 370 students. Mr. Butch develops financial funding sources, tracks the expenditures and reports the capital programs status to both Chief Financial Officers and Board of Trustees for a wide variety of capital programs. Mr. Butch has assisted in the issuance of over $50 million in tax-exempt bond funds for capital projects. He is in the process of doing budget development and financial management of facilities resources, master planning, deferred maintenance studies, and facilities overview assessments for Berry College, Chestnut Hill Academy, Choate Rosemary Hall, Dickinson College, Franklin and Marshall College, Georgetown Day School, Gettysburg College, Hershey Medical Center, Juniata College, the Milton Hershey School, National Cathedral School, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Springside School, Vassar College, Vermont Academy, the University of the Virgin Islands, and the Westtown School. He has coordinated damage assessment, recovery, and insurance negotiations with FEMA after major natural disasters struck the University of the Virgin Islands and Gettysburg College.

Mr. Butch holds a B.A. in Economics from Swarthmore College. He is a member of NAIS (National Associate of Independent Schools), SCUP (Society of College and University Planners) and NACUBO (National Association of College and University Business Officers).

Darren A. Cassel is a mechanical engineer with extensive experience in energy management, campus utility planning, building commissioning, design review, procurement, and technical staff training for not-for-profit institutions. He has provided mechanical design review and building commissioning services for major construction projects totaling over $200 million. Over the last three year, he has provided project management services for, Westtown School, Hotchkiss School and Lawrenceville School. He has developed utility master plans for Juniata College, Dickinson College, The Lawrenceville School, Hotchkiss School and the Westtown School. He is leading the energy management programs at The Lawrenceville School and Dickinson College and has extensive experience in negotiating natural gas and electricity contracts in the deregulated marketplace. He has conducted facilities conditions assessments, operations overview assessments, and overseen energy management programs at Gettysburg College, Franklin and Marshall College, Dickinson College and the Washington National Cathedral.

Mr. Cassel holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University. He is a Certified Energy Manager (CEM) and a member of the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) and the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). He has presented on Utility Master Planning at the Eastern Regional Association of Physical Plant Administrators (ERAPPA) and the Association of Physical Plant Operators (APPO).

Lawrence B. Eighmy has served as founder and Managing Principal of The Stone House Group. In this role, he has helped develop the approach and tools for facilities stewardship that define the business niche. During the same time, he has served multiple clients including Gettysburg College, Milton Hershey School, National Presbyterian School and others. Prior to founding The Stone House Group, Mr. Eighmy has served as Executive Director of Facilities at Gettysburg College, with the responsibility for the development of and fulfillment of a $150 million master plan and oversaw facilities, conferences, and other auxiliary services for the College. He has also served as Director of Facilities for Centenary College (NJ), the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation (Washington, DC), the Ethical and Cultural School (NYC), and the Lawrenceville School. Prior to these roles, he held facilities management positions at Carnegie Mellon University and Brown University. He has expertise in project management, service delivery, organizational and management systems, and general maintenance and repair strategies. He has overseen planning studies at each of the above institutions as well as for Riverside Osteopathic Hospital (Detroit), St. Alban’s Parish (Washington, DC), Skidmore College, Juniata College, and Franklin and Marshall College. He also founded and chaired the Preservation Committee at the Washington National Cathedral, providing technical and planning stewardship for the sixth largest cathedral in the world.

Mr. Eighmy holds a B.A. from Middlebury College and has attended Carnegie Mellon’s Graduate School of Industrial Administration and Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. He is a member of both Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) and APPA (Association of Physical Plant Administrators). He has presented at the National Association of Independent Schools, NACUBO, ERRAPA, EACUBO, and KAPPA on topics ranging from Energy Management to Facilities Stewardship and Campus Planning. He currently serves on the Vestry of the Cathedral Church of the Nativity and is the facilitator of an outreach series entitled “About South Bethlehem”. He has also obtained his ASHE certification which qualifies him for project management in a hospital environment.