Over one dozen institutions who either call Huntingdon County home or maintain a strong presence in the local area are among the “Top 100” organizations identified by a regional magazine.
Pennsylvania Business Central, State College area publication, has released its annual roster of “Top 100 Organizations” in its 23-county coverage area.
Out of the PBC’s Top 100, three call Huntingdon County home — Cisney & O’Donnell, E.B. Endres, Mutual Benefit Group and Juniata College — each a demonstration of exponential growth out of humble beginnings.
When founded in 1969, Cisney & O’Donnell limited their services to roofing and siding. Today, co-owner and marketing director Melissa Cisney Foster said the company founded by her father is among a handful of full-service remodelers in central Pennsylvania.
“We do everything from minor service-type repairs to small commercial spaces — and everything in between,” Foster said. “Everything” includes pool installation, which the company started doing in 1984.
Foster said the company’s most recent addition is its design studio, launched in 2019. Through the design studio, Cisney & O’Donnell’s team can walk clients through the entire project.
“It’s a one-stop shop,” Foster said.
Foster said she’s pleased by PBC’s acknowledgment.
“We’re extremely honored to be recognized and, as a smaller Huntingdon County business, we appreciate that people see we are covering central Pennsylvania and doing that from one location right here in Huntingdon County,” she said.
E.B. Endres, founded in Huntingdon in 1928 by Edward Boston Endres, is a provider of custom commercial millwork, cabinets, countertops and casework throughout the central Pennsylvania region and the eastern United States.
Serving both residential and commercial clients, the Endres mission is to provide the highest-quality products, service and installations to all customers.
According to the company’s online history, E.B. Endres founded his building and remodeling company the year he moved to Huntingdon. Between 1928 and 1944, the business expanded to include a retail business, a mill and nearly two dozen employees.
The decade of the 1970s brought several setbacks, including the destruction of Endres’ Mount Union location by Hurricane Agnes and the loss of their West End mill in Huntingdon to fire. The company persevered, building a new mill on Fairgrounds Road in Huntingdon where Endres maintains headquarters to this day.
Mutual Benefit Group, located in Huntingdon Borough in a complex of new and historic buildings at the corner of Fourth and Penn streets, is a veteran of the PBC “Top 100” list.
“Mutual Benefit Group is honored to be recognized again this year as one of the Top 100 companies in Central Pennsylvania,” Steve Sliver, president and CEO, Mutual Benefit Group, said.This is the 14th consecutive year that we have been so honored, and I believe that the consistent and first-class effort of our MBG staff is the catalyst for our consistent recognition.”
Sliver continued: “Ironically, our first year of recognition (by PBC) was 2008. In that tumultuous year and the difficult years that followed, our staff did an amazing job of overcoming all obstacles, allowing us to continue as a Top 100 company.“
According to MBG’s online history, the company’s origins go back to 1908 when a group of 14 businessmen in Corry, Pennsylvania, formed the Corry Mutual Fire Insurance Co. to protect their town from the threat of fire. The company switched its base of operations to Huntingdon in 1934 when it was acquired by Swigart Associates.
Mutual Benefit Group, as it is known today, was officially established during the company’s 90th anniversary in 1998.
Juniata College, which started out at the Brethren Normal School in 1876 in a room over a Huntingdon print shop.
From its first three pupils and one-room existence, Juniata now enrolls roughly 1,450 students and boasts not just its campus in Huntingdon but the 316-acre Baker-Henry Nature Preserve and the 365-acre Raystown Field Station.
“What a terrific acknowledgement of the extraordinary work that our faculty and staff do each and every day,” Juniata College President James Troha said with regards to the PBC recognition. “Amid an extremely challenging environment, the Juniata community continues to keep in front of them what matters most, and that is the student experience. They never waver in this commitment, and it’s truly what sets us apart from so many other institutions.”
In addition to the three hometown institutions, the 2022 “Top 100” lists includes the following businesses and organizations which maintain a significant present in Huntingdon County: Sheetz, Giant, Geisinger, UPMC, The Meadows, Penn Highlands, Kish Bank, First National Bank, Pennsylvania Highlands Community College, Jeff S. Long Construction (Graystone Manor), WPSU (PBS and NPR outlet serving Huntingdon County and 23 other counties) and Skills of Central PA.
