pennsylvania
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Jeff Woosnam and the thirty-year apprenticeship
He started in his family’s heating-oil business in 1989. Thirty years later, Jeff Woosnam became CEO of Star Group, carrying a local trade into the decisions of a public company.
Mark Hershey’s route to the top began with the fine print
He joined Armstrong as its general counsel in 2011. Fifteen years, a flooring separation and a string of acquisitions later, Mark Hershey took charge of the company he had helped reshape.
Howard Friedman and the unfinished business of chips
He learned logistics in the Army and brands at Kraft. At Utz, Howard Friedman is working through a more personal problem: how to help a century-old snack company grow without losing its sense of home.
Craig Wehr and the art of making things easier
From a Southeast sales territory to the presidency of Zurn, Craig Wehr spent three decades working on the distance between a product and its customer. His next chapter leaves room for both the business and a life beyond it.
MSA makes the invisible hard to ignore
A miner’s lamp helped launch MSA. A century later, its next bet is that a warning should reach more than the person wearing it.
Mustafa Rashed and the Trouble with a Good Idea
A Philadelphia newspaper internship introduced Mustafa Rashed to the power of a story. At Bellevue Strategies, he has built a career around what it takes to turn one into public action.
PPL Corporation and the outage that never happened
A utility sells something people notice mostly when it disappears. PPL is spending billions to make those moments rarer - while a new wave of data centers tests who should pay for the grid.
Hershey made chocolate ordinary. That was the big idea.
A five-cent bar helped turn a luxury into a habit. The business behind it now has to make the same trick work for pretzels, popcorn, and a much more expensive cocoa bean.
Kevin Justice and the Other Life of a Pen
A designer’s eye, an early appetite for interactive media, and a zebra with somewhere to go. Kevin Justice’s career follows the distance between an interesting idea and a shopper who acts on it.
Vincent Sorgi and the art of keeping the lights on
An accountant’s route to the corner office led Vincent Sorgi through a power-company breakup, an Atlantic retreat and a new wager on data centers. At PPL, his work keeps returning to the same question: who pays for the future?
Fry Communications prints the magazine. Then comes the hard part.
Ink is only the beginning. Inside the family-owned Pennsylvania printer that treats the journey to your mailbox as part of the product.
Wei-Shin Lai and the trouble with things that almost work
A pair of headphones, a kitchen table, and a stubborn eye for awkward design. The AcousticSheep co-founder keeps finding things that could work better - most recently, a chess scorebook for her daughter.
Ben Kirshner and the Art of Getting People to Stay
He built the agency that became Tinuiti by giving employees a stake in the outcome. Now Ben Kirshner is asking Pennsylvania’s government to move with the urgency of a business waiting for an answer.
Terry Harvey and the Work After the Exit
VYRSA went from a 2021 startup to a sale to Nevro in 2023. Terry Harvey’s next chapter puts him back among the recruits, distributors and unfinished business of building a company.
Daniel A. Pontecorvo and the Art of Changing Seats
He built a sales organization, co-founded Camber Spine and helped lead VYRSA to a $40 million sale with more tied to milestones. Daniel A. Pontecorvo’s career turns on a quieter skill: knowing how a founder’s job can change.
Mark Luckenbaugh and the business of making room
A training favor, a software habit, and an agency’s growing pains. How the WEB20 Ranker founder built businesses around the work that keeps other businesses waiting.
Nexxt sold its name. Kept its future.
Before it helped employers find their next hire, Nexxt found an unusual way to keep its own team together: sell the name, keep the business. Today, its bet is that recruiting works better when you think like a marketer.
vybe urgent care Makes Room for the Everyday Emergency
Eighteen clinics. One Philadelphia-sized problem: getting ordinary medical care when ordinary schedules fall apart. vybe is building its business around the distance between needing help and actually getting it.
Marty Young and the Cost of a Second Chance
Before co-founding Buckle, Marty Young learned to repair cars, balance sheets and troubled businesses. He brought those habits to a stubborn question: what would financial services look like if they helped gig workers get ahead?
Bob Cole and the shop that had three months to live
A competitor gave his stereo shop three months. Bob Cole stayed for 45 years, learning when to listen, when to change, and when to hand over the keys.
RoseAnn Rosenthal and the art of getting a city to bet on itself
For 25 years, RoseAnn Rosenthal helped Philadelphia put money behind young technology companies. Her longer project has been persuading people, institutions, and neighboring states to work together.
Chad Paul and the problem of running out of room
He started a telephone company while still at Lehigh. Then he spent 19 years helping other Pennsylvania founders find the money, advice, and square footage to grow.
Scott Nissenbaum and the six-month job that lasted eleven years
A venture-capital internship became an eleven-year education. A forest-carbon startup put the lessons to work. Now Scott Nissenbaum helps Philadelphia entrepreneurs navigate the distance between a promising idea and the money to build it.
Bill Rossell and the business of keeping the lights on
From nuclear submarines to roofing companies, Bill Rossell has kept returning to the same question: will the system work when someone needs it? At LB Capital, that question follows the customer from the first call to the finished roof.
Michael Tabasso and the Value of a Third Act
A borrowed room, a small table, and a colleague he already trusted. Michael Tabasso built Gen3 Marketing from that modest arrangement into an international agency, keeping the business of relationships at its center.
Chris Bravacos Starts at the Finish Line
From congressional offices to a Harrisburg communications firm, Chris Bravacos has built a career around working backward from the result. Even the toy robots in his office belong in a story about picking your fights.
Carol Andersen Built a Bridge Where the System Left a Gap
A foster parent saw the distance between a temporary refuge and a durable new life. She has spent the years since turning that distance into homes, work and time.
Bravo Group Found the Voters Who Stopped Picking Up the Phone
The Harrisburg firm began with a political operative's instinct: every hard business problem contains a campaign. Then the phone stopped working - and Bravo built its own way to listen.
The Agency That Found Its Next CEO Three Offices Down
Bill Donovan was preparing to sell the agency he had built over four decades. Then the pandemic broke the plan, his son asked a four-word question, and the family discovered that the most valuable campaign might be an operating system.
Michael Pavone Built an Agency Group by Staying Independent - and Getting Specific
For more than three decades, the Harrisburg-area founder has kept one company independent by making its agencies increasingly specialized. His portfolio now stretches from food branding and restaurant stories to predictive analytics - with a bulldog never far from the plot.