Pennsylvania Business Central

Entrepreneur
2004 Winners

Presenting sponsor:

Co-sponsors:

Steven C. Sliver

Large Business
Steven C. Sliver
Chief executive officer
Mutual Benefit Group
409 Penn St.
Huntingdon, PA 16652
(814) 643-3003
www.mutualbenefitgroup.com

The company underwrites property & casualty insurance for about 75,000 policyholders in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Ohio

Education: Sliver (rhymes with driver) holds a BS from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and has been a certified public accountant since 1980.

Job Responsibility: He is the overall head of the corporation, overseeing 205 employees, interacting with the COO, supervising the treasurer and corporate communications, and, as he put it, “most importantly, determining the company strategy for continued success.”

Guiding Philosophy: “My best, training was from my parents,” he says. “They taught me the principle of respect – for myself, for others, for others property.” He thinks this respect comes through in how his company does business, with a respect for the needs of the customers, employees and the community.
He also notes that honesty and integrity are core values of Mutual Benefit Group.

First Job: His first job was caddying at West Shore Country Club when he was about 14.

Suggested Inspiration: When it comes to music, Sliver likes nearly everything, from Beethoven to The Beatles. He is an avid reader, splitting his time between books directed toward his profession and books with an historical aspect. He notes the recent influence of business authors, including Good to Great by Jim Collins, corporate strategy writings by Harvard’s Michael Porter and Fredrick Reichheld’s books on loyalty.

Biggest Accomplishments: First he names his family. Sliver’s daughter just graduated in the top two of her class in speech pathology. His son, an army lieutenant and a West Point graduate, just returned from Iraq with a bronze star.

Sliver is also pleased to have created an organization that has been capable of growing and prospering in challenging times. “We’re pleased we could meet recent challenges, stay competitive and still meet the needs of our agents and policyholders,” he says.

Amy Christopher, an employee and his nominator, adds, “Under his tenure, the company expanded its operations into another state; began developing niche insurance coverage products; expanded our office space to accommodate 40 new employees and designed easy-to-use technical systems for our agents.”

According to Christopher, Sliver also encourages dialogue among community leaders concerning ways to improve the area’s economic climate and promotes development of a business-friendly environment through active involvement in Huntingdon County Business & Industry and Juniata College’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.

Community Involvement:

Huntingdon County Business & Industry, business development committee chair
Huntingdon County United Way, board and co-chaired a campaign along with wife, Julie
Pennsylvania Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, past president
Huntingdon Rotary Club, past president
Junior Achievement, classroom instructor

Awards & Commendations:

Insurance Person of the Year, Professional Insurance Agents Association of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware
Division awards, Huntingdon County United Way

Charity of Choice: Huntingdon County Junior Achievement

Central Pennsylvania
Chapter of SCORE

Government/Economic Development
Central Pennsylvania Chapter of SCORE

All of the volunteers
2820 E. College Ave., Suite E
State College, PA 16801
Advisers to small business in central and northwestern Pennsylvania
(814)-234-9415
www.scorecepa.org

Education: These 20-plus volunteers are CPAs, MBAs, PhDs and highly successful graduates of the school of hard knocks. They are retirees from positions of success, including business administration, business owners and executive-level managers from business, education and government sectors.

Donna Holmes, director of the Penn State SBDC and SCORE’s nominator, says, “The typical SCORE counselor has 30 years or more of business ownership or executive level experience which they voluntarily share with their clients.”

Job Responsibility: Each volunteer assists small businesses with counseling and advice, including start-up planning, expansion, business plans, financing and other phases for new and existing businesses. “In addition to helping them start a business, sometimes the best thing we can do for them is tell them not to start it,” says Robert J. Scannell, chapter chair.

Guiding Philosophy: “To help businesses become successes – or avoid being failures,” Scannell says.

First Job: From paperboys to McDonald’s fry cooks, farm hands to country club caddies, these volunteers have done it all – early, and with great zeal.

A Favorite Saying: SCORE’S theme is “Counselors to America’s Small Business.”

Biggest Recent Accomplishments: Central Pennsylvania SCORE counseled 368 businesses in the past year; 168 of them were new clients. They have counseled 128 individuals in the first four months of 2004. According to Scannell, they present more than 30 workshops annually, in conjunction with the Penn State SBDC and the SBA. Last year they presented 31 workshops with 390 attendees. All this is done on a little under $2,000 a year of federal support, mostly used for postage and copies.

Holmes adds, “In addition, they have been asked to assume responsibility for additional counties in central and northwestern Pennsylvania.

Community Involvement: Scannell says that while many of the volunteers are exclusively dedicated to SCORE, many others volunteer in various community concerns. For example, vice chair Ned Book is a Penn State University Trustee and active in the National Tourism Association. Bob Allen, past president, is now the district director of the Western Pennsylvania SCORE, which includes nine chapters.

Charity of Choice: SCORE Foundation, which provides donated financial aid to the agency.

Salvatore “Sam” J. Valenty

Small Business
Salvatore “Sam” J. Valenty

President & CEO
Valenty Bottled Water
200 Buckwheat Hill Road Northern Cambria, PA 15714
Bottled water firm serving seven counties from Cambria County
(814) 948-4587

Education: After Valenty graduated from high school, he joined the Navy and served in the submarine force during the Korean War. At the age of 24, he started his first business. This year he celebrates his 50th year as an entrepreneur.

Job Responsibility: He started Valenty Bottled Water in 1984. “Twenty years ago, they thought I was crazy to sell water,” he says with a chuckle. The firm is now the largest of its kind in a five-county area. At 74, he is still a hands-on owner. He employs 13 full-time.
Guiding Philosophy: “Service is the bottom line,” Valenty says. “You have to have quality and be competitive, but if you don’t have service, you lose.”

Patricia Schilling, his employee and nominator, says, “He is a true visionary. He gets an idea, then through hard work and diligence, transforms his idea into a profitable enterprise. He has redefined the concept of customer service. All of our efforts stem from his untiring quest to keep his customers happy.”

First Job: After his honorary discharge from the Navy, Valenty worked in a machine shop in Ebensburg and also delivered milk. His string of entrepreneurial successes followed, including a gift and card shop, produce business, ice business, food service business, mine supply office, restaurant and janitorial supply business and the first ice-carving business in the region. All were sold to new owners.

Suggested Inspiration: Valenty likes to read trade magazines – anything in the business.
A Favorite Saying: His company motto is “The Name You Have Learned to Depend On.”
Recent Accomplishments: He is proud of his new 15,000-square-foot facility with a heated floor, air conditioned offices, and a showroom on 11.5 acres in Northern Cambria’s industrial park. His fleet includes three tractor-trailers and seven delivery trucks.

Community Involvement:

Committee to Consolidate Barnesboro and Spangler as Northern Cambria, member
Cambria County Planning Committee, board and past chair
Cambria County Chamber of Commerce, board and past chair
Norcam, board chairman
JARI, board and secretary
Cambria County Community College, board and past chair
Miner’s Medical Center, board and vice chair
Mt. Aloysius College, board member
St. Joseph’s Mission, council member
Cambria County Alliance, board chair

Awards and Commendations:

Economic Spirit Award, Cambria Chamber
Innovator of the Year, Cambria Chamber
Celebrity Waiter, Leukemia Society
Honorary Doctorate, St. Francis College, 2001

Charity of Choice: The American Red Cross

Craig Dean Willis

Non-Profit
Craig Dean Willis

President & CEO
Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania
North Fairview St.,
Lock Haven, PA 17745
A small university enrolling more than 4,200, main campus in Lock Haven, branch campus in Clearfield, with more than 75 academic programs.
(570) 893-2001
www.lhup.edu

Education: He holds a PhD from Ohio State University with an emphasis on higher education. His MA is from Ohio State and BA is from Ohio Wesleyan University.

Job Responsibility: He joined LHU as president in 1982. The budget when he arrived in February 1983 was about $15 million. It is $48 million now. The student population has grown from 2,646 to 4,459 and the faculty has grown from 147 to 239. Willis is retiring from this position this year; he held his last open meeting on April 21.

Guiding Philosophy: “I try to treat people like I’d like to be treated,” Willis says. He feels he was most influenced by his parents.

First Job: His first job was as a paperboy in Greenville, Ohio when he was nine years old, followed by a stint as a “soda jerk” and later on as a bank teller during college.

Suggested Inspiration: Willis enjoys reading and audio books. At the time of the interview it was Jacque Barzun’s Twentieth Century, but he’s just as likely to be enjoying the recent Grisham novel. He also enjoys theatre, music, dance and athletic events. He is also a world traveler, with a lifelong itinerary that includes at least five continents.

A Favorite Saying: He made a number of memorable points in his last commencement speech, including: Love yourself, don’t waste your time hating people, listen more than you talk and don’t sweat the small stuff. He also quotes Martin Luther King Jr., “Love your enemies to death.”
Recent Accomplishments: In the past year, the university has opened a new recreational center on campus, bought the former high school building a few blocks away in order to expand and has added a Surgical Tech program. In the near future, LHU will also offer Cardiac Rehabilitation training.

He is proudest of his wife and family. Of his four sons, two are lawyers, one is a professor and one is a doctor.

He is pleased that LHU is one of the 16 colleges and universities to host a state Small Business Development Center. Willis personally invites Clinton County CEOs to a meeting each year to discuss economic development.

Community Involvement:

Center for Rural Pennsylvania, board member
Lock Haven Hospital, board member
Rotary of Lock Haven
International Education Committee, American Association of State Colleges and Universities, past chairman
Lock Haven Chamber of Commerce
Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, treasurer
American Council of Education, Committee on International Education, member Awards and Commendations:
1990, Money magazine ranked LHU No. 55 in the nation’s top 100 public colleges
1998, U.S. News & World Report ranked LHU No. 1 in the category of The North’s Top Regional Liberal Arts Colleges
Lock Haven University has the highest growth rate in 21 years out of all the colleges in the state university system

Charity of Choice: Lock Haven University Fund, for scholarships for needy students

The Grand Prize
Winners in each category will receive a plaque and Pennsylvania Business Central will donate $500 to the charity of their choice for a toal of $2,000 in donations.

Pennsylvania Business Central is pleased to make four $500 donations in the names of our four 2004 Entrepreneur award winners.