General Cable is the 20th recipient of the Alexander A. Notopoulos Award by the Altoona-Blair County Development Corp.
Criteria for the award include a substantial business history, expanded facilities, increased employment levels and a sense of community. It was given Friday during the ABCD annual breakfast meeting at the Blair County Convention Center.
General Cable, headquartered in Highland Heights, Ky., is a leader in the development, design, manufacture, marketing and distribution of copper, aluminum and fiber optic wire and cable products for the energy, industrial, specialty and communications markets.
Operating out of the former Sylvania plant at 3101 Pleasant Valley Blvd., the Altoona operation, formerly known as Carol Cable, has been a part of the Altoona community for 22 years. It employs about 250 people.
General Cable was honored to receive the award, said Tim Smith, plant manager.
"We make ignition wire sets for the auto industry and are very proud of how we do it," Smith said. "We are very proud of the jobs we provide and what we do within the community, and we will continue to do that."
The Notopoulos Award was created by Altoona Enterprises, now ABCD Corp., as a tribute to Notopoulos for the Altoona attorney's years of service to Altoona Enterprises and the Altoona-Blair County area.
ABCD also presented the Richard L. McMaster Award to Tim Sissler, president and CEO of Reliance Bank.
The award was created in 2005 as a tribute to McMaster for his years of service to ABCD and the Blair County Industrial Development Authority.
"It is a great honor I am humbled to get. Dick McMaster was a person members of my generation looked up to. He recognized what it took to run a great organization because he ran one," Sissler said.
ABCD presented a special recognition to John Ferner, president of American Eagle Paper Mills, Tyrone, who plans to retire.
Ferner thanked ABCD for working closely with his group, known as Team Ten, to reopen the former Westvaco paper mill in 2003.
"Marty [Marasco, ABCD president and CEO] and his team supported us and we have created 240 jobs in Tyrone from a mill that was basically empty," Ferner said.
Economic Development Partnership Awards were presented to the Williamsburg Betterment Group and the Blair County Chamber of Commerce.
Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 946-7467.
