BUSINESS BRIEFS

Tower Bancorp joins Russell 3000

Andrew Samuel, president and CEO of Tower Bancorp Inc. has announced that the company joined the broad-market Russell 3000 Index on June 26, when Russell Investments reconstituted its set of U.S. and global equity indexes.

The Russell 3000 Index measures the performance of the 3,000 largest United States companies based on total market capitalization. Membership in the Russell 3000, which remains in place for one year, means automatic inclusion in the large-cap Russell 1000 Index or small-cap Russell 2000 Index as well as the appropriate growth and value style indexes. Russell determines membership for its equity indexes primarily by objective, market-capitalization rankings and style attributes.

Alexander Building sponsors Arts Fest project

Alexander Building Construction of State College, sponsor of the Artist Embassy for the 43rd annual Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, is partnering with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Centre County to help design artwork for the structure.

This is the fifth year that Alexander has sponsored the Artist Embassy and the fourth year that Big Brothers Big Sisters has participated. On Thursday morning, youth in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program will paint pictures of images and landscapes that they see in central Pennsylvania on canvas squares. Their paintings will be displayed on the Artist Embassy booth during the festival.

Home Nursing Agency honored for best practices

The Altoona-based Home Nursing Agency was named a National Best Practice Agency by Fazzi and Associates for demonstrating superior performance in patient outcomes. Agencies named as best practice agencies are proven leaders and have excelled in establishing quality measures based on US Home Health Compare scores.

Home Nursing Agency is a private, nonprofit provider of home care services. The agency has more than 950 employees serving Centre, Clearfield and surrounding counties.

Nittany Mall Auntie Anne’s receives top award

The Auntie Anne’s location at Nittany Mall has been deemed a “Pretzel Perfect Store,” the franchise system’s highest honor.

The award was presented by Auntie Anne’s Inc., a leading franchisor of hand-rolled soft pretzels. Out of 793 domestic locations, only 26 Auntie Anne’s pretzel stores are recognized with this award.

The selection process lists a variety of considerations, including the team’s commitment to excellence in all facets of operations, sales building and marketing, store and staff management, customer service and community giving. The Nittany Mall store is led by Cathy and Randy Williamson, franchisees and managers.