AmerisourceBergen and Toll Brothers Among Fortune’s Most Admired Companies

Five Philadelphia area companies have made Fortune’s new list of the World’s Most Admired Companies, including some well known Chester County names.

AmerisourceBergen, based in Chesterbrook, and Toll Brothers, based in Horsham, made this year’s list together with Aramark, Comcast, and King of Prussia’s Universal Health Services. AmerisourceBergen and Aramark join the list for the first time since its inception three years ago.

To create the list that names 340 companies across 54 industries, Fortune surveyed 4,000 “investors, consumers, and business insiders who keep an eye on the markets, listen to earnings calls, and follow the Fortune 500 and Global 500 with a keen interest.”

The top 50 companies are then ranked by experts based on a variety of factors, including their quality of management and leadership, community responsibility, and the ability to attract talent. This year none of the Philadelphia area companies made the top 50.

Conestoga High School Team Takes First Place in STEM Competition

Conestoga High School team took first place at the local segment of this year’s regional governor’s STEM competition. The event was held on February 1st at the Chester County Intermediate Unit, with Downingtown West High School coming in second and Bishop Shanahan taking third place.

This year’s competition, themed “Building a Stronger Pennsylvania,” asked 10 teams of students from schools in Chester County to choose an issue, conduct research, design and construct a prototype, and finally deliver a presentation on how it would ensure a better quality of life for residents of Pennsylvania.

The winning proposal is titled “novel use of dialysis bags and sodium polyacrylate in algae biofuel extraction.” Stipends of $500 were provided for each project, with the Conestoga High School students winning an additional $750 in funding to improve their prototype as they advance to the state contest.

Phoenixville’s Jeremy Gajkowski Represents USA in the Field Hockey Masters World Cup

Phoenixville native, Jeremy Gajkowski, will be competing as part of the national team in the Field Hockey Masters World Cup to be held in Canberra, Australia from March 29th to April 6th.

The biennial international event, that bills itself as larger than both the Olympic Games and the Champions Trophy hockey competitions, will see teams from 14 countries, aged from 40 to over 60, competing for the top spots.

Four Masters National Teams will be representing the USA, Women’s Over-40 and Over-45 and Men’s Over-40 and Over-50. Gajkowski will be competing as part of the men’s over-40 team.

“This will be the first time that I have represented Team USA in international play,” said Gajkowski. “Our goal as a team at the Masters World Cup is to improve on previous finishes.”