The Earl L. Core Award is the Morgantown Area Partnership’s highest honor. It’s not given every year—only when someone’s body of work leaves a legacy that spans generations. This year, that legacy belongs to Glenn Adrian.
Named the 2025 recipient of the Earl L. Core Award, Adrian’s impact on Morgantown can’t be summed up in a single project or business venture. Over the past 40 years, he’s helped shape the region’s economy, supported countless community organizations, and quietly guided transformative projects from behind the scenes.
“This is really the legacy award of our community,” said Craig Walker, immediate past chair of the Morgantown Area Partnership Board of Directors. “And Glenn has been a difference-maker in Morgantown for decades.”
As co-founder of Glenmark Holdings, Adrian helped launch and expand the Morgantown Industrial Park, which now houses major employers like Owens & Minor and Mountaintop Beverage. He’s been instrumental in attracting investment, jobs, and infrastructure to the region—including supporting a new bridge that will provide improved access to the park and ease truck traffic through Westover.
“Certainly Morgantown is a better place to live, work, and raise families because of Glenn Adrian,” David M. Thomas, Adrian’s colleague on the Clear Mountain Bank Board of Directors, shared.
Adrian’s influence extends far beyond business.
From once owning and managing a third of West Virginia’s nursing homes to serving on the Clear Mountain Bank Board of Directors for nearly 20 years, Glenn has consistently brought a community-first mindset to his decisions.
“Some people just see things as a dollars and cents decision,” said Thomas. “Glenn looks at things through the lens of what’s right for the community.”
Glenn is also a hands-on supporter of groups like Hazel’s House of Hope, Mylan Park, the Salvation Army, the United Way, and more. Whether through service or investment, his leadership style is rooted in generosity and humility.
“He’s not on boards for prestige,” Thomas noted. “He’s there to roll up his sleeves and get to work. And he does.”
That same humility came through in Glenn’s response to the award:
“You don’t do what you do for this type of recognition,” he said. “But I’m absolutely honored. When I look at the individuals who’ve received this before me, I’m humbled to be included in that group.”
“We were told to start our business in North Carolina or Florida—but we were rooted here,” Glenn said. “We were bullish on West Virginia. And Morgantown was our base.”
Today, thanks to that vision and commitment, countless others now call Morgantown home—for work, for family, and for opportunity.
