Houston firm to reopen under new ownership

For Joe Myzak, the timing was right.
“I wanted to retire,” said Myzak, who until recently was president and chief executive officer of Myzak Hydraulics, a Houston firm that, among many things, sells and rents industrial equipment to numerous clients, including gas and oil companies in the region.
He had looked into selling his company for nearly two years before doing so in April to McCutcheon Enterprises Inc. of Apollo, Armstrong County. Rising costs, especially related to workers compensation, were a factor in his decision.
But he said it has been a profitable venture, growing from humble beginnings with a small workforce in 1998, to rapid expansion in the middle of the past decade, to weathering The Great Recession, to becoming a viable attraction to buyers.
Myzak Hydraulics, with 60 employees, also provides containment solutions, backyard services and waste management. It will be an especially busy place Wednesday, when the new owners will have a year-end clearance sale of equipment from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and a “grand reopening” from 4 to 6 p.m.
Established in 1947, McCutcheon Enterprises provides transportation, disposal and onsite environmental services. It has satellite operations in Ellwood City, Emlenton and now Houston.
The McCutcheon family has a large presence in their initial operation in Washington County. Calvin McCutcheon, who founded the comapny in 1947, is the owner and president; his wife, Julia, heads human resources and payroll; and their son, Nathan, is the location manager.
Bob Schwalb is the executive director, Tim Dobrosky facility manager and Craig Kinley operations manager.
“They’re very good people,” said Myzak, 51, of Washington. “I’m glad to see them take it.”
The sentiment is mutual.
“We had been looking to expand our footprint in Southwestern Pennsylvania,” said Chad McCutcheon, company communications professional. “Once we got wind of Myzak, that seemed to make sense.”
Chad acknowledged that “our business is pretty diverse. We’re the haz-mat response company for eight counties in Northwestern Pennsylvania.”
Officially, Joe Myzak will still be a businessman, still be involved in oil drilling. He said he is one-third owner of two businesses, Pax Drilling and Intrepid Resources, which works on 18,000 acres in Kansas.
“But my two partners are running it,” he said. “I’m pretty much retired.”
Myzak, a 1980 graduate of Immaculate Conception High School, was introduced to oil fields in his early 20s. He went from IC to Dean Tech, a trade school in Pittsburgh; then to Texas as a welder; then to Weatherford International, with which he worked in oil fields in far-flung points of the globe, including Singapore, Borneo and India.
He returned to the Washington area for a labor job with Dynamet. While there, Myzak started his hydraulics firm, working 16 hours between the two sites on many days.
Now he has left the company that bears his name – for now. On Jan. 1, a new year will beget new signage at 101 W. Pike St. – McCutchen Enterprises.