Induction Year: 2021

Robert O. Baron

  • September 24th, 2021

Robert “Bob” Baron is the president and CEO of Baron Weather, Inc., an international leader in weather data intelligence systems. The company has created and implemented live radar and storm tracking technologies that enable emergency officials to quickly detect dangerous storms and disseminate alerts to those in harm’s way. They provide weather intelligence products and solutions to a wide array of industries, meteorological organizations and public servants around the world.

Baron Weather patented the ability to send alerts exclusively to people directly affected. It presents its data in various formats, allowing its products to be used in a variety of use cases including road weather, aviation, nautical navigation, and recreation. Furthermore, via SiriusXM, the weather to the cockpit, WxWorx, continues to be an industry leader.

The company provided this warning system technology to the state of Alabama free of charge following the 2011 super outbreak of tornadoes, when the Governor’s task force established a need for a statewide alert system of this nature.

In 2007, the National Weather Service chose Baron Services to upgrade each of its 171 radars to possess dual polarity capabilities made possible by Baron’s technology.
Baron founded the company in 1990 after a tornado outbreak – including a devastating F4 that hit Huntsville – made clear a need for site-specific weather alerts. The system visualized strike-by-strike lightning data from NASA‘s nearby Marshall Space Flight Center and its first two users were Huntsville Utilities and aerospace contractor, Thiokol, Inc., both of whom were highly interested in gaining better understandings of lightning strikes. For the former, to better position trucks after lightning storms; for the latter, knowing where lightning was striking around propellent-filled rockets.

Prior to this, he served as chief meteorologist at Channel 48, Huntsville’s NBC News affiliate. He brought 22 years of industry experience to his company.
“I have known Bob for many years and cannot think of any individual who deserves the honor of induction more,” said William Stender, Jr., a 2016 Alabama Business Hall of Fame inductee.

“He is a self-made man, working from an early age, from the bottom up, as a media personality in radio and television to a respected member of the meteorological broadcast community to an enterprising entrepreneur in the weather data dissemination arena to, finally today, the highly respected Chief Executive Officer of Baron Weather, Inc.”

Baron is a long-standing member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and was the recipient of the AMS Seal of Approval for Television in 1982. AMS honored him again in 2010 with elevation to AMS Fellow for outstanding contributions to atmospheric sciences.

He was recognized as the 1996 Small Business Executive of the Year by the Huntsville and Madison County Chamber of Commerce, and in 1998 Baron Services received the Mass Mutual Blue-Chip award for small businesses. In 2005, Baron was recognized as a candidate for Inc. Magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year, and in 2006 the Alabama House of Representatives awarded him a commendation based on his company’s contributions to the safety and well-being of the public.

He attended the University of Tennessee, where he graduated with his undergraduate degree in broadcast journalism. In 2011, UT’s Haslam College of Business named Baron Entrepreneur of the Year.

Baron and his wife Phylis recently celebrated their 54h wedding anniversary. They have two children, son Robert Jr., who is a recently retired Executive Vice President at Baron Weather, Inc., and daughter Elizebeth.

Cecil Batchelor

  • September 24th, 2021

Cecil Batchelor was the chairman of CBS Banc-Corp and chairman emeritus of CB&S Bank, based in Russellville, Alabama. His 56-year banking career was one defined by success in establishing and leading banks throughout the state – and his impacts on the industry are profound.

Upon graduation from Phillips High School in Bear Creek, Batchelor enlisted in the United States Navy but had to wait for a period of three months before he could officially join. During that waiting period, he started several business ventures –– and also met the woman who would eventually become his wife.

His time in the Navy was largely spent stationed stateside in Williamsburg, Va., where he patrolled the eastern seaboard for submarines –– World War II was in full swing at that point. It was at that point he met – and befriended – a German POW named Georg Giersberg, with whom he made a promise to help him emigrate to the United States at a later date.

After the war ended, he moved back to Alabama and enrolled at Florence State Teachers College – now known as the University of North Alabama – in Florence with the desire to become an educator. An opportunity came along to move into auto sales and later retail hardware sales, thanks to the encouragement of a connection in Russellville.

After establishing himself in the Russellville business community, Batchelor was elected to the board of directors for Citizens Bank in 1964, which was his official introduction to the banking industry.

At 45 years old, he was the youngest member of the board by 20 years and soon realized his retail experience could be a great asset to the board and help the bank through periods of change and innovation.

After a failed attempt by a majority of the board to sell the bank, which Batchelor, then chairman of the board, did not support, he decided then to begin buying shares in the bank until he had a majority holding to prevent any future attempts to sell the bank. The rationale behind this was to preserve the bank’s valuable role as a community asset, in touch with the needs of the area’s residents.

Over the years he continued serving as chairman of the board and advocating for the bank and for policy changes, all while acquiring stock in the business and finally becoming the majority stockholder in 1993, ensuring the bank would remain independently owned and operated.

During Batchelor’s time as chairman of the board for Citizens Bank, he helped to spearhead the bank’s expansion into other markets once expanding beyond county lines was allowed. In 2008, Citizens Bank changed its name to CB&S Bank.

In May 2016 after more than 50 years of service as chairman of the board for CB&S Bank, having overseen its growth from $5 million in assets to more than $2 billion in assets, with 57 locations throughout the southeast, Batchelor became chairman emeritus of the board until his passing August 17, 2021.

But besides his accomplishments in business, Batchelor’s effort to help his German POW friend Georg Giersberg emigrate is among his proudest achievements. Years after WW2, Batchelor tracked Giersberg down to a small English town and helped him and his family emigrate to the United States. Seeing the family flourish and succeed brought Batchelor much joy and happiness over the years.

Batchelor was involved in many civic and community causes and groups over his lifetime. He was an active member and leader in the First United Methodist Church of Russellville. He was the longest-serving Civitan member in the state of Alabama at over 72 years, which included time spent as the president, the treasurer, and the secretary of the Russellville Civitan Club.

He organized and was the first president of the Russellville Industrial Board, the Russellville Jaycees, and the Russellville Merchant Association., and served as president of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, among other business and civic affiliations.

He is survived by his wife of 75 years, Olivia Robinson Batchelor; his daughter, Rebecca Reeves, and her husband, Brad; his son, Greg Batchelor, and his wife, Donna; his grandson, John Bradley Reeves, and his wife, Alana; his grandson, John Gregory Batchelor; and his great-grandson, Rhett Reeves.

Marcus Bendickson

  • September 24th, 2021

Dr. Marcus J. Bendickson is the former CEO and chairman of the board of Dynetics, which, under his leadership, became the second-largest employee-owned company in Alabama.

Dynetics provides high-technology, engineering, IT, and scientific services and solutions to government and commercial customers alike in the national security, cybersecurity, space, and critical infrastructure industries. Its 17th employee, Bendickson facilitated the buyout of Dynetics from its founders through an employee stock ownership purchase (ESOP) and became CEO of the company in 1989, after originally joining Dynetics as an engineer specializing in radar systems.

He knew the company’s business well: the early part of his career was spent on the development of digital simulation techniques used to provide timely and cost-effective methods of predicting radar and missile system performance. These digital models gave detailed insight into failure modes and performance anomalies that sometimes were difficult to achieve with hardware testing.  Some of these models have been in continuous use in evaluating a variety of weapon systems for over 40 years.

The commercial operations sector of Dynetics, comprised of automotive electrical rapid prototyping, computer network design, and information security, rose to about 20% of the company’s annual sales under the direction of Bendickson. In 2011, Dynetics became a 100% ESOP Corporation with over 1,500 employees. By the time he retired from the CEO position in 2015, Dynetics generated about $275 million in sales.

Bendickson remained on the Dynetics board of directors following his retirement, supporting the company greatly during its acquisition by Leidos in 2020. This deal was followed by a period of exceptional growth for Dynetics.

Over the last part of his career, Bendickson devoted considerable time and effort in teaching, training, and assisting other companies in realizing the value of employee ownership via Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOP).  He has served on a half-dozen ESOP company boards and given numerous talks on the subject. His passion for employee ownership and the value it offers to both the company and the employee are well recognized in the community.

Outside of his professional endeavors, Bendickson has served organizations that propel the business interests of Huntsville forward. He has been a member of the boards of directors for BB&T Greater Huntsville Advisory Board, the Huntsville Chamber of Commerce, and the HudsonAlpha Foundation. Additionally, he is vice-chair of the Board of Trustees for the University of Alabama at Huntsville Foundation and chaired its Campus Planning Committee.

He also lends his expertise to other organizations. He chairs the American Management Association’s board for small growing companies, serves on the Cook’s Museum of Natural Science board, and is on the advisory board of the Alabama Policy Institute.

Bendickson’s service and contributions to industry have been recognized by several organizations. In 1993, he was recognized as a Distinguished Alumni of The University of Alabama at Huntsville and received UAH’s Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award in 2000. In 2002, he was awarded the Professional of the Year award by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, or IEEE.

He earned his doctorate degree in electrical engineering from The University of Alabama at Huntsville. He also holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Columbia University, as well as a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University. He was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota.

He and his wife Sheryl live near their two married children and 7 grandchildren. In their spare time, they are working to create a museum of information technology products located in the downtown Huntsville area. The couple were honored as Huntsville’s Heart of the Community by the American Heart Association in 2015. They are also active members of Whitesburg Baptist Church.

Jay Grinney

  • September 24th, 2021

Jay Grinney is the former president and chief executive officer of HealthSouth Corporation (now Encompass Health Corporation), having assumed that role in May 2004. He retired from HealthSouth in December 2016 after leading the successful turnaround of one of the nation’s largest healthcare companies. Grinney currently serves as an industry advisor to KKR, a global investment firm, and is chairman of the board of Global Medical Response, a KKR-owned patient transportation company.

After the discovery of a $2.7 billion accounting fraud orchestrated by the company’s founder, many believed HealthSouth would file for bankruptcy. The challenges facing the company were significant.  It had been delisted from the New York Stock Exchange and was under investigations by both the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ); had no current, audited financial statements; was in default on its debt covenants; faced a major Class Action lawsuit; was hobbled by a bloated and inefficient corporate structure; and had lost the trust and confidence of its employees, physicians, patients, and business partners.

Upon becoming CEO Grinney recruited a first-class management team and embarked on a multiple-year turnaround. That enormous effort included restating two years of fraudulent financial statements and preparing new, audited financial statements (both of which required more than one million man-hours to achieve); reaching a $100 million settlement with the SEC, a $325 million settlement with the DOJ, and a $445 million settlement to resolve the Class Action litigation; divesting three, non-core business segments to raise $1.2 billion to help satisfy those settlements; recapitalizing its balance sheet; streamlining the company’s operating systems and strengthening its internal controls; and repositioning HealthSouth as a preeminent post-acute healthcare provider. On October 26, 2006, HealthSouth was re-listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Grinney and his team then focused on growing the company by developing hospitals in new markets and acquiring competitors, including the $730 million purchase of Reliant Health Partners. This growth continued as HealthSouth expanded into home health and hospice services with the $750 million acquisition of Encompass Home Health and Hospice in 2014, followed by the $170 million purchase of CareSouth Home Health and Hospice a year later. In 2018 the company rebranded itself as Encompass Health and is today one of the largest post-acute providers in the U.S. with approximately 43,000 employees providing care to more than 364,000 patients annually.

Prior to joining HealthSouth, Grinney was president of the Eastern Group of Hospital Corporation of America (NYSE:HCA) and before that, senior vice president at The Methodist Hospital System in Houston, Texas where he began his career.

Grinney previously served as a director of Energen Corporation, an NYSE-listed oil and gas exploration company; Envision Healthcare, a KKR-owned physician staffing and ambulatory surgery company; and Coca-Cola Bottling Company, a privately-held bottling and distribution company based in Birmingham, AL. He also served on the board of directors of the Federation of American Hospitals, including a term as its Chairman.

He has been active in civic organizations, serving on the boards of directors of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, the United Way of Central Alabama, and the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama.

Grinney earned a Bachelor of Arts from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota; and both a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Healthcare Administration from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

He and his wife Melanie reside in Mountain Brook, Alabama.  He has three children, Naomi Grinney, Rachel Emami, and Matthew Grinney, and seven grandchildren.

Lonnie Johnson

  • September 24th, 2021

Lonnie Johnson, acclaimed inventor, is the founder and President of Johnson Research and Development and founder and chairman of Johnson Energy Storage and JTEC Energy. His most popular invention is the Super Soaker water gun, which sold over 250 million units since its launch in 1990 and grossed more than $1 billion.

He conceived the extremely sought-after kids toy in 1982 while working on another invention, an environmentally friendly heat pump. Dr. Johnson partnered with Larami Corporation, which was later bought by Hasbro when the Super Soaker became the number one selling toy in the world. The wild success of the Super Soaker allowed him to fulfill a life-long dream of becoming a full-time inventor and establishing his own company, Johnson Research.

Dr. Johnson is a prolific inventor and holds over 150 patents and continues to invent to this day.  His innovations to science and engineering are significant and include numerous energy technologies,  consumer products, and high-tech toys.  He is among an elite group of African-American inventors who hold 6 percent of all patent applications in the United States.

He served in the United States Air Force and worked as an engineer for NASA.  While in the Air Force, he served as the Chief of the Space Nuclear Power Safety Section and worked on the Stealth Bomber program. He was awarded the Air Force Achievement Medal twice and the Commendation Medal for his contributions to the Air Force.

At NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), he was a Senior Systems Engineer for the Galileo mission to Jupiter and spacecraft engineer for the Mars Observer and the Cassini mission to Saturn.  He received multiple achievement awards for his work at NASA.

In 2011, Dr. Johnson was the first African American to be inducted into the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame.  His Super Soaker was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2015 and Dr Johnson received the Trailblazer Award from the Rainbow PUSH Coalition the same year.  He is also the recipient of the Legacy Award from the United Negro College Fund, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Golden Mousetrap Awards, and the Innovation Award from the Bounce Trumpet Awards, to name a few.

Aside from his notable inventions and revolutionary scientific work and research, Dr. Johnson has found numerous ways to mentor and support a new generation of engineers, particularly young people of color. He is the founder and chairman of the board of his non-profit, the Johnson STEM Activity Center, located in Atlanta.  He is also a board member of the Hank Aaron Chasing the Dream Foundation, a Trustee of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and a member of 100 Black Men of Atlanta.  He is the former chairman of the board for the Georgia Alliance for Children and a former member of the board of directors for  Commonwealth National Bank.

Ms. Thelma Thrash, former president of the Boys and Girls Club of Mobile said of Johnson, “He is a Renaissance Man with social conscience, a leader, and a visionary.” “His many achievements and global-wide contributions speak volumes […] of his character, integrity, and commitment to making a difference in the lives of others.”

He was born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, where he attended Williamson High School.  As a high school student, he traveled to The University of Alabama to compete in a science fair sponsored by the Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS). The only African-American student in the competition, he won first place for his invention, “Linex,” a remote-controlled, compressed-air-powered robot created from junkyard scraps.

He attended Tuskegee University on a math scholarship and earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1973 and his master’s degree in nuclear engineering in 1975. Tuskegee University also awarded him an honorary Ph.D. for his accomplishments in science and engineering.

Johnson lives with his wife in Atlanta and has four children.

Joe Ritch

  • September 24th, 2021

Currently a shareholder and member of the law firm Dentons Sirote in its Huntsville office, Joe H. Ritch is focused on issues related to government contractors in the defense and aerospace industry.

As a young lawyer, Ritch represented LG Electronics, then known as Gold Star, when it brought the first Korean manufacturing facility in the U.S. to Huntsville. He successfully represented such diverse entities as a cable television company against a municipality which blocked a competing company from acquiring it, and assisted Chrysler Technologies in numerous matters involving government affairs before Congress.

Business creation and acquisition captured Ritch’s attention beginning in 1982 when he helped form and located funding of  Cybex Corp., a small technology company that developed and sold KVM switches. He served on the board until 1996. Cybex, later renamed Avocent, was ultimately acquired by Emerson Electric in a $1.2 billion purchase.

In 1997, he assisted a  management group along with outside investors through the purchase of the Pentastar Electronics Division (PEI Electronics) of Chrysler Corporation. The company was acquired 18 months later by Integrated Defense Technologies (IDT), owned by Veritas Capital in New York.  He served on the board of PEI and later the advisory board of IDT.

In 2000, he led a group that acquired Brown International Corp., a defense contractor that engaged in significant international work. The company was sold to AAR in 2007. Ritch served on the board of Brown from its inception in 1985 until it was sold.

He has in recent years served on the boards of CAS, Inc. Axometrics, Inc. and Perkins Technical Services, Inc., and on the advisory board of Boneal Aerospace.

Since 1994, he has led the efforts of the Tennessee Valley Base Realignment and Closure Committee, a coalition of 13 communities, local and state governments, chambers of commerce, and others in north Alabama and south-central Tennessee to relocate the Army’s aviation component from St. Louis, Mo.; in 2005 the TVBRAC effort was successful in moving  4,700 high paying jobs to the region related to missile defense,  development and acquisition; and In the last two years, he has led the efforts of the now renamed Redstone Regional Alliance to locate the U.S. Space Command to Redstone.

As a result of the Committee’s work, thousands of military and government contractor jobs were relocated to Redstone Arsenal and the surrounding areas. Furthermore, he worked with state and local officials to obtain funds for the recruitment of workers to fill open positions and a $175 million state-funded investment in K-12 facilities to make the area an attractive place for relocation.

In public service, Ritch has not only been a willing servant but a recognized leader. He served on the board of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation’s largest public power provider from 2013 to 2019, sitting as its chair from 2014 until he left the board in 2017. He was the first Alabamian in TVA’s 80-year history to chair the board of TVA, which provides flood control, economic development, recreation facilities navigation, and electricity for over nine million people across the southeastern United States.

He has served as a member of The University of Alabama System Board of Trustees and is a trustee emeritus. He is also chairman of the UAH Eminent Scholars Foundation and a member of the State of Alabama Military Stabilization Committee.

Recognition for his numerous contributions to the Huntsville area includes awards such as the Huntsville-Madison  County Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Service Award in 2003; induction into the North Alabama Business Hall of Fame; U.S. Space Club’s Community Service Award; UAH’s Outstanding Alumni Award in 1982; The Department of the Army’s Commander’s Public Service Award; and he was the recipient of Redstone Arsenal’s Good Neighbor Award, one of the first of three that have been awarded in the history of Redstone Arsenal.

He is considered the founder of UAH hockey (1979) and has been inducted into the UAH Athletic Hall of Honor and the Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame. He was the first hockey coach of the club hockey team that would later grow into an NCAA Division 2 National Champion.

Ritch earned his bachelor’s degree from The University of Alabama at Huntsville in 1972, his J.D. from the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University where he was the Editor-in-Chief of the law review, and graduated from New York University in 1976 with an LL.M  in taxation. He received an honorary doctorate from UAH in 2014.

Born in Selma, he has lived in Huntsville since 1953. Ritch is a member and former trustee of Trinity United Methodist Church in Huntsville and is married to Lana C. Ritch.

Stan Starnes

  • September 24th, 2021

Stancil “Stan” Starnes is the executive chairman of ProAssurance Corporation, having served as its chief executive officer from 2007 to 2019 and he is President pro tempore of the University of Alabama System Board, representing the Sixth Congressional District.

Born in Tuscaloosa, he grew up in Birmingham and attended The University of Alabama, graduating from the business school at the age of 20. He then attended Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law, edited the Cumberland Law Review, and graduated summa cum laude and first in his class.

Practicing law was something of a family tradition – his father was a lawyer – and in 1975, they established Starnes and Starnes, now known as Starnes Davis Florie. They specialized in courtroom advocacy, representing a wide variety of clients in civil litigation, across the state and further afield. Among many accomplishments as a lawyer, was his authorship of the Alabama Medical Liability Act, which was enacted by the Alabama State Legislature in 1987, as well as subsequent amendments to the Act.

He was named as one of the “Best Lawyers in America” for over 20 consecutive years. He was elected to the prestigious American College of Trial Lawyers in 1989, an organization comprised of less than one percent of the lawyers in the United States. He is the youngest lawyer from Alabama ever so elected. He served for over twenty years on the Supreme Court of Alabama Advisory Committee on the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure and was named Chairman of the committee in 1998.

In 2006, Starnes joined Brasfield & Gorrie as President of Corporate Planning and Administration and in 2007, he was named CEO of ProAssurance Corporation, a position he held until July 2019. Under Starnes’ leadership, ProAssurance expanded to write one or more of its insurance products in all 50 states from its offices throughout the United States, its Captive facility in the Cayman Islands, and through its Lloyd’s Syndicate in London.

During each year with Starnes as CEO, ProAssurance was named one of the top-50 casualty insurance carriers in the United States out of a universe of over 3,500 carriers.

The company also transformed itself from a physician-centric, regional, mono-line insurance company to a healthcare-centric, national, specialty insurance company, offering a range of products including physician and hospital professional liability, workers compensation, and life sciences.

During his 12-year tenure as ProAssurance CEO, Starnes helped return over $2.1 billion to shareholders while growing their equity by 37% from $1.15 billion to $1.58 billion.

Starnes has served on a number of community and non-profit boards, including the Boards of Directors of ProAssurance, National Bank of Commerce, and Ascension, the largest non-profit healthcare provider in the United States. In addition to his leadership role on The University of Alabama System board, he is also a member of the UAB Health System Board. Furthermore, he is a member of the board of the Crimson Tide Foundation.

He was named the outstanding alumnus of Cumberland School of Law in 2002 and was the inaugural Scholar in Residence at Cumberland in 2005. He is a member of the Alabama Bar Association, the Birmingham Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and is an advocate in the American Board of Trial Advocates.

Starnes also serves the community through affiliation and membership in a variety of organizations. He has served as a community advisor to the Junior League of Birmingham. He is a past Captain of the Monday Morning Quarterback Club and serves on the board of trustees of the Crippled Children’s Foundation and is its current chairman.

He is a member of the board of directors of the Newcomen Society of Alabama and is a member of the Birmingham Area Advisory Board of the Salvation Army. He is a life member of the Alabama Law Foundation and a charter member of the Atticus Finch Society. He is a life fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

In 2018, he was elected to the Alabama Academy of Honor, an organization whose membership is limited to 100 living Alabamians.

He and his wife, Joan, have been married for over 40 years. They have three children, all of whom are now married. All live in Birmingham along with seven grandchildren.

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