Induction Year: 2023

Michael D. Thompson 

  • November 13th, 2023
Business Leader, Advocate for Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Mike Thompson is president and CEO of Fairway Investments, LLC, a real estate investment firm he founded in 1991. Boasting a portfolio that includes 125 properties in 10 southern states, Fairway manages millions of square feet of retail, office, multi-family, hospitality, and industrial property, and employs 27 people. Fairway has redeveloped many locations including Huntersville, North Carolina, Huntsville and Birmingham, Alabama and more recently, the company has developed property in Palm Beach, Florida; Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio, Texas; and Suffolk, Virginia.
A 1977 graduate of The University of Alabama with a bachelor’s degree in general business, Thompson began his career at his father’s business, Thompson Tractor Co., Inc., the Caterpillar dealer in North Alabama. He held numerous jobs until 1986, when he became president and CEO. Under his leadership, employment grew from 500 to 1,300, revenue increased, and the company opened 13 new locations. The company also expanded into new markets, with Thompson purchasing the Caterpillar dealer in South Alabama and Northwest Florida in April 1987 and hiring 188 new employees. The company created two divisions in 1989: Thompson Power Systems and Thompson Lift Truck Company. Thompson Tractor opened the CAT rental store in 1999. He held the title of CEO for 33 years until 2019 when he became chairman of the board.
In 1986, Thompson facilitated the sale of six large propulsion engines to a Russian fishing company, which led to Caterpillar offering him a sales franchise in Russia. Thompson purchased the Russian-registered company from Caterpillar and named it Tiger Machinery in 1999. Under his leadership, the company grew in employment and revenue, built several geothermal power plants on the Kuril Islands and added four branch locations in Russia/Far East, among other accomplishments. Tiger Machinery provided prime power to the largest oil and gas drill in the world, owned by Exxon on Sakhalin Island. Thompson sold the business in 2015.
Thompson is active in philanthropy and community affairs, including leadership of the Coalition of Regional Transportation, a spin-off association of the Birmingham Business Alliance with a mission to improve the quality of life of central Alabamians by advocating for the completion of the Northern Beltline. He also served on the board of directors for the Birmingham Zoo for ten years, leading the capital campaign for the Children’s Petting Zoo, and served two terms on the Mountain Brook Board of Education. He served 11 years on the board of the Callahan Eye Foundation Hospital, with four of those years as chairman of the hospital.  He is active on the board of Quarterbacking Children’s Health Foundation. He has also served 41 years on the Shoal Creek Board of Governors, being president for six years and chairing or co-chairing five major golf tournaments. He helped lead The University of Alabama’s 1992-1997 capital campaign and chaired the Business Council of Alabama in 2003 and 2004. Finally, he serves as president of the Thompson Family Foundation, which serves 250 charities per year and has contributed over $20,000,000 to state-wide charities since its founding in 1999. He is a member of The University of Alabama’s President Cabinet.
Thompson and his wife, Genie, have three daughters: Lucy (Jacob), Maxwell (Bradley), and Annie (Connor). Lucy and Jacob have two daughters, Hallsey and Mamie. Annie and Connor have two sons, Thompson and Brewster.

Frank Stitt III 

  • November 13th, 2023
Culinary Ambassador
Cullman, Alabama
Chef and restauranteur Frank Stitt is the founder and owner of four celebrated Birmingham restaurants: flagship Highlands Bar & Grill, opened in 1982; Italian-themed Bottega (1988); trattoria-style Café Bottega (1990); and French bistro Chez Fonfon (2000). In addition to winning numerous culinary awards such as the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef: Southeast award in 2001 and the Horst H. Schultz Award for Excellence in Hospitality from Auburn University in 2017, Stitt won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southern Foodways Alliance and was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor in 2009. In 2011, Stitt was inducted into Esquire Magazine’s Restaurant Hall of Fame and to the James Beard Foundation’s “Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America.” In 2019, Birmingham’s downtown Rotary Trail honored him with a public sculpture: “Frank’s Table,” and in 2023, he was named one of Birmingham Business Journal’s “2023 People to Watch.” His restaurants are nationally recognized in publications such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Food & Wine, and Southern Living, and he has been called the “godfather of Southern Cuisine” by Garden & Gun magazine.
A native of Cullman, Alabama, Stitt learned appreciation for local farming and agriculture early in life, even as he traveled with his surgeon father and experienced fine dining in big cities like New York and New Orleans. After attending Tufts University in Massachusetts for two years, Stitt moved to San Francisco to attend University of California, Berkeley and study philosophy in 1975. While in San Francisco, he began working in local restaurants, including Alice Waters’ famous Chez Panisse, and his love of cooking began to eclipse his love of philosophy. Through Waters, he met the cook and food writer Richard Olney and became his assistant. His later culinary education consisted, in part, of working with people like celebrity chef Jeremiah Tower, famous wine merchant Stephen Spurrier and cookbook writer Simca Beck, an associate of Julia Child. Stitt also spent time working in vineyards in both Provence and Burgundy.
When he returned to Alabama to open Highlands Bar & Grill in the early 1980s, he wanted to create a dining experience in Birmingham that married the craft and passion of great restaurants with a deep respect for local, sustainable agriculture. In doing so, he became one of the first proponents in Alabama of the “farm to table” movement. Highlands Bar & Grill was nominated for the prestigious James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Restaurant each year since 2009, and it won the award in 2018.
Stitt sits on the boards of the Birmingham-based Jones Valley Teaching Farm and Pepper Place Farmer’s Market, and served on the board of the Downtown Rotary Club of Birmingham from 2015 to 2017. He is also a founding member of the Southern Foodways Alliance and a former member of the Ment’or Culinary Council.
He lives in Birmingham with his wife and business partner, Pardis. He has two children, Marie (Edward) and Weston (Mallie), and three grandchildren.

James W. Rane 

  • November 13th, 2023
A Legacy Framed in Timber
Abbeville, Alabama
While in law school, Jimmy Rane mediated a dispute over his father-in-law’s estate, which led to him taking over a small wood treating business located on the family property. He had planned to sell the machinery, close the business, and become an attorney, but when he couldn’t find a buyer, he became both an attorney and a wood treater in his hometown of Abbeville.
The business that generated a mere $22,000 in sales in 1971 is today known as Great Southern Wood Preserving, Inc., or GSWP, a multi-billion dollar company that is one of the  largest manufacturers of pressure-treated lumber in the world. GSWP and its subsidiaries operate 38 locations with a coverage area that stretches from the Florida Keys to Texas to Canada, an area that includes all or parts of 28 states and the District of Columbia, as well as 39 countries, from the Caribbean to China, supplying lumber to do-it-yourself retail home centers, pro dealers, and other retail building-related and industrial segments.
For many years, Rane appeared in his company’s television commercials. A popular series of humorous commercials featured Rane appearing with well-known college football coaches, such as Coach Pat Dye and Coach Gene Stallings. Rane later stepped into a cowboy persona, Yella Fella, to promote the YellaWood® brand of pressure-treated pine products as a character in the Old West.
Rane is chairman, president and CEO of Great Southern Wood Holdings, Inc., a holding company that owns or is affiliated with a diverse portfolio of companies operating in both domestic and international markets in the areas of building products production, manufacturing and distribution, sawmill operations, and transportation and logistics through trucking operations.
Born in 1946, Rane grew up in Abbeville and graduated high school from Marion Military Institute in 1964. He attended Auburn University, earning a bachelor’s in business administration in 1968, then attended Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, graduating with a JD in 1971. He also received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Troy University and has successfully completed a number of leadership programs offered by the Harvard Business School.
In addition to his executive leadership at Great Southern Wood Preserving, Rane has served in various board positions for firms in Alabama and beyond. He is also actively involved in many civic and educational organizations. Among them, he serves on the Auburn University Board of Trustees, on the board of trustees of the Abbeville Methodist Church and the board of directors of the Henry County Historical Group.
The recipient of numerous awards and honors, Rane was named by Marion Military Institute as its Alumnus of the Year in 2007 and was inducted into the Alabama Independent School Hall of Fame in 2009. Rane was named by the Alabama Broadcasters Association as its Citizen of the Year in 2014 and has been recognized three times—in 2015, 2016, and 2018—by i as one of Alabama’s “Power & Influence 50.” In 2016, he received the “Power of Service Award” from the same organization. He was named by the Dothan Landmarks Foundation, Inc., as the recipient of its 2017 Heritage Award, and he was recognized by the Boy Scouts of America Greater Alabama Council in March 2018 as a Heart of the Eagle honoree. He serves on the Alabama Heritage Foundation Board of Directors and is a member of the International Institute of Strategic Studies. In addition, he was inducted into the Dothan Business Hall of Fame in April 2023.
A long-time advocate for the positive role of sports in developing character and providing leadership lessons, Rane was selected by the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame as their 2018 Distinguished American Sportsman and was inducted into the organization during an April 2018 ceremony. In May 2018, he received the Johnny Stallings Award recognizing his work on behalf of those with special needs.
Rane is president of the Jimmy Rane Foundation and, through it, actively works to raise money to fund college scholarships for deserving students. Since its inception in 2000, the Foundation has provided college scholarships to 620 deserving students.
Rane and his wife, Angela, live in Abbeville, where GSWP’s headquarters is still located. They have five children and 13 grandchildren.

C. Phillip McWane 

  • November 13th, 2023
Demonstrated Community Commitment
Birmingham, Alabama
Phillip McWane joined McWane, Inc., a global manufacturing company focused on delivering clean drinking water around the world, in 1980 after earning a bachelor’s in industrial management from Auburn University. McWane has held several management positions, including executive vice president and president across his tenure. He has served on the board of the company since 1986, and is currently chairman of McWane, Inc.
McWane is the fourth generation to lead the family-owned company that has grown into a multi-billion dollar enterprise, employing 6,000 people in 25 manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and four countries. Founded in 1921 as McWane Cast Iron Pipe Co., the company’s products now include ductile pipe, soil pipe, valves and fittings, fire hydrants, fire extinguishers, pressure tanks and poles.  Auburn University Vice President for Philanthropy Rob Wellbaum said, “The company’s products are known for their quality and reliability, and have helped to improve the infrastructure of communities around the country.”
McWane credits what the company has accomplished under his direction, in part, to the efforts of his father, other family members, and colleagues over the last 102 years. He explained that his father brought company revenues from $30M in 1970 to $850M in 1997, an increase made possible in part by the acquisition of other firms and growth in the company’s waterworks infrastructure business.
In 1998, when McWane was 40, revenue at the company stood at $850M; by 2022, revenue had reached $3 billion.
According to Harbert Business School (Auburn University) Regions Bank Professor and Interim Dean Joe Hanna, “Despite facing challenges in the industry, [he] has steered McWane, Inc. through tough times with a strategic and forward-thinking approach, ensuring the company’s continued success and longevity.”
The state of Alabama remains McWane, Inc.’s headquarters, with the location of Amerex in Trussville, and Tyler/Union and M&H Valve in Anniston. These three locations include roughly 1,500 of the 6,000 team members. Most recently, the company has begun investments in real estate, concentrating in the hospitality, industrial, and self-storage sectors under the Highline name. Also included is the Publix in downtown Auburn. These investments promise growth and diversification for future generations to come.
In addition to the continued success of the companies that he oversees, McWane invests his time and treasure by serving his community and state. He serves or has served on the boards of Children’s Hospital of Alabama, Sloss Furnaces Foundation, the McWane Science Center, PreSchool Partners Advisory Board, and the Birmingham Business Alliance Executive Committee. McWane is a member of the Birmingham Rotary Club and Leadership Alabama.
He and his wife, Heather, have three children, Laura, Katie, and Will, and five grandchildren.

G. Thomas Hough 

  • November 13th, 2023
People-first Champion
Anniston, Alabama
G. Thomas “Tom” Hough is the retired Americas vice chair of Ernst & Young LLP. Based in New York, he served as vice chair of assurance services for Ernst & Young until his retirement in 2014. In that role, he oversaw services provided by 1,550 partners and 17,150 professionals throughout the Americas.
Born in 1955, Hough grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the youngest of three children. When he was a rising senior, Hough’s family relocated to Anniston, Alabama. The family move to Anniston bode well for him. He met his future wife, Jan, that first year in Anniston and both went on to attend The University of Alabama. While at the University, Tom lettered on the varsity golf team and majored in accounting.
After graduating summa cum laude with a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from The University of Alabama’s business school, Hough joined Ernst & Young in 1978 in its Cleveland, Ohio-based National Research Group. He was later relocated back to Alabama to EY’s Birmingham office.
While in Birmingham, he served as president of the Sunrise Rotary Club and was a member of the governing board of Shoal Creek Golf Club. The Shoal Creek position allowed him to serve as co-general chairman of the 1986 U.S. Amateur Golf Championship and the 1990 PGA Championship—both held at Shoal Creek. Additionally, Hough attended EY’s accelerated tax training in Washington, D.C. and became a partner in 1987, all while continuing to serve clients, including serving as the coordinating partner on AmSouth Bancorporation.
In 1990, Hough left EY and became controller of Harbert Corporation. While at Harbert, Hough expanded his business experiences into corporate finance and international operations. In 1992, Hough returned to EY and became managing partner of tax in Birmingham. His success was evident as he was made managing partner of the firm’s Pittsburgh operations, which included five offices, in 1994. He then moved to New York in 1996, as the firm’s vice-chair of human resources, and joined the EY board. During this time, Hough introduced the “PeopleFirst” strategy and spearheaded the firm’s strong emphasis on building a great place to work, obtaining a spot in Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list in 1998.
In 2000, Hough and family moved to Atlanta where he would continue his EY career, serving as Southeast area managing partner for 19 offices covering six states and the Caribbean.
While in Atlanta, he successfully grew the EY practice and at the same time, gave back to the community. He served on the board of the Capital City Club, executive committee of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, trustee of Woodruff Arts Center, the board of Central Atlanta Progress, board of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and was a member of the Atlanta Rotary Club.
In 2009, Hough returned to New York to lead the EY America’s Assurance (Audit) practice, while continuing to serve on the EY Executive Board and joining the EY Global Assurance Executive Committee.
He retired in 2014 and returned to Atlanta. He is active in a number of civic organizations in addition to serving on the corporate boards of Equifax Inc.; Federated Hermes, Inc.; Haverty Furniture Company, Inc; and previously, Publix Super Markets, Inc. He served as a member of the executive committee of the United States Golf Association, past president of the Capital City Club and a member of the Business School Board of Visitors of Wake Forest University. He is currently a member of  The University of Alabama Culverhouse College of Business Board of Visitors and vice chair of the President’s Cabinet.
At Alabama, he and his wife established the Jan and Tom Hough Family Endowed Scholarship in Accounting and named the Jan and Tom Hough Family Classroom in Hewson Hall. Hough was also selected for the University’s “Start Here Go Anywhere” marketing campaign and continues to be very active in student recruiting for the Capstone.
Family is central in Hough’s life. He enjoys time with Jan, his wife of 46 years, sons Tommy (Chelsea) and Houston (Anna), and his four grandchildren.

Herman E. Bulls

  • November 13th, 2023
A Trailblazer, Leading with Integrity
Florence, Alabama

When Herman Bulls was named the Brigham Young University Marriott School of Business 2022 International Executive of the Year, he was praised by Host Hotels & Resorts Chairman Richard Marriott for exhibiting five principles of success: putting people first, pursuing excellence, embracing change, acting with integrity, and serving others.

Bulls puts these principles into action in his roles as international director and vice chairman, Americas at Jones Lang Lasalle Incorporated (JLL), overseeing relationships with major clients like Apple, Cisco and Microsoft and working with the firm’s largest public and corporate clients to devise and implement integrated real estate strategies to lower occupancy costs and increase productivity. He provides thought leadership and strategic guidance to senior level executives, in addition to serving as an expert witness in court and testifying before Congressional committees on real estate issues.
Over his 34 years at JLL, Bulls has worked in the areas of development, investment management, asset management, facilities operations and business development and retention. In addition to developing and managing an asset portfolio of over $800 million, Bulls founded JLL’s highly acclaimed Public Institutions unit. He was responsible for the privatization of $15B of military housing, worked on over 100 college campuses and was involved in the first major outsourcing of a state government’s real estate with the state of Tennessee.
A native of Florence, Alabama, Bulls is a graduate of Coffee High School, where he was a four-star athlete and the first African-American student body president and full time starting quarterback. He also hosted a weekly radio show, a skill that would later serve him at the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he hosted a sports radio show with guests such as legendary West Point basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski. He played intercollegiate football for two years and ultimately earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering. Bulls also holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Prior to joining JLL, Bulls completed almost 12 years of active duty service with the United States Army; his last active duty assignments were working in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management at the Pentagon and as an assistant professor of economics and finance at West Point. He has completed the Army’s Airborne, Ranger and Command and General Staff College courses and served overseas in South Korea. He retired as a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves in 2008.
A driven entrepreneur, Bulls co-founded and served as president and CEO of Bulls Capital Partners, a commercial mortgage firm in partnership with Fannie Mae. Strategic partners included SunTrust Bank (now Truist) and Goldman Sachs. Additionally, he founded Bulls Advisory Group, LLC, a management and real estate advisory firm.
Bulls serves on several public, private and not for profit boards. He is chairman of NASDAQ-listed Fluence Energy and vice chairman of USAA. He is also vice chairman of the West Point Association of Graduates and serves on the Department of Defense Policy Board. Additionally, he serves on the boards of Host Hotels; Comfort Systems, USA; Collegis Education; the American Red Cross National Board of Governors; and the Real Estate Advisory Committee for New York State Teachers’ Retirement System. He previously served on the board of directors of the Thayer Leader Development Group and the Military Bowl, a NCAA-sanctioned football bowl game played in the nation’s capitol each December. Bulls’ other former board service includes Exelis, Inc.; ComputerSciences Corporation; American Campus Communities; and Rasmussen, Inc.
Bulls has been honored with numerous awards, including: 2020 Executive Leadership Council Achievement Award; 2020 Savoy Magazine Most Influential Black Directors in Corporate America; 2018 Savoy Magazine: Most Influential Blacks in Corporate America; 2017: USM National Association of Corporate Directors Top 100; 2017 USAA NACD Fellow; 2015 Morgan State University Apex Award; 2009 Washington Business Journal Minority Business Leader Award; 2008 Global Real Estate Diversity Conference Trail Blazer Award; 2007 Commercial Real Estate News & Commercial Property News National Minority Leader of the Year; and 2007 African American Real Estate Professionals Passing the Torch Award.
Bulls and his late wife, Iris, have three sons, Herman, Jr. (Jennifer), Nathaniel, and Jonathan (Brittney).  He is the proud grandfather of Connor, Quinn, and Kennedy.
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