Industry: Insurance

Dixon Brooke, Jr.

  • September 29th, 2022

When F. Dixon Brooke, Jr. first visited Birmingham-based EBSCO Industries in 1970, a periodical subscription service provider to schools and libraries, he toured the Title Information Department and found the company’s database of titles was kept manually on Rolodex cards. When Brooke joined the company as a management trainee in 1973, EBSCO had begun to embrace technology. When Brooke became its third President and CEO of the company in 2005, EBSCO had become the largest supplier of information services in the world.

Today EBSCO’s reach spans an array of industries: it has a leading presence in outdoor products, real estate, manufacturing and distribution, and insurance and information services. EBSCO is consistently ranked in the top three largest privately-held firms in Alabama.

A Birmingham native, Brooke was born in 1948 and attended Marion Military Institute. He then completed his BBA degree at Auburn, graduating in 1970. After graduation, he worked for First National Bank of Birmingham and completed their management training program.

In 1973, Brooke joined EBSCO and later became a regional general manager for the Southeastern U.S. In 1981, he helped establish a new regional office in Sydney, Australia. Then, between the years of 1981 and 2003, he was instrumental in acquiring several competitor subscription agencies for EBSCO. Over the years, he assumed positions of increasing responsibility, culminating in his role as CEO from 2005 until retirement in 2014. As CEO, Brooke led EBSCO through the Great Recession, executing organizational re-engineering in a way that allowed EBSCO to emerge from the crisis stronger. During his time at EBSCO, Brooke was a member of EBSCO’s Founder’s Club, a member of EBSCO’s Lifetime 100% and 200% Sales Clubs, and awardee of the 1982 ESS GM of the Year award. He was named a Top Executive in Birmingham Business Journal’s Inaugural Power Book in 2008.

Brooke is personally committed to improving the quality of life in Birmingham and around the State. He has served as Chairman of the Birmingham ASO and led an Endowment Campaign to assure the Symphony’s continued success. In addition, Brooke led a transformational campaign to fund a new entrance and plaza at the Birmingham Zoo. Further, Brooke has received recognition for his leadership and support from numerous educational institutions, including Alumnus of the Year by Marion Military Institute, Distinguished Alumnus by the Altamont School, and Lifetime Achievement by McCallie School in Chattanooga.

Brooke serves on the Board of Directors of various organizations, both public and private. He is a long-term and Founding Director of Synovus Bank of Birmingham, as well as a Director of its holding company, Synovus Financial Corp. In addition, Brooke serves on the Boards of EBSCO Industries, Inc. and McWane, Inc.

Brooke married the former Dell Stephens in 1970, and they have three children: F. Dixon Brooke III, Nelson O’Hara Brooke, and Carter Brooke Vann, and seven grandchildren.

As avid outdoor enthusiasts and environmental stewards, the Brooke family worked with TNC & Forever Wild Land Trust to preserve and protect from development over 1,600 acres of EBSCO-owned land adjacent to Oak Mountain State Park in Birmingham. The addition of the land expands the size of the park to over 11,000 acres.

William Dorsey Jelks

  • October 26th, 2021

William Dorsey Jelks has been described as a man with ability, integrity, and a habit of action – a man sensitive to human needs but also a very bold and determined man. These qualities become readily apparent in the story of his accomplishments in jour­nalism, politics, and business.

This distinguished Ala­bamian was born to Joseph William and Jane Goodrun (Frazer) Jelks in Warrior Stand, Macon County, Alabama, on November 7, 1855. Young William’s father, a captain in the Confederate Army, was killed in 1862. Subsequently, the youngster grew up in Union Springs in Bullock County where he was educated in the common schools. Loans from kind relatives enabled him to enter Mercer Univer­sity in 1873 from which he graduated in 1876. He returned to Union Springs and worked as a book­keeper to pay off the money he had borrowed.

In 1879, William Jelks acquired an interest in the Union Springs Herald, but sold his shares and moved to Eufaula later that same year. He bought the Eufaula Times. He was highly successful both as an editor and publisher. His newspaper is said to have been probably the most often quoted of the state’s newspapers. William Jelks stated later that in the nineteen years he owned and published the Eufaula Times, he acquired a “country competency.”

Long before William Jelks entered politics at the state level, he had shown an active interest in public affairs. When he was twenty-two, he was a member of the Union Springs common (town) council. In Eufaula he served from six to eight years on the school board and held the honorary title of superintendent of education. Through his editorials, he had become widely and favorably known.

In 1898 he ran for and was elected to the Barbour County seat in the state senate. In 1900, he aspired to be the president of the state senate and again was successful. This victory was a much more important one than appears on the surface because it was generally known that Governor-elect William J. Samford suffered from what was presumed a fatal illness, and in those days the president of the senate was the first officer in line for succession. Senator Jelks indeed took the oath of office in Samford’s stead and served the first thirty days of the term. Then the elected governor regained enough strength to take over and serve until his death six months later.

When the two-year term to which he had succeeded neared its end, William Jelks became a candidate to succeed himself and was elected to what was then a four-year term.

Both as State Senator and Governor, William Jelks exerted a major influence on the new con­stitution of 1901. He was chairman of the senate committee which drafted the enabling act and the elected chairman of the joint legislative commit­tee which revised the bill. He signed it both as president of the Senate and as Governor. As Governor, he had, perforce, to demonstrate the workability of the new constitution.

William Jelks earned the reputation as Alabama’s “Business Governor.” When the state bonded debt of $8.5 million fell due during his term, he refunded it. He affected the refund with a saving of $100,000 a year in interest and got a premium of $300,000 in addition. He en­couraged the passage of a uniform schoolbook law, which saved the state hundreds of thousands of dollars. He found no surplus in the State Treasury when he went in office, but he left about S1.8 million when he went out.

But this business-like executive was also a humanitarian. During his term, child labor legis­lation began. Appropriations for education were about twice as large as during any previous six years, and old soldiers’ pensions were quadrupled.

After Governor Jelks left office in January 1907, a new challenge beckoned. As Governor, he had read the reports of the Insurance Commissioner and noted the volume of insurance premiums going out of the State with no such premiums coming in. Though he probably never used the term “balance of payments,” he understood the idea, grasped the unfavorable position of his state and set about improving it. He conceived the idea that there should be a strong life insurance com­pany in Alabama. He moved to Birmingham and organized a life insurance company, with himself as president. He drew to him strong support. His first board of directors, thirty in number, reads like a roster of the foremost leaders of the time in Alabama. The company was capitalized at a hundred thousand dollars, with a paid-in surplus of twenty-five thousand, no small sum for the time and place. It was incorporated on July 26, 1907, and issued its first policy on September 3, 1907. The selection of the name, “Protective,” for the new company was a touch of genius, for the com­pany was founded in a period of financial panic when all men yearned to be protected.

The new company had a hard time. Because of one of the sharpest money and banking panics in U.S. history, most banks were limiting cash withdrawals from individual accounts to around $50. All of the South’s large cities, including Bir­mingham, issued clearing house certificates to take the place of currency. The financial conditions were further aggravated by the fact that estab­lished northern companies were in firm possession of the insurance field. It was indeed difficult to sell insurance.

William Jelks met the situation with caution, economy, and patience. He conserved his capital. He and his fellow subscribers to Protective stock absorbed all of the newborn company’s promo­tional and organization expenses. (The cost of the stamp on the envelope carrying the charter application to the secretary of state appears on the Company’s records as “Total Organization Expense, $.0 2”) The first home office was housed in one small room.

As he reported to stockholders in 1909, he believed that success in the insurance business lay in “making haste slowly.” The new company did not clamor for a large volume of business. Following a motto of “conservatism, consistently, persistently, and insistently,” Protective Life grew steadily and uninterruptedly throughout the twenty years that Governor Jelks was its president.

In 1927, Protective Life (often called “The Governor’s Company “) and Alabama National Life Insurance Company of Birmingham were consolidated. The united company retained the name “Protective.” Governor Jelks was made chairman of the consolidated company and F. Clabaugh (president of Alabama National) was the president. As chairman, seventy-two-year-old Governor Jelks turned all responsibilities over to the new president, except control of the Company’s investments. He was ready to retire. On January 1, 193 0, he gave up the chairmanship.

A few days later at a dinner given in his honor by his associates and friends, he bade farewell to his corporate child born twenty-three years before. In his words, Protective was his “own child … fed by me and my associates and nourished . . . It was an honest child and now is a strong and healthy one. All its early years I tried so to build that its foundations would hold any weight . . . let it live forever.”

William Dorsey Jelks went back to Eufaula to the home he had kept all those years. His productive life ended on December 13, 1931, but the fruits of his labors remain.

Sources of biographical information: A. B. Moore, History of Alabama, 1927; The Book of Alabama and the South, by John Temple Graves II, 1933. William J. Rushton, ”The Governor’s Company,” presented at the 1957 Alabama Dinner Meeting of the Newcomen Society in North America, Birmingham, Alabama.

Edward Lewis Lowder

  • October 26th, 2021

Lowder was born in Cortelyou in Washington County, Alabama, where he graduated from high school at age 16. He enrolled in Alabama Polytechnic Institute, now Auburn University, where he earned a degree in Agricultural Science. Lowder was a county agent until 1942 when he was called into the United States Army and served in several major World War II European campaigns. In 1946, he started the insurance company, from which he retired in 1980 as executive vice-president and CEO. The insurance company was the state’s largest and had become a model of success. He also became chairman of the board of First Commerce Corporation in New Orleans, which he rebuilt into one of the most successful banks in the state. He served on a number of civic and charitable organizations and contributed generously to Auburn University and The University of Alabama College of Commerce and Business Administration. Auburn University conferred upon him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

Louis J. Willie, Jr.

  • October 25th, 2021

True, some Alabamians will always – and only – remember the son of Louis J. Willie, Sr., and Carrie Sykes Willie because he broke the color barrier at one of Alabama’s most exclusive golfing establishments, Shoal Creek, in 1990, thereby helping to avert major financial losses for the PGA and the club. And, helping to avert what to this native of Fort Worth, Texas, would have been the worst nightmare of them all – in his own words, “resurrecting the reputation of Birmingham as a racist city.”

But there are many, many others who when asked to talk of Louis Willie, will point to the more basic, day-to-day reality of his life – that he helped build and lead Booker T. Washington Insurance Company to its present-day ranking as one of the leading minority enterprises in the United States.

Born August 22, 1923, young Louis was raised by parents who instilled in each of their five children the value of an education, and the belief that if a job were worth doing, it was worth doing one’s best at that job. After graduating from Lincoln High School in Dallas, Texas, in 1939, Louis went on to pursue his bachelor’s degree in economics at Wiley College in Texas, receiving that in 1943. He then volunteered for military service during World War II, serving in the European Theatre as a sergeant in the Signal Corps until the war ended in 1945. At that point, Louis then pursued and received his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Michigan in 1947. He took his college education to Nashville, Tennessee, to what was then Tennessee State College to serve as an instructor in that school’s business division from 1947-1950, leaving his post to become the office manager from 1950-1952 for McKissack Brothers, Incorporated, a Nashville based general contractor. It was during this time that he married spouse Yvonne Kirkpatrick, a Pembroke, Bermuda, native who is now a naturalized U.S. citizen. The two have been married for 45 years, as Louis is fond of telling people. He is also proud of the rest of his immediate family – son Louis III, his wife Mary, and grandson Louis IV.

It was in 1952 that Louis Jr. came to Birmingham, Alabama, and entered what was to be another key relationship in his life.

Louis Willie has recalled his first meeting with the founder of Booker T. Washington Insurance, Dr. A.G. Gaston, many times. Although Dr. Gaston had heard of the youthful Louis and was impressed, he was concerned about the businessman’s young age. “I balled up my fist, banged on his desk and said, ‘Nobody ever hired Louis Willie and regretted it.’”

Louis Willie got the job – and turned it into a career.

He served as controller of the company, founded in 1923 to sell burial insurance to African Americans, from 1952-1962, then assuming the position of executive vice president and holding it until he was named president, chairman of the board, and chief executive officer in 1987. He held the top office until his retirement in 1994 at the age of 71. Along the way he continued with his education, never forgetting his parents’ advice, and received the designation of Chartered Life Underwriter from the American College of Life Underwriters in 1973.

Also, along the way, the company grew – and saw other changes. In 1987 Dr. Gaston formed an Employee Stock Ownership Plan and sold the company to his employees. Today, the company has assets of approximately $50 million and is owned by its employees and employees of subsidiaries, including the A.G. Gaston Construction Company, Zion Memorial Gardens, Incorporated, and the Booker T. Washington Broadcasting Service, Incorporated, which owns WENN and WAGG radio.

And Louis Willie realized some other goals, as well. He remembers telling people that when he graduated from the University of Michigan, he knew he wanted to sit on the board of directors of a company whose stock was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. His corporate board membership roster now lists more than just one such company’s board. A comprehensive review reveals Alabama Power Company, 1984-1994; AmSouth Bank NA, 1977-1983; and the Southern Company, 1991-1994. He has also served on the boards of Citizens Federal Savings Bank, 1957-1987; the Episcopal Church Pension Fund of New York City, New York, 1973-1985; and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Birmingham Branch, 1979-1984 (including a term as president, 1981).

But work and professional affiliations have not kept Louis Willie from fulfilling what he considers his moral and spiritual obligations. An active and devout Episcopalian since moving to Birmingham, he has served in various capacities for St. Mark’s and St. Andrew’s churches, has an impressive record as a member of several diocesan committees in Alabama, and is now a member of the Cathedral Church of the Advent.

A life member of the NAACP and former member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, he has served on the Board of Directors of the Birmingham Museum of Arts, the Board of Trustees of the Alabama Symphony, the Board of Directors of the Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce, the United Way of Central Alabama (serving as general campaign co-chair in 1977), as a member of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee, on the President’s Council of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and as a member of the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees. In a position that was awarded because of a nomination by former Alabama Governor George C. Wallace, Louis has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Oil and Gas Lease Trust Fund of the State of Alabama from 1985 to the present.

While his membership in Shoal Creek may be the most publicized of Louis J. Willie, Jr.’s, breaking down of traditional color barriers, it was not the first. He became a member of The Club and the former Downtown Club. He is also a member of The Summit Club but will point with more pride to his work with Re-Entry Ministries, or to the Brotherhood Award he received in 1985 from the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Named Greater Birmingham Manager of the Year in 1991, he has also received the 1993 Greater Birmingham Area Community Service Award. He maintains his memberships in the American College of Life Underwriters and the Birmingham chapter of that organization and is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Alabama Association of Life Insurance Companies. He received honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1990 and Birmingham Southern College in 1992.

With a legacy of leadership, foresight, business acumen, and community service to his name, Louis J. Willie, Jr. sums up his views on life much better than anyone could do for him.

“As I see it, every day is a day of prayer,” he said. “And there is a lot of good going on in our world today. If someone else wants to be pessimistic, I say OK, that’s fine. But I’m going to find something to smile about. I think that’s important.”

Goodwin L. Myrick

  • October 25th, 2021

Goodwin L. Myrick’s resume belies the fact that he has been a farmer all his life.

President and chief executive officer are the words that jump out at the reader and listed beneath those terms are so many organizations that one might overlook the second, and key, word in the first listing: Alabama Farmers Federation. But there is no overlooking Goodwin Myrick, or the influence he has had on business and agriculture in the state of Alabama.

Goodwin L. Myrick was born May 9, 1925, in Etowah County, Alabama, to Marion Myrick and Lillie Burgess Myrick. He grew up a farmer, tilling the family soil, and establishing his first dairy herd in 1944 with eight cows. Today, with more than 400 Holstein dairy cows and 700 head of beef cattle, his dairy, beef cattle and farm opera­tions encompass two farms and more than 2,000 acres in Etowah and Talladega counties. The farming operation is run through M&H Farms, a partnership between Mr. Myrick, his son Greg, his daughter Donna and her husband Tony Haynes.

Mr. Myrick began the executive side of his career by joining and progressing through the ranks of Alabama’s largest farm organi­zation, following in his father’s footsteps as president of the Etowah County Farm Bureau Federation. Later he was elected to serve on the Board of Directors of the Alabama Farm Bureau Federation, the predecessor organization to the Alabama Farmers Federation. He was then selected as a vice president of that organization, and later, in 1969, as first vice president – a capacity in which he served for some nine years. In 1978, with the support of a grassroots movement within the organization, he was elected president. The members of the Alabama Farmers Federation and Alfa Insurance Companies Group have confirmed that original vote eight times since, and Mr. Myrick is currently serving his ninth term.

Since his first term in office, membership in the Federation has increased each year, growing from 223,000 members in 1980 to almost 400,000 today, making it the largest farm organization in Alabama and one of the largest in the nation. The Alfa Insurance Group has also seen an annual growth rate of 22.3 percent, expanding from a small, one-state operation into one of the strongest regional insurance groups in the United States. The Alfa Corporation, of which he is also president and chief executive officer, is now a publicly-traded insurance holding company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange and listed five times in one 10-year period by Forbes Magazine as one of the “200 Small Best Companies in America.” In 1991, the Corporation was recognized as one of the Top 50 small company stocks in the nation by U.S. News and World Report and has been honored five times in the 1990s by National Underwriter as one of the Top 50 insurance companies in the nation.

Mr. Myrick led Alfa’s growth and expan­sion efforts in many ways. Under his leadership several subsidiary corporations have been formed or have been changed or improved to the extent that all are now operating at significant positive profit levels, including Alfa Investment Company; Alfa Realty, Incorporated; Alfa Builders, Incorporated; and Southern Boulevard Corporation. Under his leadership, an insurance pooling agreement was implemented that essentially changed Alfa Corporation from a life insurance holding company to a multi-line insurance holding company, with subsequent significant operational and financial benefits to the entire insurance corporation. He has also established an in-house advertising agency, Creative Consultants, Incorporated, which handles all of the Alfa Insurance, affiliate companies, and Alabama Farmers Federation advertising and placement.

Over the years Goodwin Myrick has said that one of the keys to his corporate success has been his strong belief that the greatest assets of his companies are the people who work for them and the persons whom they serve, both farmers and insurance policy­holders. This philosophy played out into the concrete reality of a significant decline in the annual rate of personnel turnover. It went, for general employees, from approximately 52 percent at the time he became president to a current rate of about 11 percent at the headquarters office of the Alfa Companies in Montgomery, Alabama. For agents, on a statewide basis, the drop was even more dramatic: from about 85 percent at the time of Mr. Myrick’s election to a current rate of about 15 percent.

One of Goodwin Myrick’s first management decisions after taking the helm as president of the Alfa Group was to elevate the role of the human resources department, having it report directly to the president and centralizing all personnel functions of the several affiliate corporations and organizations. Compensation and benefits packages were unified, and he initiated an incentive pay plan that still involves all employees, from the entry-level hourly wage earner to top management.

Continuing to implement his philosophy to put people first and to make Alfa a leader in corporate America, Mr. Myrick led his companies to build and provide for their employees a state-of-the-art childcare facility, licensed for 120 children, adjacent to the corporate offices in Montgomery, one of the first of its type in the state. He has also been responsible for planning and implementing a corporate fitness center.

Today Goodwin Myrick sits on the boards of directors of Compass Bank of the South; of the Alfa Corporation and all Alfa Insur­ance Corporations and subsidiary corporations; the Alabama 4-H Foundation; and the Auburn University College of Agriculture Advisory Council, of which he served as the first chairman. He has led Alfa’s participation in United Way and other charitable causes and civic programs and has been responsible in recent years for the Companies’ contribu­tions to many of the state’s universities, in­cluding The University of Alabama, Auburn University, Troy State University, Tuskegee University, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has also implemented and expanded numerous individual scholarship programs, and under his direction, Alfa is a “Partner in Education” for two schools in the Montgomery County School System.

In 1990 Goodwin L. Myrick was named one of the 10 most influential men in the state of Alabama by Business Alabama Magazine, and in 1992 he was inducted into the Alabama Agricultural Hall of Honor.

And how would he like for history to remember him?

“I’ll tell you, “He once told the state’s capital city newspaper, The Montgomery Advertiser. “My Daddy had this reputation – if you wanted to do – Something good for the community, then don’t pass my Daddy’s house (by). He’d always help you.

“We want to build a better community, a better state. I don’t want to be listed as a negative.”

Goodwin L. Myrick need not worry. He will be listed as a positive – and a farmer.

Ehney A. Camp, Jr.

  • October 25th, 2021

Ehney Camp graduated from The University of Alabama in 1928 with a perfect grade point average.

He was just as successful in every other area of his life.

Ehney Addison Camp, Jr., was born May 9, 1907, in Maylene, Alabama, the son of William Wheeler Camp and Pearl Eugenia Hendrick. His father would pass on early in the boy’s life, and his mother would remarry, giving Ehney as a stepfather William Levert Christian. After graduating from Shelby County High School in Columbiana, Alabama, young Camp would head to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where he would begin an incredible career of academic and civic success.

He was a member of the elite academic and social honoraries – Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa, Beta Gamma Sigma, Alpha Kappa Psi, and the Jason’s. He joined Sigma Nu Fraternity, forming bonds that would last a lifetime. When he received a degree from the state university’s school of business, it was accompanied by that college’s Outstanding Student Award. Ehney was also honored with the university’s coveted Algernon Sidney Sullivan Award in recognition of his outstanding scholarship, leadership, and record of service.

The summer prior to his graduation, Ehney worked with the Birmingham firm of Ward, Sterne, and Company, now Sterne, Agee, and Leach. After his summa cum laude commencement, he obtained permanent employment with the group, and in his own words (from a History of the Investment Division of Liberty National Life Insurance Company, written in April 1973), “had an opportunity to learn something about bonds and stocks.” After a year he received an offer to open in Tuscaloosa a branch office of Bankers Mortgage Bond Company. Almost immediately after his relocation, the stock market crash of October 1929 occurred, and the company decided to assign him the task of managing the tremendous number of foreclosures and fore­closed properties that were resulting because of the flattened economy. Again, from his History: “Liberty National had previously acquired some mortgages from Bankers Mortgage Bond Company, which the latter firm was servicing for Liberty National. When Bankers Mortgage Company finally went into receivership, it became necessary for Liberty National to take over these mortgages and handle them directly. Because Liberty National had no one with the time or experience to handle these details, I was ‘thrown in’ with the deal and began employment with the company on March 21, 1932.”

And thus began the second chapter of incredible success for Ehney Camp, Jr., this one writ on his professional success.

In his career with Liberty National, which would later become a part of Torchmark Corporation, Ehney would rise through the ranks from his initial position as the first investment employee to become company treasurer in 1935, then a member of the board of directors in 1940. Three years later he was named vice president, and in 1960 was made executive vice president. After his death on January 20, 1993, Torchmark representatives called Ehney Camp “one of the key contributors to the growth and success of Liberty National Life. He was the company’s first chief investment officer … Under his direction, the company’s investments grew from some $2 million to $1 billion.” In 1984 he was named to the Torchmark Gallery of Leaders.

But Ehney was not focused only on helping his company become an insurance giant. He had a personal life, as well, and bits of that found their way into History. “I had been given the responsibility of personally preparing the annual statement,” he wrote. “My problem was to meet the deadline in getting the statement prepared prior to my marriage on February 25, 1933 … Also, since I was taking on the additional responsibilities of marriage, I apparently believed it important to render an annual report to the board … This report showed I had saved the company $1,933 whereas the company had paid my salary of only about $1,600 during the nine and one-third months I had been employed. If I had known that all the banks of the country would close their doors on March 4, 1933, only seven days after my marriage, my report probably would have been directed even more strongly toward the need the company had for my services.”

Ehney Camp married Miss Mildred Fletcher Tillman, and the two had three children, daughters Patricia Alice Camp Faulkner and Mary Eugenia Camp Boulware, and son Ehney Addison Camp III. At the time of his death the elder Camp had eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, now numbering fourteen with one on the way. “The happiness of his family was the most important thing in his life,” said daughter Patricia. “The exemplary values he set for himself have been handed down to all of us.”

As his family grew, so did Ehney Camp’s civic and charitable commitments. In 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him to his Special Advisory Committee on Government Housing Policies and Programs. And the bonds with his fraternity and alma mater grew stronger with the passing years – he served as an advisor, then as a director of the Theta House Corporation, and as a member of the Sigma Nu Educational Foundation. In 1981 the chapter awarded him its Distinguished Alumni Award. A former president of the University of Alabama National Alumni Association, he was chosen as the 1973 Outstanding Alumnus by the Jefferson County Chapter of the Association, and in 1985 was honored by the national organization with its Distinguished Alumnus Award. The university presented him with an honorary Doctor of Laws in 1979; there is a scholarship awarded in his honor by the UA business school.

He served on The University of Alabama System Board of Trustees from 1959 to 1979, and in that capacity was instrumental in planning the growth of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He was also a member of the committee organized by the city of Birmingham in the mid-1960s to expand the medical center, and in that capacity provided critical assistance in acquiring the land occupied by the urban university. Camp Hall, an eleven-story residence hall on the UAB campus, is named in his honor.

A former president of First National Bank of Columbiana, Ehney Camp was a former president of the Mortgage Bankers Association of Birmingham. He was treasurer and member of the executive committee of Brown-Service Funeral Homes Company, chairman of the board of trustees of First United Methodist Church of Birmingham, past president of the Birmingham Kiwanis Club, and a life member of Kiwanis International. He was a member of the Newcomen Society of North America, a board member of Acipco, served as United Way campaign chairman, and was affiliated with dozens of other civic and professional organizations. He was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor in 1976.

Ehney Addison Camp, Jr., was a man committed to his family and friends, his faith and community, and his alma mater. And he was committed to his profession, as his own words show so clearly.

“Because life insurance contracts span several generations, the company is more than just a business. It is an institution, with tremendous obligations and responsibilities to literally thousands of families. Those who are charged with investing its assets must constantly keep before them the nature and full meaning of this trust.”

Ehney Camp was worthy of that trust.

Young J. Boozer, Jr.

  • October 11th, 2021

Keen business inclinations, dedication to his work, and commitment to Alabama’s philanthropic community permeate all aspects of Young Jacob Boozer, Jr.’s life. Born July 9, 1912, to Young Jacob and Gipsy Hall Boozer, Young Boozer, the eldest of four children, began at the early age of five to accept family responsibility upon his father’s death. A native of Noma, Florida, he developed business ideologies at an early age and cultivated them at The University of Alabama where he earned a Bachelor of Science in 1936.

His affiliations and activities while at The University of Alabama proved to be an indi­cator of what he would eventually contribute to the Alabama business and philanthropic communities.

Young Boozer’s interests spanned academic, athletic, and social organizations. He played for the Crimson Tide football and baseball teams from 1934-1936. He served as president of the Junior Class in the Commerce School and the University Cotillion Club. He was secretary-treasurer of the “A” Club and a member of Jasons, an honor fraternity, and Sigma Nu, a social fraternity.

Following graduation from the University, Young Boozer entered the banking industry in Dothan, Alabama, working for First National Bank of Dothan. From 1939 to 1943 he was employed by the State of Alabama Department of Insurance as an insurance examiner. During this time he married his late wife, Phyllis Chamberlain. They had three children: Jo Ann Boozer Ray, Ellen Boozer Daly, and Young J. Boozer, III.

After serving in the U.S. Navy from 1943- 1945, Boozer was discharged as Lieutenant, Senior Grade. He then returned to his position with the Department of Insurance. The return was a short one. Boozer then entered another phase of his career.

Over the next twelve years, Boozer was involved in numerous business developments and associations. He served as the secretary-treasurer and general manager of Dixie Sporting Goods, a partner in the Evans Motion Picture Company and Hayes, Gilchrist ChrisCraft Sales and was state director of the Savings Bond Division. It was during this phase of his career that Boozer established lifelong relationships with bankers and insurance executives statewide.

In 1959, Boozer returned to Tuscaloosa, as president and treasurer of Cotton States Life Insurance Company where he worked until 1973. Under his leadership, the company became an integral component of the Tuscaloosa business community.

In 1974, Cotton States Life Insurance Company was acquired by Federated Guaranty, which would become known as ALFA Insurance. Boozer again aligned himself with top management and served as the senior vice president and a director of the ALFA Corporation. Boozer retired from the board in 1999 after 25 years of service, during which ALFA grew from $16 million in assets to $1.247 billion.

Just a few years after beginning his career with ALFA, Boozer joined another business venture, which would prove to be very successful. In 1981, Boozer, along with business associates formed Colonial BancGroup. The business started with one location and has grown to more than 250 locations and $10.7 billion in total assets. Boozer served on the board of directors from 1981-1998, and his contribution to the development of the company is very evident.

“Young Boozer has been a friend of my family for all of my life. His business acumen and practical skills were greatly valued by my father in his relationship with Young at Farm Bureau (ALFA), and it was natural when we started Colonial BancGroup for Young to be a founding director. From our beginnings at $165 million and one bank, to today’s Colonial at $10.7billion, Young’s influence, advice, and counsel have been invaluable,” said Bobby Lowder, Chairman, and CEO of Colonial Banc­Group.

Only his philanthropic work and service to The University of Alabama rival Boozer’s business accomplishments.

Boozer’s commitment to The University of Alabama is evidenced by the positions he has held and the awards and recognition he has received for his service. In 1989, he was the Paul W. Bryant Alumni-Athlete Award recipient. He is the co-chairman of the Paul W Bryant Museum Committee and a member of the President’s Cabinet for the University.

Boozer’s past business affiliations have enriched the University through scholarship endowments. He is the honoree of a $100,000 endowed fellowship fund established at the University by Colonial BancGroup.

As a member of the University’s Capital Campaign Steering Committee and the Committee for the Paul W. Bryant/Alumni Continuing Education Center, Boozer uses his experience as a business and industry leader to guide and advise these groups.

Boozer is also active in The University of Alabama National Alumni Association and has contributed time and financial resources to numerous College of Commerce and Business Administration organizations. He was the chairman of the Board of Visitors for C&BA and is co-chairman of the Commerce Executives Society.

Boozer’s influence, while statewide in scope, is concentrated in the Tuscaloosa area. He has served as the director or president of numer­ous Tuscaloosa businesses: First Alabama Bank, Southland Bank Corporation, Tuscaloosa Enterprises, Old Union Life Insurance Company, Tuscaloosa Hotel Company, Southland Insurance and Penn Media, Inc.

Coupled with Boozer’s service to the community is his dedication to philanthropic efforts, which makes him not only one of Alabama’s greatest businessmen but one of its greatest citizens.

His work spans a diversified group of organizations. He has served as the director for the National Kidney Foundation of Alabama, Alabama Chapter of the American Cancer Society, and the Alabama 4-H Club. He was the chairman of the Druid City Hospital Medical Clinic Board. Other organizations in which he has held the position of the director include the Alabama Heart Association, Alabama Chapter of the Leukemia Society of America, Inc., American Red Cross, and Salvation Army.

His athletic excellence has been recognized by having been named in 1961 a Sports Illustrated Silver Anniversary All-American, and by his induction into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, Class of 1993.

From athletics to philanthropic efforts to service to The University of Alabama, Young Boozer has made a name for himself throughout the state. His willingness to give so freely of himself has won him not only awards and recognition but also the attention and respect of those who are inspired by his selfless dedication.

His son, Young J. Boozer, III, describes his father as a person who is attentive to a higher responsibility, honor, and integrity: “Young Boozer is a successful businessman, but more importantly, he is one of integrity and honor. While others may have been driven by absolute self-interest, he acted with the best of intentions and accomplished much without thought of personal gain or reward. It can be said that he built his net worth more in reputation than in dollars. Nevertheless, both have grown to be substantial.”

William J. Rushton, III

  • October 11th, 2021

Billy Rushton has been a part of Protective Life Insurance Company for nearly 62 years, since 1937. That’s when his father, Colonel William J. Rushton, was elected president of the company.

William J. (Billy) Rushton, III, was born April 23, 1929, in Birmingham, Alabama, the son of Colonel William J. Rushton and Elizabeth Perry Rushton.

“I inherited from them a good name, a desire to do my best, a sense of obligation to serve my community, and above-average opportunity to render that service,” Rushton says.

Rushton, who retired as Chief Executive Officer in 1992 and as Chairman of the Board in 1999, has made exemplary use of his “inheritance.”

In his 45 years as an employee of Protective Life Insurance Company, Rushton’s integrity, and uncompromising insistence on quality in all with which he is associated have set standards by which an entire company and its people measure themselves.

“Protective Life has his mark,” says Drayton Nabers, Jr., current Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Protective Life Insurance. “In his generation of leadership, Billy gave the company its mission and values … its quality. Quality is written all over the company, its assets, its balance sheet, its service … and especially its people. This quality is a living thing, and he is its heart and soul.”

Rushton acknowledges that he was born a fortunate person, with the proverbial “silver spoon” close at hand. And he is the third Rushton to be inducted into the Alabama Business Hall of Fame. His father, William J. Rushton, and his grandfather, J. Frank Rushton, have been previously honored, in 1980 and 1975 respectively. But make no mistake, Billy Rushton has paid his dues and earned his keep.

As a youth, he attended Birmingham University School, which became Altamont School, before heading off to Exeter and eventually Princeton. He is an Eagle Scout, Scouting’s highest honor. At University School he received the Citizenship Trophy for best all-around student and was awarded the Scholarship Cup for having the highest scholastic average in the school. At Phillips-Exeter Academy, where he graduated in 1947, he was a member of the varsity swimming team and varsity crew.

The next stop was Princeton University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1951.

But before he could begin his insurance career, there was a matter in Korea where Rushton served as an Artillery Forward Observer and later as a Battery Commander, rising to the rank of Captain. His service in Korea earned him the Bronze Star for meritorious service in combat.

Upon returning home from the battlefield, Rushton joined Prudential Insurance Company as an actuarial trainee, then joined the actuarial department at Protective Life. Four years later he resigned as an officer and became an insurance salesman. And in his third year, he led Protective Life’s sales force in sales and qualified for the Million Dollar Round table.

By 1963 he had worked his way up to Vice President and Director of Individual Sales, a post he held until 1968. In 1969 he was elected President and Chief Executive Officer, a role he accepted as nothing less than a personal responsibility for the future of the company.

His vision for Protective Life was to see it grow to national prominence. He assembled a highly motivated management team and set “stretch” goals. His leadership style is that of a servant, although a determined one.

Since 1969 when Protective Life was licensed in only 14 Southeastern states with revenues of $57 million, the company grew steadily through sales and acquisitions to the point that by 1992, when Rushton stepped down as chief executive officer, it was represented in all 50 states with revenues exceeding $500 million and assets of more than $3 billion.

During his 22 years at the helm, Protective Life shareholders benefited greatly. Net income per share grew at a compound rate of 13.7 percent per year and the dividend per share at a rate of 12 percent per year, ranking the company in the top 20 percent of the life insurance industry.

Rushton has always been known for having an open office. He has instilled, through example, a sense of fairness throughout the company, insisting that profit never be pursued at the cost of honor or truth or at the expense of others.

He has willingly assumed the responsibility of good citizenship and contributed his time, energy, and resources to charitable and civic endeavors. He has served as a trustee at Birmingham-Southern College and as chairman of the board of trustees; director of the Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce; a trustee at Children’s Hospital; as chairman of the Family and Child Services Capital Campaign in 1990; a member of the Advisory Committee, Meyer Foundation; as a board member and chairman of the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham; President of the Rotary Club of Birmingham; a director at Southern Research; chairman of the Business Partnership for Alabama School Reform; and trustee of The Newcomen Society of the United States and chairman of the Alabama Chapter.

His United Way activities are legendary. He is a member of the National Mega Gifts Committee of United Way and has been a director at United Way since 1974, serving as Chairman of the United Way campaign in 1978 and as President of United Way in 1986. In 1978, the United Way Board of Directors had decided the goal for the campaign would be a 5 percent increase over the previous year. But to better meet the community needs, the Board of Directors, at Rushton’s urging, raised the target to an 11 percent increase. The campaign went on to exceed the 11 percent target and produce the largest percentage of increase in giving in Birmingham’s United Way history.

His list of honors is equally long. He is a member of the Alabama Academy of Honor, and he is a Distinguished Eagle Scout, an honor reserved for Eagle Scouts who distinguish themselves in later life. He has received the “Good Neighbor Award” from the National Conference of Christians and Jews as well as the organization’s Brotherhood Award and is an Honorary Life Member of United Way.

Rushton’s wife, La Vona, of Oklahoma City, has been an able and willing companion since 1955. They have three sons, William J. Rushton IV, Deakins Ford Rushton, and Tunstall Perry Rushton, three daughters-in-law, and seven grandchildren.

Mrs. Rushton, an accomplished pianist, and “fabulous” grandmother has served as chair of the Symphony Ball, the Museum Ball, and the Birmingham Festival of Arts. The couple spends a month in Paris each year, and Billy says, “I work very hard at golf, and though I am not very good at it I am still optimistic.”

Rushton uses an old Irish proverb to describe his feelings about his own charitable giving:

“I have drunk from wells I never dug and been warmed by fires I never built.”

True perhaps, but Billy Rushton has provided spiritual drink for many and fueled the fires of giving throughout his distinguished lifetime.

M. Eugene Moor, Jr.

  • October 4th, 2021

M . Eugene Moor, Jr., better known as Gene Moor, showed early in life that he was going to be a leader and had a strong desire for excellence. He became an Eagle Scout, a rank that only four percent of all Boy Scouts attain. And he did it at age 14.

Mr. Moor was born in Birmingham and attended Ramsay High School, where he was elected senior class president. After graduating from Ramsay, Mr. Moor enrolled at Auburn University. But World War II began, and Mr. Moor left Auburn in 1942 to serve as a pilot in the Army Air Corps until 1945. After the war, he returned to Auburn to finish his studies and graduated with a degree in industrial management in 194 7. After graduating from Auburn, Mr. Moor spent three years working in Alabama’s coal industry until 1950 when he began his legendary banking career at First National Bank of Birmingham which later became AmSouth Bank.

Mr. Moor began as a check sorter, but soon showed his affinity for the banking industry and quickly worked his way through the banking ranks. During the mid-1950s, Mr. Moor served as an assistant cashier, commercial loan department manager, and branch manager. In 1956, he graduated from the School of Banking of the South at Louisiana State University. Mr. Moor was promoted to assistant vice president in 1957, vice president in 1959, and senior vice president in 1967. In 1968, Mr. Moor was named executive vice president and served in this position until he was named president in 1972. Mr. Moor served as president until 1978 when he was named vice chairman of the board for AmSouth Bank.

Mr. Moor demonstrated unsurpassed dedication to banking and his customers. That dedication was evident when he landed one of the bank’s largest new accounts after hobbling through New York in a snowstorm on a broken leg to visit the prospective client.

While he was with First National, the bank changed its name to AmSouth and grew from a single Birmingham branch system serving Jefferson County, to a bank with regional influence. AmSouth currently has more than 600 branches in six states.

Mr. Moor retired in 1988, but because of his knowledge, ability, and leadership, AmSouth asked him to assist in the transition of recently acquired banks in North Florida. Mr. Moor graciously agreed and was elected vice-chairman of the board for AmSouth of Florida. Mr. Moor returned to retirement from the banking business for good in 1991. However, Mr. Moor has remained very active in civic organizations, the community, and business efforts.

Mr. Moor currently serves as chairman of the board of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, a position he has held since 1968, after serving on the company’s board for four years. He has played a critical role in Blue Cross’ growth and success and helped increase the company’s membership from less than one million members to 3.6 million. In 2001, Blue Cross recognized Mr. Moor’s service by dedicating its new corporate headquarters to him, naming it the M.E. Moor, Jr. Corporate Center.

Mr. Moor has served as a board member for a number of area businesses, including Alabama By-Products Corporation, Matthews Electric Supply Company, and Engel Mortgage Company. He also served as the president of the Alabama Bankers Association.

Mr. Moor has been involved in a number of civic and philanthropic causes in many leadership positions. He was instrumental in helping Blue Cross establish the Alabama Child Caring Foundation (ACCF), a nonprofit organization that provides medical coverage for disadvantaged and uninsured Alabama children. Since its inception in 1987, the program has served over 50,000 children.

Mr. Moor has served as the United Appeal (now United Way) co-chairman and chairman, president of the Community Chest, corporate chairman of the United Negro College Fund, and treasurer of the Girl Scout Board and Y.M.C.A. In addition, he has served as chairman of the Birmingham Post Office Postal Customers Council and finance chairman CHM, Heart Fund, as well as on The Salvation Army Advisory Board, Boy Scouts Board of Directors, Birmingham Downtown Improvement Association, Birmingham Centennial Corporation, and Downtown Action Committee. Additionally, Mr. Moor dedicated his time to the Alabama Chamber of Commerce, Operation New Birmingham, The Newcomen Society, The Redstone Club, and Rotary Club of Birmingham.

In a lifetime filled with achievement, if you ask Mr. Moor, he would probably say his greatest successes in life include his wife of 61 years, Anne, and his four children and nine grandchildren.

Aubrey Derrill Crowe

  • October 4th, 2021

For most of Dr. Crowe’s medical career, he was engaged in balancing a successful medical practice with building one of the largest medical malpractice insurance companies in the United States.

As a practicing urologist, in 1976, Dr. Crowe was chosen by the State Medical Association to lead a group of physicians in the development of a plan to form a malpractice insurance company.  This became necessary when all but one of the major national insurance companies left almost all Alabama physicians with the prospect of practicing medicine without liability insurance.

After unsuccessful attempts to find coverage with companies in the U.S. and Europe, Dr. Crowe and his colleagues formed the Mutual Assurance Society of Alabama (MASA) in 1976.  A key part of their strategy was the defense of every single case in which there was no negligence. At that time, the national trend was to settle most cases, and that had spawned a large number of frivolous malpractice suits, resulting in the unsafe depletion of the reserves of the companies that wrote this insurance.

Mutual Assurance was one of nearly 50 policyholder-founded companies to emerge from the turbulent liability climate in the U.S. in the seventies. They were derisively called “bedpan mutuals” by the traditional insurance industry experts who predicted that most of them would not survive (and this prediction proved true).

This was not the case for MASA, and by 1985, had paid off both its $5.5 million bank loan and the direct $2.5 million capital loans from physicians. At that time, the company had expanded through the provision of dental liability insurance and hospital liability insurance.  Under Dr. Crowe’s leadership, the company continued to prosper.

Mutual Assurance demutualized and began trading on the NASDAQ system in September 1991.  Policyholders received stock valued at $10.00 per share and the company’s market capitalization was $69 million.  In 1993, Dr. Crowe retired from the active practice of medicine to devote all his time and energy to leading the company.  In 1994, Mutual Assurance began to move outside Alabama and acquired insurance companies and books of business in West Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri while once more changing the name of the company to MAIC Holdings.  By 1996, MAIC Holdings moved to the New York Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of $129 million.  Expansion continued throughout the Southeast and Midwest.

In 2001, its merger with Professional Group, a Michigan-based insurer of similar size, was completed.  The merger resulted in the creation of ProAssurance, a New York Stock Exchange company with a market capitalization of $450 million.  The combined company is the product of 13 separate M & A transactions and employs almost 600 people.

Today, ProAssurance is the 4th largest medical malpractice company in the United States and its market capitalization is approaching $2 billion.  Over the past 30 years since its founding, the written premium has grown from $8 million to approximately $550 million in 2007.  The company insures more than 30,000 physicians with more than 35,000 policies in force, including most physicians in private practice in the state of Alabama.

The leadership and determination of Derrill Crowe led a dedicated group of employees who adopted his vision, and in three decades, turned a single-state insurance company into a market leader that has delivered financial security and lasting value to its policyholders, shareholders, and employees.

In the 1980s, Dr. Crowe was also a leader in two revolutionary advances in Alabama healthcare.  He was instrumental in developing the first free-standing, physician-owned outpatient surgery center in Alabama (now known as the Outpatient Care Center); and he initiated outpatient treatment of kidney stones by Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy.  This treatment alternative was established in a manner that minimized the cost of care while making it readily available within a cooperative physician network throughout Alabama.

Dr. Crowe is a native of Troy, Alabama, and did undergraduate work at Howard College (now known as Samford University) in Birmingham.  He completed his graduate medical education at the University of Alabama Medical College in 1962.  Dr. Crowe completed his internship in 1963 and a surgical residency in 1964, both at Lloyd Noland Hospital in Birmingham.  He underwent residency training in Urology at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, which he completed in 1967.  Dr. Crowe is also a 1990 graduate of the prestigious Owner/President Management Program at Harvard University’s School of Business.

Throughout his 40-year career, Dr. Crowe has been active in organized medicine, serving his colleagues and The Medical Association of the State of Alabama in a variety of positions including their Board of Censors and the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners among others, he was also a member of the Jefferson County Medical Society.  In early 1985, he was asked to serve as the chairman of the Alabama Certificate of Need Board.

Dr. Crowe sits on the Board of Advisors at his collegiate alma mater, Samford University, and was the commencement speaker for Samford’s 1996 graduation at which time he also received his undergraduate degree.

Dr. Crowe was honored by the Birmingham News as “CEO of the Year” for 2004 for his role in establishing ProAssurance as a leader in Alabama and the nation.  One of the judges said of him, “Derrill has line up ProAssurance against all the competition, and they have the best balance sheet, the best management, and the best reserve situation.”  In March 2008, Dr. Crowe was elected to the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame, which honored him for his work in medicine and at ProAssurance.

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