Fournier J. “Boots” Gale III

• December 5th, 2025

Fournier J. “Boots” Gale, III has devoted his distinguished career to shaping the legal profession, advising businesses, and serving the people of Alabama. Throughout more than four decades of practice, Gale has held leadership positions in both private practice and corporate law, building a reputation as a trusted counselor, a thoughtful strategist, and a committed civic leader. His career reflects an unwavering dedication to excellence in law as well as to strengthening the institutions that support the state’s economy and communities.

Gale is of Counsel at Maynard Nexsen PC, one of Alabama’s most prominent and respected law firms. He was instrumental in founding Maynard Cooper & Gale, now Maynard Nexsen, and for many years served as managing shareholder and chairman. In that role, he guided the firm through a period of rapid growth, setting high standards for client service and professional integrity.

Later, he made a significant impact as general counsel, senior executive vice president, and corporate secretary at Regions Financial Corporation from 2011 to 2020. There, Gale’s steady leadership helped one of the Southeast’s largest banks navigate the challenges of the post-recession economy, new regulatory environments, and ongoing shifts in the financial industry.

His guidance not only ensured compliance and sound governance but also fostered a culture of accountability and innovation. In addition to his work with Regions, Gale has long contributed his expertise to the wider business community as a board member of the Business Council of Alabama, helping to align the interests of business leaders with the state’s economic development.

Gale earned a debate scholarship to The University of Alabama, where he became a four-time national champion debater. He received his bachelor’s degree in political science in 1966, then graduated first in his class from The University of Alabama School of Law. While in law school, he was also editor in chief of the Alabama Law Review.

After law school, Gale began his legal career at the Birmingham firm Cabaniss & Johnston, where he advanced to partner by 1975. In 1984, he co-founded Maynard Cooper & Gale. Under his leadership as managing partner and chairman of the executive committee, the firm grew steadily, expanding into one of Alabama’s largest firms.

In 2011, Gale transitioned from private practice to corporate leadership, accepting the role of senior executive vice president and general counsel of Regions Financial Corporation. For the next decade, he guided the bank through a period of remarkable change in both the economic and political landscape. Following his retirement from the general counsel role, he returned to Maynard Nexsen in 2021 as of Counsel, where he lends his more than 45 years of experience to the firm’s litigation and corporate practices.

Gale has invested deeply in service to his alma mater and to the broader legal community. He is a former president of The University of Alabama Law School Foundation and currently serves as treasurer for the Law School Board of Governors. He served as president of both the Alabama State Bar and the Birmingham Bar Association, chaired the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, and served on the Judicial Inquiry Commission. In 2013, he was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor, one of the state’s most prestigious distinctions.

Gale holds a fellow status with the American Bar Foundation and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. His continuing involvement with The University of Alabama, including membership in the President’s Cabinet, reflects his devotion to his alma mater.

A joint letter in support of Gale’s induction to the Alabama Business Hall of Fame said, “In every sphere of influence, Boots Gale has provided wise counsel and guidance to improve the condition of his State, his community, his university, and the businesses he has advised.”

Gale and his wife, Louise, live in Birmingham. They have two children and four grandchildren.

Benny M. LaRussa Jr.

• December 5th, 2025

Benny LaRussa Jr.’s entrepreneurial instincts were shaped early in life by his family’s legacy. His grandfather, Joe Bruno, founded Bruno’s grocery store and Big B Drugs, building each into two of the South’s most recognized supermarket and drugstore chains. His father, Benny LaRussa Sr., carried on that tradition of growth by purchasing Jack’s Family Restaurants initially as a franchisee and eventually acquiring the balance of the company owned stores. Over a 30-year period Jack’s family restaurants grew from 13 stores to nearly 150 units. Growing up in this environment gave LaRussa a first-hand view of the hard work, vision, and courage required to run and expand successful businesses.

LaRussa Jr. is the founder and CEO of Sterling Capital Management, a multi-asset holding company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. Under his leadership, Sterling Capital has built a diverse portfolio of businesses that reflect both his strategic vision and his commitment to strengthening communities.

Today, the firm owns and operates three primary platform companies: Fenwick Food Group, which invests in and operates consumer-packaged goods businesses such as Wickles Pickles and Moore’s Marinade and Wing Sauces; American Pipe and Supply, a regional wholesale distributor of pipe, valves, and fittings; and StoneRiver Company, which specializes in the acquisition, development, and management of multi-family residential properties. Through these ventures, LaRussa has helped create companies that not only generate jobs but also provide long-term value to the regional economy.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from Auburn University before pursuing a master’s degree in public and private management from Birmingham-Southern College.

LaRussa began his career in banking at the First National Bank of Birmingham, now Regions Bank. In 1985 he was a founding member of First Commercial Bank, where he spent six years gaining valuable experience in financial services and client management. This period provided him with the skills and industry insight that would prove essential when, in 1991, he co-founded Canterbury Trust Company, Inc., a privately owned state-chartered trust company. Canterbury Trust quickly established a reputation for quality and reliability with over $1 billion in assets before eventually being sold to Synovus Financial Corporation.

At Sterling Capital, LaRussa provides strategic leadership, cultivates staff development, and draws on more than 35 years of operations and investment acumen in real estate and operating companies. The success of StoneRiver, American Pipe & Supply, and Fenwick Food Group are a direct reflection of his ability to combine sound investment practice, strategic execution, and operational excellence with a long-term, community-minded approach.

LaRussa has devoted much of his time and energy to civic and philanthropic service. He currently serves on the board of directors for Security Engineers Inc., Quarterbacking Children’s Health Foundation, Ascension Healthcare, and the Joseph S. Bruno Charitable Foundation. He has also supported organizations such as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center, Children’s Hospital of Alabama, and The Bell Center. His commitment to community is reflected in the countless number of nonprofit boards he has served.

LaRussa has served on boards for St. Vincent’s Health System, Bruno’s, Inc., Jack’s Family Restaurants, Synovus Bank of Birmingham, and Auburn University Foundation where he chaired the board from 2019 to 2020 and also served on the Auburn University Real Estate Foundation. His long record of service to Auburn includes many years on the Dean’s Advisory Committee for the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business. In 2022, the Alabama Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals honored him as a VIP (Volunteer in Philanthropy) for his support of UAB’s Comprehensive Diabetes Center.

He and his wife, Lynn, live in Birmingham. They have two daughters and four grandchildren.

Raymond J. Harbert

• November 20th, 2024

Raymond Harbert’s lifelong entrepreneurial pursuits began early, at age 15, when he founded Penbryn Hill Catering. Undeterred by his initial lack of a driver’s license, Harbert enlisted other drivers to travel to and from client houses, deliver food, and park guest automobiles at events. This tendency to energetically pursue opportunities, learning as he went, continued throughout his life. For instance, when he initially entered Auburn University as an engineering major, he did not plan to switch to business, pursuing interests in real estate and finance and eventually earning a bachelor’s in industrial management. And when he took his first job after graduation as a computer programmer, he did not anticipate that a few short years later, in 1990, at the tender age of 31, he would be promoted to president and CEO of Harbert Corporation, a multi-billion-dollar diversified conglomerate.

From a young age, Harbert had shown interest in investments and finance. He eagerly followed his father’s (John Harbert, the founder of Harbert Construction Company) investment stories at the dinner table, and once found, as a teenager, his father’s copy of Joseph Wechsberg’s The Merchant Bankers, which led to a fascination with 19th century merchant banks and trading houses: Rothschild, Warburg, Baring, Schroeder, and J.P. Morgan & Company. So after the sale, in 1993, of Harbert Construction Company, the original company started by his father 50 years before, Harbert launched Harbert Management Corporation, the first multi-alternative asset investment management firm in Alabama. The new company would manage all Harbert Corporation’s assets for a percentage fee, and Harbert Corporation, in turn, would provide a $3 million line of credit, secured by any eventual inheritance the younger Harbert might receive.

Naysayers warned that nothing like this had been yet attempted in Alabama, and indeed, that neither Harbert nor his small team had ever managed or worked for an investment firm. Harbert, however, who started as a caterer and then worked as a computer programmer, did not see why he could not be a successful investor, and was willing to bet his inheritance on it. After all, he believed in curiosity, and letting it drive lifelong learning. And possibly more importantly, he believed in persistence, often quoting the Benjamin Franklin proverb that “Energy and persistence conquer all things.” As his business partner Charles D. Miller put it, Harbert “had the courage to make tough decisions and chart a new course which ultimately led to the formation of Harbert Management Corporation.” In the end, despite some difficult years, including the successful weathering of 2008’s Great Recession, Harbert and Ben Franklin proved the naysayers wrong: Today, Harbert Management Corporation oversees ten different investment strategies from eight U.S. and four European offices with over $8 billion of assets under management.

Harbert serves on the boards and executive committees of the Robert Meyer Foundation, Children’s of Alabama, and Birmingham Business Alliance, and is chairman of the Newcomen Society of Alabama. He is also a trustee emeritus of Auburn University, where the college of business is named for him following a transformative gift in 2013. He previously served on the board of the Alabama Trust Fund and is a past member of Leadership Alabama. In 2006, Harbert was awarded the regional Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Financial Services, and he was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor in 2015. Friends describe Harbert as both a fierce negotiator in the boardroom and a committed mentor outside of it, encouraging interns, new employees, and children of friends to “find their passion” as he found his.

Raymond and Kathryn Harbert are active philanthropists, having made significant gifts both in time and capital to numerous organizations including Auburn University, Red Mountain Theatre, Children’s of Alabama, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and United Way of Central Alabama, where they were awarded the United Way Tocqueville Society Award in 2018.

The Harberts have three children and nine grandchildren and live in Birmingham, Alabama.

Thomas H. Lowder

• November 20th, 2024

In 1946, Thomas Lowder’s father was asked by the Alabama Farm Bureau to create an affordable fire insurance company for rural residents of the state. Edward Lowder launched Alabama Farm Bureau Insurance Company with just $10,000 and a secretary. You may now know the company as ALFA. As boys, Thomas and his brothers, James and Robert, watched their father create businesses from the ground up, with the insurance company as a foundation.

When teaching his sons about business, Edward often compared it to football. “He’d tell me that touchdowns are your long-term goal, but then, you have first downs to work toward in between, which are your short-term goals,” Thomas told Birmingham Business Journal. Edward also taught his sons to maintain strong ties with banks and lenders. But Thomas learned just as much on the job. The self-described “saleman of the family,” he recalled, in a Wall Street Journal article, “tagging along summers with an apartment agent who always carried two things in his pocket when showing units to a prospective tenant: a piece of chalk, to cover up any scratches in the paint, and a can of aerosol spray to freshen the air.”

These early experiences prepared Thomas Lowder for the leadership role that he would later assume. He is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Colonial Properties Trust, a New York Stock Exchange-listed, multi-family-focused real estate investment trust, with commercial assets in the Sunbelt region of the United States.

After graduating with honors from Auburn University with a Bachelor of Science degree, Lowder assumed the leadership role at Colonial Properties Trust in 1976. He took the business public in 1993. With Lowder as CEO, the company grew from $475 million in total market capitalization to $5.3 billion before he retired from active management in 2006 to care for his wife, Jarman, who was suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s.

Lowder returned as CEO in December 2008 to lead the company after the financial recession and Wall Street crisis. After 20 years as a public company, Colonial Properties merged with Mid-America Apartment Communities in 2013 and later Post Properties, Inc. to create one of the largest and most successful apartment real estate investment trusts on the NYSE with a market capitalization over $16 billion. Lowder continues to serve on the board of Mid-America Apartment Communities.

Active in his community and beyond, Lowder serves or has served as a member or chair of several boards, including Children’s Hospital of Alabama, the University of Alabama Health Services Foundation, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, Quarterbacking Children’s Health Foundation, the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, the American Red Cross, and United Way of Central Alabama, among others. Lowder and his wife, Susan, whom he married in 2012, are active in philanthropic efforts to find a cure for Alzheimer’s, ALS, and other neurological diseases, which took the lives of each of their spouses.

Lowder holds an honorary doctorate of humanities from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and an honorary doctorate of law from Birmingham-Southern College.

He has three daughters and Susan has three sons. They live in Birmingham, Alabama.

Claude B. Nielsen

• November 20th, 2024

Claude Nielsen is the former CEO and chairman of the board of Coca-Cola Bottling Company UNITED, Inc. After earning a bachelor’s degree in economics from Sewanee: The University of the South, an MBA from the University of Virginia, and a brief Birmingham banking career, Nielsen joined Coca-Cola UNITED in 1979. He held a variety of operational and managerial positions in the company until he was named CEO in 1991 and later chairman of the board of directors in 2003. Under Nielsen’s leadership, Coca-Cola UNITED more than tripled the size and scope of the company in terms of revenues, geography, number of associates, and facilities. Birmingham-based Coca-Cola UNITED is among the largest bottlers and distributors of Coca-Cola products in the U.S. With over $4 billion in annual revenues, it is also one of the largest privately held companies in Alabama. Nielsen retired as CEO in 2016 and as chairman in 2023.

Over the course of his career, Nielsen was often asked if he knew the secret Coca-Cola formula. “I can answer that question with a simple two letter word,” he said in an address to the Newcomen Society of Alabama in 2017. “No.”

But that’s not entirely true. According to a nomination letter by current Coca-Cola UNITED President and CEO Michael A. Suco, while Nielsen may not know the secret CocaCola formula, he knows Coca-Cola UNITED’s secret ingredients. “As one of the architects of the U.S. Coca-Cola system as it stands today,” Suco wrote of Nielsen, “his incredible system knowledge and commitment to our associates, consumers, customers and communities are foundational to our success. No one believes in and lives our purpose and values more than Claude. He has always valued our associates and our brands as the ‘secret ingredients’ to our success.”

Upon his nomination to the Birmingham Business Hall of Fame in 2022, Nielsen told The Over the Mountain Journal, “Any success I’ve enjoyed as a business leader must be shared with the thousands of associates within the Coca-Cola UNITED family who made leading this great enterprise a real privilege over the years.”

Today, Coca-Cola UNITED has more than 10,000 associates located in more than 50 facilities across six southeastern states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee). The company’s operations consist of state-of-the-art sales and distribution centers, along with eight manufacturing facilities serving more than 150,000 customers across their footprint. Historically significant franchises within the Coca-Cola UNITED family include Chattanooga, the world’s first Coca-Cola bottler; Atlanta, home of the worldwide Coca-Cola system; and Columbus, Georgia, development site of the original Coca-Cola formula.

Nielsen has served as a board member and chairman of the American Beverage Association, the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation, and The Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Association. He has devoted time and energy supporting community causes like the United Way of Central Alabama, the Birmingham Airport Authority Board, and the American Cancer Society. He has also served on the Executive Committee of the Birmingham Business Alliance.

Nielsen was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor in 2016. In addition, he and his wife, Kate, were recognized by the Greater Alabama Council of the Boy Scouts of America in 2017 with the “Heart of an Eagle” award for their community service, and they were named Outstanding Civic Leaders by the Association of Fundraising Professionals in 2021.

The Nielsens have three children and nine grandchildren and reside in Birmingham.

Michael D. Thompson 

• November 13th, 2023

Ronald G. Bruno

• September 29th, 2022

Ronald G Bruno grew up in the grocery business. Starting at the age of 14, he worked as a bagger and cashier at his family’s grocery store chain, Bruno’s. Started by his uncle Joe and soon joined by Mr. Bruno’s father, Angelo and other uncles, Bruno’s began with a single store in Birmingham in 1932. In 1971, Bruno’s became a publicly-traded company, and grew to be one of the top-producing grocery chains in the Southeast, with more than 250 stores and sales approaching $3 billion.

After graduating from The University of Alabama with a bachelor’s in marketing in 1974, Bruno went back to work full-time for the family business as a category buyer. From there, he worked his way up through the ranks to become director of grocery merchandising, vice president of sales, and president. By 1985, he was COO, and in 1991, he became CEO of the company. This same year Bruno worked with his father to create the Bruno’s Classic, an annual golf tournament in Birmingham on the PGA Senior Tour.

But later in 1991, Bruno’s life was rocked by tragedy: a plane crash took the lives of his father and uncle, as well as five other top executives and two pilots. In the midst of grief, Bruno was appointed chairman and charged with bringing stability to the company. He also had to find a way to remain competitive during a time that included the popularization of stores like Walmart Supercenters, as well as rapidly changing technology.

Under Bruno’s leadership, the company adapted. Between 1991 and 1995, Bruno’s opened 15 new stores annually, expanding markets to Atlanta and Nashville, and claiming 50 percent of the Birmingham market share. In 1995, after being approached by KKR with an interest in purchasing the company, Bruno’s sold for $1.2 billion, at that time the largest sale in Alabama history. As a condition of the sale, the buyer had to continue the golf tournament, which was now renamed the Bruno’s Memorial Classic. The event continues to this day under new sponsorship. Now called the Regions Charity Classic, the tournament has donated more than $20 million to charity since its inception.

After the sale of Bruno’s, he founded Bruno Capital Management in 1995, and continues to serve as President to this day. The same year, with partner Gene Hallman, Bruno again leveraged his love for sports to create the Bruno Event Team, which began with the management of a single event–the Memorial Classic–and grew to be one of the largest dedicated sports event management companies in the US. It has hosted golf events including more than 20 USGA national championships as well as multiple PGA tour and LPGA tour events. In addition to golf, Bruno Event Team operates several other divisions, including Zoom Motorsports, College Gameday, and a full-service catering and concessions division, Bruno Hospitality. Bruno was inducted into the Birmingham Golf Hall of Fame in 1994, and the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.

During his career, Bruno has served on the board of directors at Bruno’s, Inc., Russell Athletic Corporation, Books-A-Million, and Southtrust Bank. A committed philanthropist, he has also supported numerous civic organizations, including the United Way Tocqueville Society, the St. Vincent’s Foundation and The University of Alabama President’s Cabinet and the Culverhouse College of Business Board of Visitors. The Angelo Bruno Business Library, which was named for his late father and services the research needs of Culverhouse students, was funded and is still supported by Bruno and his family.

Bruno married Lee Ann Bruno in 1982. They have one son, Ronald Gregory Bruno, Jr.

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.

Michael A. Mouron

• September 29th, 2022

When Michael A. Mouron graduated from The University of Alabama in 1972 and began his career as an accountant, student housing was the farthest thing from his mind. But in 1980, he began working in development for a construction firm in Montgomery, Alabama, and became aware of a new model of condo that was housing for college students but an investment for their parents. Little did he know that this experience would plant a seed that eventually grew into Birmingham-based Capstone Development Corp, whose “leased by the bed” model of student housing revolutionized the business.

Mouron became the head of the development arm of Birmingham firm Polar BEK in 1985 and began building apartments near college campuses, which were easier to finance than condos. He worked for Polar BEK for five years but left in 1990 to launch his own development company, along with three other co-workers. The company, Capstone Development, focused on college student housing.

Capstone began its management operations in 1991 when it rolled out the “lease by the bed” model. Unlike traditional arrangements, where students and parents are responsible for the entire leased unit, this new model made them responsible only for one bed. This way, if one or more of the residents defaulted on the rent, the others would not be liable. Because of the success of this model, Capstone grew rapidly. From 1990 until Mouron’s retirement as chairman in 2012, Capstone developed about $3 billion in student housing communities both off and on campuses.

When Mouron retired, he divided Capstone into four “successor companies,” with ownership given to the various division heads — his family retained ownership of one. However, retirement did not slow him down much. He began investing in real estate projects that interested him personally. For instance, he bought a vacant building in his hometown of Mountain Brook, Alabama, renovated the property then leased it to Little Hardware, a Mountain Brook staple. He renovated the Federal Reserve Building in downtown Birmingham. Then, in 2021, he developed the Valley Hotel in Homewood, Alabama. He also restored the historic Birmingham Greyhound bus terminal, where the Freedom Riders once disembarked during the Civil Rights movement.

A strong sense of civic duty caused Mouron to establish The Mouron Family Foundation. He is a member of The University of Alabama’s President’s Cabinet and UA’s Adapted Athletics Board of Visitors. In 2017, Mouron and his wife Kathy made gifts totaling $4 million to support the construction of Stran-Hardin Arena, a $10 million multi-purpose facility for the University’s Adapted Athletics program. Furthermore, the couple are co-chairs of UA’s $1.5 billion Rising Tide capital campaign.

He also supports many other organizations, including serving on the boards of First Horizon Bank Birmingham, the City of Mountain Brook’s Planning Committee, and the Lakeshore Foundation’s Advisory Council.

Mouron married Kathy Neugent in 1976, and they have three sons: Drew, Christopher, and Lewis, and eight grandchildren.

Grayson Hall

• September 29th, 2022

Grayson Hall is the Birmingham-based retired chairman and CEO of Regions Financial Corporation, the state of Alabama’s only Fortune 500 company. He retired from Regions in 2018 after a 38-year career, which started when he joined its predecessor AmSouth Bancorporation as a management trainee. Over time, he served in roles of increasing responsibility and was named president and CEO in 2010, and in 2013, was named chairman. No matter his role, Grayson never lost his focus on the people and communities Regions serves.

Hall’s tenure as CEO began as Regions and its peers across the banking industry were navigating the impacts of the Great Recession. His leadership and vision helped Regions emerge stronger. Hall championed a set of strong core values, a culture built around teamwork and service, and a deliberate focus on creating shared value for customers, communities, associates and shareholders. The company went from reporting a loss in 2010 to posting strong profits in the years before Hall retired. Regions Bank is now a regional powerhouse with a branch network reaching 15 states and specialty capabilities serving clients nationwide. At the time of Hall’s retirement, it had a $7.6 billion impact
on Alabama’s economy. As of July 2022, the company had a market value of approximately $17 billion; it remains Alabama’s only Fortune 500 company.

Hall is on the board of Vulcan Materials, Great Southern Woods Holdings Inc., and Alabama Power. He has also given his time to a variety of philanthropic and community-focused organizations including the Newcomen Society of Alabama, Birmingham Business Alliance, and Children’s of Alabama. He is also a member of The University of Alabama’s President’s Cabinet and the Culverhouse College of Business’s Board of Visitors.

Hall earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Sewanee, the University of the South and his MBA from The University of Alabama.

He married the former Susan Stringer in 1982 and together they have three children: Laura Hall Money (Scott), John Hall (Lauren), and Anna Hall Johnson (Daniel) and six grandchildren.