Hudson gets chamber award

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

By MARIAN ACCARDI

Times Business Writer marian.accardi@htimes.com

Toyota Alabamais named firstIndustry of Year

Jim Hudson, the biotechnology pioneer who received the Distinguished Service Award on Tuesday from the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce, described Huntsville as a place where "everybody cheers for success."

The chamber also presented its first Industry of the Year Award to Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama.

An emotional Hudson, visibly surprised by the announcement at the chamber's annual membership meeting, let out a loud "whew" as he stepped to the podium and told the audience that he was honored to receive the award.

"Huntsville is truly the greatest community in the whole world," said Hudson, who led the development of the 270,000-square-foot HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, which opened in November. The city is full of "problem-solvers" who give back to their community, he said. "It's just a wonderful, wonderful town."

HudsonAlpha will have about $80 million in private investor money and $50 million in state contributions.

About 300 employees will move into the institute by this summer, with up to 350 there by December, Hudson said.

Hudson dedicated the award to his late father, James Hudson, who passed on the "value of sharing" to his son; and to his mentor, Lonnie McMillian, chairman of HudsonAlpha and a co-founder of Huntsville-based telecommunications company Adtran.

HudsonAlpha "nurtures creativity, facilitates the exchange of ideas between researchers and business and expedites the delivery of life-enhancing discoveries," said Evans Quinlivan, the chamber's 2008 chairman. It also provides motivational biotech education for Alabama's teachers and students, effectively promoting a highly qualified work-force pipeline, he said.

Hudson has brought to Huntsville and Alabama "a new dream, a new reality and a new future."

The Industry of the Year Award - designed to recognize companies with more than 350 employees - was presented to Toyota, which opened at North Huntsville Industrial Park in 2003 and now has more than 1,000 employees.

"We love being in Huntsville. We love being in Madison County," said Jim Bolte, senior vice president of Toyota Alabama and vice chairman of work-force development for the chamber. "We'll try to be the best corporate citizen we can for this community."

A year ago, the plant launched the automaker's first 5.7-liter V8 engine. The plant makes V8 engines for the Tundra full-size pickup and Sequoia full-size sport utility vehicle and V6 engines for Tundras and Tacoma pickups.

Quinlivan said Tuesday there were 3,859 announced new jobs among 51 companies in Madison County last year. That number includes jobs with the aerospace and defense industries, large manufacturers and a few other sectors but doesn't include the number of jobs in the retail and service industries.

The chamber announced members of its 2008 executive committee and board. The executive committee is:

Quinlivan, chair, First American Bank; Irma Tuder, chair-elect, Analytical Services Inc.; Dave Hargrove, immediate past chair, AT&T Inc.; Tommy Beason, chair, Chamber Foundation, Beason & Nalley Inc. (consultant); Jan Smith, secretary/treasurer, S3 Inc.; Don Nalley, vice chair, economic development, Beason & Nalley; Linda Maynor, vice chair, governmental affairs, Maynard, Cooper & Gale; Charlie Kettle, vice chair, investor relations, First Commercial Bank; Bolte, vice chair, work force, Toyota; Elizabeth Morard, vice chair, small business, Qualis Corp.; Ron Poteat, vice chair, research and information services, Regions Bank; Ralph Malone, vice chair, image development, Triana Industries Inc.; Joey Ceci, chair-appointed, Main Street Strategies; Mike Gillespie, chair-appointed, Madison County Commission; Joe Ritch, chair-appointed, Sirote & Permutt; Mayor Loretta Spencer, chair-appointed; and Brian Hilson, president and CEO, chamber.

Chamber board members are Joe Alexander, Camber Corp.; Clayton Bass, Huntsville Museum of Art; Frank Caprio, Bradley Arant Rose & White; John Cooper, Avocent Corp.; Derrick Copeland, Applied Data Trends Inc.; Gina DeSimone, Boeing Co.; John Eagan, Wachovia Bank; Joe Fadool, Continental; Kerry Fehrenbach, Intergraph Corp.; Ron Gray, Gray Research Inc.; Dr. Greg Gum, Radiology of Huntsville; Jeff Hamilton, Orthopaedic Center; Tom Hancock, Booz Allen Hamilton; Tharon Honeycutt, MSB Analytics Inc.; Dr. Pam Hudson, Crestwood Medical Center; Dr. Robert Jennings, Alabama A&M University; Frederick Lanier, J. Smith Lanier & Co.; Frank Libutti, Digital Fusion Inc.; John McMullan, Colonial Bank; Dan Montgomery, Northrop Grumman Corp.; Caroline Myers, Foreign Language Services Inc.; Jerre Penney, Bill Penney Toyota; Pete Schofield, Sparta Inc.; Scott Seeley, Bryant Bank; Crystal Shell, Will Technology; Keith Smith, SAIC; David Spillers, Huntsville Hospital; Tom Stanton, Adtran Inc.; Sandra Steele, Enfinger Steele Development Inc.; Paula Steigerwald, Huntsville Botanical Garden; Al Sullivan, ABT Inc.; Dr. Dave Williams, University of Alabama in Huntsville; John Wilmer, Wilmer & Lee; Daniel Wilson, Maynard, Cooper & Gale; Danny Windham, Digium Inc.; and Dr. Ernie Wu, ERC Inc.



Hudson gets chamber award Wednesday, January 23, 2008 By MARIAN ACCARDI Times Business Writer marian.accardi@htimes.com Toyota Alabamais named firstIndustry of Year Jim Hudson, the biotechnology pioneer who received the Distinguished Service Award on Tuesday from the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce, described Huntsville as a place where "everybody cheers for success." The chamber also presented its first Industry of the Year Award to Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama. An emotional Hudson, visibly surprised by the announcement at the chamber's annual membership meeting, let out a loud "whew" as he stepped to the podium and told the audience that he was honored to receive the award. "Huntsville is truly the greatest community in the whole world," said Hudson, who led the development of the 270,000-square-foot HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, which opened in November. The city is full of "problem-solvers" who give back to their community, he said. "It's just a wonderful, wonderful town." HudsonAlpha will have about $80 million in private investor money and $50 million in state contributions. About 300 employees will move into the institute by this summer, with up to 350 there by December, Hudson said. Hudson dedicated the award to his late father, James Hudson, who passed on the "value of sharing" to his son; and to his mentor, Lonnie McMillian, chairman of HudsonAlpha and a co-founder of Huntsville-based telecommunications company Adtran. HudsonAlpha "nurtures creativity, facilitates the exchange of ideas between researchers and business and expedites the delivery of life-enhancing discoveries," said Evans Quinlivan, the chamber's 2008 chairman. It also provides motivational biotech education for Alabama's teachers and students, effectively promoting a highly qualified work-force pipeline, he said. Hudson has brought to Huntsville and Alabama "a new dream, a new reality and a new future." The Industry of the Year Award - designed to recognize companies with more than 350 employees - was presented to Toyota, which opened at North Huntsville Industrial Park in 2003 and now has more than 1,000 employees. "We love being in Huntsville. We love being in Madison County," said Jim Bolte, senior vice president of Toyota Alabama and vice chairman of work-force development for the chamber. "We'll try to be the best corporate citizen we can for this community." A year ago, the plant launched the automaker's first 5.7-liter V8 engine. The plant makes V8 engines for the Tundra full-size pickup and Sequoia full-size sport utility vehicle and V6 engines for Tundras and Tacoma pickups. Quinlivan said Tuesday there were 3,859 announced new jobs among 51 companies in Madison County last year. That number includes jobs with the aerospace and defense industries, large manufacturers and a few other sectors but doesn't include the number of jobs in the retail and service industries. The chamber announced members of its 2008 executive committee and board. The executive committee is: Quinlivan, chair, First American Bank; Irma Tuder, chair-elect, Analytical Services Inc.; Dave Hargrove, immediate past chair, AT&T Inc.; Tommy Beason, chair, Chamber Foundation, Beason & Nalley Inc. (consultant); Jan Smith, secretary/treasurer, S3 Inc.; Don Nalley, vice chair, economic development, Beason & Nalley; Linda Maynor, vice chair, governmental affairs, Maynard, Cooper & Gale; Charlie Kettle, vice chair, investor relations, First Commercial Bank; Bolte, vice chair, work force, Toyota; Elizabeth Morard, vice chair, small business, Qualis Corp.; Ron Poteat, vice chair, research and information services, Regions Bank; Ralph Malone, vice chair, image development, Triana Industries Inc.; Joey Ceci, chair-appointed, Main Street Strategies; Mike Gillespie, chair-appointed, Madison County Commission; Joe Ritch, chair-appointed, Sirote & Permutt; Mayor Loretta Spencer, chair-appointed; and Brian Hilson, president and CEO, chamber. Chamber board members are Joe Alexander, Camber Corp.; Clayton Bass, Huntsville Museum of Art; Frank Caprio, Bradley Arant Rose & White; John Cooper, Avocent Corp.; Derrick Copeland, Applied Data Trends Inc.; Gina DeSimone, Boeing Co.; John Eagan, Wachovia Bank; Joe Fadool, Continental; Kerry Fehrenbach, Intergraph Corp.; Ron Gray, Gray Research Inc.; Dr. Greg Gum, Radiology of Huntsville; Jeff Hamilton, Orthopaedic Center; Tom Hancock, Booz Allen Hamilton; Tharon Honeycutt, MSB Analytics Inc.; Dr. Pam Hudson, Crestwood Medical Center; Dr. Robert Jennings, Alabama A&M University; Frederick Lanier, J. Smith Lanier & Co.; Frank Libutti, Digital Fusion Inc.; John McMullan, Colonial Bank; Dan Montgomery, Northrop Grumman Corp.; Caroline Myers, Foreign Language Services Inc.; Jerre Penney, Bill Penney Toyota; Pete Schofield, Sparta Inc.; Scott Seeley, Bryant Bank; Crystal Shell, Will Technology; Keith Smith, SAIC; David Spillers, Huntsville Hospital; Tom Stanton, Adtran Inc.; Sandra Steele, Enfinger Steele Development Inc.; Paula Steigerwald, Huntsville Botanical Garden; Al Sullivan, ABT Inc.; Dr. Dave Williams, University of Alabama in Huntsville; John Wilmer, Wilmer & Lee; Daniel Wilson, Maynard, Cooper & Gale; Danny Windham, Digium Inc.; and Dr. Ernie Wu, ERC Inc. © 2008 The Huntsville Times © 2008 al.com All Rights Reserved.