JULY 2023
14 CHICKENS ON GUARD POWERSOUTH ENERGIZES
32 SOUTHEAST ALABAMA
SPOTLIGHT ON HOUSTON
59 & HENRY COUNTIES
Moving Freight, IMPROVING LIVES
TIM CROSS CREATED EXPEDITED TRANSPORT TO PROVIDE FIRST-CLASS SERVICE WITH SECOND-CHANCE STAFF
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Volume 38 / Number 7
JULY 2023
CONTENTS
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Gary Smith leads PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, which generates power for utilities from Prattville to the Florida Panhandle.
Features 14
18
29 32
36
HEALTH CARE CHICKENS ON GUARD A hundred hens stand as sentinels in Mobile’s endless battle against mosquito-borne illness. SEEING THE POSSIBILITIES Helen Keller Foundation helps connect the dots in using laser treatment to prevent sight loss. PRIVATE COMPANIES MAIDS & MOP MORPHS INTO PINK ZEBRAS Alabama entrepreneur shares his secrets of success. GENERATION FOR GENERATIONS PowerSouth lights the way from Prattville to the Florida Panhandle. NAVIGATING LIFE’S HIGHWAY Expedited Transport focuses on both shipping and living.
4 | BusinessAlabama.com July 2023
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ACCOUNTING ACCOUNTING DROUGHT? Looming CPA shortage is a problem nationwide.
44
BANKING COMMUNITY FOREVER Troy Bank & Trust charter keeps it close to home.
48
BUILDING BETTER BANKERS School helps finance professionals prepare for stronger careers.
52
WORLD-WIDE BANKING Regions adds new specialty to serve U.S. subsidiaries of international companies.
82
RETROSPECT LAYERS OF HISTORY Harrison Bros. Hardware preserves more than just nuts and bolts.
44
On the Cover: Tim Cross, of Expedited Transport, encourages employees to succeed in business and life. Photo by Cary Norton.
44: Troy Bank & Trust stays true to its community. 29: Ron Holt hopes his Pink Zebra Moving is a reset for the industry. Photo by Art Meripol. 52: Laerte Barros and Marcus Kim are leaders in Regions Bank's new program offering specialized services for U.S. subsidiaries of international companies. Photo by Joe De Sciose.
TOP RANK 21 ALABAMA’S LARGEST HOSPITALS 39 ALABAMA’S LARGEST PRIVATE COMPANIES SPECIAL SECTIONS 22 MOVING HEALTH CARE FORWARD 55 BUSINESS COUNCIL OF ALABAMA GEOGRAPHIC SPOTLIGHT 59 HOUSTON & HENRY COUNTIES
Departments
29
7
81
84 86 87
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BENCHMARKS: MONTHLY BUSINESS NEWS BRIEFING COMPANY KUDOS: A MONTH OF ACHIEVEMENTS BA INDEX: HUNDREDS OF LEADS EACH MONTH CAREER NOTES: WHO’S MOVING UP HISTORIC ALABAMA: A WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE ALABIZ QUIZ: TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
July 2023 BusinessAlabama.com | 5
JULY 2023 BusinessAlabama.com Volume 38 / Number 7
PUBLISHER Walker Sorrell / wsorrell@pmtpublishing.com ASSISTANT PUBLISHER Stephen Potts / snpotts@pmtpublishing.com EXECUTIVE EDITOR Alec Harvey / alec@pmtpublishing.com EDITOR Erica Joiner West / ewest@pmtpublishing.com COPY EDITOR Nedra Bloom / nedra@pmtpublishing.com ART DIRECTOR Vic Wheeler / ads@pmtpublishing.com DIGITAL EDITOR Kathryn Dorlon / kdorlon@pmtpublishing.com ACCOUNTING Keith Crabtree / acct@pmtpublishing.com ADMINISTRATION/OFFICE MANAGER Lauren Sullivan / lsullivan@pmtpublishing.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Birmingham: 205-802-6363 Hal Cain / Ext. 111 / hcain@pmtpublishing.com Lee Mills / Ext. 102 / lmills@pmtpublishing.com Mobile: 251-473-6269 Joe Hyland / Ext. 214 / jhyland@pmtpublishing.com DIRECTOR OF INTEGRATED MEDIA & EVENTS Sheila Wardy / swardy@pmtpublishing.com BIRMINGHAM OFFICE 3324 Independence Drive / Homewood, AL 35209 205-802-6363 MOBILE OFFICE 166 Government Street / Mobile, AL 36602 251-473-6269 CORPORATE T.J. Potts, President & CEO Thomas E. McMillan, Partner & Director Business Alabama is published monthly by PMT Publishing Co., Inc. Copyright 2023 by PMT Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission prohibited. Letters to the editor are welcome. Moving? Please note US Postal Service will not forward magazines mailed through its Bulk Mail unit. Four to six weeks before moving, please send old mailing label and new address to Business Alabama, P.O. Box 43, Congers, NY 109209922 or call 1-833-454-5060.
6 | BusinessAlabama.com July 2023
Benchmarks Kronospan plans $350M expansion in Oxford
KRONOSPAN has announced plans for
a $350 million investment in its Oxford site, leading to a major expansion. The Oxford City Council approved tax abatements this spring, paving the way for the expansion. A new oriented strand board manufacturing plant is planned for Kronospan’s 460-acre site, creating 125 new jobs and bringing Kronospan’s total employment in Oxford to about 600 people. Kronospan, with numerous international locations, produces wood panel products and calls its Oxford facility the largest and most vertically integrated wood products site in North America. “We’re very pleased to announce the next project at our Oxford site,” says Hans Obermaier, CEO of Kronospan’s North American companies. “This is not only an opportunity to further expand our portfolio of wood panel products in the United States, but also meets our
The new plant will make oriented strand board.
customers’ growing need for high quality construction materials. Just like the other plants on our site, the OSB plant will be constructed with our sustainability principles in mind and will further enhance our negative carbon footprint status.” Oxford Mayor Alton Craft says Kronospan has been a boon to the Oxford community since beginning operations there in 2008. “This latest investment by Kronospan pushes them over the $1 billion mark, and that speaks for the quality
B U S I N E S S
B R I E F S
WORKING HARD All 12 Alabama metro areas ranked among those with the lowest unemployment rates in the country in April, Gov. Kay Ivey reported. That includes Huntsville and Decatur, tied for fourth place nationally with a 1.4% unemployment rate, the governor said.
BIG BOPPERS Birmingham-based companies Regions Financial and Vulcan Materials are both among the newest Fortune 500 companies. Regions ranked 483rd on the list, and Vulcan ranked 494th.
SILVER SHOVEL HONORS Alabama was honored with a Silver Shovel award from Area Development, recognizing $10.1 billion in capital investment last year. The $2.5 billion Novelis aluminum plant, that broke ground in Baldwin County, took honors as a Manufacturing Project of the Year.
JOB PROSPECTS The FBI operation at Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal could add 500 employees by the end of the year. FBI Assistant Director Johnnie Sharp says the agency has 1,800 employees there now and plans to grow to about 2,300 by the end of 2023. CONTRACTS Austal USA has been awarded a contract to build up to seven ocean surveillance ships for the Navy. The initial contract is
and commitment from this company to our community,” he said. “We are 100% behind them as they continue to expand their capabilities, and we are grateful that they consistently have chosen to do so right here in Oxford.” The expansion is in addition to recent investments made, Kronospan said, including a new water treatment plant and expansion of manufacturing capabilities at its existing particle board plant, as well as the ongoing construction of a new wood yard.
valued at $113.9 million, with a potential value up to $3 billion. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has been awarded a $46.7 million Navy contract to test thermal protection system materials, with work to be performed in Birmingham. Huntsville-based CFD Research Corp. has won a nearly $25 million contract to study the toxicity of hazardous materials for the U.S. Air Force. Huntsvillebased GeneCapture has been awarded a $1 million contract from the U.S. Army to speed up identification of bacterial and viral infections. SPACE SHOT The Biden administration has signaled to the Pentagon and
lawmakers that it wants to reverse the decision to move Space Command headquarters from Colorado to Alabama, according to a report from NBC News. The decision is in part because of concerns about Alabama’s restrictive abortion law, the report said. NEW AT THE TOP J. Michael O’Brien has been named president and CEO of American Cast Iron Pipe Co., succeeding long-time president Van Richey. Walter Schoel III has been named CEO of civil engineering firm Schoel. Taylor Schoel has been named president and Brooks Schoel chief financial officer at the Birmingham-based,
July 2023 BusinessAlabama.com | 7