Jimmy Rane, founder and CEO of Great Southern Wood Preserving Inc., spoke at the Newcomen Society of Alabama dinner last week honoring the company’s nearly 50 years in business.
The Newcomen Society of Alabama honored Great Southern Wood Preserving Inc., based in Abbeville, Ala., and its founder and CEO Jimmy Rane last week in Birmingham at the Society’s annual awards ceremony. Founded in 1937, the Newcomen Society of Alabama was a chapter of the prestigious Newcomen Society of the United States, which celebrates free enterprise and is modeled after the Newcomen Society of England.
“It is an honor to be recognized this year by the Newcomen Society of Alabama and to join the ranks of some of the strongest, most successful companies in the state who have also been honored,” Rane said. “When the company was founded nearly 50 years ago, there was no way to tell how successful it would become. We owe our success to hard work, a great product and associates that feel more like family than coworkers, and I am very appreciative that the Newcomen Society of Alabama has chosen us this year to celebrate.”
Great Southern Wood, a manufacturer and distributor of lumber products, was founded in 1970 and has grown from its original Abbeville facility to 14 facilities across the country, spanning from Alabama to Texas to Pennsylvania. The company, best known for its YellaWood brand pressure treated pine, services 28 states and the District of Columbia. Employing over 1,200, it is today one of the largest lumber producers in the Southeastern United States and in the nation.
“Jimmy Rane and Great Southern Wood are models of how to run a business successfully and with both longevity and people in mind,” said Raymond Harbert, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Newcomen Society of Alabama. “As the company prepares to celebrate half a century in business next year, it was the perfect time to celebrate its many achievements, as it has grown from a small-town Alabama business to one of the country’s most thriving lumber companies. We celebrate the accomplishments of both Great Southern Wood and its dynamic leader, Jimmy Rane, and wish the company another 50 years of success.”
Rane’s address to the Newcomen Society of Alabama will be published and distributed to members, libraries, colleges and universities.
Recent honorees include the University of Alabama at Birmingham and its President, Dr. Ray Watts, in 2018; Coca-Cola Bottling Co. UNITED Chairman Claude Nielsen and President and CEO John Sherman in 2017; Stan Starnes, Chairman and CEO of ProAssurance Corp., in 2016; Raymond Harbert, Chairman and CEO of Harbert Management Corp., in 2015; and M. Miller Gorrie, Chairman, and James Gorrie, President and CEO of Brasfield & Gorrie LLC, in 2014.
About Newcomen Society of Alabama
The Newcomen Society of Alabama is committed to preserving, protecting and promoting the American free enterprise system by honoring organizations and institutions that demonstrate outstanding growth, service, innovation and achievement. As sole user and guardian of the Newcomen name, the Society also stands ready to cooperate with other states to revive or create additional Newcomen Societies in the United States to support those same goals. For more information, visit www.newcomenal.com.