Miles, Moore, Thompson inducted into Owensboro Enterprise Corridor of Fame

The late Billy Joe Miles (1939-2018), Don Penn Moore III, and Tommy Thompson had been inducted Thursday into the Owensboro Enterprise Corridor of Fame.

People are nominated for his or her excellent civic and enterprise contributions to the Owensboro space and acknowledged for his or her enterprise excellence, entrepreneurial spirit, brave pondering and motion, inspiring management, neighborhood impression, and repair as a job mannequin. 

The Corridor of Fame is run by Junior Achievement of West Kentucky, a company “devoted to giving younger folks the data and abilities they should personal their financial success, plan for his or her futures, and make sensible educational and financial decisions,” in line with their web site.

Billy Joe Miles (1939-2018): Miles Enterprises

Suzanne Miles mentioned that her father could be extremely proud and honored to be inducted. 

“For our mother, our household was her entire world. The entire world was my dad’s household,” she mentioned. “I do know he could be very humbled by this recognition. All of the teachings of Junior Achievement are issues that our father taught us in enterprise.

When Billy Joe Mile was introduced as an inductee in November, his eldest daughter, mentioned “He launched himself as a farmer, and that’s the place he began and that’s what he did. He developed plenty of companies in each space that we would have liked on the farm, not only for us, however for everyone that we had been concerned with.”

Quick biography

Billy Joe Miles grew up residing together with his mother and father and paternal grandparents on their farm. He additionally spent a variety of time when he was younger on his nice grandparents dairy farm on the Ohio River. As he bought older they usually offered the dairy enterprise to Velvet Milk, he spent extra of his time working together with his father and grandfather on the grain farm.

One in all Miles’ first purchases was an Ohio County farm in 1962. Within the Nineteen Seventies gas scarcity, he entered the majority gas enterprise then expanded to the comfort retailer enterprise, after which the Categorical Lube enterprise.

Miles turned his household’s farm provide enterprise into one in every of Kentucky’s largest agribusinesses and owned a 40,000-acre ranch in Bolivia. Miles was president at Miles Farm Provide Inc. and Marathon Fuels, and proprietor of Miles LP Fuel Inc. He additionally served as president of a number of organizations and companies, and was additionally chairman of the board of Owensboro Well being Regional Hospital because it made its transformation from Owensboro Mercy Hospital to what it’s immediately.

Don Penn Moore III: Moore Automotive 

Moore, who’s garnered quite a few awards from different organizations through the years, mentioned this honor was particular.

“When folks you’re round on a regular basis honor you, there’s no larger honor. When someone that you just don’t know properly honors you since you did one thing, they actually don’t know who you’re. You’re getting honored for a special purpose. That is an honor as a result of it’s with the folks I like. So it’s a reasonably nice honor.”

Quick biography

Don Penn Moore III grew up on the household farm in Maceo together with siblings Cynthia, David, and John. They raised tobacco, hay, cattle, and row cropped over 500 acres. When not engaged on the farm, he was washing vehicles or promoting vehicles on the dealership, roofing, or cleansing swimming pools.

After his school commencement, Moore was made basic supervisor of the dealership. In 1986, in an effort to show a 23-second business right into a 30-second one, the phrases “It’s Sizzling Don” and “You’ll be able to say that once more” had been added to a “Sizzlin’ Summer season Financial savings” business. Later, “It’s Sizzling Don” was highlighted nationally as essentially the most acknowledged regional tagline of any business within the nation.

Immediately, Moore is a accomplice together with his household in six dealerships and 12 franchises (Chevrolet, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai, Toyota, Buick, GMC, Ford Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram). The Moore Automotive group is a five-generation household enterprise that has grown from $17,880 in annual gross sales to over $215M in annual gross sales. Don Penn has a restricted position with the corporate nowadays. His brother John runs it day-to-day, whereas their different brother David splits time between the automobile dealership and his primary ardour of farming. 

Tommy Thompson: Thompson Properties

Thompson mentioned that he is aware of inductees are chosen calmly, and he’s grateful to be among the many people who’ve been honored for his or her position within the native enterprise scene.

“It’s extremely humbling and an honor to be within the shadow of a few of these laureates which have preceded me and a lot that they’ve achieved to advance this neighborhood,” Thompson mentioned. “It’s simply actually particular. It’s sort of a surreal feeling and alternative, and I’m very humbled by it.”

Quick biography

Thompson labored on housing job websites and as a paper boy as a young person. After attending graduate faculty at Indiana College for an MBA diploma, he moved to Orlando, the place he labored for an actual property improvement agency for two years. 

Following this work in Florida, he then moved again to Owensboro and joined the household residence constructing enterprise. Throughout his tenure as CEO of Thompson Properties Inc., his agency has offered hundreds of housing/residing alternatives for its residents. He additionally established a property administration firm that immediately owns and manages over 2,000 house items in Kentucky and Indiana.

Whereas working within the residence constructing business he grew to become energetic in his native, state, and nationwide residence constructing associations. He has been inducted into the Kentucky and Nationwide Housing Corridor of Fames. One in all his most proud accomplishments was his firm being chosen to construct a house in 7 days for a household as a part of the hit ABC TV present Excessive Makeover: Residence Version.

Exterior of the homebuilding business, he was elected to the Kentucky Home of Representatives, the place he served for 14 years.