Four leaders named to West Virginia Business Hall of Fame

	News and Information Services News Release




Back to Newsroom	Wednesday August 20, 2003

Four leaders named to West Virginia Business Hall of Fame

CONTACT: Maria Yester, College of Business & Economics, 304-293-7963

Four industry leaders with strong ties to West Virginia have been named to the 2003 West Virginia Business Hall of Fame.

They will be inducted during a public ceremony at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, in the Mylan Professional Education Center on the first floor of the West Virginia University College of Business and Economics. The college sponsors the event.

Those being honored as top business leaders are:

● Hank Barnette, chairman emeritus of Bethlehem Steel Corp.
● Glen Hiner, retired chairman and chief executive officer of Owens Corning
● Ray Lane, general partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and former president and chief operating officer of Oracle Corp.
● L. Newton Thomas Jr., senior vice president of ITT Carbon Industries Inc.

This is the third group to be inducted into the West Virginia Business Hall of Fame. This celebration of business is a tribute to those who have demonstrated accomplishments in the world of business and who provide models for entrepreneurs and business people of the future. A committee sought nominations throughout the summer and chose inductees from among 57 nominations.

“Looking at the names in this year’s group makes me prouder than ever to share a commitment to West Virginia,” said College of Business and Economics Dean Jay Coats. “The four we are honoring exemplify the kind of accomplishment, leadership and community service we hope our students emulate.”

Those inducted into the Hall of Fame must have connections to West Virginia, either by birth, residence, education or business presence. They must also have established a record of distinction in their field and industry in the categories of national/international businesses, state-based enterprises or entrepreneurial and family businesses.

The Hall of Fame was established in 2001 as part of the College of Business and Economics’ 50th anniversary celebration to publicly recognize extraordinary business leaders and to establish a record of their achievement. For more information, visit http://www.be.wvu.edu/fame.

Biographies of this year’s inductees follow.

West Virginians can be proud of the distinguished career of Hank Barnette, a St. Albans native. After graduating with high honors from WVU in 1956, he completed a Fulbright Scholarship in international law, served as a Counterintelligence Corps officer in Germany, earned degrees from Yale Law School and Harvard University Business School, and began a long, successful career at Bethlehem Steel Corp.

Now chairman emeritus of Bethlehem Steel, Barnette started there as a lawyer in 1967, became general counsel, and retired as chairman and CEO in 2000. His sound advice, fairness and honesty made him a sought-after adviser to U.S. presidents, governors and industry leaders. He served on the President’s Trade Advisory Committee under Presidents Bush and Clinton, and held leadership positions in the American Iron and Steel Institute, International Iron and Steel Institute, Pennsylvania Business Roundtable, Association of General Counsel and American Society of Corporate Secretaries, among many others.

While at WVU, Barnette served as student body president, was a member of Mountain, Sphinx, Phi Beta Kappa and Beta Theta Pi, and cadet colonel in ROTC. He was inducted into the WVU Academy of Distinguished Alumni, served on numerous WVU advisory boards, including the WVU Board of Advisors and the WVU Foundation (where he is a director and former chairman), and WVU Board of Governors, where he is now chairman.

In 2000 he became Of Counsel to Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, one of the world’s preeminent law firms and is the Comenius Professor and Executive in Residence at Moravian College. He is a director of MetLife, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., the National Center for State Courts, Pennsylvania Parks and Forest Foundation and National Museum of Industrial History. He is also vice chairman of the Yale Law School Fund Board and a trustee of Lehigh University. He lives in Bethlehem, Pa.

Glen H. Hiner’s leadership is remarkable in terms of achievement, integrity, vision and loyalty to his home state. Son of a West Virginia miner, Hiner earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from WVU and began a 35-year tenure with General Electric. During the 13 years Hiner led GE Plastics, the division grew from less than $1 billion to $5 billion in annual sales. In his decade of leadership at Owens Corning as chairman and CEO, he established the firm’s global vision based on customer satisfaction and shareholder value. At Hiner’s retirement in 2002, Owens Corning sales had increased by $2 million, with operations in more than 30 countries on six continents.

The Society of the Plastics Industry gave Hiner its highest honor, the Dan Fox Lifetime Achievement Award. He received an honorary doctorate in science from WVU, was inducted into the WVU Academy of Distinguished Alumni and received an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.

Hiner’s leadership is valued on the board of directors for several large corporations, and he also serves as an adviser to a number of organizations, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Hiner publicly acknowledges the West Virginia culture as the source of his high values and achievement, and this loyalty is backed by action. Besides the WVU Foundation Board of Advisors, he has served on several WVU College of Engineering and Mineral Resources advisory committees, and in 2002 he became Executive-in-Residence for the College of Business and Economics. He has residences in Charleston, W.Va., and Carmel, Calif.

Raymond J. Lane has decades of experience as a visionary leader in high technology. From his rise through the ranks at IBM, Electronic Data Systems Corp., Booz-Allen & Hamilton and Oracle Corp. to his position as general partner at the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Lane demonstrated a talent for leadership, a reputation for success, an unshakeable entrepreneurial spirit and a steadfast commitment to civic leadership.

During Lane’s leadership as president and COO of Oracle, sales increased from $1 billion to more than $10 billion. Upon joining Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 2000, Lane dedicated himself to helping established businesses take advantage of new strategic Internet opportunities and aiding entrepreneurs with organizational development, team building and sales management. Lane was recognized many times for leadership in the information industry, including ComputerWorld’s Smithsonian top award in 2000 for lifetime achievement in the industry.

Lane, a Moon Township, Pa., native, graduated from WVU in 1968 with a degree in mathematics. He was elected to the WVU Academy of Distinguished Alumni and holds honorary doctorates from WVU and Golden Gate University in California.

Lane has taken a personal interest in the economic and technological development of West Virginia both through his business affiliations and support of WVU. He made WVU a charter member of the Oracle Academic Initiative, he served on the WVU Foundation board of directors, and he served as National Campaign Committee Chairman for the WVU Building Greatness Campaign. In recognition of his and his wife’s extraordinary support of the college and the university, the WVU College of Engineering and Mineral Resources dedicated the Ray and Stephanie Lane Department of Computer Science and Engineering to them. Beyond the state’s borders, he is a trustee at Carnegie Mellon University and serves as its national campaign chair. He is also vice chairman of the International Board of the Special Olympics. He resides in Menlo Park, Calif.

L. Newton Thomas Jr. developed ITT Carbon Industries Inc., a family-owned business, into one of West Virginia’s most successful coal operations, but his record of public service is what truly distinguishes him. He has been one of the pioneers working to create a vibrant economy and society in the Kanawha Valley. If you see an inspiring new program or project in the Valley, it is likely to have his stamp on it.

With a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Cornell University, Thomas rose through the management of ITT Carbon from mine manager to senior vice president. He served his industry in numerous leadership positions, including president of the West Virginia Mining Institute, Kanawha Coal Operators Association and Southern Coal Producers Association and director of the Kentucky Coal Operators Association and Bituminous Coal Operators Association.

His commitment to public service is extraordinary. He served as president and director of the United Way of Kanawha Valley, Education Alliance of West Virginia and Buckskin Council of Boy Scouts of America. He was chairman of the Air Pollution Control Commission and Edgewood Summit Inc., the state’s first nonprofit continuous care retirement community. He was chairman and trustee of the Charleston Area Medical Center Foundation; director of the Federal Reserve Board–Fifth District in Richmond, Va.; vice president and director of the West Virginia Symphony and President’s Advisory Board for WVU’s Institute of Technology. He serves as chairman and director of the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences of West Virginia Inc.; president of the Daywood Foundation; the Board of Directors of Business and Industrial Development Corp. (chairman for seven years); trustee of the Jacobson Foundation and the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation; advisory board member of the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation; director of the West Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, West Virginia Council for Community and Economic Development and West Virginia Public Port Authority.

Thomas’ leadership and commitment has won him such recognition as the Lou McManus Award from the Education Alliance of West Virginia and West Virginia Secretary of State’s award for outstanding service. He lives in Charleston.