People News

DALLAS--David Wiessman, chairman of Dallas-based Alon USA and president of the Alon Group in Israel, has been named "Israel's Man of the Year" for 2005.

"The award I received today is an award for the entire Alon Group," Weissman said. "When people ask me how we grew from a single service station and 10 employees to a $4 billion company and more than 10,000 employees in the course of a decade, I tell them "ten years of well-thought moves."

The honor was awarded to Wiessman at the annual Israel Business Conference, organized by Globes , Israel's leading economic daily. In selecting Wiessman as "Man of the Year," the selection panel cited a number of substantial qualifications such as, the company’s major financial transactions, their position as controlling shareholder of the Blue Square retail group and their acquisition of Sonol from Granit-HaCarmel.

Wiessman, who began his career in the oil business, started as a service person in the family-owned gas station. Today, Wiessman is one of the major value generators for the investors in his companies.

The "Man of the Year" award is given every year at the closing ceremony of the Israel Business Conference following three days of deliberations.

In other People News , Ruel and Suel Houchens, retired executives from Houchens Industries, were inducted into the Kentucky Grocers Hall of Fame during a luncheon held on Dec. 7 in Bowling Green, KY.

Ruel and Suel started their careers with Houchens in 1942 and continued the success of the company their uncle, Ervin Houchens, started in 1917. The brothers started working for the company at 13. Except for Ruel's military service during WWII, both spent their entire careers working to build upon the foundation Ervin had started.

During his acceptance remarks, Suel Houchens told the 175 attendees that the employees deserved most of credit for the success of the company. According to Suel, the successful partnership with his brother was based upon Ruel's ability to develop goals and strategies combined with Suel's hard work in getting company directives implemented.

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