A Tuscaloosan, a former Crimson Tide Football star and the father of Alabama’s current Lt. Gov. are among the seven new members to be inducted into the Alabama Business Hall of Fame in November.
The inductees are Mr. William (Billy) P. Ainsworth, Guntersville; Mr. J. Frank Barefield Jr., Vestavia Hills; Ms. Bobby A. Bradley, Athens; Mr. John F. Croyle, Rainbow City; the late Mr. Corbin Day, Birmingham; Mr. James Thomas (Tom) Hill, Birmingham.; Mr. Scott Phelps, Tuscaloosa.
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Meet the 2026 Class:
- Williams (Billy) P. Ainsworth retired as group president of energy and transportation for Caterpillar in 2020 but spent the majority of his career as president and CEO of Steel Processing Services, and later Progress Rail Services.Ainsworth founded Steel Processing Services in 1983 and expanded as a diversified recycling and railroad services company with operations in nine states. In 1993, Florida Progress, the West Coast Utility in Florida, acquired Steel Processing and two affiliated companies and changed the name to Progress Rail Services, turning the firm into one of North America’s largest suppliers of products and services to the railroad industry. Ainsworth was retained as president and CEO of the new firm through 2019 through its acquisition by Caterpillar. In 2006, he was named vice president at Caterpillar, over time assuming escalating leadership roles. At the time of his retirement at the end of 2020, Ainsworth was group president of Caterpillar’s Energy & Transportation segment.Ainsworth, who graduated from Auburn University in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in marketing, was appointed to the Auburn University Board of Trustees by Gov. Kay Ivey and confirmed by the Alabama Senate in 2023 to represent the 5th District. His first term expires on March 21, 2030.
He also served on the Dean’s Advisory Board at Auburn’s Harbert College of Business, is a member of the McCrary Institute Advisory Board, and serves on the Board of Directors at Trinity Industries as chair of the Human Resources Committee and as a member of the Finance and Risk Committee and Corporate Governance and Directors Nominating Committee.
Ainsworth and his wife Sharon live in Guntersville, Alabama, and have three children and 10 grandchildren. His son is Alabama Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth.
- Frank Barefield Jr. is president of Abbey Residential, LLC, which he co-founded in 1984 and now has assets of $2.5 billion. He has developed and manages over 12,000 units of multifamily properties located throughout the South. His prior experience includes five years as a Certified Public Accountant with an international public accounting firm and eight years in investment banking at two Birmingham banks, where he earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.Barefield graduated from The University of Alabama in 1968 with a degree in finance and is a graduate of the University of South Alabama Banking School. He received his MBA from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1978.Barefield has invested heavily in college education. The University of Alabama J. Frank Barefield Jr. College of Arts & Sciences was named in recognition of his $35 million gift. He contributed $10 million to UAB and the J. Frank Barefield Jr. Department of Criminal Justice was named in his honor. UAB also named its entrepreneurship program in the Collat School of Business the J. Frank Barefield, Jr. Entrepreneurship Program.
Barefield served as a Captain in the United States Air Force and won numerous Amateur Athletic Union powerlifting awards, including a silver medal in the 1974 World Championships…