Pub. 2 2019-2020 Issue 2

13 H al LaBelle grew up in Centerville, Utah, and graduated from Davis High, where hewas active in student government and athletics. Hewent to Utah State on a baseball scholarship and grad- uated in 1960 after majoring in industrial management and minoring in econom- ics. Hal also received an MBA from LaSalle University Extension in 1970. Hal’s career took an unexpected turn almost immediatelyafter graduation in1960. Hehad startedworking for a construction company. At the time, his dad was a chemical engi- neer who was working as the area lube oil manager for Phillips Petroleum Company. His dad and a co-worker decided to be part- ners and start UtahEmulsions Company.The partner passed away six months after they organized the new company. At that time, Hal’s father asked him to join him in the new venture. He happily agreed. Hal gives his dad credit for teaching him, by exampleandexpectation,tohaveagreatwork ethic. He says his dad also had a positive atti- tude.Thoseattributeshadabigimpactasthey startedUtahEmulsionsfromgroundzero,and thesameattributeshelpedthecompanycon- tinuetobesuccessfulformanyyearsafterthat. Hal is proud tobehis father’s sonbecausehis dad was genuine and was always the same person regardless of who he was with. His dad’s best advice—and something Hal has heededhis entire career—was to“make rec- ommendations that are best for your clients, not you; in the end, youwill benefit because your clients will always trust you.” Hal workedwithhis dad for 15 years, until his passing, far too young, at the age of 58. Hal continued to work as president of the busi- ness for another 10 years until the decision was made to sell Utah Emulsions to Koch Asphalt Co., a division of Koch Industries headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Hal stayed on with Koch as sales manager of the Western Region through 1998. After that, he joined Asphalt Systems, Inc. as an intermountain marketing manager. He is currently a senior advisor on a part- time basis. During his entire career, Hal has had the opportunity of working with state DOTs, counties, cities and contractors and has supplied them with liquid asphalt prod- ucts for their road maintenance projects. He has loved his work and appreciated the close friendships of co-workers and clients. Hal particularly admires two men who influenced and taught him: • Wally Stephenson, Utah DOT engineer • Gene Hansen, U.S. Forest Service engineer Hal is also glad to have worked together with Phil Manning for over 40 years. Phil is currently the general manager for the ASI Salt Lake facility, and he was Hal’s plant and operations manager for Utah Emulsions and Koch. Hal enjoys working with other co-work- ers and clients as well. He has enjoyed working with state, county, city and con- tractor individuals and has learned from many of them. He has always respected and admired their professionalism. In addition to being awarded his engi- neering degree in 1960, Hal also married his college sweetheart. They have four children: Lisa, Rick, Curt and Mark. His family has been a great support for him. His sons Rick and Mark have worked with him at ASI for more than 15 years, and he has enjoyed working alongside them and learning from them. Both work with ASI’s road division, Rick out of Boise, Idaho, and Mark out of Salt Lake. Hal feels very fortunate to have had excel- lent co-workers and to work with friends and family. For Hal, work is what you do to provide for your families, but he says the relationships he has developed with co-workers and customers have had an important positive effect on his work expe- rience and results. Being successful depends on working together effectively. Hal sees associations like UAPA as a way to help members with that goal. UAPA also allows members to foster good relationships with suppliers and contractors. Hal has some good advice for those new to the industry: 1. Become aware of how important asphalt is to our way of life. Asphalt matters because the country as a whole and individual people all need good roads. 2. Focus on good relationships with cus- tomers and colleagues. 3. Be honest. Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer people who consider a handshake to be totally trustworthy. Do what you say you are going to do; that, in and of itself, will put you firmly on the path toward success. 3 HAL LABELLE, ASPHALT SYSTEMS, INC. HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE: