HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec., 13, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) - S. Dale High, Chairman of the Board and President of High Industries, Inc. was elected to serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry during the organization's annual board meeting.
"We need to take major steps together to create a vibrant growing economy," said High during his acceptance remarks. "We cannot afford to just drift any more. We cannot accept just small incremental changes. These times call for bold leadership to shift the odds in our favor - in favor of all of us who are residents of Pennsylvania. We need a vision for what Pennsylvania can be."
High begins a two-year term and replaces outgoing Chairman C. Alan Walker, Chief Executive Officer, Bradford Energy, Inc. "Alan Walker has been a leader of courage -- willing to take risks at crucial times, such as rejecting compromise in the heat of important political battles and daring to think outside the lines." said High. "Through Alan's leadership we have set several new precedents here, not the least of which is, weighing in on judicial races so that we now influence all three branches of our government here in Pennsylvania."
A member of the Chamber's board of directors since 1991, High joined his family-owned business in 1963 after graduating from Elizabethtown College. Under High's leadership, the business has grown from a welding repair shop with just a handful of co-workers to a nationally respected 11-division real estate and construction, heavy manufacturing and business services conglomerate employing 2,400 "co-workers" in companies such as High Steel Structures, Inc., High Concrete Structures, Inc., High Real Estate Group, High Steel Service Center, Inc., High Hotels, Ltd., High Food Services, Ltd., High Employee Services, Ltd. and High Safety Consulting Services, Ltd.
Throughout the years, Mr. High has remained active in a variety of associations and organizations and has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Pennsylvania Chamber's 1999 Business Leader of the Year Award, 1999 National Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Real Estate/Construction category and the 2000 Centennial Medal from Elizabethtown College. High Industries has been recognized recently as Family Business of the Year by the Wharton Enterprising Family Initiative and as one of the 100 Best Places to Work in Pennsylvania.
"The High organization began with a strong sense of quality and integrity," said PA Chamber President Floyd Warner. "Continuing and expanding on those traditions of high ethics, combined with his steadfast commitment to transforming the Commonwealth into a better place to live and work, makes Dale High an outstanding choice for the Pennsylvania Chamber's next Chairman of the Board."
High's reasons for taking on the leadership challenges as Chairman of the state's largest broad-based business association and encouraging other Commonwealth businesses to participate are simple. "The good of the Commonwealth is at stake. The issues we're facing are bigger than any one business or any one administration," said High. "Now is the time to get on board and play a part in charting the course of Pennsylvania's economic future."
With more than 10,000 members representing every county in the Commonwealth, the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry is the state's largest broad-based business association and the fastest-growing state chamber in the United States.