John Hall (American businessman)

Hall was born in Dallas, Texas, the son of John "Big John" Hall and Agnes Sanders Hall.[3] He has one brother, James E. Hall, former Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.[6]

By 1935, the family had returned to Tennessee, eventually settling in Knoxville, where the young John attended public schools.[3] He graduated Knoxville High School in 1951.[3] A strong football player, he earned scholarship offers from both Vanderbilt University and the University of Tennessee, among other institutions.[3] He chose Vanderbilt, from which his father had graduated.[3] By his senior year he was co-captain of the football team.[7] He earned a degree in chemical engineering from Vanderbilt in 1955.[2]

Hall was the first Vanderbilt player ever named an Academic All-American and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in chemical engineering in 1955.[8][7] He was also inducted into the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society and the Omicron Delta Kappa national leadership honor society.[9]

After graduating from Vanderbilt, where he had participated in the Reserve Officer Training Corps, Hall served as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Hall had joined Eastern States Standard Oil (Esso, now Exxon) as a chemical engineer in 1955.[3] In 1957, he accepted a position with Ashland as assistant to the coordinator of research and development.[3][1]

Hall became executive assistant to company Founder and Chairman Paul Blazer in 1965.[3] By 1966, Hall had risen to general refinery superintendent, and later that year, at 33, he was elected the company's youngest-ever vice president.[10] Two years later, he was elected to Ashland Oil's board of directors.[11] By 1971, the company had moved into specialty chemicals production and chemical distribution, and Hall was named president of the Ashland Chemical Company.[12] He was elected executive vice president of Ashland Oil, Inc. in 1974,[13] vice chairman of the board and chief operating office in 1979,[14] and chairman and chief executive officer in September, 1981.[15]

By that time, Ashland had developed a diverse business portfolio which included petroleum refining and marketing; chemicals; crude oil exploration and production; coal mining; road construction, heavy equipment manufacturing, and insurance marketing.[16] Most of that portfolio was related to Ashland's core refining and marketing business. Seeking other revenue streams, Hall's predecessor, Orin E. Atkins, had led the company to acquire U.S. Filter Corporation (heavy manufacturing) and Integon Insurance in 1980. The strategy had not worked: The acquisitions were too far afield from the company's knowledge base and expertise, and the U.S. economy entered a downturn that hurt both the insurance and heavy equipment industries.[16][17] By 1984 it was clear that action was needed, so Hall introduced a new strategy focusing on core businesses and moved to divest both U.S. Filter and Integon.[17] The divestiture resulted in a one-time, $270 million after-tax loss for the company in fiscal year 1984.[18] But analysts praised Hall's back-to-basics strategy,[19] and The Gallagher Report named Hall one of its 10 best corporate chief executives for 1985.[16] Hist strategic gamble paid off: Ashland earned $146.7 million in net income from 1985.[20]

In 1999, Hall received the Petrochemical Heritage Award.[21]