Leroy and Lynn Lail were the first couple to be honored as Business Leaders of the Year during the Lenoir-Rhyne College Business Council’s 2001 award luncheon Feb. 14 at the Holiday Inn Select in Hickory. More than 200 attended the event to honor the Lails, both 1962 graduates of Lenoir-Rhyne.

Business Council board chair and 1999 recipient Steve Neuville introduced the Lails; and Jerome Bolick, last year’s honoree, made the presentation. Dr. Ryan LaHurd, president of the college, spoke on the topic "Leadership as a Family Value." The event was sponsored by the 98-member,

L-R Business Council. The Council’s board is chaired by 1999 honoree Steve Neuville.

Other past honorees include Thomas W. Reese, Glenn C. Hilton Jr., John Forlines Jr., Ann H. Gaither, Boyd L. George, D. Joe Long, James E. Phillips, Charles M. Snipes, George Blackwelder Jr., Lee George, Wallace Jorgensen, Harley F. Shuford Sr. and Sen. James T. Broyhill.

Leroy Lail’s name is equally well known in the areas of furniture, hospitality and development. Under his direction, Hickory Furniture Mart evolved from a wholesale furniture exhibition facility to the largest retail furniture center of its kind in the nation. Leroy’s major development projects in Hickory include Holiday Inn Select, Hampton Inn, Fairfield Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Marriott Courtyard and the Hickory Metro Convention Center. He has also developed Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites in Conover.

Long active in hospitality industry affairs, Leroy has served local, regional and state organizations. He sits as a board member and vice-chair of Bass Hotels & Resorts Property Owner Association and has served on the board of the North Carolina Hotel and Motel Owner Association. He is a member of the Catawba Valley Hospitality and Tourism Alliance and is on the board of the Hickory Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau. He was appointed by the City of Conover to serve as a member of the Hickory-Conover Tourism Development Authority Board.

Leroy chairs the board of Hickory Furniture Mart and is president of Hickory Mart Shows, Piedmont Center Associates LLC and First Piedmont LLC. He is a former member of the North Carolina Economic and Community Development Board and the North Carolina Entrepreneurial Development Board. Leroy is a former member of the Lenoir-Rhyne College board of trustees, past chair of the Frye Regional Medical Center board of directors, and a member of the Brian Long Foundation board.

Lynn Lail is an owner of Resource Design, Holiday Inn Express of Hickory and Piedmont Designs. While serving as secretary-treasurer of Hickory Furniture Mart, Lynn also serves as management and design consultant for Holiday Inn Select, Hampton Inn, Fairfield Inn and Marriott Courtyard hotels in Hickory, and Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites in Conover. Lynn now chairs the Hickory Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Born into a family business that included the well-known Mull’s Motel and Mull’s Restaurant, Lynn has long been interested in the hospitality and tourism industry. She was responsible for organizing the Catawba Valley Hospitality and Tourism Alliance, whose mission is to promote, protect and preserve the hospitality industry. While heading that organization, she was instrumental in creating the Unifour Employment Alliance to help Work First recipients find employment in the hospitality and restaurant fields.

Lynn is a former member of the Hickory-Conover Tourism Development Authority board. She is a member and past chair of the Catawba County First Union Advisory Board and has served on boards of the Lutheran Services for the Aging Foundation and the United Way of Catawba County. She currently serves on the North Carolina Community College Foundation board and was a governor’s appointee to the North Carolina Museum of Art board of trustees. Lynn is former vice-chair of the Hickory Museum of Art board. She is a former member of the Catawba County Council for the Arts board and the Catawba Valley Community Foundation board. Appointed by the County Commissioners to a six-year term on the Catawba County Social Services board, she chaired the board for two years and now serves on the Public Health and Child Advocacy boards.

During Lynn’s tenure as the first female chair of the YMCA of Catawba Valley, the Y successfully completed a $6.5 million capital campaign to update the county’s existing YMCA and to establish a second branch. She now serves as secretary and member of the executive committee for The Ridge, a regional YMCA board. Lynn has been awarded the Distinguished Leadership Service Award given by YMCA of the USA/South Field. Her other honors include the Catawba Valley Area Girl Scouts’ Women of Distinction Award and the Adrian L. Shuford Service Award. She also serves on the Hospitality and Tourism Management Advisory Board for Appalachian State University’s John Walker School of Business.

Both Leroy and Lynn Lail have served on the Catawba County Chamber of Commerce board of directors. As strong proponents of both family and business, Leroy and Lynn Lail recognize the importance of quality of life to the community, and both have been active in cultural, civic and humanitarian causes. They are members of Beth Eden Evangelical Lutheran Church.

In nearly four decades as partners in both marriage and business, the Lails’ greatest accomplishment has been the building of a strong family that adheres to the best traditions of small businesses. Active in the family business are their children, Scott Lail, Brad Lail and Laura Lail Treadaway, as well as their son-in-law Jamie Treadaway. Scott is a member of the Steering Committee of Lenoir-Rhyne College’s Visiting Writers Series. Jamie is a 1992 graduate of Lenoir-Rhyne College and serves as a class agent. Leroy and Lynn Lail’s four grandchildren await their turns to participate in the family businesses.