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Carrie Blewitt (703) 744-7816

Hall Financial Group Chairman Craig Hall Honored by the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans

Five Texas High School Scholars also Recognized during 60th Anniversary Celebration

Washington, DC – (February 27, 2007) – The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans announced that Craig Hall, chairman and founder of Hall Financial Group, will be presented with the Horatio Alger Award, and inducted as a lifetime member of the Association at its 60th anniversary celebration in Washington, D.C. in April.
  
The Association is equally proud to announce five student scholars from Texas will join Hall in Washington this spring and will be honored as Horatio Alger National Scholars.  Horatio Alger scholarship recipients are students who have excelled in education and have overcome adversity. This year’s scholarship recipients from Texas include: Stacy R. Hammer from Tuscola, Kami N. Puckett from Tyler, Meghan M. Ridley from San Antonio, Ederick T. Rodriguez from Azle, and Antoine T. Stoval from Houston. 

"The 60th anniversary is a time to reflect on six decades of exceptional American achievements, and we look forward to celebrating the successes of the outstanding individuals who will be inducted as Members, and the National Scholars who represent our nation’s most ambitious youth," said Horatio Alger Association President and CEO and ARAMARK Corporation Chairman and CEO, Joseph Neubauer.

The 60th Annual Horatio Alger Awards events will take place in Washington, D.C. on April 12-14, 2007 to honor and induct the Horatio Alger Award recipients. During the events, the Horatio Alger Award winners will meet with 105 high school seniors from around the nation who were selected to receive Horatio Alger National Scholarships, each valued at $20,000. The total amount of college scholarships awarded for 2007 is more than $12 million – an Association milestone.

The events provide an opportunity for some of the nation’s most impressive and determined young people to learn firsthand about the philosophies and experiences that helped the 2007 Horatio Alger Award recipients surmount significant obstacles to achieve successful lives.

The other new members being inducted in April are Craig R. Barrett, chairman of the board for Intel Corporation; Thomas “Tom” J. Brokaw, former anchor and managing editor of the NBC Nightly News; Jenny and Sid Craig, co-founders of Jenny Craig International; Clarence Otis, Jr., chairman and CEO of Darden Restaurants; Richard M. Rosenberg, chairman and CEO of Bank of America (retired); David M. Rubenstein, co-founder and managing director of The Carlyle Group; Howard Schultz, chairman of Starbucks Coffee Company; Roger T. Staubach, former Dallas Cowboy and chairman and CEO of The Staubach Company; and Chris Thomas Sullivan, founder and chairman of OSI Restaurant Partners, Inc.

In preparation for the spring awards, Hall recently had a few words of advice for the high school recipients of the Horatio Alger Scholarship. He said: “Things don't always work perfectly.  They won't always be everything you expect.  But if you stay with it and you're passionate and you lead from your heart, you will have a tremendous future and tremendous opportunities.  And, certainly, being part of the Horatio Alger experience gives you a great leg up in that direction.  The rest of it, as with everything else, is really up to how much you make of it.”

Craig Hall was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. At an early age he was diagnosed with epilepsy. Despite his diagnosis, he showed a natural inclination for business and entrepreneurship. At just 10 years old, he started a business when he purchased soft drink syrup from a pharmacy that was going out of business. He started lawn-mowing businesses and a coffee service and worked as a dishwasher, night watchman and road crew hand.

By age 17, he had saved $4,000, which he used as a down payment to buy a college rooming house at the University of Michigan. He left college in his junior year to focus on his business and by age 21 he owned more than 20 buildings; was one of the largest university landlords and had become a millionaire.

Hall became chairman of Hall Financial Group, a successor to the company he started at age 18. His holdings have included five million square feet of Class A commercial office space; more than 100,000 apartments, banks, oil and gas interests; and part of the Dallas Cowboys.

However, the mid-1980s recession threatened the collapse of his business. In response, Hall liquidated almost all of his non-real estate holdings and used those funds to support mortgage modification agreements with lenders. His company bounced back and now enjoys a net worth of more than $750 million, including a software company, thousands of apartments, two wineries, two hotels in Paris and more. He is also the largest non-institutional shareholder of American Airlines.

He is an avid philanthropist, with five percent of his company’s net profits donated to charities annually and his employees given 40 hours per year to volunteer. Through a family foundation, he and his wife, Kathryn, have donated millions of dollars to a wide range of charities. He is also a major art collector and the author of five books including “The Responsible Entrepreneur.”

About The Horatio Alger Association

Founded in 1947, the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans continues to fulfill its mission of honoring the achievements of outstanding individuals in our society who have succeeded in spite of adversity and of encouraging young people to pursue their dreams through higher education. Among the Association’s 300 members are well-known Americans including the noted poet Maya Angelou, author and broadcaster Lou Dobbs, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and television personality Oprah Winfrey.
The Horatio Alger Association offers three annual scholarship programs: the National Scholarship Program for high school seniors, various state scholarship programs and the Horatio Alger Military Veterans Scholarship Program for U.S. veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts. Award winners receive financial aid counseling and internship placement assistance.
For more information about the scholarships or to find out more about the 2007 Washington events, please call (703) 684-9444 or visit www.horatioalger.org

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