3 more named to JA Business Hall of Fame

By Jamie Jones

In a town as small as Dalton, with an industry as relatively young as carpet, leaders in business and the civic community are bound to share common experiences.

The three-member class of the 2009 Junior Achievement Northwest Georgia Business Hall of Fame proves that. Jim Jolly, former CEO of J&J; Industries; Norris Little, a former executive at Shaw Industries; and Pleas Smith, co-founder of Smith & Green Construction, join the 12 current members of the hall of fame, all of whom are connected through the carpet industry or community endeavors.

“They’re a great group,” Judy Norris, director of the local Junior Achievement chapter, said of the 2009 class. “They’re a quiet, humble group.”

The fourth annual Junior Achievement Northwest Georgia Business Hall of Fame banquet will be Tuesday, May 5, at 6:30 p.m. at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center. It is a black tie optional event. Tables of 10 are $1,000 while individual seats are $125. The title sponsor is J+J/Invision and business hall of fame member Jack Bandy is the reception sponsor. The event is one of the biggest fundraisers of the year for the organization, Norris said.

Junior Achievement volunteers teach students from elementary school to high school how economics and finance apply to the real world. About 250 volunteers teach some 8,000 students in the eight-county Northwest Georgia district, which includes 39 schools in Murray and Whitfield counties. The nonprofit organization has been in Dalton since 1964.

A committee of community members and volunteers with Junior Achievement selected the newest inductees. They were selected based on their business and community contributions.

News of his selection to the hall of fame caught Jolly by surprise.

“I appreciate the thought, but you feel like there’s a lot of other folks here that deserve it. I thought they were scraping the barrel pretty low to come up in my direction,” Jolly said with a laugh. “My recollection of the folks of those who have been honored in the past few years have been folks I really look up to and feel like they are great honorees.”

Here are profiles of the 2009 class:



Jim Jolly

As a native Daltonian and a 1959 graduate of Dalton High School, Jolly has kept his hometown on his mind.

After receiving a bachelor of science degree in textiles from Georgia Tech in 1964, Jolly began his career as a technical service representative with Monsanto and worked there until 1965 when he began a two-year stint with the U.S. Army. In 1967, Jolly joined carpet manufacturer J&J; Industries and became chairman and CEO 22 years later. He retired from the company in 2006.

During his time in Dalton, Jolly has devoted his time to advancing the carpet industry and promoting education. He served as chairman of the Carpet and Rug Institute’s board of directors from 1993 to 1995. CRI president Werner Braun lauded Jolly for his involvement in the organization and his contributions to the industry.

“When this industry is faced with tough decisions, where he was always going to be coming from was what’s the best thing to do on behalf of the industry,” Braun said in a previous Daily Citizen article.

Jolly has a hand in statewide education policy as a member of the Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia. He is a member of the Covenant College Board of Trustees, chairman of the Covenant College Foundation and a member of the executive committee of the Dalton State College Foundation. Also, Jolly is a charter member of the Dalton Whitfield Boys and Girls Club board of directors and graduated with the first Dalton-Whitfield Chamber of Commerce Leadership Dalton class.

He is member of Grace Presbyterian Church. Jolly and his wife, Judy, have two children and four grandchildren.



Norris Little

Although Little wasn’t born and raised in Dalton, he’s more than made up for the lost time. A former executive with Shaw Industries, Little has had a profound effect on the community through his work with various community groups.

Little is a native of Charlotte, N.C., and attended the University of North Carolina. He graduated from Georgia State University in 1955. Six years later he moved to Dalton after being recruited to work for Coronet Industries, which was co-founded by Jack Bandy.

He began his career at Shaw in 1975 and quickly climbed up the corporate ladder, serving in numerous roles at the company including corporate officer and director, vice chairman, president and chief operating officer, senior vice president of operations and vice president of manufacturing, and now vice chairman emeritus.

Since retiring from Shaw several years ago, Little has remained involved in the community. He serves on the Dalton State College Foundation, the advisory board for Wachovia Bank, chairman of the board of the Community Foundation of Northwest Georgia, a trustee of the Covenant College Foundation and the council of the local chapter of the Boy Scouts of America.

“Norris Little is everywhere in Dalton,” Dixie Kinard wrote in her nomination letter. “Since his retirement he has devoted himself to providing leadership wherever it is needed. His devoted interest in this community can be seen all over our community as he attends meetings, leads meetings and financially supports the agencies that lift our citizens up and improve the quality of life in Dalton and Whitfield County.”

He is member of Grace Presbyterian Church. Little and his wife, Billie, have three children and seven grandchildren.



Pleas Smith

The motto of Smith & Green Construction — “Building Northwest Georgia Since 1948” — can be applied to more than just physical structures.

After graduating from Georgia Tech with a civil engineering degree, Smith knew he would return to his hometown of Dalton to start a construction company. Those plans were put on hold because of World War II and time in the U.S. Army.

Smith first worked for his uncle’s construction company and in the spring of 1948, he and Raymond Whittle won a bid to build a fire hall for the city of Dalton on Murray Avenue. That project signaled the beginning of the business that would become Smith & Green Construction, now Dalton’s oldest general construction company.

While there are scores of buildings throughout Whitfield County — and beyond — built by the company co-founded by Smith, he made time to contribute to the community. He has been president of the Dalton Rotary Club, a commissioner on the Dalton Utilities board, a member of the Dalton-Whitfield Planning Commission and was on the charter board of Big Brothers Big Sisters.

He has also donated property for the construction of Friendship House child care center on South Hamilton Street, land for Civitan Park and a nearby walking trail and mountain property along Crow Valley Road to Whitfield County for greenspace.

“Pleas is a very quiet, but effective business and community leader who has left his mark on northwest Georgia in many ways,” Norman Burkett, another business hall of fame member, wrote in his nomination letter. “At 85 years of age, he is still a builder; a builder of buildings, a builder of community and a builder of people.”

Smith attends First United Methodist Church. He and his wife, Jane, have five children.



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Three community leaders will enter the Junior Achievement Northwest Georgia Business Hall of Fame at a banquet on May 5 in Dalton. Jim Jolly, former CEO of J&J; Industries; Norris Little, a former executive at Shaw Industries; and Pleas Smith, founder of Smith & Green Construction, will join the 12 current members of the hall of fame.

The 2008 class consisted of brothers Ken and the late Jim Boring, who were part owners of Hardwick Holding Co. and got their start in the rock quarry business; and the late Tom Jones, co-founder of J&J; Industries and a member of the Dalton Board of Education for 26 years.

Joining the 2007 group were the late James Brown, founder of Brown Printing; Norman Burkett, former administrator of Hamilton Health Care System; the late Harry Saul, who founded Queen Carpet (which was sold to Shaw Industries); and businessman Jack Turner.

The inaugural class included Jack Bandy, co-founder of Coronet Industries; the late Alan and Shirley Lorberbaum, co-founders of Aladdin Mills (which became Mohawk Industries); V.D. Parrott Jr., former general manager/president of Dalton Utilities; and the late Catherine Evans Whitener, one of the pioneers of the bedspread industry, which evolved into the carpet industry.

Photos of the members can be seen at a display at the trade center. For information about the event, contact Junior Achievement at (706) 278-9180.

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