In April, Alabama Retail Comp honored Darrell Bourne for his 21 years of service to the ARC board of trustees. Bourne, the retired treasurer and chief financial officer for Ragland Bros. Retail Cos. Inc., served as a trustee from 1996 to 2017. Rick Brown, ARA president and ARC fund administrator, along with ARC Chairman Ken Hubbard, presented him with an engraved plaque.

Darrell Bourne and Randy, his wife of 50 years, relax during a 2008 trustee retreat. The Bournes have two children – Lori (Allan) Abbott of Fort Payne and Eric (Colleen) Bourne of Alabaster – and six grandsons.

“Darrell has been an asset to Alabama Retail for more than two decades,” said Rick. “In addition to his full-time job, he always found time to be an energetic and detail-oriented leader, presiding over meetings, appearing at special events, and writing and visiting congressmen. We are thankful for his years of dedication.”

In addition to his service to ARC, Darrell sat on the Alabama Retail Association’s board of directors from 1988 to 2011. He served on the executive committee from 2004 to 2011, including the 2008-2009 term as chairman. A tireless advocate for Alabama’s retail industry, Darrell spoke in support of the back-to-school sales tax holiday and the rewriting of Alabama’s food safety laws. Every time he had the opportunity, he also traveled with ARA to
Washington, D.C., to carry the retail message to Alabama’s congressional delegation.

“I am proud of all my years working with the outstanding ARA staff, first under Charlie McDonald’s and later under Rick Brown’s leadership,” said Darrell. “We accomplished so much for the retailers of Alabama both at the state level and through the many Washington trips we made.”

Ragland Bros. Retail Cos. Inc. operates Lucky’s, Piggly Wiggly and Stop to Save Supermarkets in north Alabama and southern Tennessee. Bourne was the company’s treasurer, chief financial officer and minority shareholder
from 1986 until his retirement in 2015. In addition to his Alabama Retail service, he served on the Alabama Department of Agriculture Food Safety Retail Advisory Committee and the Alabama Grocers Association and the National Grocers Association Governmental Affairs Committees. He was also a part of the Huntsville Chamber of Commerce Small Business Committee, the Board for the Better Business Bureau and is currently on the board of elders at Valley Fellowship Church.

“On ARC’s board, I saw the transformation of a small workers’ comp insurance company into one of the largest and most successful in the state,” Darrell said. “Through the diligent efforts of Rick Brown and Mark Young and their entire team, ARC is now returning millions of dollars each year in dividends back to its growing number of member participants.”

Story by Melissa Johnson Warnke, Photo by Tracey Higgins Young

This story first appeared in the July 2017 issue of Alabama Retailer magazine.