[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 124 (Tuesday, July 31, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1659]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     CONGRATULATING AL HEFFERNAN ON THE OCCASION OF HIS RETIREMENT

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                             HON. JO BONNER

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 31, 2007

  Mr. BONNER. Madam Speaker, it is with great pride and pleasure that I 
rise to honor the long and distinguished career of Al Heffernan, on the 
occasion of his retirement from Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corporation in 
McIntosh, AL.
  During his 20-year tenure at Ciba, Al served as plant manager and 
executive director of the McIntosh site, the largest manufacturing site 
globally within Ciba. He also served as director of environment health 
and safety and director of engineering.
  Al began his career in 1973 at the Ethyl Corporation as an engineer 
and project manager. After 8 years, he moved on to Barnard and Burk 
Engineers and Constructors, where he worked for 5 years as a division 
head and chief engineer. In 1986, he accepted his job with Ciba and 
started as a project engineering superintendent at the St. Gabriel, LA, 
site. Over the next 20 years, he served as manager of project 
engineering at the McIntosh site and head of engineering in Europe 
before returning to McIntosh in 1995.
  In addition to his dedication to Ciba, Al has devoted countless hours 
to civic and industrial activities. He chaired the steering committee 
and served as the first chairman of the board of Manufacture Alabama. 
He founded Washington County Economic Development Initiative and serves 
on the board. Al is past president of the board of directors for The 
Forum, as well as past chairman, executive committee member, and member 
of the board of directors for the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. With 
an obvious desire to help others, Al serves on the board of WHIL 
FM91.3, a Mobile public radio station; Partners for Environmental 
Progress; McIntosh Industrial Park Association; McIntosh Area 
Betterment Association; and Alabama School of Mathematics and Science 
Foundation.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing a 
dedicated community leader and friend to many throughout south Alabama. 
I know his family, his wife, Vickie; their three children, John Mason 
Heffernan, Lee Ellen Heffernan, and Matthew Evan Heffernan; his many 
friends; and past and present Ciba employees join me in praising his 
accomplishments and extending thanks for his service over the years on 
behalf of the city of McIntosh and Alabama's First Congressional 
District.
  Al will surely enjoy the well deserved time he now has to spend with 
family and loved ones. On behalf of a grateful community, I wish him 
the best of luck in all his future endeavors.

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