Bruce Halle
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| Bruce Halle | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Organization: | Discount Tire |
| Role: | Founder |
| Location: | Paradise Valley, Ariz. |
| Education: | Eastern Michigan University |
Bruce Halle founded Discount Tire, a national chain of tire retailers, and was a philanthropist living in Arizona as of 2016. The Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation, which he co-founded with his wife, supports "the Diane Halle Center for Family Justice at Arizona State University and the Children First Academy, the nation's largest school for homeless children," according to Forbes.[1]
Career
Business career
Before getting into the tire business, Halle served in the Korean War with the Marines; he then returned and earned a bachelor's degree from Eastern Michigan University before going into business.[1] When Halle first got into the tire business, it was with a $5,000 loan to buy a stake in a small tire store in Michigan. The store closed after two years, and Halle opened his own shop in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to pay back the loan. In 2008, Halle told Tire Business that Discount Tire grew, in large part, because other retailers told customers that the store sold secondhand tires and defective models. Halle said, "If they would have kept their mouths shut and not talked about it, I probably wouldn't have gotten off the ground. ... But they were sending people up to me and people would come in the store and I would take good care of them, give them a good deal and they would tell other people. And that's kind of how we grew."[2]
According to Phoenix Business Journals, Halle's business model for Discount Tire "focuses on building a company around his staff" and "implements a de-centralized management structure and promotes from within."[3] Since the initial store in Michigan, Halle moved the company's headquarters to the Phoenix, Arizona, area. The corporation was the largest independent tire retailer in the United States and had "more than 900 stores in 31 states and $4.2 billion in estimated sales in 2015," according to Forbes.[1]
Philanthropy
The Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation, a charitable foundation that Halle and his second wife founded in 2002, gives to a number of causes in Arizona and nationally.[4] In an interview, Diane Halle explained the foundation's focus, saying that the group is involved in "looking at the needs in the states that Discount Tire serves. The Bruce T. Halle Family Foundation is devoted to women and children’s issues, education, access to the underserved, healthcare issues and promoting spiritual awareness."[5] According to Modern Tire Dealer, Halle is a supporter of the "Halle Heart Center, Special Olympics, Arizona State University (ASU) Cancer Center, Childhelp USA," among others, and helped to establish a scholarship fund for all children of Discount Tire employees.[6]
Halle was a donor to his alma mater, Eastern Michigan University, where he established the Bruce T. Halle Endowment. Of the endowment, Halle said, "I received a wonderful education and a wonderful lifetime experience. I have fond memories of the University, and once I was able to, I wanted to do something for the school. Part of the money was to go toward [endowing] a new library, as that was a need for the University."[7] In addition, Halle is a collector of 20th and 21st century Latin American Art.[8]
Political activity
Ballot measure activity
Overview of ballot measure support and opposition
The following table details Bruce Halle’s ballot measure stances available on Ballotpedia:
| Ballot measure support and opposition for Bruce Halle | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballot measure | Year | Position | Amount | Status |
| Arizona Education Finance Amendment, Proposition 123 | 2016 | Supported[9] | $1,000,000[9] |  Approved
|
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Bruce Halle'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Forbes, "Bruce Halle," accessed August 28, 2016
- ↑ Tire Business, "Bruce Halle—His philosophy: 'To treat people fairly and to just be nice,'" September 29, 2008
- ↑ Phoenix Business Journals, "Book documents rise of Bruce Halle, Discount Tire," February 10, 2012
- ↑ Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation, "History," accessed August 28, 2016
- ↑ TGen Foundation, "Pay it Forward – A conversation with Diane Halle, President, Bruce T. Halle Family Foundation, and Herbert K. Cummings Charitable Trust," accessed August 28, 2016
- ↑ Modern Tire Dealer, "Bruce Halle receives the Horatio Alger Award," December 23, 2014
- ↑ Eastern Michigan University Library, "Who is Bruce T. Halle?" accessed August 28, 2016
- ↑ Houston Chronicle, "Pieces of Latin American art from Halle collection on view," March 13, 2007
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Arizona Secretary of State, "2016 Financial Disclosure Statements," accessed May 19, 2016
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