June 7, 2000
Contact: Prisella Adams, KU School of Engineering, (785) 864-2934 or pja@ku.edu.
LAWRENCE--Two alumni of the University of Kansas School of Engineering were recognized as outstanding engineers at the school's 21st annual Distinguished Engineering Service Awards banquet in May at the Adams Alumni Center.
Madison "Al" Self, retired chief executive officer and owner of Bee Chemical Company, Chicago, and Murli Tolaney, chief executive officer and chairman of Montgomery Watson Inc., Pasadena, Calif., received the 2000 Distinguished Engineering Service Awards. Self and Tolaney were presented with medallions designed by Jon Havener, a KU professor of design.
Each year, the KU Engineering Advisory Board honors KU engineering alumni or engineers who have maintained a close association with the university. DESA recipients are chosen for their outstanding contributions to the engineering profession and society. The DESA is the highest honor bestowed by the KU School of Engineering.
Self received a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from KU in 1943. He co-founded Bee Chemical Company in 1947 and through his technical and business direction guided the company to become an international leader in polymer coatings designed for application on plastics.
The first consumer products to use Bee coatings were plastic picture frames on television sets and plastic refrigerator freezer doors. Eventually, the largest market became the auto industry, which needed coatings for exterior auto body parts. Bee Chemical was the first to develop a surface coating for auto body painting that could be applied to both plastic and metal surfaces.
Bee expanded into related fields and overseas markets. It established a wholly owned subsidiary in England and formed a joint venture company in Japan named Nippon Bee Chemical Company. In 1985, when Bee Chemical was sold to Morton Thiokol Inc., U.S. sales were $80 million per year and annual international sales were $30 million.
In 1985, Self founded Allen Financial Inc., a private investment firm, which he serves as president. In 1989, he co-founded Tioga International Inc., a diversified research, development and manufacturing company that was sold in 1999 to Adco Global Inc.
Self is a past international president of the Young Presidents' Organization, has served as chairman of the Chief Executives Organization and was a founding member of the World Presidents' Organization. He is a life trustee of the Illinois Institute of Technology. Self is a past director of the Illinois Manufacturers Association. He is a past president of the National Hearing Association.
Self and his wife, Lila, founded the Madison and Lila Self Graduate Fellowship Program at KU. The program recognizes graduate students in diverse fields who are selected for their potential, motivation and commitment. The endowed program currently supports 32 fellows with each receiving a stipend of $20,000 per year plus tuition for four years of study.
Al and Lila Self, native Kansans originally from Ozawkie and Eudora, respectively, met while students at KU. They have one son, Murray Alan, and two grandsons. The Selfs live in Hinsdale, Ill.
Tolaney received a bachelor of science in civil engineering in 1969 and a master of science in environmental engineering in 1971, both from KU. Early in his career, he joined a small California-based company named James M. Montgomery Consulting Engineers. Tolaney joined the firm as a senior civil engineer and became a principal player in the company's growth and success. He rose through the ranks, eventually being named senior vice president and regional group manager in 1984.
In 1989, as executive vice president and chief operating officer, Tolaney took over primary operating responsibility. In 1992, Tolaney orchestrated a merger with the United Kingdom's Watson Hawksley to form Montgomery Watson, the fourth largest environmental firm in the United States and the largest environmental firm in Asia. It has 4,000 employees who work in 120 offices in more than 30 countries. In the years since the merger, the company has experienced steady revenue growth of more than 130 percent with 1999 revenues in excess of $50 million.
U.S. design projects on which Tolaney was a principal manager include a high-purity oxygen-activated sludge plant used to process lemons by Sunkist growers in Corona, Calif., and the 55 million-gallons-per-day plant and interceptors for Clark County Sanitation District, serving Las Vegas. Tolaney was project manager on the largest capital expenditure program in the history of Los Angeles--a $3.4 billion wastewater capital improvement program.
Tolaney has been directly involved in overseas projects in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, India, Indonesia and Jordan. Customers and competitors alike comment that Tolaney brings personal attention to each project, placing great importance on personal relationships and fairness in business.
Tolaney is a board member of the Methodist Hospital Foundation of Arcadia, Calif., and of the KU School of Engineering Advisory Board. He is a member of the Construction Industry Roundtable and of the College of Fellows of the Institute for Advancement of Engineering. He a Diplomate in the American Academy of Enviromental Engineers and a Professional Engineer in California, Indiana, Nevada and Washington.
He is a past president and current chairman of the board of the San Gabriel Valley Boy Scout Council, which involves 27,000 Boy Scouts. He received the Good Scout Award from the San Gabriel Valley Counsel in 1999, the Excellence Award in Honor of Service to the Community from the Indian American Council in 1998, the Mayor's Certificate of Appreciation from the City of Los Angeles in 1992, the Commendation Certificate from the Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District in 1983 and the Service Recognition Certificate from the Water Pollution Control Federation in 1983.
Tolaney and his wife, Mona, have three children and live in Arcadia, Calif.