First Recipients of the Don Hale Founder's Award
Sabine Surveyors, Ltd. was founded by Donald E. “Don” Hale in 1968. Mr. Hale graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in 1948 with a degree in Marine Engineering and began employment with Texaco that same year. After sailing as Chief Engineer with the company, he came ashore as a Port Engineer for Texaco in Port Arthur, Texas. In 1968, Mr. Hale was asked to assist a number of vessels calling at local terminals to load grain. Seeing an opportunity, he soon left Texaco, becoming self-employed as a marine surveyor.
As business increased, Don was joined by his son Steve in 1976. In 1979, Don’s son Tim joined the company after graduating from Texas A & M. Growth continued, necessitating larger offices. In 1981, a 4,000 square foot office building was constructed in Port Arthur at 9509 Highway 69. Business continued to increase, and after Incorporating in 1985, expansions continued, and acquisitions of other marine surveying companies, formation of a joint venture with SAI Gulf for laboratory services, partnership with Gulf Copper & Manufacturing, and ISO 9001 Certification followed.
The business that Don Hale founded is now an employee-owned company through the establishment of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). Sabine is a part of Gulf Copper Companies, and has locations in Port Arthur, Houston, Corpus Christi, New Orleans, Lake Charles, Mobile, Port Canaveral, and Norfolk. We pride ourselves on providing quality and diversified service to the commercial marine, offshore, shipping, oil and gas, petrochemical, power generation, construction, and transportation industries.
Sabine's President, Captain David Pereira, established the Don Hale Founder's Award this year to recognize employees with exemplary and superior performance, dedication to our Team and customers, longevity, and whose knowledge, hard work, and skills contributed to our success. The first recipients of this award are Marie Coleman and Doug Bernard. Marie is approaching her 27th year with Sabine and serves as the Executive Assistant to Senior Management. She is a staple in our Company, and we don't know what we would do without her special skills and wealth of knowledge. Doug Bernard, our Business Development Manager, is in his 8th year of marketing Sabine and selling our services. His forward thinking and creative business mind continues to find ways to diversify our Company and contribute to our growth and success even in tough and unprecedented times.