Game Changers: The O'Reilly Family

In early July, O’Reilly Automotive Inc. (Nasdaq: ORLY) achieved a stock high of $66.52, the highest since the O’Reilly family took the company public in April 1993. In 1957, Chub O’Reilly and his father, Charles O’Reilly, struck out on their own to form the auto parts company with a single store and 13 employees. Each of Chub’s four children – Charlie, Larry and David O’Reilly and Rosalie O’Reilly Wooten – has held executive positions in the business, helping to push the company to $5.7 billion in 2010 revenues. O’Reilly, which is now led by David O’Reilly as chairman of the board, and Greg Henslee and Ted Wise as co-presidents, made the Fortune 500 list in 2010, finishing the year with net income of $419.4 million after adding 156 new stores. The company, which operates more than 3,600 stores, plans to open 170 stores in fiscal 2011.

One of SBJ's 31 Game Changers in conjunction with Springfield Business Journal's 31st anniversary.[[In-content Ad]]