Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast

Ricky Brooks, the CEO of Express Oil Change & Tire Engineers, will be the keynote speaker for the 2018 Hoover Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast.

Brooks began his career by opening franchises of Sonic Drive-In restaurants in the 1970s, according to his biography on the Express Oil website. He sold those and worked in the investments and insurance industry from 1981 to 1996.

Brooks and a partner, Joe Watson, opened their first Express Oil Change franchise in 1988 and by 1995 had expanded to 14 franchise stores, which were more stores than the founder of the company owned. They bought out the founder in 1996 and immediately had 25 of the 48 Express Oil Change stores under their control.

In 2013, Express Oil bought Tire Engineers and began merging the two business models to create one-stop auto service shops. Today, the company, based in Hoover, has more than 300 locations across 15 states, according to its website.

This year’s Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast, organized by the Hoover Beautification Board, is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. on May 8 at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel.

Tickets will be sold April 2-27 in the Hoover Library Theatre box office. They cost $25, or $250 for a table for 10, and can be purchased in person at 200 Municipal Drive, online at hooverlibrary.org/thelibrarytheatre or by phone at 444-7888.