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CONTENTS
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2016
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EDITOR’S DESK AMP ONLINE BENCHMARKS RIGHT, CENTER, LEFT THE FIVE
28 DEPARTMENTS 12 SPOTLIGHT
A look at the 2016 Arkansas Business Hall of Fame inductees.
14 INFLUENTIAL
A Q&A with Bill “Scoop” Lancaster.
COVER STORY
28 ENTREPRENEURS
20 HOW ARKANSAS CAN BE A NEXT-GENERATION LEADER
32 SPORTS
We take a look back at Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s first year in office, some of his initiatives and what it means for Arkansas’ future.
A Bentonville hospitality company is bracing for a big year.
The University of Arkansas’ new $25 million basketball practice facility.
36 REAL ESTATE
How CapRocq’s real estate investments benefit Arkansas.
FEATURE
40 TECHNOLOGY
44 THE NO-SPIN ZONE
48 EDUCATION
The Bureau of Legislative Research is a major behindthe-scenes player in state government, where it shares its wealth of institutional knowledge and takes a nonpartisan approach.
A Little Rock tech company’s role in campaign fundraising.
What’s behind Southern Arkansas University’s enrollment increase?
52 MANUFACTURING
A Springdale company is making strides in nanotechnology.
56 MEDIA ON THE COVER:
Ways Arkansas is leading the pack. Design by Sara Edwards Neal.
How local broadcasters cover Arkansas politics.
60 ECONOMICS
The business of a fiscal session.
61 AGRIBUSINESS 2
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Highway funding and Arkansas agriculture.
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William T. Dillard II
Dr. George K. Mitchell
Winthrop Rockefeller
Patricia P. Upton
“When you start recognizing people like this, you wind up encouraging others with the kinds of things that can be done. It’s remarkable.” — Matthew Waller, interim dean, University of Arkansas Sam M. Walton College of Business
makes Waller most proud of the hall of fame and his school’s work in spotlighting what these individuals do for Arkansas. The selection process is rigorous. According to Waller, the board of directors may only choose four people per year from the nominations they receive. Once someone is nominated, he or she can only stay on the nomination list for five years before they become ineligible if they are not chosen. “Everyone is very worthy, and it’s a tough process each year,” he explained. “The nominations are lengthy, with several letters of recommendation for each. The selection committee sees the primary variable as this: Did the person make a real impact on business?” Because of the four-person annual limit, Tappan said, “Incredibly there remain a great many nominees who have not been selected. Arkansas is blessed with an abundance of en-
terprising spirit.” Lifelong ethical business practices of the honoree are also important, Waller pointed out. This is because the hall is connected directly to the College of Business, and, therefore, with students at the University of Arkansas. “The mission of the school of business is to advance and disseminate business knowledge,” Waller said. “We have courses in ethics in the business college, so when we hold these people up, we want them to be people the students would aspire to be.” Waller, who joined the college in 1994 when he moved to the state from Michigan, believes Arkansans and the nation have something to learn about business in the Natural State. There are aspects of the business climate in Arkansas that may surprise those outside the state, and those within. Waller lists the
availability of capital as one key trait that makes entrepreneurship possible, and he cites the affordability of living in Arkansas, as well. The transportation hubs don’t hurt, either. “You can ship from Arkansas all over the world quite easily,” he said. “You don’t need to be in New York City or Silicon Valley to succeed in business. We’re quite successful at getting startups to grow.” Tappan agrees, describing Arkansas as having “an abundance of talented, motivated workers who support enterprise growth.” The state has also been able to attract capital and governmental structures favorable to business. Each year, hall of fame inductees reiterate that Arkansas is a ripe ground for business success, from that first class and extending into the future. AMPPOB.COM
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“Why CapRocq 3 is likely going to happen sometime [this] year is there’s still opportunity within the strategy that we have created.” — Kevin Huchingson, co-founder, CapRocq Core Real Estate Fund
INVESTING IN REAL ESTATE
The Webster University building in Columbia, South Carolina, was acquired under CapRocq Core 2. CapRocq founders Kevin Huchingson and Franklin McLarty. photography by sara edwards neal
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“You have to find these opportunities in these markets,” Huchingson said, adding CapRocq has relationships with business people throughout the South and Midwest and they are looking for investment opportunities. McLarty said, “There is a lot of money from all over the world coming into those markets and [our] ability to underwrite those markets, value real estate, understand the credit worthiness of tenants, many of them not rated by the debt rating agencies … well, international investors don’t have that.” So far, Huchingson said, “we’ve been fortunate to have a very good alignment with our investors and the core strategies and thus far those strategies have worked out equally or better than we had hoped.” McLarty added that CapRocq is always looking for investors — “We believe that as we go forward with CapRocq and beyond, we will naturally evolve on the investor side as well.” All investment opportunities and decisions are considered by an investment leadership team of about 10 people, which includes Huchingson and McLarty, as well as Dewitt Smith,
founder of Devereux Management Company, which is involved in commercial projects in six states, and Mark Saviers, a partner with Sage Partners, a commercial real estate firm in Arkansas and managing partner of Myers, Crow & Saviers, a development partnership in Houston. Also on the investment are team are Stephen and Jason LaFrance, whose family owned USA Drug Stores before selling the chain in 2012 for nearly $450 million to Walgreens Co. “All of us really bring different kinds of experience to the table,” said Saviers of Little Rock. Smith, who lives in Bella Vista, said everyone on the team “focuses on different elements and so the partnership actually works like partnerships are supposed to with different people pulling different strings.” The investment team meets weekly and only proposals that are supported unanimously move forward, Huchingson said. “We’re pretty accessible guys and that’s pretty unique and frankly [our] investors kind of like that,” McLarty said.
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How Thinking Small Can Pay Big Springdale-based NanoMech is using nanotechnology to manufacture an array of products impacting a number of industries, including Arkansas trucking. BY ERICA SWEENEY // PHOTOGRAPHY BY BETH HALL AMPPOB.COM
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