From cleaning services and restaurants to large manufacturers, automation is becoming much more prevalent across industries.
After riding a wave of momentum provided by the COVID-19 pandemic, which sent everyone outside, boat makers are seeing things return to normal.
Steve Landers Jr., long associated in Arkansas with automobiles, has delivered his Idaho craft whiskey brand, Warfield, home to the Natural State.
The realms of architecture, engineering and construction used to be almost exclusive clubs for men. This is no longer the case.
Todd Jacobs joined Summit Utilities as its executive vice president and chief operating officer in August. Based in Little Rock, he oversees Summit’s operations.
Providers of long-term care services in Arkansas are betting on advancements in tech and more luxurious living to attract customers.
Once a staple in any small town, now only a few local music stores remain in Arkansas as the industry leans more into chain stores.
One Arkansas company was founded at a time when mattresses were mostly handmade, and this company has thrived in the internet age.
Bryce Mitchell, the UFC fighter from Arkansas known as Thug Nasty, is not just a fighter. He’s a farmer, new father and fan favorite.
The Hogs are bowling again, and the Liberty Bowl is once again the destination. Arkansas will face former SWC rival Texas Tech on Dec. 27 at 6 p.m.
Sarah Coleman, Becky Gillette, Jamie Lee, Kim Needy, KD Reep, Lori Sparkman, Eric Bolin, Michael Drager, Jeremy Harper, Steve Lewis, Matt Smithmeier, Todd Traub, Steve Wilcox
•
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ARCHITECT
ON THE COVER
Dave Van Horn looks out onto the Baum-Walker Stadium field from the home dugout. Under Van Horn, Arkansas baseball has become elite.
Photo courtesy of Arkansas Athletics.
See story, page 16.
FEEDBACK
GROWING WHERE IT IS PLANTED: HEIFER INTERNATIONAL NAVIGATES CHANGES
Regarding the article, “Growing Where It is Planted: Heifer International Navigates Changes,” which was published in the November issue of AMP magazine, Heifer International would like to confirm that it fully intends to retain its headquarters in Little Rock, specifically at the existing Heifer campus property, despite our plans to sell this property. Heifer has reconfigured the top two floors of the property’s four-floor office building with the intention of leasing back these two floors from any future owners of the property. This is a prerequisite for any potential sale agreement.
Peter Goldstein, Vice President of Communications, Heifer International
2024 WOMEN IN AEC: JULIE KELSO
Woo Hoo! Well deserved, Julie! Good to see you celebrated and recognized for your expertise and work across the state. Cheers!
Jenny Burbidge
AEC EXECS Q&A: DAN FOWLER
Well said Dan Fowler. Thank you for sharing your insights.
Yvette Lee-Smith
STEVE LANDERS JR.’S WARFIELD WHISKEY EXPANDS AVAILABILITY IN ARKANSAS
The group has great distribution in such a short time. Congrats Dustin!
Wayne Cox
A STRONG START: ARKANSAS TALENT GROUP
Truly honored to be recognized as The Best Recruiting Firm in Arkansas! What an amazing ride it has been, and we are just getting started!! Thank you, Arkansas Money & Politics
Chris Chunn
TOP ONLINE ARTICLES
Nov. 5 — Dec. 4
1 Faymonville Invests $100M in Little Rock Facility, First in US
2 Trump Taps Warren Stephens to Serve as UK Ambassador
3 Two More Arkansas Cities Vote in Favor of Sunday Alcohol Sales
4 Arkansas Bars Streaming the Jake Paul, Mike Tyson Match
5 Company Responds to Backlash About Planned Crypto Mine Owned by Steve Landers Jr.
6 Pickleball Kingdom to Open First Arkansas Location in Little Rock
7 Trump Makes Cabinet Picks; Chooses Elon, Vivek to Lead New Agency
8 Makris Returning as Simmons Bank CEO, New COO Revealed
9 Wet? Dry? Sunday Sales? A Look at Arkansas’ Disparate Alcohol Laws
10 AMP Best of 2024
Goodwill Industries of Arkansas is set to enhance its impact in the community with the acquisition of land at 620 Kirk Road in the Chenal Valley area of Little Rock.
Jared D. Wiley has been named the next director of the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
Longtime National Park College Trustee Joyce Craft is set to end her tenure at the end of the month, being replaced by Joel Newburn, who was elected to fill the position beginning in January.
Dave Van Horn on guiding Hogs baseball to
By Mark Carter
‘THAT’S WHAT CHRISTMAS IS ALL ABOUT, CHARLIE BROWN’
The Christmas holiday season is full of traditions, and one I look forward to revisiting each year is A Charlie Brown Christmas.
First aired in 1965 by CBS, it has stood the test of time. Almost 60 years later, it maintains a significant cultural impact. In the story, Linus reminds a justifiably exasperated Charlie Brown about the true meaning of the season by reciting the Christmas story from the Bible’s book of Luke.
The story goes that producers were wary of having Linus recite from the gospel. They thought it wouldn’t go over well. Ye of little faith, indeed.
***
Charlie Brown: I guess you were right, Linus. I shouldn’t have picked this little tree. Everything I do turns into a disaster. I guess I don’t really know what Christmas is all about. Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”
PUBLISHER’S LETTER
TLinus: Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about. [Walks to center stage.] Lights, please.
‘And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
‘And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
‘And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
‘For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
‘And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
‘And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.’
That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.
To all our loyal readers, thank you so much for reading. Here’s wishing everyone a great Christmas, and to those who don’t celebrate Christmas, here’s to a great holiday season.
By Heather Baker
UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN
he Christmas season has arrived and, with it, reflections on the grace and love and joy shared unto us in the city of David.
Those of you who know me know how much I love Christmas as a holiday, but I love the true meaning of this time even more. The birth of my savior, Jesus Christ, and the start of the greatest story ever told never ceases to bring joy to my heart, even as it moves me to tears.
This issue of Arkansas Money & Politics brings you some of our own holiday traditions, including the 2024 installment of “Power Women,” a look at long-term care options in Arkansas and a section devoted to manufacturing in the state. We’ll get a peek into the state of boat manufacturing in Arkansas and see how robots are changing the way manufacturers operate.
Energy is also a focus this month, and right now in Arkansas, that means lithium. We spoke to some of those involved in the lithium boom expected to take south Arkansas like oil did in the early
20th century.
Plus, our “Arkansas Visionary” this month is Bob Fehlman, outgoing CEO of Simmons Bank, and we’ll finish up our “Top Ten” profile series of prominent Arkansans.
Finally, as you may have guessed by the cover, we sat down with Coach Dave Van Horn in Fayetteville and asked what it takes to run a successful college baseball program in a league as competitive as the SEC.
Coach Van Horn is one of the good ones in college athletics. He shared with us what it takes to recruit and manage a team in this wild West age of college sports, about the growth of the program and how it grew from popular filler to outright passion among members of Razorback Nation. He shared so much, we couldn’t get it all in one story, so look for part 2 of our visit with DVH in January.
There’s lots to like inside this December issue. As always, thank you for reading. May the joy and peace of this season fill your hearts to overflowing, enough to last the whole year through.
Heather Baker
PHYSICAL TICKETS IN A TICKETLESS WORLD
By Matt Brown
While a few athletic departments were already moving in this direction, COVID-19 shoved hundreds of schools into fully embracing a digital-only ticketing environment. Handling all the ticketing on apps helped give schools better marketing data on consumers that is better aligned with the habits and expectations of younger consumers and, eventually, helped simplify game-day operations. Even mid- and low-major programs moved to adopt ticketless systems over the last few years.
But there are a few problems with the system. One of the thornier ones? Some folks still actually want the ticket.
Katie Wisdom, assistant athletics director of ticket operations at Ole Miss, said the program’s fans had a similar story. The department moved to mobile ticketing after the pandemic and is now “about 85 percent, 90 percent mobile with our students being completely mobile. Their tickets don’t even have barcodes anymore.”
However, not every Ole Miss ticketholder is a 20-year old smartphone native, and Wisdom saw that some fans still wanted a physical ticket experience. Ole Miss offers a “print at home” option, she said, but while that could provide a functional physical ticket, it was not exactly the sort of thing one would want to keep as a memento. It is just black ink on printer paper.
Maybe you are like me. I have a huge box in my office closet full of binder after binder of sports trading cards, the collection I kept from when I was a fifth-grade boy. Wedged in those sleeves, behind mountains of Ki-Jana Carter rookie cards (my original retirement plan, which, sadly, does not look great), are ticket stubs from baseball games I attended with my parents, early concert tickets and even a few stubs from movie tickets. I did not keep them because I hoped to flip them someday — not sure if there is much of a collector’s market for random Cleveland games from the late 1990s — but because they were memorable to me.
Wisdom told me that Ole Miss has fans just like that, who want to commemorate any game they attend, even if that is hypothetically a baseball game against a Southland opponent. Ole Miss now offers an option to print out a game ticket (for a modest fee) at the game, so if something unexpected happens or if families just want to remember a game for their own reasons, they can do that.
Wisdom also told me that many fans had specifically reached out about wanting a higher-touch physical collectible around major games. The department now creates a physical ticket collectible option for season-ticket packages, as well, complete
with glossy art from the school’s marketing department.
There are a few companies that produce this sort of work. Ole Miss worked with a firm called WW&L based in Fort Smith. WW&L has been in business since the 1800s, producing not only physical event tickets but also printing for parking passes, media credentials and more. Another firm, Ticket Time Machine, mostly works in the music industry but also with professional hockey, the Florida Gators and others.
I spoke to folks at both companies, and with a few operators at the school level, and I am not aware of any college program that has suddenly turned commemorative physical tickets into an eight-figure revenue operation or anything. This is not a magic bullet that will solve revenue problems, but if done with intentionality, it can be another tool to drive revenue in multiple ways.
Wisdom told me that while sales have been very strong this year, revenue was modest for the first few years that Ole Miss offered physical ticket printing, but with the success of the Ole Miss football team this season, the school is hopeful about not just the revenue growth potential but the potential to use the tickets to drive other forms of engagement.
If Ole Miss were to hypothetically win a big game on the road, well, the school can still print commemorative tickets for the event, and that offering can go in the fundraising email that the department would otherwise send out to try and capitalize on the momentum. Other schools told me they could see physical ticket printing potentially being used as a fundraiser for a collective or NIL activity (look, these tickets were signed by the guy that caught the touchdown pass!), or as lagniappe to help encourage other donor engagement or activity.
Of course, if the department is struggling to sell tickets at all, selling commemorative mock-ups could be a moot point, but if fans are filling seats, perhaps this is a strategy other schools could consider.
Matt Brown is the author of the Extra Points newsletter, which tackles subjects related to the business side of college sports and is available at extrapointsmb.com. This piece first appeared in the newsletter.
Matt Brown
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We’re powering a brighter, cleaner future for Arkansas. Learn more at entergyarkansas.com/brightfuture.
A CALL FOR LEADERS TO INVEST IN STEM TALENT AND INNOVATION
By Kim LaScola Needy
In today’s rapidly transforming economy, one thing has become clear: States that invest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics talent drive more economic growth and are more competitive and prosperous. To compete today and in the future, we recognize that if we are not moving forward, we are falling behind. Put more simply, Arkansas stands at an inflection point.
Last month, Heartland Forward released a report, Engineers, Computer Scientists and Data Scientists as Drivers of Economic Growth, in which the Bentonville-based think tank found that if the University of Arkansas College of Engineering in Fayetteville doubles its number of graduates and research and retains that talent at its current rate within Arkansas, we can add $3.9 billion to the state’s economy by 2038.
cus on growth, that impact could double within the next 15 years. Increased investment in programs, state-of-the-art facilities, labs, faculty and staff will all contribute to an environment where Arkansas becomes a magnet for top regional talent across the region.
We know that demand for STEM professionals has skyrocketed as technology becomes increasingly embedded in every industry — from advanced manufacturing and aerospace to steel and lithium. We expect 58,000 STEM jobs in Arkansas by 2038, but we need more professionals to meet that growing demand. As it stands, Arkansas has one of the nation’s lowest shares of workers with engineering and computer science degrees. That is where our state’s leaders have a unique opportunity to step in and make a difference.
We can prioritize our regional competitiveness by choosing to act now. By doubling the number of graduates and research conducted at the UA College of Engineering, we could realize a 1.6 percentage point increase in our state’s gross domestic product, accounting for additional revenue and helping fill the gap of 19,000 expected engineering and computer science-related job openings in Arkansas by 2038.
Beyond simply job creation, let’s consider the positive impact investing in STEM education will have on our local communities. The college of engineering contributes more than $100 million annually to the state’s GDP. With a strategic fo-
Consider this — the Heartland study’s data shows that states prioritizing engineering and computer science education tend to enjoy higher GDP per worker. From 2012 to 2022, state-level GDP per worker rose from $111,575 to $141,907 on average, with a quarter of that increase attributable to the output of engineering colleges. In Arkansas, the potential is even more considerable.
While the numbers are compelling, this is about more than dollars and cents. Investing in STEM represents an investment in Arkansas’ broader future — in the quality of life we want to develop for communities in every corner of our state. By strengthening the college of engineering and our STEM workforce, we support the creation of an environment that produces high-quality, high-paying, highdemand jobs that will keep our talent at home. This investment will undoubtedly have a downstream effect, spurring other sectors of our economy, such as housing and health care, as the university produces more engineering talent.
The path forward is clear — increased investment and continued collaboration from across industry, government, education and philanthropy. This partnership can uplift Arkansas’ GDP, support local businesses and industry, and enhance the quality of life for communities of all sizes. A strong engineering workforce in Arkansas will power innovation, stimulate entrepreneurship and uplift our economy, all vital for addressing our state and nation’s most complex challenges, but we must do it together, and we must do it now.
Kim LaScola Needy is the dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
Kim LaScola Needy
ARKANSAS GROWTH OPPORTUNITY PROFILE
POWER ELECTRONICS, ADVANCED PACKAGING AND GRID-MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
By AMP Staff
Arkansas is a major producer of a commodity that is tough to live without: electricity. From electronics engineering and advanced microelectronics to producing and managing the flow of electric energy, Arkansas has a legacy of excellence in electrical and electronics engineering. Power is a major piston in our economic engine, and it is driving innovation in a critical industry growth opportunity for the state.
According to a recent report commissioned by Arkansas Research Alliance and compiled by TEConomy Partners, Arkansas employs more than 18,000 people in the energy and infrastructure sector, which is 28 percent more concentrated than the U.S. average. The presence of a unique constellation of utility providers and managers, such as Entergy, Southwestern Electric Power Co., Southwest Power Pool and Midcontinent Independent System Operator, generates a critical mass of demand for new technology applications.
Arkansas’ academic research base continues to build expertise in managing how critical systems and their components interact. This is important as the grid evolves to support increased generation sources with a need for increased resiliency. Among the research hubs is the University of Arkansas Power Group, which trains, educates, enables and inspires a broad array of engineers and leaders to address global energy challenges. The Power Group heads several labs and centers that comprise the most comprehensive university-based electronic packaging facility available in the United States. The work was recently awarded $18 million from the National Science Foundation to establish a national silicon carbide research fabrication facility. Silicon carbide is used to make semiconductors faster and more resistant to extreme environments, among other benefits.
“Arkansas is uniquely centered in energy- and electronic-related spaces,” said Bryan J. Barnhouse, president and CEO of ARA. “Our state’s ability to produce reliable, affordable and sustainable power elevates our manufacturing profile, which, in turn, has jump-start-
ed research in fields related to power and electronics. It’s really a good example of industry and research intersecting for competitive advantage.”
The state’s deep bench of industrial and research assets represents a significant opportunity for Arkansas. Amidst a renewed focus on the strategic importance of the domestic semiconductor industry, the interplay of circuit, device and grid-scale electronics is witnessing remarkable growth propelled by several key market forces.
From the imperative of grid resilience and reliability to the surge in electrification and Internet of Things proliferation, market forces are reshaping industries and driving demand for cutting-edge solutions. Arkansas can position itself to capitalize on these favorable trends in the years to come.
Where can Arkansas take the lead? Fast-growing industries such as cybersecurity, electrified steel production, electric vehicle component development, battery manufacturing, and aerospace and defense already have a foothold, and Arkansas and can be expected to grow with focus and investment.
The report from TEConomy Partners, Enabling an Innovation-Led Future for Arkansas: University Research Competencies Aligned with Industry Growth Opportunities, outlines the growth opportunity in detail. The report is available free to download at aralliance.org/resources.
“We cannot stress enough how important it is that Arkansas leverage these seven growth opportunities,” Barnhouse said. “With Arkansas power demands expected to double over the next five years because of the growth in [artificial intelligence], lithium, steel, timber and aerospace, we encourage business leaders and researchers to find common ground on innovation so we can keep our industries ahead of their competition. “
This is the second in the series, “Seven Growth Opportunities for Arkansas,” the results of findings from a comprehensive report composed by leaders from the private and public sectors.
THE ARCHITECT
By
Mark Carter
Arkansas head baseball coach Dave Van Horn
(Photo by Michael Drager)
Dave Van Horn envisions a day when the Arkansas athletics department will need to figure out how to build seats over the Hog Pen, the iconic leftifield berm that has become synonymous with Razorback baseball.
The general-admission Hog Pen, described at arkansasrazorbacks.com as a mere “picnic area,” is an iconic part of the experience at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville. It has come to represent the growth in popularity of Razorback baseball in Arkansas — essentially, fans waiting in lines stretching down Razorback Road for hours or even days for access into the Hog Pen.
Van Horn, an all-American infielder at Arkansas in 1982, took the baton in 2003 from his old coach and coaching mentor, Norm DeBriyn, and transformed a proud program into an elite one.
DeBriyn took an afterthought of a program and guided it to four College World Series appearances. Because of his success, former athletic director Frank Broyles had to build first the 3,000-seat George Cole Field on campus in 1975 (it was located where the current outdoor football practice fields now sit) and then, 20 years later, the college game’s crown jewel.
DeBriyn handed Van Horn what was already the equivalent of a Cadillac. When Van Horn is ready to hand off the keys to his replacement — and there are no indications that will be anytime soon — his replacement will inherit a Rolls-Royce.
Under Van Horn, Arkansas has elevated its program into a stratosphere occupied by just a handful of schools. Consider this:
• Razorback baseball is one of a handful of college baseball programs to have broken even or operated in the black.
• It is the only program in the country to win 40-plus games for seven consecutive seasons (not counting the 2020 campaign, cancelled in March of that year after the onset of COVID-19; the Hogs were 11-5).
• Arkansas has won more games than any program over the last five years.
• Baum-Walker is one of just four college ballparks with seating capacities exceeding 10,000.
• Van Horn regularly pulls in top 5 recruiting classes.
• The Hogs have made the NCAA tournament every year but one since his arrival.
• Van Horn has coached Arkansas to the CWS seven times — to nine NCAA regional championships, three SEC regular season titles, eight SEC West titles and one SEC tournament championship.
• Arkansas has led the nation in attendance and regularly finishes among the top 3 nationally in both average and overall attendance.
• As Baum-Walker did when it first opened, the Hunt Center raised the bar for college facilities.
[Editor’s note:
This is part one of a two-part series on how Dave Van Horn has grown a good program into an elite one. Part two will run in the January issue.]
Van Horn was happy as head coach at Nebraska before he answered the call to return to his baseball home. The 1982 All-American infielder for the Hogs had resurrected the Nebraska program and led it to consecutive CWS appearances, a big deal in the Husker state given Omaha’s permanent status as CWS host. The only job that could’ve pulled the Kansas City native away was in Fayetteville.
Today, the only accolade that eludes the program is a national title, and under Van Horn, the Hogs have been agonizingly close. When he took the job, Van Horn knew what was still possible for Arkansas baseball.
“It’s changed a lot since the day I walked in here,” Van Horn said. “We had 3,200 seats. Frank used to remind me all the time that I asked him for more seats before I even took the job. He’d say it was the dumbest thing he ever agreed to, but it ended up being one of the best moves he ever made. His comment was that they sold an average of 1,800 tickets a game, and they had 3,200 seats. Yeah, but what I was envisioning was me and our staff recruiting to a finished bowl that had seats from foul pole to foul pole.”
Every few years, Baum-Walker seems to inch closer to that vision. With the 2022 completion of the still-sparkling, $27 million J.B. & Johnelle Hunt Family Baseball Development Center with its right-field loge seating, Van Horn’s 21-year-old vision is coming into focus.
Imagine a deck rising over the Hog Pen, wrapping around or over Baum-Walker’s gorgeous, giant scoreboard to connect with the Hunt Center, which itself raised the bar for college baseball facilities, just as Baum Stadium did when it opened.
It’s changed a lot since the day I walked in here. We had 3,200 seats. Frank used to remind me all the time that I asked him for more seats before I even took the job.
Van Horn’s built-it-and-they-will-come faith in the program was fully realized.
The dean of SEC coaches has said he believes Baum could be expanded to 17,000-plus one day, and it doesn’t seem crazy to think Arkansas could fill it. The point at which strong support morphed into statewide obsession might be traced back to 2004 and Brady Toops. His ninth-inning grand slam in the Fayetteville Regional against Wichita State, then a bitter regional rival, stands as one of the more dramatic moments in Razorback sports history and helped propel the Hogs from the brink of elimination to a regional title and ultimately, the program’s first trip to Omaha in 15 years.
“There were people running back in the stadium. Oh, yeah,” Van Horn said of Toops’ dinger. “When we were down five, people were leaving, a lot of people cleared out. You could see just hundreds of people out there. When he hit that ball out of the park, I’ll never forget it. People just started running back and they were letting ‘em back in. When they do that today, running back to the gates, I don’t know if they let you back in or not. I didn’t think you could — once you leave the stadium, you’re done. It was crazy. It was something else. So we won the regional, and then the next weekend, we played Florida State here, and I’ll never forget those crowds. There was no place to stand. It was like 10 deep [in the stadium concourse], and the atmosphere was so loud. I hadn’t heard that here.”
Van Horn said the 2004 Fayetteville Regional is when Arkansas baseball at Baum-Walker became truly special. He knew then that further expansion would be necessary.
Van Horn took over the reins of the program from his old coach and coaching mentor, Norm DeBriyn, whom he served under as a graduate assistant for three years at Arkansas. (Photo courtesy of Arkansas Athletics)
The photos at right illustrate how dramatically the right field view has changed at Baum-Walker over the years, from empty countryside along Fayetteville’s 15th Street, at top, to retail development, middle, and the Hunt Center, bottom. (Photos courtesy of Arkansas Athletics)
These days, the Hog Pen often resembles a living, breathing can of sardines. Thousands of fans, many pulling beer-filled coolers, race onto the berm once the gates are opened like Sooners in the Oklahoma land rush to claim their spot. Many wave giant flags, giving the Hog Pen a distinct European soccer feel, and all make their presence felt. The space has bleachers and grills, as well, and even repurposed shipping containers available for rental to Razorback Foundation members. These “boxes” include a grill, a leather couch, bar stools, access to cable TV and even rooftop seating.
Mississippi State may seat 15,000 at the new Dudy Noble Field, high-rise condos rising above the left field wall, Ole Miss has beer showers emanating from the student-filled right field terrace at Swayze Field, and LSU has the rally opossum and
whatever Cajun voodoo it can muster at Alex Box Stadium. Those venues and Baum-Walker represent the Taj Mahals of college baseball, each seating in excess of 10,000 fans and representing the only college venues that do. A college baseball stadium seating 10,000 is the equivalent of a football stadium with a capacity of 100,000 or a basketball arena that seats 20,000.
But there’s only one Hog Pen.
* * * * * * * * *
College baseball in 2024 doesn’t look the same as it did 20, even 10, years ago — on the field or off it.
The sport is becoming more popular not just among the blue-chip prep recruits who forego signing a pro contract out of high school, opting for the development (and now, NIL dollars) available to them at schools like Arkansas and its SEC counterparts. College baseball is also climbing the ladder of most-watched sports in the U.S.
The 2024 College World Series final, pitting Southeastern Conference foes Tennessee and Texas A&M, averaged more than 2.8 million viewers over the three-game series, per Sports Business Journal. The entire 15-game CWS format averaged 1.6 million viewers per game across multiple ESPN platforms. Contrast that to a decade ago, when the 2015 CWS final between Vanderbilt and Virginia, which went three games, averaged 1.4 million.
Hog fans may not like to think of 2018 and Omaha together, but the Hogs’ three-game CWS final against Oregon State that year averaged just under 2 million viewers. Only two CWS finals have drawn more viewers — Tennessee-A&M this past season and Florida-LSU in 2023, the latter of which drew 2.9 million viewers.
“Baseball at the college level, really, in the last 10 years, has taken off,” Van Horn said. “There’s more kids turning down professional contracts who are really good players, and they’re showing up on campuses all over. Especially the last couple of years, you can say that because they’re having an opportunity to make a little money through the NIL. Players are better, and the league just kept getting better and better — and that’s the Big 12, the ACC, the [former] Pac 12. All of ‘em were getting better, but the league that I was most familiar with, the one we play in and compete in, all the teams were getting better. Teams are more physical, more powerful, faster. The arm strength is amazing off the mound now.”
It remains rare for a college baseball program to turn a profit. Just a handful including Arkansas have ever done it, and they play in stadiums that could stand in as quality Triple A ballparks. Football may still rein in the hearts of most fans in the SEC footprint — though SEC basketball currently is the clear gold standard on the hardwood — but baseball “just means more” in the SEC.
The sport truly matters to the fanbases and more importantly, the administrations, at schools like Arkansas, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, Tennessee, and SEC newbies Texas or Oklahoma, and baseball is not exactly an afterthought at any SEC school.
SEC baseball champions earn their titles week in and week out.
“I think TV finally started getting involved, and there were more games,” Van Horn said. “The SEC Channel has helped, because once basketball’s over, there are a lot of baseball and softball games on. It’s become a pretty big deal.”
The level of talent has improved, since high school athletes are more focused on one sport and more of them are drawn to the development opportunities available to them in college. Then there is NIL, the portal and the changes to scholarship distribution. For decades, college baseball squads could divvy up 11 1/2 scholarships among the entire team. New rules are expected to allow those teams that can do so to fully fund scholarships for up to 34 players.
“I don’t see that,” Van Horn said. “We’ll see how it turns out. I would say some number below that, but you never know. There’s a lot going on. It’s not just about coaching on the field or teaching someone how to field a ground ball or run the bases. It starts with recruiting, bringing in the right players. You know, you can recruit 10 guys, and you’d be lucky to get one of ‘em because everybody else that’s in the SEC or the ACC or whichever conference depends on recruiting. They’re recruiting that same young man, so it’s a process that is day in and day out, and honestly, it’s almost 365 days a year.”
For college baseball coaches today, it is a turbulent time as fans, administrations, the NCAA and now even Congress try to navigate a post-NIL sporting world.
“They try to change the rules where we can’t contact kids or they’re not even supposed to be able to get ahold of us,” Van Horn said. “It’s jumped all over the map in the last five years. It used to be that you could talk to [a recruit] this age. Then now it’s this age. It just keeps changing. Bottom line, if you’re not on top of your recruiting, you can go south real quick, so to speak. Now you throw in the transfer portal, and kids can leave after one year and go play, and then they can play there for a year and get their agents to go out there and talk to other coaches or other people. Whether it’s legal or not, it’s all going on.”
Money, winning and expectations are driving the game, he said. Dedicated fans are one thing,
The Hog Pen beyond the left field wall at Baum-Walker Stadium delivers the sounds, sights and feel of a European soccer match. (Photo courtesy of Arkansas Athletics)
but a successful program today needs dedicated boosters and administrators to keep pace. The SEC has become a showcase of state-of-the-art facilities. Arkansas has remained among the leaders in that arms race thanks to the continued support of the administration post-Broyles and financial contributions from boosters such as the Baum, Walker and Hunt families, whose tens of millions in donations helped place Razorback baseball ahead of the curve — for now — from a facilities standpoint.
ly these days, Van Horn said. Coaches have to deal with parents and agents and so much more than what fans see when they come to a game.
I see it as a way of life.
“People, maybe they just see what they want to see when they come to the game, and that’s coaches wearing a uniform,” he said. “They might get upset with me when I’m out there getting on an umpire. Well, there’s some rules on that. If I get thrown out, I can only have so many of those, and I get suspended, so you have to really pick and choose when you’re upset.”
Van Horn’s teams have brought home plenty of hardware in his 20-plus seasons as coach, including SEC regular season, SEC tournament, NCAA regional and NCAA super-regional trophies. (Photo by Michael Drager)
“There’s some schools that have a lot more than others, and you know, we battle with what we have, and I think we’ve hung in there pretty good,” Van Horn said. “You got to have some help, and we have some people that help us with fundraising. I mean, I can talk to people now. They changed the rules on that, but it’s an effort. Your department has to support you, and if they don’t in the SEC, you’re going to slip to the bottom, and it can happen in one year. Fortunately, we have some support — some really good support — in the state that is helping us, but so does everybody else to a certain extent.” It has never been just about coaching, especial-
I don’t see it so much as a job.
For Van Horn, the intricacies of the game, from NIL to recruiting and game management, are simply part of the job.
“I see it as a way of life. I don’t see it so much as a job,” he said. “I really don’t have a lot of hobbies. I don’t have time. I don’t get to play golf. I’m lucky if I get to go pheasant hunting once or twice in the fall in South Dakota. I’ve turned down many, many offers to go duck hunting in beautiful Arkansas. I used to do it a lot, but you know, I want to win, and I just don’t feel like I can be away. And I feel like for me personally, these are my best days as a coach. My daughters are both out of the house. I don’t feel guilty all the
time, thinking about what am I missing from what their activities are or just spending time with them and with my wife. I enjoy my job now probably as much or more than I ever have. Sometimes it might not seem like that, but deep down, that’s the way I feel. I just want us to have a fair shot in this league because this league is brutal.”
Because of the changing landscape, teams can turn things around in a season or two, he added.
“You can go from not very good to good,” he said, “if you do a good job in the portal, you get the right transfer, you get the right kids, and it’s not always about how much money you can get for them or find them. It helps, believe me, and I could tell you many a story over the last three years, but you’ve got to get the right kids that are playing for the right reasons and they’re playing for their teammates and themselves and their families and the fans, and it’s not just about making some money.”
Like most coaches, Van Horn was happy to see college athletes get some money and be able to transfer without sitting out a season. That doesn’t mean there isn’t some tweaking left to do.
“I think most coaches would agree that the student athlete, if they want to leave one time, that’s fine,” he said, “but they shouldn’t be able to just keep jumping to different schools every year. Now if the coach leaves, then I’d say, yeah, they could
leave again, but it makes it difficult if you go get a sophomore transfer and everything’s going good, but then there’s something going on, and now he’s gonna go somewhere else because he can triple his money at another school.
“I’m glad, honestly, that the student athlete can make a little bit of money. I’ve seen kids that have no money that are on half a scholarship and taking out loans for three and four years while they’re playing for us and helping us win and bring in money and all that. They can’t even afford to go out on a date. They leave school owing $100,000, $200,000. I think it’s just not what they intended it to be with the bidding wars. You’re seeing it in other sports a little more than, maybe, baseball, but it’s that way in baseball too. It’s just going on in the summer.”
Van Horn said he and his staff breathe a collective sigh of relief at summer’s end when signees report to campus.
“It’s early summer, and people are on vacation or they’re getting ready for football season mentally, but with baseball, we’re in the trenches from the time the season’s over to the time our kids pretty much walk in the door. We’re trying to see who we’re going to have on our roster, and we haven’t even mentioned the draft. We recruit and sign all these kids not knowing how many will show up, and then we might lose kids in the portal. You don’t sleep much in the summer if you are really concerned about it, which we are.”
The Hogs, coming off another surprising regional loss in Fayetteville, are set to reload for the 2025 season, as much as teams can reload as opposed to rebuilding these days. Arkansas is a sure top 10 preseason pick again, and D1 Baseball recently ranked the Razorback baseball as the fifthbest program in the country.
Tennessee, led by former Hog assistant Tony Vitello, slipped in ahead of the Hogs at No. 4 based on its 2024 national title. A national title may be the only thing keeping Arkansas from status as a true blueblood, though many baseball talking heads, D1’s Kendall Rogers among them, consider the Hogs one anyway.
Perfect Game placed the Hogs’ 2025 recruiting class at fourth best in the country.
“I look back at the last two years, and we’ve had good teams; we probably won maybe a little more than was expected,” Van Horn said. “The future’s bright here. The team that we put on the field is going to be fun to watch. That’s probably about as much as I ever say about my teams. I’ve really enjoyed this team, so we feel like we’ll continue on like we have.”
Part 2 of the Dave Van Horn tenure at Arkansas will run in the January issue of AMP
ROBOTICS
By Steve Wilcox
Coming to a warehouse, factory or restaurant near you. Soon.
Robotics would seem to live in an industrial world far from Arkansas’ business aura that centers around poultry farming and production, ranching and rice growing, but that would be wrong. The state boasts robotics leadership in business segments as divergent as logistics and food service. If a robot has not shown up at your restaurant table with a meal in hand just yet, it will.
The drivers behind the effort to integrate robotics into just about everything is easy to see: staffing shortages, cost reduction and workplace safety.
“The obvious one is labor availability and productivity as labor pools have shrunk, especially for big warehouse and manufacturing labor pools, as those have been shrinking over the years,” said Dennis Anderson, chief strategy and innovation officer at ArcBest, an integrated logistics company based in Fort Smith. “Then the cost of that labor has been rising. There’s demand for new ways to get product moved, and consumer demand is not going away, so making sure that we’ve got a way to augment, especially, those labor shortages to decrease the rising cost of labor, [robotics] is one way to do it.”
ArcBest, a 100-year-old company, started life as a local freight hauler and grew into a large national carrier for mostly less-than-truckload freight. It has only been within the last decade that the organization transformed into an integrated logistics company.
Supply chain bottlenecks are a symptom of logistics inefficiency that Anderson cites as the motivation to expand ArcBest’s capabilities in integrated logistics, and, as an offshoot, supply chain pressures pushed the company toward greater innovation in warehouse operations. That effort led the company into the robotics space.
“The robotics piece has emerged in the last two years,” Anderson said. “Really, from a public perspective, we
launched our robotics effort publicly earlier this year. What we saw was the need for innovative solutions, particularly in supply chains that were disrupted during the [COVID-19] pandemic.”
A big chunk of that innovation piece are ArcBest’s Vaux Freight Movement System and Vaux Smart Autonomy solutions. Anderson explained the offering this way: “In the forklift world, there’s a 4-kilogram counterbalance lift and a 5-kilogram counterbalance lift, and then reach trucks, [warehouse vehicles that are able to reach into taller or high-bay racking]. Those are the areas we’re really focused on right now in the robotics space, but there’s a safety element to this, as well.”
ArcBest does the upfitting of its Vaux systems to original equipment manufacturer lifts and reach trucks in Fort Smith. The forklifts themselves are manufactured by the OEMs, so whatever forklift manufacturer the customer is working with provides the base equipment. Currently, ArcBest works with select new equipment OEMs, so its systems cannot be retrofitted to existing lifts and reach trucks that a customer already has.
Vaux forklifts and reach trucks can work autonomously, operated by teleoperators using computers located remotely virtually anywhere in the world, or a worker, a human in this case, can hop on the lift or reach truck and override the robotic system and operate it manually.
“Vaux is about leveraging our full suite of innovation. It’s just a completely different way of thinking about loading and unloading trailers,” Anderson said.
The Vaux system was named one of Time magazine’s best inventions of 2023.
NOT JUST FOR INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS ANYMORE
Over at Myers Supply in Little Rock and Hot Springs, robotics is focused on service industries — cleaning, scrubbing and moving something like someone’s meal from Point A to Point B.
“We’ve seen since pre-pandemic days, the robot technology getting better and better, and for five years, we studied the market and met with different vendors from around the world just to see what all was out there — and it was really just 18 months ago that it finally got to a point where the technology was there and the price was continuing to drop,” said Ryan Myers, vice president and the third generation of his family working at Myers Supply. “If you look at robots, five years ago, they cost $80,000 to $120,000, and now, depending upon the style, you can get into robotics for as little as $5,000 and get something that will clean hundreds of thousands of square feet a day. The technology is such that [the robots] are equal to or better than a conventional auto scrubber or a vacuum.”
Myers said doing robotics demonstrations at customer locations is still something of a show for people unfamiliar with the technology.
“People are taking pictures because it’s still something new,
but we’re just a few years away from robotics being the norm,” he said.
Much of Myers’ business is focused on cleaning, both wet and dry applications. That includes auto scrubbers that put down a cleaning solution and then vacuum the wet surface plus hybrid robots that can do both wet and dry tasks from the same unit.
“Just about all of the robots have their own docking stations or workstations where they autofill, auto dump and auto charge,” Myers said. “Once they’re set up and the mapping is done for a facility, it’s just a matter of setting their schedule, and they will perform their schedule anytime of the day or week and go fill, dump and charge on their own until they’ve completed cleaning their designated area.”
But there is more: Myers supply also offers robots for restaurant, lodging and hospital applications, service segments where staffing shortages can be particularly acute. In those situations, the robots can do anything from hosting or greeting a customer to delivering food or medicine — even busing a table. Running time can be more than 20 hours.
“A service robot would be able to greet and have a little interaction with customers,” Myers said. “Again, they have full [artificial intelligence] capabilities, so you could get as advanced as facial recognition; the robot could recognize and greet people that it’s programmed to meet.”
Setup for a service or cleaning robot is straightforward and relatively quick. With Nvidia AI chips, the robots are self-learning, so even the mapping process that used to be a manual process that required scanning perimeters and virtual walls is no more. Depending upon the type of facility, a restaurant might be a three-hour setup, and a hotel might take a day. With a school or a university where multiple buildings are involved and complex maps are required, it might be a three- or four-day installation. Once that’s done, the units are very much self-sufficient thanks to onboard diagnostics. Using an app or a dashboard, if the robot has a clog or any type of error, it reports to someone responsible for maintaining the unit or a service center. Myers Supply offers remote monitoring if customers want that option and provides lifetime software updates.
Myers was quick to point out that his robotics offering is not meant to replace people on the job.
“Especially on the cleaning side, none of these [robots] are meant to replace people. It is meant to replace a redundant, menial task,” he said. “It makes no sense, at this point, to have a person mopping a
— Ryan Myers , vice president of Myers Supply “
“Especially on the cleaning side, none of these [robots] are meant to replace people. It is meant to replace a redundant, menial task. It makes no sense, at this point, to have a person mopping a floor or vacuuming a floor eight hours a day when this frees up that [human] resource.
floor or vacuuming a floor eight hours a day when this frees up that [human] resource. Everyone has limited staff to really focus on the health of a building, so employees are able to take care of the hotspots and touch points and focus on tasks that are really going to affect the health of the building versus just slinging a mop or a vacuum all day.”
OUT ON THE WAREHOUSE FLOOR
Anderson said there are four areas ArcBest is working to address in its robotics and advanced logistics capabilities: labor availability and productivity, supply chain bottlenecks, safety, and reducing damage and lost product.
As warehouses become larger in both floorspace and volume, the need to prevent product damage and lost product is critical. Being able to handle more warehouse tasks with robots and in concert with some software optimizations has allowed ArcBest, through Vaux systems and equipment, to reduce staging or multiple touches.
“We minimize those touches or handoffs where damages can happen or lost product can happen inside a facility or warehouse,” he said.
Part of the Vaux suite is called “smart autonomy,” which, as the name suggests, allows the robot forklifts to seamlessly work between full autonomous mode and being teleoperated. For
example, if the robot is picking up a pallet out of a trailer, the robot might autonomously run to that trailer and, once there, announce that it is available for the teleoperator to pick up the pallet. Once that move happens, the teleoperator completes that task, and then the robot can move autonomously to the next spot where it needs to drop that pallet.
A point of differentiation for ArcBest and Vaux is the system’s flexibility — being able to work in a variety of environments, for sure, but also offering both autonomous equipment and teleoperation in a single suite. Many of the company’s competitors are limited to offering fully autonomous machines or those managed by teleoperators, not both.
“In many cases, shippers or manufacturers are having to choose whether to select a fully autonomous product in the forklift space or select just teleoperations, which is more of an emerging market than even autonomous robots,” Anderson said. “The issue with full autonomy has always been that there are many what we call ‘edge cases’ [tight pathways, for instance], so everything can’t quite be automated just yet. There’s always a progression in what can be autonomously handled, so these robots pick up skills over time regarding what they can do autonomously.”
ArcBest is not just selling its robotic technology out in the marketplace. As a major shipper itself, the company’s warehouses and facilities have become de facto laboratories and showrooms.
“It’s a laboratory, for sure, since there are areas that we don’t necessarily show because it’s a work in progress — ongoing testing of new product and the next advancements within the Vaux
suite,” Anderson said, “but at the same time, it does give us a great place to be able to bring customers and show them what these things are capable of and show them in action.”
The company will sometimes take its showroom on the road, mocking up specific areas within a customer facility to demonstrate how the robotics systems will work in the customer’s specific application.
One of the final pieces of the robotics puzzle is how humans working on a manufacturing or warehouse floor interact with the burgeoning technology.
“From what we’ve seen so far, that’s not been a concern,” Anderson said. “Once you see it and you’re around it, it begins to blend into the environment. I mean, one of the things that we’re really focused on is safety first. We want customers to understand the depth of hardening that these systems go through to make sure that they’re safe in a customer environment. Getting a customer comfortable with that is very important from day one.”
If a robot has not delivered your piping-hot food, cleaned your restaurant table, washed the floor of your building or delivered your freight with as little human contact as possible, get ready, because it is probably going to happen. This is not the Hollywood world of scary technology or lofty science fiction; it is about efficiency and doing the repetitive jobs that employees no longer need to undertake while taking some of the safety concerns out of the workplace. If a robot greets you at a hotel by name and serves you a martini upon check-in, it is really more about novelty and customer service than dollars-and-cents efficiency — much more WALL-E than I, Robot.
2023 ARKANSAS EXPORTS BY COUNTRY
2023 ARKANSAS EXPORTS BY COUNTRY
U.S. State Export Statistics (Transport Modes: All Transport Modes) Via States: Arkansas
Products: Total (All Commodity Chapters)
U.S. State Export Statistics (Transport Modes: All Transport Modes) Via States: Arkansas
Value: Annual through 2023
Products: Total (All Commodity Chapters)
Value: Annual through 2023
SOURCE: Arkansas Economic Development Commission
Ripples
Boat makers ride the market waves, good and bad
By Mak Millard
Even as the COVD-19 pandemic’s headline-grabbing days recede farther into the distance, its impacts continue to ripple through industries, sometimes in vastly different ways. While the hospitality and travel markets can breathe a sigh of relief at recovering numbers of holiday jetsetters, that enthusiasm cannot be found in every corner. Luxury items and lifestyle investments ideal for passing the time away from crowds just a few years ago — that in-ground pool, for
example, or home gym setup — enjoyed a spike in demand during the pandemic that has since been on a sharp correction course. For boat manufacturers and dealers, the recent past has been a similar tale of souring demand and economic headwinds, though it seems there is still reason for positivity in the coming years.
The overall picture shows a market still adjusting to post-pandemic realities, according to a recent report. (Photos provided)
“I think that the industry is holding steady as a whole,” said Mark Copley, marketing director at Xpress Boats, which produces all-welded aluminum boats in Hot Springs. “Obviously, everybody would love for it to be like it was during COVID, but I think we understand that that now is an abnormal situation, not a normal situation.”
According to boating marketplace operator Boats Group, 2023 marked “full normalization” of the boating market, showing similar trends taking place between 2023 and 2024. High interest rates and inflation kept consumer demand low, and global searches related to boat purchasing dropped by 7.6 percent in the first half of 2024 compared to the same time frame last year.
“Despite some positive indicators,” such as an increase in new boat sales, “the overall picture shows a market still adjusting to post-pandemic realities and changing economic conditions,” the report states.
“Everything comes in cycles, and with every downturn of the economy, there’s going to be an upturn in the economy,” Copley said. “Now how quick will it be? We don’t know, but we’re cautiously optimistic that we’re seeing interest rates come back down. Hopefully, we’re seeing buyers having a little more confidence, and the stock market has responded well to the new administration coming in, but we also know those things can change, as well.”
Of course, not all products — nor consumers — are equal, and the aggregate data consists of everything from megayachts to skiffs. That makes for different outcomes depending on both the particular customer and the product they are after. High-end buyers might not be looking at interest rates when shopping for their next craft if they plan to pay in cash, but the average consumer, who will likely be financing the purchase, is all but sure to keep it front of mind.
“The credit buyer has been forced to withdraw from the market during the rapid rise,” said Keith Daffron, president of Flippin-based Vexus Boats, which produces both fiberglass
“
I think that the industry is holding steady as a whole. Obviously, everybody would love for it to be like it was during COVID, but I think we understand that that now is an abnormal situation, not a normal situation.
— Mark Copley, Xpress Boats
Xpress Boats manufactures all-aluminum boats from its plant in Hot Springs.
and aluminum boats. “It’s not that rates are historically high, but the shock of the current rate versus two years ago prohibits many purchases.”
With that in mind, Copley and Daffron agreed that lower interest rates are a crucial development and good news for both manufacturers and their dealers.
“It’s been very positive to see the rates start coming back down,” Copley said. “I think that’s going to have a positive effect not only in the boating industry but anything else where people are borrowing money. It frees people up. They can spend a little more, or they can let go of dollars they thought that they couldn’t let go of once the rates come down.”
While the stock market has reacted positively to the idea of a second Trump administration, some of the president-elect’s promised economic policies have the potential to complicate matters for manufacturers and, as a result, consumers. Economists across the political spectrum have noted that Trump’s proposed blanket tariffs — potentially in the double digits on imports from Mexico, Canada and China — threaten to throw an entirely different wrench into the equation.
“It’s beginning to become a concern,” Daffron said of the potential for new and increased tariffs. “Simply raising the cost of components flowing into this country will have a negative effect on demand, as the consumer ultimately pays this tariff. It appears to us that it will simply add to the inflation that we have fought these past two years.”
The current supply chain still has slightly longer-than-usual lead times but has mostly normalized since the pandemic and remains manageable, Daffron said, adding that “having a healthy distribution channel is critical, and
we continue to have sales turns that outpace the market and lower levels of distressed inventory.” While both boat brands benefit from being made in Arkansas and utilize many U.S.made parts, sourcing materials such as aluminum depends largely on where the best prices can be found, making it hard to know exactly how much of the supply chain would be impacted by tariffs.
“I think one of the things you have to do is you have to be smart as far as your supply chain and how you pur-
“
You get out on the water, all you’re thinking about is water. It’s a great stress release, so that’s what we’re hoping for, that people are going to continue to want to do things in the outdoors. We give them opportunities, from all kinds of different price ranges, where they can afford that.”
— Mark Copley, Xpress Boats
Vexus manufactures its boats in Flippin.
Keith Daffron
chase,” Copley said, “if you can afford to purchase parts that you know you’re going to need down the line and when you can get a better price on things, you get them in. … We have a really good supply chain of people in charge of that, that makes sure that we’re making the right buy on things. That helps us keep the cost down for the consumer.”
Boat sales are not entirely beholden to the whims of economic policy, however, and Copley noted other cost-saving measures that can entice customers, such as opting for a less expensive motor.
“We’ve been very blessed in that our No. 1 selling boat is actually a bay boat,” he said. “It’s a 20-foot bay boat. We’re in a little unique position in that with aluminum, you’re not going to pay as much as you would with a fiberglass, so there’s a cost saving.”
“As a matter of fact, we released a new boat this year, the H210 Bay, which is a 21-foot bay boat that has all of the necessary things of a more expensive boat, but we’ve saved money where we could. It’s an economically priced boat, as well. We’re trying to do things to make it more affordable for people, but we still offer for those who want to spend more that opportunity if they want to upsize on a boat.”
Copley and Daffron also emphasized what might be the most important piece in stoking demand: the quality of the product itself. Interest rate reprieves are certainly welcome, but remaining a sought-after product in the minds of consumers regardless of the economic outlook is an almost volatility-proof way to encourage sales.
“One of the things that we pride ourselves on is innovation,” Copley said. “We want to be that company that is constantly innovating and not just standing still and saying, ‘Here’s the same old boat we made 15 years ago.’ We want to continue to be the best brand out there.”
“We’re seeing greater demand for our fiberglass product, much being the result of new and innovative models introduced in 2024,” Daffron said. “We predict 2025 to show a slight increase in demand for the premium product we produce.”
Regardless of what the next four years and beyond might bring, both manufacturers stand to do well in the long term thanks to the strength of the industry in their home state. The Natural State’s place as a recreation and hunting destination with year-round opportunities for catching a variety of fish makes for a nearly built-in demand for the watercraft manufacturers that make it possible.
“We’re trying to build the things that people want,” Copley said. “We’re trying to be innovative, but we’re trying to be affordable. One thing that we’ve learned is that people want to fish. You get out on the water, all you’re thinking about is water. It’s a great stress release, so that’s what we’re hoping for, that people are going to continue to want to do things in the outdoors. We give them opportunities, from all kinds of different price ranges, where they can afford that.”
“The fishing industry as a whole is in a healthy place,” Daffron said. “Conservation efforts by the states, particularly ours, ensures that the fisheries are healthy. Coupled with the excitement around high school and college level fishing tournaments and a genuine desire to be outdoors, we feel good about the future.”
Rig staging at the Xpress plant in Hot Springs.
Landers’ Warfield Whiskey lands in Arkansas Natural Fit A
The Wings Over the Prairie festival in Stuttgart unofficially kicks off the duck hunting season each November and attracts thousands of outdoors enthusiasts from Arkansas and even across the globe.
The 89th installment, held over Thanksgiving weekend, had a little something extra for whiskey lovers, as well. Idaho’s Warfield Whiskey, owned by Arkansas auto dealer Steve Landers Jr., was the official whiskey of the festival.
By Mark Carter
Earlier this year, Landers’ Interstate Holdings purchased Sun Valley Distillery and Brewery of Ketchum, Idaho. The distillery produces the Warfield brand of spirits and craft beers. Previously a regional brand, Landers and his team wasted little time in expanding Warfield’s reach. Warfield products now are available in more than 40 restaurants, bars and liquor stores across Arkansas.
Locations include the Tanner restaurants in Little Rock — the Oyster Bar, Cheers in the Heights and Samantha’s Tap Room & Wood Grill — as well as Liquor World in Fayetteville, Maxine’s Live in Hot Springs, 107 Liquor in Sherwood, Legacy Wine and Spirits in Little Rock, Arthur’s Prime Steakhouse in Little Rock, the Faded Rose in Little Rock, Big Creek Golf & Country Club in Mountain Home, and Party House Liquor in Stuttgart.
Sun Valley spirits, including whiskey, vodka and gin, as well as craft beers and canned ready-to-drink cocktails — bearing the Warfield brand name — were approved for sale in Arkansas in October, and the Interstate team quickly partnered with Little Rock’s Moon Distributors to get its products on menus and shelves across Arkansas.
Dustin Curtis, Interstate vice president, said the team was eager to show off its product in Arkansas. The distillery’s latest run of 3-year-old certified organic American single-malt whiskey has been named the Deke edition in honor of the Ducks Unlimited Labrador retriever mascot and in honor of author Ernest Hemingway’s dog. The run was introduced in Arkansas in November.
“We thought it very fitting since we are launching in Arkansas this November to name it the Deke edition,” Curtis said. “It ties into our ‘Guided by the Wild’ theme. With us having a passion for the outdoors, it was a perfect fit. Plus, Hemingway spent years in Sun Valley, looking at the mountains behind the distillery and writing.”
Landers, Curtis — each based in Florida — and Josh Strobel, the distillery’s head brewmaster, were in Stuttgart for Wings. Strobel has degrees in biochemistry and fermentation science and technology from Colorado State University. Curtis said he, Landers and Strobel handed out shots at the festival’s VIP dinner.
Curtis said the grains, barley and hops used in Warfield’s whiskey, gin and beer are grown within 30 miles of the distillery.
“It’s all pure Rocky Mountain water,” he said. “It’s incredible.”
Warfield is named for nearby Warfield Creek, which runs through Ketchum and features pools of hot springs open for bathing. It had previously been a regional brand, but Landers said he bought the distillery with the intention of bringing it to his home state and expanding nationwide. Through an e-commerce platform called LiquidRails, Warfield products now are available in 47 states, including Arkansas.
Curtis said Warfield spirits are unique
The whiskey is mashed, fermented and distilled in-house from nonglycosidic nitrile grain malts. (Photos provided)
Warfield was the official whiskey of the 89th annual Wings Over the Prairie Festival in Stuttgart over Thanksgiving weekend.
Below:Warfield spirits are distilled from crystal malts in a Scottish-made copper still.
in that they are distilled from pale and crystal malts in a Scottish-made copper still. The whiskey is mashed, fermented and distilled in-house from non-glycosidic nitrile grain malts and aged in recycled, recharred oak barrels.
Landers said he was happy to finally get Warfield products on the ground in his home state.
“I don’t know if we can be more excited about the opportunity with Stan and Moon coming on,” he said. “We really do believe we’ve got a great product, and we want to share it with people.
There are probably three other distillers in the nation that make whiskey the way we do it. It’s a neat feeling. People will be excited about our product. Ask for Warfield by name.”
Interstate is also making significant investments in the distillery. Since the acquisition earlier this year, the distillery has undergone a complete upgrade, including the addition of automation that has increased efficiency and production capacity, Landers said.
The distillery now has three copper pot stills — one 215-gallon gin still made in Washington state and two 1,000-gallon whiskey stills made by Forsyth in Scotland.
The Interstate team also introduced the Warfield Whiskey Club subscription service and a holiday subscription service. There is no annual fee to join, and members can cancel anytime. Membership affords exclusive and private access to Warfield offerings. New releases are made available to members before distribution to local liquor stores in Idaho, though shipping is still not available in all states.
“Whiskey club subscribers will be able to buy any of our special limitededition releases prior to any release to the public,” Curtis said. “Membership guarantees you first access to any release, a perk exclusive to club members. We’re still not in all liquor stores, but this represents a way to be able to go online and buy our products.”
Then there is the Sun Valley Distillery barrel investment program, which aims to capitalize on the trend of whiskey as a sound investment. Barron’s recently reported that “investing in whiskey is a global phenomenon that shows no signs of slowing down.”
The Sun Valley Distillery 9150 Club offers the chance to invest in full barrels of Warfield American single-malt whiskey. Investing in whiskey has been trend-
ing up, and Curtis said whiskey barrels have long shown themselves to be a good investment.
“Good returns from whiskey maturation have been achieved over many years, but historically, only distillers and blenders could benefit,” Curtis said. “The investing process is remarkably straightforward.”
The SVD 9150 Club allows a limited number of qualifying investors to secure holdings that protect wealth during economic uncertainty, deliver consistent growth as the spirit matures over time and provide multiple paths to profitable exit when the time is right, he added.
“Whiskey barrels represent a tangible asset and have proven to be a credible hedge against inflation while often outperforming traditional investments,” Landers said.
The club has 250 barrels available at $2,000 each. Curtis said the value of rare whiskey has increased 478 percent over the last decade, and average annual returns per barrel typically range from 12 percent to 18 percent. Interested potential investors can email him at dustin@drinkwarfield.com for more information.
“Whiskey in barrels continues to mature, which adds to its value the longer it is left to evolve,” Curtis said. “However, once bottled, the aging process stops. The longer whiskey ages in an oak barrel, the more flavors are imparted from the wood into the single-malt whiskey. As the age of the rare whiskey increases, your asset will build momentum to deliver huge returns.”
Barreled whiskey has a life span of roughly 50 years. Since it is prone to evaporation, barreled whiskey is classified as a “wasting asset,” which exempts it from the capital gains tax.
There is a growing demand for American malt whiskey. The market was valued at $4.3 billion in 2021 and is projected to hit $6.7 billion by 2031
with an expected annual growth rate through 2027 of 9.85 percent, the American whiskey market report from Statista states.
Curtis said Sun Valley currently produces about 200 barrels a month and runs eight hours a day five days a week. The barrel program was softlaunched to friends of the ownership team and sold out in two days, he added.
“We could do 24/7, but we don’t need to do that,” he said.
Landers said building strong long-term relationships with other distillers, brands and wholesalers across the United States is a cornerstone of the Sun Valley barrel program.
“By working directly though those relationships, we can offer more lucrative and diverse exit opportunities for our investors,” he said. “With years of experience in the whiskey industry, our team offers unparalleled expertise and insight into the American single-malt whiskey market, ensuring each investment is managed with professionalism and care.”
WARFIELD WHISKEY’S WAR-FASHIONED
• 2 ounces Warfield Whiskey
• 1/4 ounce rich simple syrup (2 cups sugar/1 cup water heated on stove until dissolved)
Landers’ vision for his latest venture includes accelerating top-line growth and improving margins through the barrel investment program, building the Sun Valley team, increasing distilling capacity to support five times the current production, expanding distribution, and strengthening the brand.
“We want to bring it nationwide and grow the brand,” he said, adding that word of mouth led to his phone blowing up about Warfield’s availability in Arkansas and beyond.
“We’re really excited about it,” he said.
• 2 to 3 dashes Angostura Bitters
• Lemon and orange twist to garnish
Combine all the ingredients in a rocks glass.
Add one large ice cube and stir for 10 seconds.
Garnish with lemon and orange twist.
A BIGGER BOOM
It seemed to happen overnight. A few years ago, sleepy south Arkansas woke up to a growing buzz — with a lithium boom on the horizon, the region is set to strike it rich once again.
According to a study released by the U.S. Geological Survey and Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment in October, there is enough lithium beneath south Arkansas to meet the projected 2030 world demand for lithium in car batteries nine times over, somewhere between 5 million and 19 million tons.
“It will be bigger than the oil boom was in the ’20s here,” said Bill Luther, president and CEO of the El Dorado-Union County Chamber of Commerce.
When asked how much the lithium
Lithium industry poised to inject billions of dollars into Arkansas economy
By Sarah DeClerk // Photos provided
industry would impact the local economy, Erik Pollock, director of the University of Arkansas Stable Isotope Lab and Trace Element and Radiogenic Isotope Lab in Fayetteville simply said, “A lot.”
“Let me put it this way — I did a back-of-theenvelope calculation of the amount of lithium that was in the land under lease eight or 10 months ago and what, at the time, was a pretty crummy price for lithium, and I came up with, like, $150 billion worth of lithium,” he said. “We could be looking at something that’s going to put $2 or $3 billion a year into the Arkansas economy.”
WHY NOW?
Obviously, the substance did not simply show up one day, so why the sudden interest in Arkansas lithium?
Erik Pollock
Bill Luther
The Smackover Formation, which includes south Arkansas, has an abundance of lithium-rich brine, and that could spell riches for the state.
“We’ve actually been drilling oil wells in Smackover for about 100 years, so we knew the Smackover [Formation] was there,” Pollock said. “Some of the earlier lithium data was back into the ’80s, I believe. It didn’t become a big deal because nobody needed lithium in the ’80s, and we didn’t have the technology to extract it, so we needed a need, and we needed technology.”
Technology converged with need about five years ago. From a technological standpoint, researchers developed direct lithium extraction, a method capable of extracting lithium from the brine reservoirs in south Arkansas. As far as need, not only are lithium batteries for electronic vehicles increasing in demand, but the U.S. has become interested in finding sources of lithium close to home.
“There’s been an increasing shift toward finding domestic or, at least, more friendly productions of both lithium and other critical minerals, and so we’ve begun to look at our own resources much more closely,” Pollock said.
Today, almost all lithium is produced in South America, although there is some production in Australia, and refined in China for battery production there, Pollock said.
“They have sort of a chokehold on the market, and so they can manipulate their economy to our disadvantage,” he added. “This crops up in the news every once in a while. You’ll see a little bit of saber rattling here and there, but the threat became real enough that the Department of Defense and the administration said, ‘We’ve got to see if we can find better sources so we don’t have to work with these people.’”
In 2021, Kathleen Hicks, deputy secretary of defense, mentioned lithium-ion batteries as part of a speech about climate change and national security at Wayne State University in Michigan. Since then, the Department of Defense has taken additional steps to shore up the domestic lithium supply chain.
“Battery technology and lithium-ion batteries, specifically, are the lifeblood of electrification and the future auto industry, but batteries
are also essential to thousands of military systems, from handheld radios to unmanned submersibles and to future capabilities like lasers, directed energy weapons and hybrid electric tactical vehicles,” she said in her speech. “A healthy battery supply chain is essential to the military. When it comes to batteries, America needs to lead the world.”
In addition to electric vehicles and defense manufacturing, lithium is a component of batteries that store renewable energy produced by wind and solar power, and lithium-ion batteries can be found in an increasing number of household goods, Pollock said.
“It creeps around sort of everywhere. It’s in my phone. It’s in my cordless drill,” he added. “We are going to see the electrification of everything.”
In February, the Arkansas Lithium Innovation Summit in Little Rock brought together the myriad of stakeholders interested in the lithium boom. Pollock, who participated as a panelist, said the summit helped tell the story of Arkansas to visitors from as far away as Europe and Canada.
“I think that that was a wonderful way to sort of plant an open sign for Arkansas,” he said. “I think that the panelists and the speakers did a really good job of reinforcing what we know to be a good place to do business and to have a life.”
PREPARING FOR THE UNPRECEDENTED
Interest from Standard Lithium, Equinor, ExxonMobil and others has set off a flurry of activity as Arkansas works to accommodate its burgeoning lithium industry.
“We really haven’t seen this in this country,” Pollock said. “Probably the closest would be some of the work that’s gone on in the Salton Sea in California, which also has some brines. Technologically, they haven’t been quite as successful as the early results out of Arkansas have been for that, and so the boom hasn’t taken shape quite as dramatically as it looks like it’s poised to do in Arkansas.”
Alberta and the Oregon-Nevada border also have lithium deposits, but the Alberta deposits are of lower quality than those in Arkansas, Pollock said, and the Oregon-Nevada deposits pose mining challenges because they lack the water resources necessary for production.
The lithium industry in south Arkansas should not pose any environmental concerns, Pollock said, adding that the DLE process extracts the brine from the ground, removes the lithium from the brine and returns the brine to the reservoir with minimal surface disruption. He said bromine extraction, which has been done in the region for decades, uses a similar process.
“That’s similar for the bromine, which is also in this play, and we’ve been doing that for about 50 years fairly safely, so the environmental impacts for the magnitude of the resource we have are really going to be quite small,” he said.
The existing south Arkansas bromine production by companies such as Lanxess makes the area attractive to lithium producers, said Florence Meadors, Lithium Regional Innovation Cluster program manager.
“There’s already a framework in place, so that’s why a lot of these players are wanting to have a presence in Arkansas,” she said. “We already have frameworks set, and there’s a social buyin, and that gives us a first-mover advantage.”
The U.S. Small Business Administration chose Fayettevillebased Startup Junkie to lead the Lithium Regional Innovation Cluster in October.
“I think the hope there is to really put Arkansas on the map within the lithium industry,” said Matthew Ward, senior executive consultant at Startup Junkie. “We have a really great asset in south Arkansas. We have a lot of great stakeholders being involved. Startup Junkie gets to have a seat at the table, be able to make an impact, whether it’s through jobs, whether it’s through helping bring more capital to the area or making the right connections for clients.”
THE BOOM BEGINS
A significant amount of land in south Arkansas is currently under lease and awaiting lithium production, Pollock said. Standard Lithium currently operates a demonstration plant in the area, and further commercial projects from Standard and others are set to follow.
However, lithium production is currently on hold until the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission approves the royalty rate at which landholders will be reimbursed.
“That is a difficult conversation that’s being had,” Pollock said. “We really need to make sure that we hit a sweet spot with that royalty figure in order to engage industry and not economically price them out while also honoring the land owners’ materials.”
Luther said the lithium companies may end up sharing their
profit reports with the commission in order for a fair rate to be determined.
“The high end is 12.5 percent, what the royalty owners are looking for. The low end was 1.82 percent, which the commission declined, so I don’t know what the happy medium is,” he said. “Until the corporations open up their books somehow so the commission can determine what the profit actually is, that’s going to be the holdup.”
The need to prove profitability is one reason the lithium boom has not taken off as sharply as its 1920s predecessor, he added.
“Almost overnight, once the Busey [oil] well came in, the population of El Dorado doubled and everybody, tons of folks, came from Little Rock almost immediately,” he said. “It’s going to be a little slower in developing than the oil boom in the ’20s. One reason — the major corporations, they don’t jump in and invest until they’re pretty confident they’re going to get a return on what they’re investing in.”
The lithium boom is also set to be more long-lived than the oil boom, Pollock added.
“This is going to be a slow burn,” Pollock said. “We can’t take this lithium out like a gusher of oil. Some of these producers are looking at their reserves as 30and 50-year production windows.”
MORE FOR THE MONEY
Pollock said that although he is not concerned about the environmental implications of the lithium industry, he worries that the state may sell itself short by simply producing lithium for export, rather than becoming involved in the downstream supply chain.
“If we keep thinking as a state, we can turn this into a very positive piece of economic and community growth and workforce development,” Pollock said. “The environmental aspects don’t worry me considering the scale of these operations. What I would be sort of concerned about would be if Arkansas sort of becomes just a lithium producer, and then we end up sort of short-selling ourselves by selling the lithium to Texas or Louisiana as opposed to using it to grow more of the downstream economy in the lithium industry.”
The downstream end of the lithium-ion battery supply chain is overbuilt, and there are an abundance of battery factories in Kansas, Alabama and Texas that do not have a domestic lithium source, Pollock said. While he added that he does not expect Arkansas to develop a large battery manufacturing sector, he said each step of manufacturing battery components and putting together cells for batteries represents an opportunity for Arkansas industry.
Florence Meadors
Matthew Ward
“ It’s going to be a little slower in developing than the oil boom in the ’20s. One reason — the major corporations, they don’t jump in and invest until they’re pretty confident they’re going to get a return on what they’re investing in.
— Bill Luther , president and CEO of the El Dorado-Union County Chamber of Commerce
Startup Junkie is among the organizations working to piece together the many entrepreneurial opportunities wrought by the lithium boom.
“We don’t want it to be just an export/import business,” Ward said. “We want it to be a value-add chain where it’s having advanced manufacturing, being able to help out, once the lithium’s out of the ground, with the processing, anode, cathode, attracting some of those other players into the region, and then, also, you know, if any of the industries have certain gaps, being able to help fill those with startups from around the nation to help make processes more efficient and really drive impact here.”
Ward said Startup Junkie will work to bring together various stakeholders, including lithium producers, institutes of higher education and chambers of commerce, to help drive development in south Arkansas.
“The mandate for the SBA is to create jobs and bring innovation, and how we’ll do that is through various services, such as the cost of mentoring and coaching, events that are educational, networking or related to showcasing, access to capital, access to subject matter experts,” he said. “That’s how we see ourselves in the area, and this will involve different stakeholders in the area, such as the enterprises.”
THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
No industry exists in a vacuum, and Luther said he expects the lithium industry to support various other sectors, including housing, health care and workforce development. One of the most positive things he has noticed are collaborations at local colleges and universities to apply for grants for programs that support lithium production.
South Arkansas College in El Dorado has already obtained a grant for a program that allows high school students to earn concurrent credit in a chemical technician program, he said.
“High school students can take courses concurrently beginning in their junior year, and then they take the courses out at South Arkansas East Campus,” he said. “After they graduate from high school, they attend another six months, and they have a certificate or an associate degree, and those young folks, six months out of high school, can be working for $85,000 plus.”
In addition to providing high-paying jobs, he said he expects the lithium boom to foster community development in south Arkansas by bringing additional housing, retail and amenities to the region.
“All of these major players have expressed interest in investing in the communities, and I foresee bike trails and things going on like in northwest Arkansas,” he said. “A lot of folks are going to be locating here from elsewhere, and they kind of expect that sort of amenity, so I think it will be beneficial for all.”
Meadors, who is based in Magnolia and previously worked as a business consultant at the Small Business and Technology Development Center at South Arkansas University, said the local stakeholders have already expressed interest in investing in the area to help retain students as workers who could help support the lithium industry.
“As far as the community development goes, I think this is just going to give all these areas a really good opportunity to grow and just enhance what’s already here,” she said. “Having worked directly in community development for several years, I mean, there’s ups and downs when the income levels go up, but I think it will make this a place where adding a lot more features is going to be attractive because it will help with that quality of life, and it will help to keep people here and to keep people coming.”
If northeast Arkansas has steel and northwest Arkansas has Walmart, lithium could be the catalyst that enhances both the economy and culture of south Arkansas, if not the entire state.
“Walmart got started, they started to attract a lot of those brands, and today, in northwest Arkansas, there’s over 1,400 vendors supporting Walmart,” Ward said. “It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, but we can see [lithium] being a huge magnet to the state, which could indirectly have an increase with tax payments, the infrastructure … the uptick in mainstream businesses and some other things like that.”
IT AIN’T EV
ARKANSAS SHOWS PROMISE BUT HAS YET TO FULLY BUY INTO THE BUZZ
By Mak Millard
It remains to be seen whether the U.S. is in store for a Jetsons-esque future like that dreamed up for the year 2062 by the fortune-tellers at Hanna-Barbera. If the current state of electric vehicles is any indication, however, the age of the flying car will have a long, uphill battle towards fruition.
Down here on the ground, car manufacturers, governments and consumers are doing their best to navigate the various carrots and sticks involved in embracing EV technology, from climate benefits, cost savings and federal incentives to statelevel policy hindrances and more fundamental concerns about practicality. As for where the Natural State stands on the sub-
ject — well, it depends on who one asks.
“The appetite is not great, even though we have seen an uptick in Arkansas,” said Bruce Gilby, general manager of Parker Lexus in Little Rock. “The tax incentives have helped, especially for the commuter community.”
While demand is growing, electric vehicles remain an inherently niche option in a predominantly rural state such as Arkansas. They nevertheless make economic sense for some buyers, said Lauren Waldrip, executive director of the Arkansas Advanced Energy Association.
“For example, the average EV owner can save up to $2,800 annually on fuel costs alone, not to mention reduced maintenance expenses,” she said. “These savings are especially attractive to urban and suburban drivers who have better access to charging infrastructure.”
Lexus sales associate Joshua Pardee cited a figure that the state is on track to see a 140 percent increase in registered EVs over 2023, indicating a genuine if not yet fully realized interest.
“In my opinion, I think a lot of Arkansans are already getting on board,” Pardee said. “Arkansas is ranked in the top 10 when it comes to energy costs, so charging at home can save you a lot of money. The average cost to fully charge at home is less than $10.”
Those fuel savings and avoiding trips to the gas station altogether are a stronger pull than that of federal tax incentives in the opinion of sales associate Jesse Pastor. Even consumers with environmental motivations for considering an EV need “at least 300 miles of range to feel comfortable,” he said. In addition to the time it takes to charge, Pardee added, the most frequent hesitation the dealership hears from prospective buyers is range.
Key to addressing that “range anxiety” is improving the state’s charging infrastructure. Even as the cost of the cars themselves has decreased in recent years, potential buyers in Arkansas remain skeptical — and rightly so — over the idea that they might be stranded miles away from the nearest place to plug in. Accessibility for more than just the major metros has been top of mind for some, es-
pecially at the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
Earlier this year, ARDOT awarded nearly $15 million for 19 statewide charging station projects as part of the larger National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program from 2021. Authorized by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the NEVI program provides funding for projects to build a national network of electric vehicle charging stations along federally designated alternative fuel corridors by 2030. Arkansas is set to receive $54.1 million from the NEVI program between 2022 and 2026. The funding provides up to 80 percent of the cost to build each station; the rest comes from the private sector. Waldrip called the state’s investment a “critical step in expanding charging access.”
“These investments, backed by federal funding and strong state leadership, are creating a network that supports rural and urban drivers alike,” she said. “Gov. [Sarah Huckabee] Sanders has ensured these funds are being used effectively to drive economic growth.”
Pastor, on the other hand, posited that charger availability will respond to demand rather than vice versa. When every EV gets at least 300 miles of range, he said, he expects charging stations to start to pop up around the state.
“Arkansans are very pragmatic people,” Pastor said. “If it makes sense to the core, Arkansans will adopt something. Right now, it simply doesn’t make sense due to range concerns.”
The AAEA has been working to support incoming investments and help build out the state’s charging networks, ensuring that EVs are a practical option for Arkansans who choose them, Waldrip said. Electric vehicles have also seen faster adoption among industries with large fleets, such as logistics and retail, she added. EVs offer these companies significant cost savings and operational efficiencies.
“Companies like Walmart, for example, are setting a precedent by incorporating EVs into their operations, achieving both economic and environmental benefits simultaneously,” Waldrip said.
Lauren Waldrip
Joshua Pardee
Jesse Pastor
Bruce Gilby
While charging projects come down the pipeline, there is still the question of federal incentives and state-level policies affecting the rate of adoption. According to a release from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act created a mechanism to make a clean vehicle tax credit available at the point of sale rather than when buyers file taxes. An October announcement between the department and the Internal Revenue Service stated that “consumers have saved more than $2 billion in upfront costs on their purchase of more than 300,000 clean vehicles since Jan. 1, 2024.”
The future of incentives on the federal level is uncertain, however, and Axios reported that the incoming Trump administration is “reportedly expected to pursue the demolition of electric vehicle tax credits that provide discounts of up to $7,500 on new EVs.” Opinions vary, but at least some analysts think the potential of repeal might spur those on the fence to buy while they can still qualify for the credit, while others are concerned about the repercussions on promised investments in factories, battery plants and mineral facilities from the automotive industry if EV sales take a hit in the credit’s absence. Still, incentives are not the sole indicator of future consumer demand.
“Incentives have a role in encouraging emerging technologies and mitigating potential perceived risk, but they must be balanced with economic sustainability,” Waldrip said.
“With the new administration, I think it will be
Although consumers are hesitant to fully embrace electronic vehicles, hybrids remain a top choice at Lexus.
a more sensible approach instead of mandates,” Gilby said. “[Lexus parent company] Toyota is building a battery plant that will produce solid state batteries that will be lighter and charge faster. As manufacturers get better at the range and charging, the consumers will be more willing to consider EVs.”
The Arkansas Advanced Energy Association helps members navigate these shifting national and state policies with a specific focus on grid modernization, workforce development and expanding EV infrastructure, Waldrip said. The group is preparing for an energy landscape that balances the economic benefits of EVs with consumer needs for reliability and security, all the while ensuring that the Natural State remains a competitive force.
“The next administration will have a significant impact on the EV market, particularly through tariff policies, federal incentives and regulatory changes,” Waldrip said. “A balanced approach that supports innovation, like Elon Musk’s leadership in streamlining EV production and promoting domestic manufacturing, could drive economic growth and strengthen national security by reducing reliance on foreign supply chains.”
The association is also interested in removing state-level barriers to widespread adoption, such as a law that mandates that EVs be purchased through traditional dealerships rather than directly from manufacturers, Waldrip said. The law not only limits consumer choice, she said, but prevents the state from capturing the economic benefits of EV sales. Reforming it would stimulate local economic growth, in addition to encouraging more Arkansans to consider electric vehicles.
“This outdated law hinders economic growth by sending EV sales — and the accompanying tax revenue — out of state,” she said. “Consumers should have the freedom to purchase directly, which aligns with AAEA’s commitment to free and fair markets.”
As for Lexus, the brand currently offers one all-electric vehicle, the RZ, and has more options available across its plug-in hybrid and hybrid models. Lexus will have EVs across almost its entire portfolio in the next few years or so, Gilby said, and the dealership already has four charging stations and staff trained on selling and servicing EVs. The brand’s hybrids and plug-in hybrids remain the consumer’s top choice thanks to offering “the best of both worlds” for drivers. In Arkansas, pragmatism wins the day over chasing the next big thing, meaning that Arkansans are likely to come around to EVs on their own time and only when it makes as much sense for their wallets and commutes as it does the environment.
“Despite federal efforts to accelerate the transition to EVs, widespread acceptance will take time,” Waldrip said. “A rapid transition would strain our grid, which is not yet equipped to handle such a shift. Gradual adoption allows utilities to prepare responsibly and ensure reliability while maintaining affordability, but we cannot afford to delay those efforts any longer.”
THANK YOU TO THE AMP READERS for voting AT&T as the Best Internet Service Provider in Arkansas
Join us as we settle into that nice corner office with the view. AMP visits the C-suite to talk with some of the state’s chief officers (executive, operating, financial and more) about the pressures and responsibilities they face daily.
These leaders make the calls that make the state’s economy move, and AMP will showcase them in March.
THE FORECAST FOR SOLAR IN ARKANSAS
‘Ambitious’
project hopes to advance industry
By Lance Brownfield
The solar industry in Arkansas is beaming as new opportunities look to advance the green energy source across the state. To borrow a line from the Beatles, here comes the sun.
A recent event at the University of Arkansas - Pulaski Technical College shed light on the upcoming fourth largest university solar project in the country between the University of Arkansas System, Scenic Hill Solar and Climate United. The $31.8 billion investment marks the largest of its kind in state history.
The project is “by far the most ambitious and complex” project of its kind in the nation, said Bill Halter, CEO of Scenic Hill Solar. It consists of 18 different solar power plants all over the state in 14 different utility service territories. At three times the size of any previous commercial and industrial project in Arkansas, it is set to provide $120 million in savings over 25 years to the UA System without any capital expenditures.
“It really has profound economic impacts with projects all over the
Bill Halter
state,” Halter said, “as well as very significant environmental impacts.”
The press conference was held Tuesday, Oct. 22, at UAPTC’s Center for Humanities and Arts. Several officials spoke at the ceremony, which followed a solar panel signing.
Apart from the cost savings, Halter said the university system was interested in the project for the advancement of academics and research.
“The university [system] has a number of programs geared around solar power, renewable energy, electric vehicles, batteries,” he said, “and so we’re tying those academic efforts and programs to a very large project.”
The third consequence, he said, is that the project, like the system, touches every part of the state.
“Those three things together not only provide a great opportunity for solar energy, but they also provide a great opportunity for the state for economic development surrounding solar energy and batteries,” Halter said. “We think this is a natural fit for the state.”
Halter’s company is Arkansas’ largest solar developer and is the fifth largest commercial and industrial solar developer in the country. Scenic Hill Solar specializes in the commercial space and does not work in residential solar or the utility side of the industry.
“It’s a very nice project and a very nice fit for what we do,” he said.
It is not as simple as finding a nice sunny spot and setting some panels on the ground, though. It takes a lot of planning and capital for a project like this to get its day in the sun.
Climate United connected with the Scenic Hill Solar team and recognized the project was having trouble accessing predevelopment capital, the funds needed to get started. The first phase of capital supplied by Climate United went towards equipment purchases, land acquisition and interconnection deposits or fees for hooking up the new solar farms to the electrical grid.
In the words of CEO Beth Bafford, Climate United is a national coalition of
three nonprofit financial institutions: Calvert Impact, Community Preservation Corp. and Self-Help.
Together, the three organizations applied for the National Clean Investment Fund Program under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
The National Clean Investment Fund Program is a $14 billion program, part of the Inflation Reduction Act administered by the Environmental Protection Agency. Bafford’s organization was awarded $6.97 billion to go towards a national financing entity that is built to finance projects across three sectors — distributed generation and storage, building decarbonization and electric transportation, she said.
Marking the first Climate United project to use the National Clean Investment Funds, a contract was signed in August for an initial investment of $31.8 million in the university system undertaking for pre-development financing.
“Our job really is to look at market gaps in those sectors where those technologies are not particularly reaching low- and income-disadvantaged families, rural communities across the country,” Bafford said. “How do we use this capital in a way that’s more flexible and affordable to make projects work that otherwise would have challenges accessing financing?”
The current plan is to invest the entire $6.97 billion over the next five years into various projects, although repayments from previous ventures will also be added to the pool, allowing Climate United to reinvest funds into projects for the next 30 years and beyond.
The portion of construction and permanent financing, which will be put towards building the projects, will be assessed and doled out over time for the joint venture.
“We’re really looking at exciting projects and programs that meet the three objectives all across the country,” Bafford said, “but primarily in places like Arkansas that haven’t had
Beth Bafford
A Delta Solar array in east Arkansas. (Photos provided)
as much local investment in the clean energy economy transition as other parts of the country, so we’re really looking where we can find opportunities to dramatically reduce emissions, to bring direct benefits to peoples’ lives and to catalyze private investment where private capital is not efficiently flowing today.”
Climate United sees an exciting pipeline of opportunities ahead, looking to expand its work in Arkansas and in other parts of the country, particularly in rural America and in other low and income-disadvantaged communities.
While the project stands to position Arkansas as a leader in the global solar industry in coming years, the renewable resource has been gaining traction across the country over the past 15 years or so.
storage. Solar represented 50 gigawatts, wind 19 gigawatts, storage 29 gigawatts and hybrid 17 gigawatts.
“Solar is the lowest-cost energy generation option globally, and that holds true in Arkansas, as well,” Kane said. “The state will see significant growth in solar installations, but the key question is who will own these systems, and who will benefit most from the value they create?”
It is not just sunshine and rainbows when it comes to installing solar anymore.
Kane said historically, private citizens were incentivized to invest in solar through the one-to-one net metering policy. Changes made in 2023, however, have shifted much of the value to utility operators for any new solar energy systems. The changes went into effect in October.
“As a result, while Arkansas will continue to see substantial solar development, the current regulatory framework favors utility-driven projects over privately-owned installations,” Kane said.
“We’re really looking where we can find opportunities to dramatically reduce emissions, to bring direct benefits to peoples’ lives and to catalyze private investment where private capital is not efficiently flowing today.”
— Beth Bafford , CEO of Climate United “
Little Rock-based Delta Solar is getting in on the growth as well. Chris Kane, vice president of business development, said solar has grown from 4 percent of new grid capacity in 2010 to more than 66 percent this year. He said lots of new energy storage has been added as well, growing from 1 percent in 2018 to over 14 percent in 2024.
Kane said each incremental addition of solar generating equipment adds less to the grid as it all tends to produce during the same time of the day, while integrating storage and allowing the grid to determine when the most valuable time to discharge helps to overcome this challenge.
Delta specializes in commercial and agricultural solar arrays, typically ranging from 50 kilowatts to 5 megawatts. Kane sees great opportunities for small businesses and farms to harness the benefits of solar technology. Initially envisioning the enterprise as a nonprofit, the founders realized that profit and impact often go together.
Midcontinent Independent System Operator, the electric grid operator for 15 states in the central U.S. and the Canadian province of Manitoba, announced in April that 93 percent of the 123 gigawatts of new generation in the queue was renewables/
Net metering is more than a buzzword; it is a system that tracks electricity consumption and production on a given meter or set of meters. Kane said the previous policy helped make it possible for individuals who owned systems to get ahead financially. Each month, utility providers calculated the “net usage” which amounts to energy consumption minus production; any excess production was credited to the customer for future use. Customers who produced excess solar energy “effectively provided it as an interest-free loan to the utility.”
The energy was then distributed to others, while customers could draw on their credits later when needed. No energy was sold under the system; it was simply accounted for as a credit.
“Encouraging this sort of mutually beneficial relationship is what will allow some states and utilities to thrive while others struggle with the relentless march of progress in solar and storage,” Kane said.
Arkansas has switched to a two-channel billing system which means customers are charged retail rates for the energy they consume, while the utility companies purchase any excess energy “at wholesale rates, less than half the retail value,” Kane added. The wholesale rate is based on a 12-month average “avoided cost,” which includes hours when the sun is not shining and grid demand is at its lowest.
“This approach undervalues solar by including off-peak times and creates financial challenges, particularly for agricultural producers,” Kane said. “These producers generate power for the grid for most of the year at low wholesale rates but must purchase power at full retail rates during peak usage months, making solar a less favorable longterm investment for their operations.”
The issue has been heavily debated at the Arkansas Public Service Commission, the stated reason for the change
Chris Kane
to two-channel billing being to prevent cost-shifting from solar customers to nonsolar customers.
“While some data suggests this might happen in states with extensive residential solar adoption, it is unlikely to affect commercial systems,” Kane said, “the reason being commercial systems are typically demand-metered, meaning they include a line item on their bill designed to cover the fixed costs of providing service.”
He said in some instances a service charge is applied to all customers under the new regulations. Once Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas included a “service availability charge,” which it defines as “a fixed charge designed to recover the basic monthly costs of providing poles, wires, transformers, meters, billing, etc.” Kane said charges like that further undermine the rationale for the policy change, especially for demand-metered rate payers, as it already accounts for costs that are claimed to be shifted to nonsolar customers.
“This is oversimplified, but fundamentally, utilities are rewarded for owning generation,” Kane said. “It is a big reason why customer-owned generation like solar is seen as a threat. One way to address this would be to reward the utility for managing the distribution of energy as much or more so than owning generation assets. Short of that, there are many models around the U.S. that seek to ‘split’ the value of customer generated electricity.”
He cited Florida, where customers receive 85 percent of retail rates for their generation after Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a two-channel billing bill similar to the one in Arkansas.
“The nice thing about this approach is that it can be adjusted based on changing conditions,” Kane said.
It is worth noting that Florida, the “Sunshine State,” gets a lot more sun per year than Arkansas, and that could be one factor in its ability to offer better solar policies. That does not deter Kane’s sunny disposition about the changes in his industry.
“By transforming the variable, ever-increasing cost of power into a predictable and manageable expense, we help businesses and farms achieve long-term financial stability,” Kane said.
“Delta Solar is a fan of consumer choice and free market economics,” he said. “The worst outcome is having policies that encourage those with money to minimize their interaction with the grid or disconnect all together. This is what, ultimately, will shift the cost of grid maintenance to those customers who can afford it least and create an aptly named ‘utility death spiral.’ It is easy to dismiss this and assume that it won’t happen here or that it is many years away. If I was a policy maker or a utility executive, however, I would be nervous about how fast technology is developing. We are closer than you probably think.”
Regardless of whether the net metering change is here to stay, it is not unwise to bet one’s bottom dollar the sun will come out tomorrow as advancements in technology and new partnerships push Arkansas to the forefront of the industry.
Halter said there is “tremendous opportunity” in the Natural State for the future of solar energy. Arkansas ranks 11th in the amount of sunshine per year in all 50 states, and there are also abundant land and water resources valuable to the industry. For now, the university system’s project could be enough to brighten the outlook for some time.
“It will be a very visible sign of the university’s commitment,” Halter said, “not just to cost savings and the academic enterprise but also local economic development.”
Delta specializes in commercial and agricultural solar arrays.
TALKING MARKET SHARES, RENEWABLES and RATES with SUMMIT UTILITIES
By AMP Staff
Todd Jacobs joined Summit Utilities as its executive vice president and chief operating officer in August. Based in Little Rock, he oversees Summit’s operations, bringing 18 years of energy-sector experience to his role at Summit.
Summit is the natural gas provider for 525,000 households in Arkansas and Oklahoma, as well as the Texarkana area in Texas. Arkansas Money & Politics visited with Jacobs about what Summit actually is, market shares for natural gas, renewable projects, rates and more.
AMP: Tell us about Summit Utilities.
Jacobs: Summit is Arkansas’ largest natural gas utility, and our mission is to provide safe and reliable natural gas service to over 400,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers across more than 50 counties. Summit aims to lead the way in providing energy solutions that strengthen and advance our state.
We believe in the power of community and the difference we can make together, which is why we focus on contributing to local economic growth through job creation, charitable giving and year-round volunteer efforts.
In 2024, Summit awarded over $50,000 in grants to Arkansas nonprofits supporting human needs, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) education, community vitality and environmental stewardship.
Summit’s volunteer time off program empowers employees to give back to their communities by dedicating paid time off to support local nonprofits, schools and community initiatives. Each Summit employee receives 20 hours of VTO annually.
Beyond Arkansas, Summit serves customers in Colorado, Maine, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. Together, our entities provide natural gas service to ap-
proximately 625,000 customers and operate more than 23,400 miles of pipeline.
AMP: How is the market share for natural gas trending compared to other energy sources?
Jacobs: According to the Energy Information Administration, natural gas is steadily increasing its market share in the U.S. energy market. It currently accounts for approximately 36 percent of total primary energy consumption — a significant increase compared to previous years.
In October, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that natural gas is the lowest-cost energy source available to households. Natural gas is an essential part of the energy economy today and will continue to be into the future, as it plays a key role in the all-of-the-above energy approach. Natural gas ensures our nation has a stable, secure and reliable energy sup-
Todd Jacobs
ply. It plays a crucial role in maintaining grid stability that wind and solar energy alone cannot provide.
Renewable energy sources like renewable natural gas are also seeing significant growth in market share. We are excited to create a more sustainable future by revolutionizing energy production by driving forwardthinking energy solutions.
AMP: What progress has Summit made with its renewable natural gas projects, and what does the future look like for them?
Jacobs: Summit’s renewable energy subsidiary, Peaks Renewables, has made significant strides in our renewable natural gas initiatives. The company is currently expanding its dairy digester, located in Clinton, Maine, to increase its capacity and impact.
The facility collects manure from six family-owned dairy farms to generate homegrown, renewable natural gas. That gas is then delivered to Summit Natural Gas of Maine’s customers. The gas created in the digestor is functionally identical to traditional natural gas and can be used for heating, cooking and other needs. The project meets approximately half the residential demand for Summit Natural Gas of Maine.
Additionally, Peaks is actively developing a portfolio of projects across the country, utilizing various sources such as manure from feedlots and poultry operations, biomass, and food waste.
These projects are at various stages of development, reflecting our commitment to advancing sustainable energy solutions and supporting the energy transition. Looking ahead, we recognize the tremendous potential for RNG to play a pivotal role in our energy future, and we’re excited to lead this effort by expanding our operational footprint and continuing to innovate in this space.
AMP: What can we expect for the future as far as utility rates?
Jacobs: Utility rates are influenced by several factors, including market conditions, infrastructure investments and regulatory changes. As we move forward, we can expect to see utility rates that reflect the costs of maintaining and upgrading essential infrastructure.
It’s also important to note that regulatory bodies will continue to play a significant role in overseeing rate adjustments, ensuring that utility providers operate fairly and transparently while considering consumers’ needs.
Summit remains committed to providing reliable and safe energy solutions for our customers. We will
continue to work closely with regulators and stakeholders to manage any rate changes while minimizing the impact on our customers.
AMP: What are some easy ways for customers to lower utility bills?
Jacobs: At Summit, we work directly with our customers to help lower their utility bills, especially in the winter months, when natural gas bills tend to be higher due to increased usage.
Customers can reduce their utility bills by using simple tips to save energy and money:
• Adjust your thermostat: Keep your thermostat set to 68 F in the winter if you are able to do so. Lowering your thermostat by a few degrees in the winter can significantly reduce energy costs.
• Seal air leaks: Check drafts around windows and doors. Weatherstripping and caulking are costeffective ways to keep heat inside your home and the cool air out.
• Limit hot water usage: Lower your water heater temperature to 120 F, and use cold water for laundry whenever possible.
• Take advantage of natural light: Open blinds or curtains to let in sunlight instead of turning on lights during the day.
• Schedule an energy audit: Summit offers energy audits to identify ways to improve your home’s energy efficiency.
AMP: What other services, such as insulating and rebates, do you offer to homeowners?
Jacobs: Summit’s energy-efficiency programs offer many free and low-cost products and services to customers, along with natural gas equipment rebates to offset the cost of the more efficient equipment. These programs aim to help customers lower their utility bills.
Some low-cost products include showerheads and faucet aerators to help customers save water and energy. These items can be ordered on Summit’s marketplace at summitutilities.com/armarketplace.
There are no-cost options, as well, like energy audits and weatherization services, that keep the cold air out and the warmth in, ensuring your home stays cozy during the winter months.
For those considering replacing their natural gas furnace or water heater, rebates of up to $800 are available to help reduce the total cost of equipment replacement. You can find all the rebates offered at summitutilities.com/rebates.
Let Summit Help You
2024 ARKANSAS MONEY & POLITICS
POWER WOMEN
Women are proving their power every day as they continue to break through glass ceilings and prove there is really nothing they cannot do. These AMP “Power Women” for 2024 were nominated by readers, and each has blazed a trail, exhibited outstanding leadership or enhanced her company’s performance. They represent all areas of industry, from lawyers and doctors to small-business owners and executives. More women are entering work arenas traditionally filled by men. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, women made up about 47 percent of the American workforce, 30 percent working in manufacturing, and 1 out of every 4 management positions were held by women. Women in manufacturing earned, on average, 16 percent more than the national median annual income for women who are employed. Though men still hold most U.S. manufacturing jobs at almost 68 percent, from 2010 through 2020, the share of women in manufacturing jobs rose in every working-age category. According to Deloitte, women make up 47 percent of the total U.S. labor force and hold more than half of all U.S. managerial and professional positions. Women are proving that there are no workplaces they cannot tame. We’re proud to recognize these “Power Women” for 2024.
DANA C. ABRAHAM, M.D., FACS
Breast Surgical Oncologist
Arkansas Surgical Hospital
Dr. Dana C. Abraham is a breast surgical oncologist at Arkansas Surgical Hospital in North Little Rock. She is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha honor medical society, as well as a member of the American Society of Breast Disease and American Society of Breast Surgeons. Abraham was born and raised in Little Rock, where she graduated from Hall High School in 1976. She attended Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where she majored in biological sciences with a minor in psychology. She graduated from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock in 1989. She completed a five-year general surgery residency and then a fellowship in breast surgical oncology at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. Her training covers all aspects of breast health, including lactation and fibrocystic changes. Abraham helps coordinate patient consultations for possible radiation and systemic therapies. Additionally, she provides breast reductions and breast lifts through her newly formed company, All Beautiful Concerns in Little Rock.
JUDY ADAMS
Owner
Catering to You
Judy Adams is the founder of Catering to You, Little Rock’s one-stop shop for catering, gifts and take-and-bake meals for more than 40 years. Born and raised in Little Rock, Adams started out catering for friends before being asked to cook for the board of Systematics, which grew into running a cafeteria and gift shop for over 1,000 employees. When Systematics was acquired by Alltel, Adams set up Catering to You on Cantrell Road. Among many other endeavors, Adams was on the board of Our House in Little Rock for seven years and has served on three boards at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock: the advisory board, the college of medicine’s board of visitors and the board of the psychiatric research institute, where she was a founding member. Adams obtained her degree in elementary education from Hendrix College in Conway, where she met her husband, Don. Two of their three children also have careers in the food industry; Brian owns Whole Hog restaurants in Bentonville and Fayetteville, and Blake is with Ben E. Keith Foods in Little Rock. Their daughter, Ashley Anderson, teaches pre-K at Episcopal Collegiate School.
VANESSA CASH ADAMS
Partner
ARlaw Partners
ROBYN P. ALLMENDINGER
Attorney Rose Law Firm
ELIZABETH BURNS ANDERSON
Executive Director
Farmers Bank & Trust, Farmers Bank Foundation
ADRIANA FUENTES ARCHILA
Vice President Community Development Arkansas Capital Corp.
SUSAN BARIOLA
Vice President of New Business Development GraduationSource
BRYTTANI BARTLETT
Director of Strategic Communications University of Central Arkansas
SHANNON BEDORE
CEO
Sightline Retail/
Blue Elephant Food Group USA
Shannon Bedore is the CEO of Sightline Retail in Bentonville and Blue Elephant Food Group USA. Bedore founded Sightline Retail in 2015 to provide sales, management, strategy, operations, replenishment, warehousing and administrative support for brands to have a lower cost option than directly hiring an internal retail team. Prior to starting Sightline, she worked at Walmart and Kohl’s. Bedore has also dedicated much time to closing health care gaps for the cystic fibrosis community in Arkansas. She helped open an adult cystic fibrosis clinic in northwest Arkansas and served for many years as board president in northwest Arkansas of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. She currently sits on the Mercy Hospital Community Board. Bedore obtained her bachelor’s degree in human resources from Michigan State University and her master’s degree in supply chain management from the Pennsylvania State University. She is currently completing her doctorate at the University of Florida, after which she hopes to teach retail, supply chain and brand management at the collegiate level.
SHERRA BENNETT
Equity Officer, Program Officer Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation
TRACI BERRY
Northwoods Trails Coordinator Visit Hot Springs
ERIN CRAIN BRADY
Owner
By Invitation Only
Erin Crain Brady is the owner of By Invitation Only, a Little Rock paper boutique specializing in fine stationery, invitations and gifts. Brady purchased By Invitation Only more than 20 years ago to satisfy her desire to be an entrepreneur and to become the local go-to destination for wedding invitations and stationery. Brady and her team pride themselves on offering personalized attention to every client and believe excellent customer service is the foundation of the business. Beyond her entrepreneurial success, Brady finds her greatest joy in her family. Her journey is a testament to passion, perseverance and the power of family support.
Judy Adams is the founder of Catering to You, Little Rock’s one-stop shop for catering, gifts and take-and-bake meals for more than 40 years. Born and raised in Little Rock, Adams started out catering for friends before being asked to cook for the board of Systematics, which grew into running a cafeteria and gift shop for over 1,000 employees. When Systematics was acquired by Alltel, Adams set up Catering to You on Cantrell Road.
LAUREN ENGLISH BRITTON, LCP
COURTNEY ROSS BROWN
Associate
Carney, Bates & Pulliam
JEAN SANDERS BROWN
Branch Professional
Brown Comstock Private Wealth Advisors
SHEA BRYANT
Owner
Town Pump, Gadwall’s Grill
Shea Bryant is the owner of Town Pump in Little Rock and Gadwall’s Grill in North Little Rock, both of which have served central Arkansas families for generations. The Bryant family opened Gadwall’s in 1989, and she purchased Town Pump in 2018, updating the space to continue serving its avid customer base. Bryant also works in medical sales and is a sales associate for Medicalock, where she sells innovative safety products for operating rooms. Outside of the restaurant and health care fields, Bryant has a passion for animals and works to raise awareness of the state’s stray and rescue dog population. She has fostered hundreds of dogs and supports various animal rescue groups. She believes that rescuing animals is not only rewarding for the impact one can make but for teaching compassion and life lessons, as well. Bryant obtained her bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.
TISH BULLARD
Director of Operations and Events
Pine Bluff Country Club
TIFFNY CALLOWAY
Director of Operations, Delta Population Health Institute
NYIT
Tiffny Calloway serves as the director of operations at the Delta Population Health Institute, which serves as the community outreach and engagement arm of New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University in Fayetteville. Prior to joining NYITCOM in 2019, Calloway served as the director of community development for the city of Jonesboro. Her previous experience also includes roles with the Delta Regional Authority, where she served as a regional economic and community development officer, and she spent nearly three years as the northeast Arkansas regional manager in the community development division of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.
ASHLEY BEARDEN CAMPBELL
Partner
Impact Management Group
A native of Pine Bluff, Calloway earned her undergraduate degree from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and received the Distinguished Service Graduate Award from A-State. She is a graduate of the Community Development Institute and received the Ernest L. Whitelaw Award in 2017.
Ashley Bearden Campbell is a partner at Impact Management Group in Little Rock and a registered lobbyist who represents clients before the Arkansas General Assembly and state agencies. For nearly 15 years, she has provided strategic counsel and executed advocacy campaigns to support a wide range of clients at the local and state level. In addition to managing clients in IMG’s public affairs, public relations, digital advocacy and political consulting practice areas, Campbell serves as a political consultant who provides counsel, digital media management and strategic communications for candidates at the local, state and congressional levels.
Campbell also currently serves as the executive director for Arkansans for Improving Maternal Health, which has a mission to raise public awareness, cultivate champions for change and spur action regarding maternal health in Arkansas. She spends much of her free time volunteering and has served on numerous nonprofit boards, including the Downtown Little Rock Partnership, Race for the Cure and 3 Miles of Men. Campbell obtained her bachelor’s degree in communications and writing from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
MEREDITH CAUSEY
E-discovery Attorney
Quattlebaum, Grooms & Tull
Meredith Causey at the Little Rock law firm of Quattlebaum, Grooms & Tull concentrates her practice on electronic discovery and information governance, focusing on the identification, preservation, collection, review and production of electronically stored information. She also advises clients on a wide range of technology-related matters, including software licensing, cloud computing and website privacy policies. Before entering private practice, Causey founded an electronic discovery firm, where she provided clients with best practices and strategic advice on legal issues surrounding electronic discovery. Recognized in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America for commercial litigation, Causey has a Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law and served a student externship with Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. She earned her undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.
STACI CAVER
Financial Advisor
Edward Jones
COLISTA CEVELA
Real Estate Agent, Owner
Century 21, The Big Chill
Shannon Bedore
CEO
SIGHTLINE RETAIL/BLUE ELEPHANT FOOD
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE DEFINING MOMENT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR?
Stamina. Even when things were tough, I always kept on going. So many times, it would have been easier to quit and find easier work. My defining moment is a multitude of moments where I kept pushing forward. Now I couldn’t be happier with where I am at professionally and am proud of my achievements.
WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?
I love to meet new clients and solve their challenges of launching and managing their brands at retailers. The more clients trust my firm to work on product strategy, the better job we do of excelling. It is still so fun for me to launch products and measure consumer responses. The consumer never ceases to amaze me.
IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY OTHER JOB, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
I don’t think there is one. I’m so fulfilled professionally, I can’t imagine any other job where I could achieve this level of professional accomplishment, mental stimulation and work with such a great group of people every day. There isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not appreciative of this.
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD CHANGE ABOUT YOUR INDUSTRY?
I wish my industry had more diversity in terms of leadership and in general, as a rising tide lifts all ships. Even as a female, there are very few other CEOs, which can feel isolating at times.
WHAT DOES SUCCESS MEAN TO YOU?
Knowing when enough is enough.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A YOUNG WOMAN EARLY IN HER CAREER?
Stay strong, keep your chin up, and always lead with integrity. Balancing a career and your personal goals can be challenging at times. You may have to sleep less than you want at times, but working hard always pays off in the long run.
WHAT GOALS OR MILESTONES DO YOU WANT TO REACH BEFORE YOU RETIRE?
I’m in my last year of a doctoral program at University of Florida. Finishing this degree has been a personal goal for some time, and it is finally coming to fruition. I hope to use this degree in a collegiate setting to teach students about retail, supply chain and brand management. This will be a major milestone for me to achieve, along with continuing to lead the company.
SHANA CHAPLIN
Chief Program Officer
Winthrop Rockefeller Institute
Shana Chaplin, chief program officer, develops and leads impactful programs and education services that fulfill the strategic vision of the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, located atop Petit Jean Mountain outside Morrilton. Chaplin served most recently as director of Engage Arkansas, where she led the office through simultaneous federal and state transformation, launched the first statewide volunteer portal, increased the award of grant funds from just more than $600,000 to $1.7 million, secured private grant funding to help launch the Collegiate Service Leaders network, grew the number of Mayor’s Youth Councils, and launched the Engaged Cities certification program. Chaplin has invested 35 years in the public sector as a community engagement professional and has a demonstrated history in program management, organizational development, volunteer management and public advocacy. She currently serves on the Pulaski County Homeless Village Advisory Board and is an alumnus of Leadership AR Class XIV.
BAILEY CLARK
Vice President Operations
Flexion Point
ANGIE COOPER
Executive Vice President
Heartland Forward
Angie Cooper serves as president and chief operating officer of Heartland Forward in Bentonville, where she oversees strategy, public policy and programming, as well as Heartland Forward’s flagship event, the Heartland Summit. As president, she is focused on being a resource for states and communities, turning Heartland Forward’s research into action, creating new partnerships, and leading public policy solutions for state and local communities across the 20 states in the heartland region.
For more than 16 years, Cooper worked in international and domestic public policy and government affairs at Walmart, most recently as senior director of global public policy. She also worked at various departments within Walmart, including merchandising, public affairs, state and local government relations, and the Walmart foundation. In 2023, Cooper was named the Charles Benton Digital Equity Emerging Leader by the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society for her work on access to affordable highspeed internet. She is recognized as a Top 100 Women of Impact in Arkansas by the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas and, in 2024, was appointed to the U.S. Department of Commerce National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee.
SHAYLA COPAS
Founder Shayla Copas Lifestyle
BECKY CRANFORD
General Manager
The Bug Man
SAMMIE CRIBBS
President/CEO
Northwest Arkansas Regional Medical Center
KRISTI CRUM
CEO
Rock Dental Brands
KRISTIN N. DANIEL
Founder/Managing Partner
Parity Financial Group
Kristin Daniel started in the financial industry in 2010 with the goal of helping individuals and families become more financially secure. Her desire to help others began from being raised in a small Arkansas town by a blue-collar family that instilled values of honesty and hard work to help shape the person she has become.
Over the years, Daniel’s goal has grown into a passion for working with individuals, business owners and entrepreneurs to plan, collaborate and scale their dreams in life as they build their empire and legacy.
Daniel was voted to Arkansas Money & Politics’ “Best Financial Advisors” list for 2023, as well as “Influencers of the Year” for 2024. In addition to working hands-on with the firm’s clients, Daniel is involved in several nonprofit organizations. She is the incoming president on the board of directors for the Helen Walton R. Children’s Enrichment Center. She is the chair for the Justin Moore St. Jude Golf Classic to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. Daniel also serves on her children’s parent teacher organization. She and her husband, Rob, live in Bentonville with their two daughters, Bryce and Charlotte, and schnauzer, Oscar.
JORDAN DAVIDSON, APRN Beyond Wellness
Jordan Davidson, an advanced practice registered nurse, joined Beyond Wellness to advance its mission of providing proactive, root-cause health care solutions. She emphasizes patient-centered care, creating an environment where patients feel heard, valued and empowered in their health journeys. Specializing in cutting-edge treatments such as weight management, peptide and hormone therapy, laser therapies, body contouring, microneedling, hair restoration, joint injections, and injectables, Davidson delivers comprehensive care tailored to individual needs. Her expertise and compassionate approach reflect Beyond Wellness’ commitment to holistic, innovative health care. Beyond Wellness is a functional wellness and health-focused clinic offering health and beauty services and treatments with locations in Lonsdale and Little Rock, and including a new location soon to open Little Rock’s Hillcrest neighborhood.
Shea Bryant OWNER
TOWN PUMP, GADWALL’S GRILL
WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?
Serving others is my passion. I have waited on people since I was 18. My parents were dog and animal people, especially my dad, and they rescued for years. Then, of course, when we opened the restaurant, they instilled that sense of service into me too. I always remind my employees, “Our customers could keep driving, you know. The food is great, but they don’t have to stop here.” You can sit with the governor or the janitor, but you should treat everyone the same.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A YOUNG WOMAN EARLY IN HER CAREER?
Never give up. If you can’t figure it out one way, go another. No matter who you come up against, remember that they put their pants on in the morning one leg at a time, just like everybody else.
WHAT OBSTACLES HAVE YOU FACED, EITHER PERSONALLY OR PROFESSIONALLY?
I am a single mom, and I’ve had to do everything myself. I have to get up every morning and fight. I’m trying to set an example for my daughter, too, about staying true to yourself and working hard. Everything I do to be financially stable, to be successful — everything I do is for her.
WHAT GOALS OR MILESTONES DO YOU WANT TO REACH BEFORE YOU RETIRE?
I’d like to see stronger spay and neuter laws. I’d like to have the money to hire lobbyists and advocates for animal rescue in the legislature. Really, I’d love to have the money to just help people whenever I can.
WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
When I’m cleaning or need motivation, I’ll put on Old Dominion.
AMP 2024 POWER WOMEN
Tiffny Calloway
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, DELTA POPULATION HEALTH INSTITUTE NYIT COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE AT ARKANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE DEFINING MOMENT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR?
Overseeing the successful launch of the Delta Population Health Institute’s maternal health initiative. Witnessing its impact on mothers in underserved communities and seeing families thrive because of our efforts reaffirmed my commitment to advancing health equity. Additionally, securing funding for Veterans Village of Jonesboro, a housing community for veterans, was a highlight. I was proud to secure the funding before leaving my role with the city of Jonesboro, knowing it would make a lasting impact on those who served our country.
WHAT PRE-CAREER MOMENT HAS HAD THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON THE WAY YOU APPROACH YOUR WORK?
Working with state and local governments taught me the importance of collaboration and advocacy. Those experiences shaped my understanding of how policy and community engagement intersect to create meaningful change.
WHAT GOALS OR MILESTONES DO YOU WANT TO REACH BEFORE YOU RETIRE?
I want to establish sustainable initiatives that improve maternal and child health outcomes across the Delta region. Additionally, I hope to mentor emerging leaders and leave a legacy of innovation and equity in public health.
IS THERE ANOTHER “POWER WOMAN” WHO INSPIRES YOU?
Dr. Brookshield Laurent, a transformative leader in health equity and family medicine, inspires me. Her passion for addressing disparities and empowering communities motivates me to aim higher.
Ashley Bearden Campbell
PARTNER
IMPACT
MANAGEMENT GROUP
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE DEFINING MOMENT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR?
The defining moment of my career was becoming a partner at Impact Management Group, the first woman to hold this title in the company’s history. It was an empowering milestone that reinforced my commitment to advocating for my clients and shaping meaningful public policy. Equally pivotal was the 2023 launch of Arkansans for Improving Maternal Health, a nonprofit addressing maternal health disparities in Arkansas, where I serve as executive director. These two roles allow me to combine my professional expertise with my passion for improving the lives of families across the state.
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD CHANGE ABOUT YOUR INDUSTRY?
I would love to see more women in leadership, both as elected officials and in more decision-making roles. Diversity of thought and experience is critical to shaping policies that truly serve all communities.
WHAT GOALS OR MILESTONES DO YOU WANT TO REACH BEFORE YOU RETIRE?
My ultimate goal is to continue the mission of shaping meaningful policy that makes Arkansas a better place for future generations. I also want to continue growing the firm my father started over 20 years ago and would love to one day see my daughter carry on the legacy we’re building together — if she chooses to work in the policy space, of course. IS THERE ANOTHER “POWER WOMAN” WHO INSPIRES YOU?
My mother is my biggest inspiration. Her resilience and passion for education taught me the value of empowering others and making a difference in their lives. She was the epitome of strength, kindness and generosity — a legacy my siblings and I are proud to carry on.
MARCIA DOBBS-SMITH
Owner
Grand Lagniappe Shoppe
MARGARET DOBSON
Judge
Hot Springs County Circuit Court 2023-2024 President
Arkansas Bar Association
FAITH ELLIOTT
Vice President
Amfuel
SUSIE EVERETT
Co-owner
Everett Automotive Group
APRIL FINDLAY
Executive Broker
Charlotte John Co.
April Findlay is an executive broker and experienced residential real estate agent with the Charlotte John Co. in Little Rock, one of the top-selling residential real estate firms in the state and one of central Arkansas’ most recognized brands. She has been with the company since 2013 and is recognized for her skills in customer service, sales, marketing strategy and social media. A leader in her industry, Findlay has previously served as president of the Little Rock Realtors Association and co-chaired the public relations committee for the Arkansas Realtors Association. She has also served her community through work on a variety of committees for groups such as the Little Rock Marathon, Tour de Rock and the CARTI Festival of Trees. Findlay obtained her bachelor’s degree in marketing and finance from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
JOEY FLOWERS
Chief Strategy Officer
ARcare
Authority. She has had leadership roles in the Rural Health Association of Arkansas, where she served as chairman, and various chambers of commerce. She has completed state and national Leadership programs. She earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Arkansas Tech University in Russellville in 1991 and an Master of Busienss Administration from the University of Phoenix in 2007.
TAMMY GARDNER
AVP, Small Business/Real Estate Loan Officer
First Arkansas Bank & Trust
GRACIE GENTRY
Audit Partner
SF Fiser & Co.
MAYA GRAY
Brand Growth Strategist/Chief Strategy Officer
Day Dream Design Firm
LAURA ELISABETH GRESSLER, M.S., PhD
Assistant Professor, College of Pharmacy
UAMS
NANCY GRIEBEL
Marketing Director
Euronet Software Solutions
SARAH CATHERINE GUTIERREZ
Founder/CEO
Aptus Financia
PAIGE HADIDON
Director of Human Resources
OrthoArkansas
TRACI HAMPTON
Director of Marketing and Administrative Services
Highlands Oncology Group
Joey Flowers is a seasoned health care executive with more than 29 years of experience at ARcare, where she serves as chief strategy officer and plays a pivotal role in expanding access to quality care across Arkansas, Kentucky and Mississippi. Flowers leads strategic initiatives, fosters partnerships with regional hospital systems and behavioral health networks, and has served as interim CEO of the state Provider-led Arkansas Shared Savings Entity system, Empower. Her efforts led her to become the chief strategy officer in 2019, and she has helped ARcare grow from nine federally qualified health centers to more than 90 facilities. Her leadership has generated more than $20 million annually in grant funding, driving innovation in health care and community services. She serves as vice president of the White River Regional Housing Authority Board and has helped develop interstate coalitions through the Office of Rural Health and Delta Regional
RYANN HARTLEY
Owner
Hartley Commercial
SARAH HEER
Co-owner
Arkie Travels
AMY HESTER
Owner, Stylist/Colorist
Red Beauty Lounge
JESSICA HESTER
CEO
Verdant Studio
DR. NATALIA HODGE
Founder
Hodge Orthodontics
Kristin N. Daniel
FOUNDER, MANAGING PARTNER PARITY FINANCIAL GROUP
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE DEFINING MOMENT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR?
In 2019, I broke away from traditional financial planning firms to launch Parity Financial Group, a woman-owned business redefining financial services with strategic innovation. By breaking away from outdated models, we created a client-first approach that prioritizes transparency, education and holistic financial wellness, bringing fresh perspectives that challenge the industry’s traditional paradigms.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A YOUNG WOMAN EARLY IN HER CAREER?
In an industry where women have been historically underrepresented, you have to trust your instincts, do right by your clients, and the rest will work out as it’s supposed to. As a woman in this industry, I’ve learned that our unique perspective — combining analytical rigor with empathetic understanding — isn’t just a different approach; it’s a competitive advantage that challenges outdated norms and delivers more comprehensive, thoughtful financial guidance. IS THERE ANOTHER “POWER WOMAN” WHO INSPIRES YOU?
Johnelle Hunt serves as the ultimate inspiration to me. Her business acumen, unwavering determination and remarkable grace are qualities I deeply admire.
WHAT ARE YOU READING/WATCHING/LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Starting to read Letting Go by David Hawkins; watching Monsters on Netflix; and always listening to The Ed Mylett Show podcast.
WHAT IS A QUOTE OR SAYING THAT MOTIVATES YOU?
“To whom much is given, much is required.” Luke 12:48
CONGRATULATIONS
Angie Cooper
President and COO, Heartland Forward Executive Director, Heartland Summit
Arkansas Money & Politics POWER WOMAN
Angie Cooper serves as president and chief operating officer of Heartland Forward, overseeing strategy, public policy, programming and Heartland Forward’s flagship event, the Heartland Summit.
As president, Angie is focused on being a resource for states and communities - turning Heartland Forward’s research into action, creating new partnerships and leading public policy solutions for state and local communities across the 20 states in the heartland region.
heartlandforward.org
702 SE 5th Street, Suite 48 Bentonville, AR 72712
Jordan Davidson, APRN BEYOND WELLNESS
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE DEFINING MOMENT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR?
My previous experience in nursing homes and hospice care often left me questioning, “How did we get here?” I had been praying for guidance, and it was at this point that I received the opportunity to join Beyond Wellness. From the start, we focused on proactive health care rather than reactive treatments, and I have come to realize that this is the path I was meant to follow.
WHAT GOALS OR MILESTONES DO YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE BEFORE YOU RETIRE?
I want to continue to contribute to Beyond Wellness’ growth and optimize health care for men and women. I’d love to continue improving my skill set by incorporating a wide range of topics to help people achieve their health goals and improve their lives. I’m constantly learning and evolving, and I hope to keep refining my understanding to be as useful as possible in all sorts of conversations.
WHAT PRE-CAREER MOMENT HAS HAD THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON THE WAY YOU APPROACH YOUR WORK?
I have had a passion to help since I can remember, and I have seen the health care field fail family members. This lit a fire and a passion in me to find a better way to help people. I believe this influenced me to seek out the type of position that would allow me to use my knowledge and training in hormones and “root cause” medicine to change the lives of our patients.
WHAT OBSTACLES HAVE YOU FACED, EITHER PERSONALLY OR PROFESSIONALLY?
Balancing motherhood with career advancement can be challenging, but it’s absolutely possible with thoughtful planning, support and flexibility. Having young children while obtaining my BSN, MSN/APRN was extremely difficult. Having a supportive husband and family members who can pitch in with childcare or household tasks is crucial.
CONGRATULATIONS
WOMEN 2024 ON BEING NAMED
Erin Hunter ATTORNEY, DEPUTY PROSECUTOR DE QUEEN
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE DEFINING MOMENT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR?
The defining moment of my career so far is winning a big sexual assault trial against a prolific offender who had six victims he abused over many years. This was a “he said, she said” case without any physical evidence. The offender was sentenced to two life sentences plus 102 years in prison.
WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?
I love fighting for victims and seeking justice helping those who cannot help themselves.
WHAT PRE-CAREER MOMENT HAS HAD THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON THE WAY YOU APPROACH YOUR WORK?
The couple of weeks before I started law school, my dad made me come home and help him work on the hog farm. I had been enjoying my last few weeks of the summer break, living it up in Fayetteville. I realized when I got home that he was not, in fact, short-handed but he wanted me to remember where the money came from to pay for my fancy education and to remember the work I had to come home to if I did not finish school. This not only kept me motivated to finish school but to continue to work hard and appreciate the value of a dollar.
WHAT OBSTACLES HAVE YOU FACED, EITHER PERSONALLY OR PROFESSIONALLY?
I think the biggest obstacle I have faced professionally is being discounted as a younger female attorney in a male-dominated field. Women attorneys have to work twice as hard and be twice as tough.
WHAT GOALS OR MILESTONES DO YOU WANT TO REACH BEFORE YOU RETIRE?
I have a lot I want to mark off my list, including elected prosecutor and circuit judge or federal prosecutor.
IS THERE ANOTHER “POWER WOMAN” WHO INSPIRES YOU?
My mother, Rhonda Hunter, inspires me daily. She is semi-retired from her career as an executive from a Fortune 500 company where she worked her way up from an entry-level position to a senior vice president. Now she serves on the boards of directors for two publicly traded companies and balances that with her everyday life of chasing grandkids everywhere, from rodeos to ballgames. She is the backbone of our family, all the while helping my dad work their cattle ranch. My mother is the definition of a power woman.
WHAT IS A QUOTE OR SAYING THAT MOTIVATES YOU?
“Nolite te bastardes carborundorum,” by Margaret Atwood.
ERIN HUNTER
Owner/Attorney
Law Office of Erin Hunter
Erin Hunter is an attorney who works in De Queen. Originally from Newhope, she graduated from Dierks High School and went on to receive her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, as well as a Juris Doctorate from the University of Arkansas. Hunter has been practicing law since 2010 and has served many roles throughout her career, including chief deputy prosecutor and appointed prosecutor for the 9W judicial district. She is currently the elected city attorney for De Queen, a deputy prosecutor for Polk County, and has her own private civil practice. Hunter is married to Stephen Sprick, and they have two children: Presley, 15, and Levi, 10.
L aDONNA JOHNSTON
President/CEO
Unity Health
LaDonna Johnston is president and CEO of Unity Health, an Arkansas health care system consisting of four hospitals, 28 clinics and specialties, and more than 150 physicians. Johnston has more than 35 years of experience at Unity Health, having held several key leadership roles within the organization, most recently including administrator of Unity Health-Newport, vice president of patient services and vice president of nursing services. As an Arkansas native with a Master of Nursing Science from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Harding University in Searcy, she is passionate about serving patients, families and communities with excellence and expertise. Engrained in the rich Unity Health history and culture, Johnston has a heart for fostering exceptional patient care and creating a positive working atmosphere where associates can thrive and grow.
JULIE JOYCE
Senior Manager of Public Engagement UAMS Community Health & Research
DANA KAHL, PT, DPT, EDD
Assistant Dean/Chair, School of Physical Therapy
ACHE
Dana Kahl is the dean of the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education School of Physical Therapy in Fort Smith. She received her Bachelor of Science in physical therapy from the University of Oklahoma in 1991 and her Doctor of Physical Therapy from the University of New England in 2015. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Education degree in adult and lifelong learning at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. She has more than 25 years of clinical experience, primarily treating individuals with neurological disorders, including spinal cord injury, stroke, brain injury and Parkinson’s disease. In
addition to practice, she served as the clinical education coordinator at Ascension St. John Medical Center in Tulsa many years and taught in the physical therapy assistant program at Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville for six years.
STEPHANIE KEET
Director of Marketing
JTJ Restaurants
MARY BRAY KELLEY
President
Bray Sheet Metal
Bray Sheet Metal is a family-owned business with more than 35 employees. It has been located on Scott Street in downtown Little Rock since 1924 and is still run by the original owner’s granddaughter, Mary Bray Kelley, making it a certified woman-owned business. Her son, Woody Simmons, vice president and manager of the roofing department, is the fourth generation of the Bray family to work there. Bray is known as one of the finest air system contractors in the region. The company is a member of the Little Rock Regional Chamber and the Better Business Bureau of Arkansas. Bray Kelley said the company’s success is due to the dedicated group of men and women who come to work not only for a paycheck but to feel the satisfaction of pleasing the customers and producing a product staff can take pride in.
JENNA KEY Controller
Parker Automotive Group
Jenna Key is controller at Parker Automotive Group in Little Rock. Key has been with Parker for 15 years. Parker dealerships have been a part of the central Arkansas automotive community for more than 50 years. As controller, Key works with all the dealerships in the Parker Automotive Group, which includes Parker Lexus, Parker Cadillac and Audi Little Rock. She joined Parker Lexus in 2009 as controller and office manager for Parker Lexus. She previously served as office manager for Gildner Auto Group. She is an alumnus of Henderson State University in Arkadelphia.
LISA LAKE
Vice President-External Affairs
ATT Arkansas
Lisa Lake has worked in the telecommunications industry for 40 years. After earning an accounting degree at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia in 1984, she began her career at Southwestern Bell, now AT&T. She has had positions in various departments, including information technology, finance and regulatory, where she managed company proceedings before the Arkansas Public Service Commission. As telecommunications became less regulated, her focus shifted to legislative initiatives and other company priorities, including community engagement. She now serves as
LADONNA JOHNSTON
President and
CEO
Unity Health offers award-winning health care in Arkansas and features the second largest Graduate Medical Education program in the state. With more than 2,300 associates, 4 hospitals and 28 clinics and specialties, the Unity Health system is proud to provide compassionate care to Arkansas’ Heartland.
vice president-external affairs at AT&T in Arkansas. Lake is a former member of the Arkansas Telecommunications Association’s board of directors and a graduate of Leadership Arkansas Class X. She currently serves as board president of the Arkansas Deaf and Hard of Hearing Telecommunications Services and on the boards of the Downtown Little Rock Partnership, the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, the Arkansas Society of Professional Lobbyists, Junior Achievement of Arkansas and the Arkansas Broadcasters Association.
JENNIFER LANCASTER
Managing Partner
Lancaster Law Firm
Jennifer M. Lancaster is the managing partner of the Lancaster Law Firm, where she focuses on bankruptcy, business and election law. She is best known for successfully suing Hunter Biden for child support and later representing president-elect Donald J. Trump during the 2020 election challenges. She has been branded in the media as a “MAGA firebrand” for her passionate support of conservative causes and candidates.
Lancaster’s achievements include being selected as a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers magazine, “Woman of the Year” by Women’s Own Worth and Top 10 in Client Satisfaction by the American Association of Personal Injury Attorneys. In addition to being recognized as one of the best attorneys in Saline County, Lancasater is also a homeschool mom to her two young daughters. She enjoys traveling the world, competing in Ironman 70.3 triathlons, and has appeared on bodybuilding and fitness websites. Lancaster is also the founder of the Lancaster Animal Project and conservative news outlet Arkansas 1st News.
MIMI LEE, M.D.
Owner
Dr. Mimi Lee Vein & Aesthetic Care
VICTORIA “TORI” LEIGH
Partner, Certified Mediator
Lion Legal
Victoria, “Tori” Leigh is a Partner with the law firm Lion Legal, “Legal Pride of Arkansas,” which serves clients across several practice areas.
Leigh attributes the trailblazing success of Lion Legal to a mix of trial and error, competitive spirit, sheer grit, and cultivating the right team. A North Little Rock staple, the Lions pride themselves, their clients, and the community, on roaring to the rescue – whether in the negotiating room or in the courtroom.
Leigh’s desire to be well-liked is not outweighed by her willingness to defend, persuade, and argue positions (in her cases and personal life), a critical trial attorney characteristic. She practices criminal defense, civil litigation, and mediation; sought after for her practical and unique ability to mediate all manner of legal disputes efficiently and effectively.
Mount Saint Mary, Ball State, and Indiana University are her
alma maters – immediately upon completing her degree, she escaped the snowy & moderately pleasant Midwest to come home, to meet and marry her husband, Joey. Recent Sherwood transplants with strong Dogtown roots, Leigh, Joey and their daughters are, in her own words, “living the American Dream, of a happy, healthy family, seeing a great work ethic and community commitment paying off.”
MOLLY LITWILLER
Land and Rural Residential Specialist
Arkansas Land Co.
Molly Litwiller is an agent at Arkansas Land Co. in North Little Rock, a real estate company specializing in both farm and recreational property. Growing up in the Arkansas Delta allowed Litwiller to develop a deep connection to the land and community. Prior to joining the company, she worked in agricultural lending. That experience gave her valuable insights into the financial aspects of farming and rural property management and makes her particularly adept at assisting clients in navigating the complexities of agricultural and rural real estate transactions. Litwiller obtained her bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Mississippi. Her educational background, coupled with a lifetime of practical experience growing up on the family farm, gives Litwiller a unique perspective and skill set when it comes to her professional endeavors. She is well equipped to assist clients in finding farmland, hunting land or residential properties, ensuring they find an ideal piece of rural paradise.
SARA LONG Owner/COO
Top Notch Heating & Air
MICHELE LOVE
Marketing Manager
Benchmark Group
Michele Love is the marketing manager at Benchmark Group’s Rogers office. She joined the architecture and engineering firm in 2008 and brought with her a vast array of skills, including accounting, instructing, leadership and marketing. Previous positions include vice president of marketing and training for a software company in Denver and, later, agency manager and trainer for a law firm in New York City. Love returned home to Arkansas to be near family and started her career at Benchmark as the training and development manager. As marketing manager, she leads Benchmark’s rebranding efforts. Community engagement in her current role includes supporting the Children & Family Advocacy Center of Benton County, Samaritan Community Center and Arkansas Children’s Hospital Northwest in Springdale. Outside of work, she has facilitated a Parkinson’s disease support group for seven years and is a member of the committee for Parkinson’s Moving Day. She also served on the board of the Parkinson Association of the Rockies.
Jennifer Lancaster MANAGING PARTNER, LANCASTER LAW FIRM; FOUNDER, ARKANSAS 1ST NEWS
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE DEFINING MOMENT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR?
A defining moment in my legal career was when I was asked to join President Trump’s legal team in 2020.
WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?
What I love most about my work through my law practice is helping people through challenging times. Clients often come to me feeling overwhelmed and without hope. I find fulfillment in guiding them through their difficulties and helping them regain a sense of hope and direction.
What I value most about my work through Arkansas 1st is keeping people informed about what’s truly happening in Arkansas politics and empowering everyday citizens to get involved and drive positive change. Transparency is key, and our goal at Arkansas 1st is to shine a light on the issues that matter most.
WHAT ARE YOU READING RIGHT NOW?
I’m always reading the Bible. Right now, I’m also reading Thomas Sowell’s Intellectuals and Society.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A YOUNG WOMAN EARLY IN HER CAREER?
Define the life you want, then build it. Remember that when obstacles come, “all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose.”
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD CHANGE ABOUT YOUR INDUSTRY?
I wish more attorneys were willing to stand up against government corruption and overreach while exposing bad actors. I also wish media outlets prioritized truthful reporting over appeasing society’s elites.
WHAT OBSTACLES HAVE YOU FACED, EITHER PERSONALLY OR PROFESSIONALLY?
I encounter obstacles every day, just like everyone else, and I will continue to face them. However, I’m fortunate to have a supportive spouse and God’s word to help me navigate any challenge that comes my way.
VERONICA LOVE
Founder and CEO
Home Health Care Agency of Arkansas
Founder and President
Southern Carrier Services
Veronica Love is the founder of Home Health Care Agency of Arkansas. Its mission is to help clients by helping prevent falls and helping get them to medical appointments on time. In addition, company staff ensure clients do not miss meals. The assignments can extend from twice a week to every day. The company is based in Little Rock and now has a satellite office in West Memphis. Home Health Care Agency offers services throughout Arkansas and has clients in fast-growing areas such as northwest Arkansas. The Company works with various government agencies, including the Arkansas Department of Human Services, the state’s workforce center and the Arkansas Medicaid. The company also works with nonprofit organizations and churches. Love also started Southern Carrier Services in Little Rock to assist clients with transportation.. The organization has more than 100 clients across Arkansas, who receive services provided by 75 caregivers, and with that growth comes the requirement to always be in hiring mode.
DEBI LOWTHARP
Vice President/CFO
Delta Dental
Debi Lowtharp joined Delta Dental of Arkansas in 2015 as director of finance and was promoted to vice president and chief financial officer in 2018. She leads the accounting, finance, underwriting, internal audit and fraud, waste, and abuse teams. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University at Shreveport and her Master of Business Administration from Arkansas State University. She is a certified public accountant, chartered global management accountant and certified fraud examiner. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Arkansas Society of Certified Public Accountants. Lowtharp currently serves on the Leadership Foundation for Women and the Arkansas chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. She is a past president of the Montgomery chapter of ACFE and treasurer of the Junior Auxiliary of Cabot, where she is a life member.
SONIA LUCAS-MEYER
Owner
Arkansas Medical Staffing
Sonia Lucas-Meyer is owner, administrator and minister at Arkansas Medical Staffing, a faith-based business in Little Rock that is available 24/7 to staff and clients. It provides award-winning registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and certified nursing assistants. Lucas-Meyer was motivated to enter the industry by her aunt, Martha Bryan, a long-time surgical nurse in West Memphis. Before she launched Arkansas Medical Staffing 17 years ago, she
worked in management in the hospitality industry for more than 20 years and then worked in business development for Exchange Capital Corp.
Lucas-Meyer is a charter member of the Saline County After Hours Rotary Club and a member of Saline County Republican Women, the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, Right to Life and the Bryant Chamber of Commerce. She is an ambassador at the Greater Benton Chamber of Commerce and volunteers with local charities such as Abba Charities, Options Pregnancy Center, Second Chance Youth Ranch in Bryant, the Harbor Home for Women in Conway, Easterseals Arkansas, Standing Firm Ministries, the Centers, the Little Rock Compassion Center, Healing Waters Outreach Center in Shannon Hills and more.
STEPHANIE MALONE McLEAN CEO
Arkansas
Trial Lawyers Association
Stephanie Malone grew up in Rogers, where she graduated from high school in 1996. She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville in 2000. After college, she moved to Fort Smith, where she started a career in communications with the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce. In 2009, Malone was named marketing director for the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority. During her tenure at Chaffee, Malone was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives and served three terms. As a member of the House, she served as chairman of the Committee on Children Aging and Youth, chaired the House Select Committee on Rules and served as an assistant Speaker Pro Tempore. In 2015, Malone moved to central Arkansas, where started a new career in political advocacy, including stints with AETN, Community Health Centers of Arkansas and Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. In 2020, Malone was named CEO of the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association.
ANGELA MANN
Attorney
Mann & Kemp
Angela Mann is partner and co-founder of the Mann & Kemp law firm in Little Rock. Her educational experience includes graduating magna cum laude from Christian Brothers University in Memphis in 2005 with a Bachelor of Science in marketing and receiving a Juris Doctor from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law in 2011. She graduated from law school summa cum laude in the top 5 percent of her class. She is licensed to practice law in both Arkansas and Tennessee state courts, in addition to the United States District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas. Her practice areas include divorce, property division and alimony; child custody and support; probate and estate administration; appeals; estate planning; wills and trusts; business planning; and asset-protection planning.
Victoria “Tori” Leigh PARTNER AND MEDIATOR LION LEGAL
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE DEFINING MOMENT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR?
Adopting the 80/20 principle. Careers are defined by decisions, not serendipitous moments. Many careers lack momentum, a career stalling which Richard Koch attributes to “analysis paralysis.” Koch advocates allotting a set time, spending 20 percent gathering information, 80 percent analyzing it, then deciding 100 percent of the time with 100 percent confidence. Set and track metrics for success; change course early if they prove the decision wrong.
WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE ABOUT YOUR INDUSTRY?
Accountability. The measure of a person’s integrity is not the mistakes made but the response. Too often, the theme in the legal industry is deniability instead of acknowledgment and correction.
WHAT OBSTACLES HAVE YOU FACED?
Balance. A metaphor, years ago, dramatically improved my constant scavenge for illusory balance. Our infinite responsibilities are balls — plastic bounces when dropped. Glass shatters. Usually I decide, glass or plastic? The linchpin for motherhood is my daughters decide. They don’t abuse their authority and sometimes fascinate me with their classifications, which I always honor, rearranging my calendar for what is obviously plastic to anyone but a preteen, and relishing the sweet relief when what any rational parent would classify as glass turns out to be plastic in the mind of an 8-year-old.
WHAT PRE-CAREER MOMENT HAS HAD THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON YOUR WORK?
Professor Florence Roisman teaching that emotions have no place in rational decisionmaking. My commitment to reasonableness is off the charts. My emotional meter far below the average. I’m a lawyer, not a therapist. My responsibilities are removing emotion; analyzing likely results and costs — in dollars, time, stress — of legal options; guiding clients to making informed decisions; and achieving the best legal result possible. My job is not to perpetually lament feelings triggered by legal predicaments.
Molly Litwiller
REAL ESTATE AGENT ARKANSAS LAND CO.
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE DEFINING MOMENT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR?
A defining moment in my career has been joining Arkansas Land Co. They have helped me broaden my skill and knowledge of the real estate industry. Getting to work alongside successful people keeps me motivated and encourages me to work towards my highest potential.
WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?
I love helping people find a place where they can start a new chapter of their lives or make countless memories. Whether it is someone looking for their first piece of hunting property or guiding someone through a big investment, it is deeply rewarding to be a part of that process. Every deal is unique, and every client has their own story, which makes the work dynamic and interesting.
WHAT GOALS OR MILESTONES DO YOU WANT TO REACH BEFORE YOU RETIRE?
Being early in my career, I see endless opportunities for professional and personal growth. I have the flexibility to make mistakes and pivot without the weight of years of experience behind me, and that’s one of the most powerful advantages.
IS THERE ANOTHER “POWER WOMAN” WHO INSPIRES YOU?
A woman that inspires me is my friend Gretchen Jones. At just 23, she worked her way up to business manager at Phillips Community College. Her drive and determination to be successful is inspiring.
WHAT IS A QUOTE OR SAYING THAT MOTIVATES YOU?
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5
smile
by Debi
Delta Dental of Arkansas congratulates our very own Debi Lowtharp on being named one of Arkansas Money & Politics Power Women 2024.
Michele Love
MARKETING MANAGER BENCHMARK GROUP
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE DEFINING MOMENT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR?
When a friend and mentor, well respected in both the corporate and nonprofit worlds, told me not to doubt myself or my value, to continue speaking up and to be engaged, even without a seat at the table. If those around me are not receptive, I am in the wrong place.
WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?
Working with a team of intelligent, goodhumored women who work hard, share ideas and support one another. We strive for perfection in all aspects of our marketing efforts at Benchmark Group.
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD CHANGE ABOUT YOUR INDUSTRY?
While the demographic is improving, I would like to see more young women professionals in the architecture and engineering world. Women in this industry can bring refreshing, new perspectives and approaches to problem-solving and leadership.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A YOUNG WOMAN EARLY IN HER CAREER?
Be confident and engaged, but also be knowledgeable. Knowledge is power, so never stop learning. It will benefit you in all aspects of life, as well as giving you confidence to be able to share your thoughts and ideas intelligently.
WHAT PRE-CAREER MOMENT HAS HAD THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON THE WAY YOU APPROACH YOUR WORK?
It would have to be not just a moment, but a lifetime with my parents. My mother was a registered nurse, and my father was a civil engineer. They taught me integrity, the value of education, embracing diversity and compassion. They encouraged me to believe in myself, voice my opinion, and stand up for what is right and just.
WHAT OBSTACLES HAVE YOU FACED, EITHER PERSONALLY OR PROFESSIONALLY?
In my earlier years as a businesswoman, I found the very real struggle of being taken seriously by a male-dominated management team. Speaking against the majority or giving my opinion did not always go well. As I’ve grown professionally, my communication skills and tactics have improved while learning the critical value of being a good listener, which is key to communicating effectively.
WHAT GOALS OR MILESTONES DO YOU WANT TO REACH BEFORE YOU RETIRE?
I’m considering my options. I would like to bring more awareness and support to Parkinson’s and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, both of which destroyed my parents’ full and active lifestyles.
Veronica Love
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
By AMP Staff // Photo by Jamie Lee
When it comes to aging, Veronica Love, founder and CEO of Home Health Care Agency of Arkansas and founder and president of Southern Carrier Services, both based in Little Rock, knows as well as anyone that there is truly no place like home.
Love helped care for her father throughout his battle with multiple sclerosis and, after his death, helped care for an aunt who had assisted with his care and had congestive heart failure and diabetes.
“Our family has a long history of being caretakers,” Love told Arkansas Money & Politics in October. “I took care of my grandmother, I took care of my father, my aunt, and I took care of my grandmother’s siblings. We had to learn that being a caretaker was a part of being a united family.”
Six years ago, she founded Home Health Care Agency of Arkansas with a goal of helping clients remain in their homes for as long as possible. The company assists with daily needs such as cleaning, meal preparation and administering medication, in addition to helping prevent falls and ensuring clients reach medical appointments on time.
In-home care offers numerous benefits, including allowing seniors to retain a sense of independence while providing loved ones with peace of mind, and even temporary care can help relieve busy family members as a loved one recovers from an injury or medical procedure. In addition, aging in place can help older adults avoid the often uncomfortable and expensive process of relocating to a nursing home.
Although based in Little Rock, the company has a satellite office in West Memphis and can provide services throughout the state. While most clients are seniors, the company also assists young adults with disabilities, and the business works with various nonprofits and government agencies that provide resources to older adults.
As of October, the growing company had 75 caregivers and served more than 100 clients.
Guided by the principle of “caring for your family like our family,” Love believes that training is key, and the company often provides paid training to new hires. Employees train for three weeks to a month before going into a home and working alongside mentors before branching out on their own, Love said in October.
Transportation is often a challenge for families caring for
aging loved ones, and with that need in mind, Love also founded Southern Carrier Services, which works to provide clients with safe, comfortable and convenient nonemergency medical transportation.
Love’s business savvy and entrepreneurial spirit coupled with her knowledge of caregiving and her drive to help others has garnered ample recognition. Home Health Care Agency of Arkansas was named in AMP’s 2024 “Companies of Distinction,” and Love was also named one of AMP’s 2024 “Top 100 Professionals.”
For Love, however, doing good for her clients is an honor in itself, and she told AMP in October that providing the best care possible seems like a small contribution to those who have given so much to their communities over the years. Her work is clearly more than a day-to-day job but a calling for someone who knows firsthand how difficult and rewarding caregiving can be.
“I understand how elderly people need assistance,” she said in October. “You have to have patience with them. It was something that I’ve done all my life, and so it just came naturally to me.”
Sonia Lucas-Meyer OWNER, ADMINISTRATOR, MINISTER ARKANSAS MEDICAL STAFFING
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE DEFINING MOMENT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR?
At the age of 42, after decades in hospitality management and business development, I had the glorious opportunity to change my career path once and for all back to my first career love — nursing.
WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?
We are in the healing business, and we have the greatest opportunity to help heal the multitudes with award-winning registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and certified nursing assistants. I am so grateful for our nursing team. They are all in, and that matters. Relationships build better outcomes, and we are here to take great care of Arkansans. Over the past 17 years, we have vowed to never send our nurses out of state because we need them right here to take great care of our families and friends. We will always be here when you need us.
IS THERE ANOTHER “POWER WOMAN” WHO INSPIRES YOU?
My aunt, Martha Bryan, was a licensed practical nurse and surgical nurse, then for Dr. [Glenn] Schoettle of Crittenden County Memorial Hospital, now Baptist Memorial Hospital-Crittenden, in West Memphis. She served and cared for hundreds of patients along with her colleagues during her tenure, and the stories she would tell as I visited during the summer and holidays intrigued me to hang on to every word.
WHAT IS A QUOTE OR SAYING THAT MOTIVATES YOU?
“I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13
KRISTI MANN
State Chair
USA Wrestling Executive Board
Kristi Mann is the Arkansas state chair at USA Wrestling. She is one of the only women in the country to lead a state chapter for the organization. She has had the role for close to 20 years and is one of a handful of individuals responsible for the rise of club, as well as high school and collegiate wrestling, in the Natural State. Mann was recently recognized as USA Wrestling State Chairperson of the Year for 2024, and she serves on the finance committee for the national organization. Mann has represented Arkansas and women in leadership on a world stage, having been selected as a United States sports exchange delegate and traveling to Azerbaijan this year. A retired educator with three decades of experience in special education, Mann was also a decorated gymnast in high school before participating in cheerleading at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. She volunteers for the Little Rock Touchdown Club and Broyles Award.
HAYDEN MEDLOCK
Founder Synergetic Social
STACI MEDLOCK
Owner/Realtor
RE/MAX Elite
Staci Medlock at RE/MAX Crye-Leike Realtors in North Little Rock is consistently one of the top-performing real estate agents in the central Arkansas area, carrying almost 20 years of experience under her belt. A native of the area, she caters to a wide range of clients in cities across the region, including Little Rock, North Little Rock, Sherwood, Maumelle, Jacksonville, Cabot, Searcy and Beebe. While Medlock’s abilities as a Realtor are across the board, she has extensive experience in new construction, custom home building and working with first-time homebuyers. Medlock has also served as justice of the peace for Pulaski County’s 15th district since 2013.
GISELA MEJIA
Market Sales Manager
Banco Sí!
Lake Fire Department, an organization she began volunteering with after she and her youngest daughter were involved in an accident. She and her husband, Melvin Cruz, have five children. In her spare time, she enjoys watching movies with her family and spending summer weekends at the lake.
JENNIFER MENDEN
Co-owner
Menco Construction
Jennifer Menden, with her husband Daniel Menden, started Menco Construction in Sherwood in 2007 as a construction company specializing in new custom homes, remodels and light commercial projects. Since then, the couple has built hundreds of custom homes in the central Arkansas area for clients and continue to grow the company. On a daily basis, Menden manages employees, 100-plus subcontractors, multiple clients and keeps all projects on track. Her attention to detail, communication skills and drive make her a strong leader in the construction field and for her team. Menden’s favorite part of the building process is the trust and relationships she builds with clients and contractors. She also enjoys the design process and considering her client’s needs and any current trends they may want to include. She is passionate about small business ownership and has served as a board member for the Better Business Bureau since 2019. She is active in the local community, especially with her two daughters’ school and their sport activities.
GINGER RUSSELL MILLER
Commercial Talent
Russell Chevrolet
BROOKE MONTGOMERY
Assistant Professor, Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health UAMS
CHRISTINA MORGAN
President TDSIT
KEEGAN NICHOLS
Vice President
Gisela Mejía is vice president and business development officer at Banco Sí!, a division of Signature Bank of Arkansas. She was born in El Salvador and moved to the U.S. when she was 10. She is a graduate of Rogers High School. A self-described people person, she started her banking career at age 18 as a part-time teller. When she was offered a full-time teller position within her first two weeks of training, she knew she wanted to stay in banking for the long haul. She now has more than 20 years of experience in the industry. She also serves as a board member and treasurer of the Beaver
Arkansas Tech University
Keegan Nichols, who has a doctor of education, was named vice president for student affairs at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville in 2017. She is known around campus for her dedication to and support of all students, which is evident in the national, regional and local awards she has earned. A graduate of Leadership Arkansas Class XIII, she has helped ATU enhance its commitment to campus safety, civic engagement, community partnerships and first-generation students. Under her leadership, ATU has earned the Campus Prevention Network Seal of Prevention four years in a row and Voter Friendly Campus status in each of the last three election cycles. She was integral in establishing a mayoral student advisory council partnership with the city of Russellville
Stephanie Malone McLean CEO ARKANSAS TRIAL LAWYERS ASSOCIATION
WHAT IS YOUR SECRET TO SUCCESS?
I am very lucky to have an amazing team. We all love our jobs and have an outstanding membership. We are fortunate to serve such an incredible group of professionals.
WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?
I love getting to work with all of our members from across the state. It’s exciting to be a part of a group that serves as a voice for so many Arkansans.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A YOUNG WOMAN EARLY IN HER CAREER?
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. It is also OK to just listen at times.
WHICH OF YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?
Being named as a chairman of two influential committees while in the minority party. WHAT OBSTACLES HAVE YOU FACED, EITHER PERSONALLY OR PROFESSIONALLY?
I was a single young female, and there really weren’t any women close to my age when I was serving in the legislature. I was once asked to leave a committee table because they thought I was someone’s daughter.
IS THERE ANOTHER “POWER WOMAN” WHO INSPIRES YOU?
My mother, “the Debs.” She is truly one of the strongest women I know. For years now, I have watched her advocate for early childhood development in Arkansas. She has made so many positive contributions. I hope to accomplish half of what she has.
WHAT IS A QUOTE OR SAYING THAT MOTIVATES YOU?
“A strong woman knows she has strength enough for the journey, but a woman of strength knows it is in the journey where she will become strong.” AMP 2024 POWER WOMEN
Congratulations Kristi Mann for being
named an Arkansas Money and Politics
2024 POWER WOMAN!
Educator/Special Education Teacher (retired); State Chair – Arkansas, USA Wrestling
Kristi Mann is the Arkansas state chair for USA Wrestling, one of the only women in the country to lead a state chapter for the organization. She has had the role for close to 20 years and is one of a handful of individuals responsible for the rise of club, high school and collegiate wrestling in the Natural State. Mann was recently recognized as USA Wrestling State Chairperson of the Year for 2024, and she has also been tapped to serve on the finance committee for the national organization. Kristi has represented Arkansas and women in leadership on a world stage, traveling to Azerbaijan this year, selected as a United States sports exchange delegate, She is a testament to the power of women and remains an example of leadership for all. A retired educator with three decades of experience in special education, Mann was also a decorated gymnast in high school before participating in cheerleading at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. She volunteers with the Little Rock Touchdown Club and Broyles Award.
Angela Mann
F CLIENTS’ ADVOCATE
By AMP Staff // Photo by Lori Sparkman
or Angela Mann, being an advocate for her clients requires more than just strength in the courtroom. It also requires kindness, curiosity and honesty, she said.
Mann, a partner in the Little Rock law firm of Mann & Kemp, practices family law and strives to win the best outcome for her clients during what is often the most challenging and uncertain experience of their lives.
“Most people don’t hire a family lawyer when things are going well in their lives,”she said. “They are divorcing their spouse or litigating custody of their children or having to divide all of their assets. Their parent or their child may be suffering from a mental illness or substance abuse disorder requiring the appointment of a guardian.”
All of these things can be emotionally devastating to a client, and they often need more than mere legal counsel. Mann said she believes that properly advising a client during these trying periods of life requires a good advocate to listen as much to speak, to provide an honest assessment of the client’s situation, to develop a clear understanding of the client’s reasonable desires and goals, and finally, to develop a strategy to achieve the client’s best possible outcome.
Family law requires a balance of personal connection and understanding, as well as an objective perspective and setting realistic goals and expectations.
“My clients have my cell phone number because I know family law matters happen outside regular business hours and, often, I can help in the moment and avoid unnecessary conflict or even relieve some anxiety,” she said.
Mann’s practice is focused almost exclusively on domestic relations — mostly divorces, custody cases and guardianships — but she also does probate work and estate planning. She said her favorite cases are ones involving complex financial issues, such as complicated property division, business valuations and alimony.
For someone who relishes the challenges these issues can entail, Mann had no plans to enter the legal field as an undergraduate at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, where she graduated with a degree in marketing.
“I actually had no intention to go to law school,” the Memphis native said. “We had no lawyers in our family. I graduated from CBU in 2005, and I had a job, but I hated it. One of my friends suggested that I go to law school, so I looked into it, signed up for the LSAT and started law school in the fall. It was a pretty quick decision but definitely the right one.”
It was the right choice indeed. Mann graduated summa cum laude, fifth in her class at Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis, in 2011. Her road to central Arkansas began when she started dating her future husband, who lived in Little Rock, during her first year of law school.
“We travelled back and forth on weekends, and I lived and worked in Little Rock in the summer,” she said. “I graduated from law school in May 2011, then we got married that same month. I officially moved to Little Rock after graduation. I sat for the Arkansas and Tennessee bar, and I am licensed in both states.”
Mann soon partnered with Little Rock attorney Harrison Kemp to launch Mann & Kemp. While Mann acknowledges there are benefits to working with large firms, she said practicing out of a small firm affords its own significant advantages.
“I love having a small firm. I make all of the rules,” she said. “You can find me in workout clothes if I’m not in court because I go to 8:30 classes at the gym on days I don’t have court. I leave early to take my kids to soccer or tennis. This does not mean I work less, just differently than others. Most importantly, I am able to provide a more personalized experience for the clients.”
Delivering the best possible outcomes, whether in court or through settlement, is what drives Mann, though she admitted to preferring trials.
“I know most normal people don’t like going to court, but I really enjoy going to trial and seeing everything come together at the end,” she said. “My favorite part of trial is cross examination. Obviously, I also enjoy winning. I like to work on challenging cases, which may be a case with high conflict or complex financial issues, but I also really enjoy helping a client through a tough transition and empowering clients to become a new, better version of his or her prior self.”
Mann has advice for any would-be attorneys who might question the need for more lawyers.
“People who are not in the legal field often have a negative opinion about lawyers until they need one,” she said. “Stereotypes about lawyers are just that. Prove them wrong. Make a difference, even if only to one person at a time. Most lawyers in Arkansas are good people and I am proud to be a part of the legal community here.”
and ATU’s International Town and Gown Association membership. Nichols has served as a Higher Learning Commission peer reviewer, a National Panhellenic Conference area advisor, board member of Jana’s Campaign and NASPA Region IV-W director. She participates in the 2024-2025 American Association of State Colleges and Universities Executive Leadership Academy.
TIFFANY M. O’GUINN
Managing Partner
Mays, Byrd & O’Guinn
ALLISON OWEN
VP of Client Engagement
First Orion
Allison Owen is the vice president of client engagement at First Orion, where she leads the client and partner experience. Collaborating with industry leaders such as AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, she has become a trusted advisor to her team and clients. From day-to-day client delivery to strategic account management, Owen is the go-to person when most anyone needs something done.
With more than 25 years in customer experience, Owen started her career at Conway-based Acxiom in client-management roles, including a two-year on-site engagement with a major insurance carrier in Connecticut. She developed skills for trust-based consulting and relationship building, which resulted in growth and expansion across Acxiom’s various solutions and doubling revenue. Being on-site and working alongside clients informed her keen sense of customer experience and client advocacy.
Looking for her next challenge, she accepted a job with a local startup. With Owen’s help, CognitiveDATA was quickly acquired by heavy-hitter marketing agency Merkle, where she became the vice president of account management. For that role, she led the integration of two new acquisitions and built one of the most profitable departments at Merkle.
Owen attended the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree. Being the parent to a young adult with autism, she likes to dedicate her energy to advocating for adults with special needs
TARA PANDHER
Vice President, Treasury Management Generations Bank
has an associates degree in business, management, marketing and related support services from the Allentown Business School, formerly in Center Valley, Pennsylvania. She currently serves as treasurer on the board at Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Arkansas.
LILLIE PRICE
That.Church
AMANDA RAGAR
Owner
Natural State Pest Control
Amanda Ragar is a native Arkansan with a passion for small business and community. She co-founded her first company in 2005 with the launch of a Scotts Lawn Service franchise. In 2016, the franchise business was sold in a nationwide merger, and the very next day, Natural State Pest Control in North Little Rock was born. The company has been named to the “Inc. 5000” list of fastest-growing U.S. companies for four consecutive years and has earned multiple awards in the pest control and lawn service sectors. Within the community, Ragar supports numerous organizations, including the Junior League of Northwest Arkansas, Second Helping NWA and the Benn Banks Memorial Scholarship.
L aTASHA RANDLE
AVP Retail Market Leader Relyance Bank
SYDNEY RASCH
Pulaski County Election Commissioner
Partner
Tara Pandher is a banking professional with more than 20 years of experience. She currently serves as vice president of treasury management at Generations Bank in Bentonville. Pandher joined the bank in 2021 to shape the vision and direction of the treasury management department and has since built profitable relationships with more than 100 corporate clients. Prior to arriving at Generations Bank, Pandher had multiple positions at United Bank in northwest Arkansas, including business development coordinator and operations analyst, assistant bank branch manager, and head financial services representative. She was previously branch operations supervisor at Susquehanna Bank in Pennsylvania. Pandher
Turner & Rasch Attorneys at Law, In 2021, Sydney Rasch, along with her friend, Presley Turner, started Turner & Rasch Attorneys at Law in Little Rock, a boutique law firm focusing on family and domestic law, including divorce, child custody and support, probate, and domestic violence law. Turner & Rasch now has seven full-time staff members and has become a staple in the central Arkansas legal community.
Rasch was born and raised in central Arkansas and attended Cabot High School. She went on to graduate from Hendrix College in Conway in 2013 and from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law in 2019, both with honors. She is licensed to practice law in Arkansas and Missouri. In 2022, she was appointed to the Arkansas Supreme Court’s client security fund commission.
Since 2022, Rasch has served on the Pulaski County Board of Election Commissioners. She is an active member of the community, having served as a board member and officer of several local nonprofits, including the Arkansas Association of Women Lawyers, North Little Rock Friends of Animals, New Leaders Council–Arkansas and Junior League of Little Rock.
One of central Arkansas’ top sellers, Medlock’s almost two decades in the business have shown her that invaluable lessons are learned through real-life experiences.
“This holistic approach has equipped me with the insights needed to thrive,” she said. “I have always had a passion for serving others, leveraging a diverse background in the beauty industry and real estate to help individuals achieve their goals.”
“The most rewarding part is witnessing the eventual resolution and realization that things have a way of falling into place as they should,” she said. “Finding the right home for my clients and seeing their joy makes every hurdle worthwhile.”
Medlock credited the “many remarkable women” throughout her life for leaving a lasting imprint, and she strives to do the same for young women in her path.
TRAILBLAZING WOMEN
YARA V. ROBERTSON, M.D.
Medical Director, Surgical Oncology CARTI
Yara V. Robertson, M.D., FACS, is the medical director of surgery at CARTI, a not-for-profit multidisciplinary cancer care provider based in Little Rock with 18 locations across Arkansas. She serves patients at CARTI’s flagship campus in Little Rock, which includes a dedicated on-site cancer surgery center, and at the CARTI Cancer Center in Pine Bluff. She completed her residency in general surgery and fellowship in breast surgical oncology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. She graduated from Quillen College of Medicine at East Tennessee State University. Robertson is actively involved in global breast cancer awareness and education organizations. She is a medical advisor for Not Putting on a Shirt and Learn Look Locate. She serves on the board of directors for the Tigerlily Foundation, the Arkansas Cancer Coalition and the Pulaski County Medical Society. She is the former vice chair of Sisters by Choice. A kidney cancer survivor, she tirelessly advocates for patient-centered care and informed, shared decision making.
DR. CASEY ROCKWELL
Assistant Director, School of Business University of Arkansas at Little Rock
LINDSEY RODDY
Executive Broker McGraw Realtors
STEPHANIE ROSE
Associate Professor/Addiction Studies Program Coordinator University of Central Arkansas
BRITTANY RUSH
COO
American Business Engine
LEAUNDRA SANDERS
Development Director
ACLU
WENDY SCHAY
Head Pastry Chef
The Croissanterie
Wendy Schay is an American Culinary Federation-certified executive pastry chef and co-owner of the Croissanterie in west Little Rock. In 2019, Schay and her co-chef, Jill McDonald, started selling croissants and other fresh breads at local farmers markets before opening a food truck, followed by a brick-and-mortar restaurant in 2022. They have built a menu of authentic French pastries mixed with Southern comfort cuisine and offer catering and custom cakes. The Croissanterie serves breakfast and lunch Wednesday through Sunday. After just one year at its brick-and-mortar location, the Croissanterie was named the Little Rock Regional Chamber Small Business of the Year 2023. Prior to owning the
Croissanterie, Schay competed in baking and pastry competitions across the country. She has won numerous awards, including gold medals for SkillsUSA Arkansas Commercial Baking 2014 and 2015 and ACF Central Arkansas Chefs Association Pastry Chef of the Year 2016.
VENA SCHEXNAYDER
Executive Director
Arkansas Problem Gambling Council
Vena Schexnayder is the founder and executive director of the Arkansas Problem
Gambling Council, a nonprofit that, since 2021, has provided services and programs for those with gambling problems, their families and communities through treatment support, education and outreach, advocacy, research and prevention efforts. The council received a state contract to provide gambling education and treatment for Arkansans and has subcontracts for treatment with providers around the state. Schexnayder was previously a behavioral therapist at Banyan Treatment Centers and served as a behavioral health specialist at Unity Health. She is a board member for the Arkansas chapter of the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors, as well as the Arkansas chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. Schexnayder obtained a master’s degree in criminal justice policy administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, as well as a Master of Social Work from Louisiana State University. She also has a substance abuse rehabilitation counseling certificate from Northern Virginia College.
GINGER SCHRADER Co-owner
Schrader Homes
WENDY SEE
Vice President, Pharmacy and Primary Care Programs
ABCBS
Wendy See describes herself as “curious” and a “perpetual student.” For decades, she has focused her curiosity on finding ways to improve pharmacy care and services for Arkansans. In 2014, that led her to Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, where she currently serves as vice president of pharmacy and primary care programs. See oversees the operational and strategic components of pharmacy and advanced therapies management, along with value-based provider partnerships that support delivery of high-quality primary care services in Arkansas. See earned her bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock and then completed a residency in hospital pharmacy at the John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans’ Hospital in Little Rock. Early in her professional career, she earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Outside of her professional endeavors, See serves as a board member for Easterseals Arkansas, which specializes in providing resources for those living with disabilities. She enjoys spending time with her new grandchildren and considers herself pragmatic with a penchant toward idealism.
Allison Owen VICE PRESIDENT, CLIENT ENGAGEMENT FIRST ORION
WHAT PRE-CAREER MOMENT HAS HAD THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON THE WAY YOU APPROACH YOUR WORK?
I was influenced by my dad, who ran an oil and gas terminal for Chevron. Every chance I got, I would go to work with him. I would even go on ride-alongs with the oil tank truckers to see them deliver gas to stations. Two takeaways from those days define my approach to work. First, work and home life were always balanced. Some days, work received 100 percent, and other days, home, but he mixed the two well. Second, treat everyone as equals, and never shy away from rolling up your sleeves. I strive to bring that philosophy to every team I’m fortunate enough to lead.
WHAT OBSTACLES HAVE YOU FACED?
My biggest obstacle is something many women struggle with, which is the belief that I must check every box to qualify for a position. We tend to hold a more conservative view of our capabilities than our male counterparts. I’ve found that if I listen to that narrative, I am less likely to promote my work and advocate for myself.
WHAT GOALS OR MILESTONES DO YOU WANT TO REACH BEFORE YOU RETIRE?
As I prepare to be an empty nester next year, I’d love to redirect some of my energy to take on new opportunities in a C-suite role within First Orion.
WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
I commute from Conway to North Little Rock every day, so I listen to a lot of podcasts and books. My favorite podcast is Wiser Than Me hosted by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. I’m anxiously awaiting Season 3.
Congratulations Jennifer Menden
Jennifer Menden, with her husband Daniel Menden, started Menco Construction, LLC in 2007 as a construction company specializing in new custom homes, remodels, and light commercial projects. Since then, they have built hundreds of custom homes in the Central Arkansas area for clients and continue to grow their company. On a daily basis, Jennifer manages employees, 100+ subcontractors, multiple clients, and keeps all projects on track. Jennifers attention to detail, communication skills, and drive make her a strong leader in the construction field and for her team.
Tara Pandher
VICE PRESIDENT, TREASURY MANAGEMENT MANAGER GENERATIONS BANK
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE DEFINING MOMENT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR?
I began my career on the retail side as a teller and have always been interested in working directly with businesses. Within a couple of months of transitioning into business development and treasury management, I realized, “Oh, this is for me!” In treasury management, I can build consultative partnerships with business owners. This role allows me to offer tailored solutions that address their pain points and help them manage their banking accounts and finances more effectively
WHAT OBSTACLES HAVE YOU FACED, EITHER PERSONALLY OR PROFESSIONALLY?
As a woman of color from a different cultural background, moving to the United States at a young age presented daily challenges. I have often encountered judgments based on my race and gender, leading to numerous negative experiences. However, I refuse to view these moments as victimization. Those who treat me differently often do so from a place of ignorance, lacking the willingness to engage with someone outside their experience. Although such experiences can be painful in the moment, I strive not to carry that weight with me; I prefer to move on.
WHAT GOALS OR MILESTONES DO YOU WANT TO REACH BEFORE YOU RETIRE?
Even with over 20 years in banking, I still have a long journey ahead before retirement. I aspire to reach an executive level within the banking sector, where I can inspire young people even more effectively. There’s a wealth of opportunities in banking for newcomers, and I want to encourage others to recognize the possibilities available to them.
WHAT IS A QUOTE OR SAYING THAT MOTIVATES YOU?
“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it,” by Maya Angelou
Amanda Ragar
CO-OWNER, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER NATURAL STATE PEST CONTROL
WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?
I love the opportunity to improve our clients’ lives and our community through our service. We take our motto seriously: “We kill bugs. We help people. Period.” Not once have we ever turned anyone away who needed pest control but couldn’t afford it. If there is a pest issue that threatens someone’s health or property, we will fix it. Period.
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD CHANGE ABOUT YOUR INDUSTRY?
The pest and lawn industry in Arkansas has been a blue-collar, pocket T-shirt kind of job for years. I’m hopeful and excited that we will continue to see these jobs evolve and become a great, well-paying career for young Arkansans with a strong work ethic.
WHAT PRE-CAREER MOMENT HAS HAD THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON THE WAY YOU APPROACH YOUR WORK?
My father was a great influence on my decision to become an entrepreneur. Growing up, he owned a hardware store and a liquor store, and one summer, we even had a fireworks stand. Those days taught me a lot about perseverance and managing risks.
IS THERE ANOTHER “POWER WOMAN” WHO INSPIRES YOU?
If I had to pick just one, Sara Blakely would be at the top. Just as I began my career in copier sales, Blakely did, as well. While driving around in her car, she developed her own idea to solve a personal problem — an idea that we all know now as Spanx. She developed it with only $5,000 in savings and created a $1 billion business.
WHAT IS A QUOTE OR SAYING THAT MOTIVATES YOU?
“Exercise your strengths; hire for your weaknesses.” In our company, we always strive to hire people who are smarter than us. It’s not possible to be an expert at everything.
EXPERT BREAST CARE.
AMP 2024 POWER WOMEN
Stephanie Shine
I CONNECTING LOCAL TALENT
By Becky Gillette // Photo provided
n early 2023, Stephanie Shine and Christopher Chunn made the bold decision to leave their long-standing roles at a Fortune 500 staffing firm to establish their own Arkansas-based company specializing in accounting, finance, human resources and executive-level placements.
Despite facing a 12-month non-compete agreement, they used the time strategically to plan and lay the groundwork for their new venture. Finally, in February, they officially launched Arkansas Talent Group in Little Rock, and their year of preparation proved invaluable, allowing them to quickly gain traction in the local market.
“Every day, we planned for the business,” Shine said. “We also launched the Arkansas Talent Podcast during this time, which showcases influential business professionals in Arkansas across a variety of industries where they share their journey, knowledge and thought leadership. Launching a business like this demands significant passion and drive. However, we believe it has addressed a crucial need in our state, as evidenced by the positive feedback we received from our clients and candidates over the past 10 months.”
Shine credited much of the company’s success not only to strong connections in the industry but also to the supportive spirit of Arkansans, who are eager to see small businesses thrive. This career shift of now owning an Arkansas-based business allows the duo to engage more authentically with fellow Arkansans and actively participate in the growth of businesses that are vital to the region’s vitality.
“The support from the community has been overwhelming, and we are incredibly grateful,” Shine said. “There is a clear need in our state for the resources offered by a local search firm like ours. We believe that successful business is built on trust and strong relationships, prioritizing these relationships over transactions. Recruitment serves as a powerful catalyst for positive change, enabling us to significantly impact our state by helping both candidates and businesses thrive in a competitive market.”
The biggest challenge right now in recruitment is the lack of qualified talent. The Arkansas unemployment rate is at 3.3 percent, which is lower than the national average and has remained steady. There are fewer available workers than job openings.
“This situation is even more difficult in specialized fields like accounting and finance where the demand for skilled professionals often outpaces the supply,” Shine said. “There are other contributing factors to the lack of supply of accountants, as there are fewer students pursuing accounting degrees and obtaining CPA
certifications. The positive news is that we have a strong hiring market in the state. Companies are continuing to hire and add new roles. We think the future looks bright, and we believe this will continue into 2025.”
In recent years, companies have had to expand benefits packages and really focus on company culture to compete in the tight labor market. Flexibility and hybrid work are probably the top asks for job seekers right now. Companies are also expanding personal time off and benefit offerings, even paying more for health insurance. Some companies are offering 100 percent paid health insurance and other incentives to attract talent.
“Companies have also made a push to focus on employee wellness,” Shine said. “Many offer access to on-site workout facilities, discounts on gyms, personal trainers and other things to help their employees both physically and mentally. In regards to culture, this has been a big focus for organizations to attract talent, as it’s not just about the money and benefits. It seems since COVID[-19], employees are looking for a better work-life balance and want to work for companies that align with both their values and mission.”
Shine has been a member of the board of Accounting and Financial Women’s Alliance for 12 years and is the current president of the central Arkansas chapter. She said women are making progress in these fields.
“We have many successful women accountants and HR professionals in senior positions in the state and have featured several of them on our podcast,” Shine said. “We are trying to grow our chapter this year, and our focus is offering a local group for like-minded accounting and finance women to connect, advance and lead.
“Joining professional industry groups such as AFWA provide invaluable opportunities for mentorship, collaboration and knowledge sharing, empowering women to navigate challenges and rise in leadership roles in their fields. By connecting with peers, members can share insights, resources and experiences that enhance their career and contribute to a more inclusive industry.”
Wendy Schay CO-OWNER THE CROISSANTERIE
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE DEFINING MOMENT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR?
Our team being recognized two years in a row by the Little Rock Regional Chamber as Small Business of the Year 2023 and Woman Owned Small Business of the Year 2024. With the support of my partner and co-owner Jill McDonald, and our outstanding team, I get to run my dream bakery.
WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?
Making people happy. Nothing compares to seeing others enjoying something I’ve made.
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD CHANGE ABOUT YOUR INDUSTRY?
The work-life balance. Taking a passion and turning it into a successful business means missing out on time with family and friends and less time doing the thing that used to be the passion.
WHAT PRE-CAREER MOMENT HAS HAD THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON THE WAY YOU APPROACH YOUR WORK?
One of my first bosses always said if you’re going to do something, do it well. This has led me to take pride in my work, whether it be a small menial task or preparing for the next baking competition.
WHAT OBSTACLES HAVE YOU FACED, EITHER PERSONALLY OR PROFESSIONALLY?
Having a dairy allergy has been a huge obstacle I face on a daily basis. Making croissants and pastries requires the use of a lot of butter, so I must rely on others to taste test our products.
WHAT GOALS OR MILESTONES DO YOU WANT TO REACH BEFORE YOU RETIRE?
I hope to open a Croissanterie in northwest Arkansas before retiring.
Perpetual Learner
Wendy See is a dedicated pharmacy professional with leadership experience in both the managed and home care industries. She is committed to continuous learning to discover new ways to improve member health and satisfaction.
As the vice president of Pharmacy and Primary Care Programs at Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, she aims to bring effective management strategies to help take good care of our members. We are honored to have her on our team.
Congratulations, on being named a 2024 AMP Power Woman!
Wendy See, Pd,
PharmD Vice President
of Pharmacy and Primary Care Programs
Vena Schexnayder
ExEcutivE DirEctor, ArkAnsAs Problem GAmblinG CounCil
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE DEFINING MOMENT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR?
My appointment to the National Council on Problem Gambling board of directors as the state affiliate chair. It not only provides an opportunity for my professional growth but also provides an opportunity to coordinate with 35 other state affiliate representatives to expand available addiction treatment resources.
WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT WHAT YOU DO?
Every day, I get the opportunity to meet innovators in the gaming and technology industry and create meaningful change to improve overall mental health and addiction for Arkansans.
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD CHANGE ABOUT YOUR INDUSTRY?
No one really sees the speed at which the gambling and technology industry is evolving. As a mental health professional, I would hope that local, state and federal agencies at all levels can all work together to meet the needs of all Arkansans to provide resources for their overall health and safety.
WHAT OBSTACLES HAVE YOU FACED, EITHER PERSONALLY OR PROFESSIONALLY?
Creating the balance of time for work and family. My duties can include coordination with various national and international health and technology organizations. Gaming is global, and to review best practices of service products, regulations and treatment resources sometimes requires me to work in several different time zones each day.
IS THERE ANOTHER “POWER WOMAN” WHO INSPIRES YOU?
I would say my mother. She has been a guiding force and supportive for my change in career path and nontraditional job running a nonprofit organization.
COURTNEY SEGUIN
Licensed Sales Professional CK Agency
STEPHANIE SHINE
Co-founder/Partner
Arkansas Talent Group
Stephanie Shine is partner and cofounder of Arkansas Talent Group in Little Rock. She has more than 15 years of recruitment experience and specializes in accounting, finance, human resources and executive-level placements. In 2024, Arkansas Talent Group was named Best Staffing Firm by readers of Arkansas Money & Politics. Throughout her career, Shine has had progressive leadership roles in human resources and recruitment while also serving on several boards, including Rotary International. She is current board president at the Accounting and Financial Women’s Alliance. Shine has a management degree from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and a Master of Business Administration from Missouri State University. Shine has been recognized by AMP as a “Top 100 Professional” and a “Dynamic Duo” with her business partner, Chris Chunn. In 2023, she and Chunn launched the Arkansas Talent Podcast, a platform that showcases influential business leaders and provides insights into professional journeys, industry trends, hiring strategies and talent development in Arkansas. Shine resides in west Little Rock with her husband, John, and their two children. She enjoys all that the Natural State has to offer, including road cycling, mountain biking, hiking and spending time at the lake.
MANDY STANAGE SHOPTAW
Associate State DirectorCommunications and Outreach
AARP
Mandy Stanage Shoptaw is a native of Hot Springs, where she graduated from Lakeside High School before obtaining her degree in communications at Texas Woman’s University in Denton.
As associate state director of communications and outreach, she tells the story of AARP Arkansas, promotes state office news and events through omnichannel marketing platforms, and champions outreach work in fraud prevention and caregiving.
She has worked extensively in state and national television, including the popular P. Allen Smith shows, and has held leadership positions in communications at both the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism and CARTI cancer centers. She has written widely for statewide publications, worked in advertising, including digital content creation, and has been a wedding and event planner.
Shoptaw is a multi-term commissioner for the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History in Little Rock, a member of the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Foundation and Rotary Club of Little Rock Afterhours, was part of the 2023 class of “Intriguing Women” by AY About You, and was the 2022 chair of the American Cancer Society’s Cattle Baron’s Ball.
SHELLEY SIMPSON
CEO
J.B. Hunt
VICTORIA D eFRANCESCO SOTO
Dean
Clinton School of Public Service
SANDY STRAESSLE
Chief Retail Banking Officer
Stone Bank
As executive vice president and chief retail officer for Little Rock’s Stone Bank, Sandy Straessle is responsible for the sales and operations at all of the bank’s branch locations, as well as heading up its training department. Prior to joining Stone Bank in 2016, she had 15 years of banking experience at Regions Bank in Little Rock, including serving as senior vice president of retail administration. Straessle attended the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and is a graduate of Leadership Arkansas, and she serves on the board of Junior Achievement of Arkansas. She is a 2022 graduate of the University of Wisconsin Sales and Marketing Graduate School of Banking and the 2023 American Bankers Association-Wharton Leadership Lab. She is a former board member of Junior Achievement and currently serves as the program chair of Arkansas Women Executives. Straessle was recognized by Arkansas Money & Politics as a “Power Woman” in banking in 2020, 2021 and 2023.
CORRINE SUDAR
Principal Broker/Owner
Sudar Group
NIKKI TAYLOR, APRN
Director of Palliative and Primary Care
Arkansas Palliative Care
MITSY THARP
Real Estate Agent
Signature Properties
CATHY TUGGLE
Owner/Principal Broker
Apartment Hunters, Arkansas Suites
TONYA VILLINES
President/CEO
Junior Achievement of Arkansas
Tonya Villines is a lifelong native of Arkansas who has devoted half of her life in the nonprofit sector, advocating for youth development. Villines is president and CEO of Junior Achievement of Arkansas and said the best part of her job is getting to see transformation happening in young people and the local community. Villines is a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She is a certified leadership
DR. KEEGAN NICHOLS
Congratulations
TONYA VILLINES, President/CEO of Junior Achievement of Arkansas, for being named one of AMP’s 2024 POWER WOMEN!
A lifelong native of Saline County, Tonya Villines has devoted half of her life to advocating for youth development. Villines is the President of Junior Achievement of Arkansas, where she gets to empower young people and watch them transform themselves and their communities.
coach with the John Maxwell Team and a graduate of Leadership Saline County Class XI, as well as Leadership Arkansas Class XIV. She was named to Arkansas Money & Politics’ 2019 “Power Women” and AY About You’s 2020 “Intriguing Women.” She is a 2024 University of Arkansas at Little Rock student leader. Villines and her family — husband Chris, son Trevor and daughter Ali Grace — enjoy spending time traveling, boating on Lake Ouachita and cheering on the Razorbacks.
MILLIE WARD
Co-founder/President
Stone Ward
JENNIFER WELCH
Managing Broker Bentonville
Lindsey & Associates
As an experienced real estate broker with 19 years in the industry, Jennifer Welch has helped countless clients achieve their real estate goals. Her passion for real estate began in her hometown of Siloam Springs in northwest Arkansas, where she was born and raised in a family that valued hard work and integrity.
Throughout her career, she has been committed to providing exceptional service to all her clients, whether they are buying or selling a property or leasing. She believes that communication is key and works closely with clients to ensure that they are informed at every step of the process. From negotiating contracts to navigating complex transactions, Welch has a proven track record of success.
In addition to her work as a broker, Welch is also deeply committed to the real estate industry as a whole. As president of the Arkansas Realtors Association, she is dedicated to advocating for the interests of real estate professionals and ensuring that the industry remains strong and vibrant. Welch is also past president of the Northwest Arkansas Board of Realtors, where she served as president in 2019.
SAMANTHA WILLIAMS-DAVIS
Brand Manager
Central Arkansas Water
GENA WINGFIELD
EVP/Chief Financial Officer
Arkansas Children’s
Gena Wingfield has been the chief financial officer at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock since 1998 and is currently executive vice president of finance at Arkansas Children’s. Since joining the hospital in 1985, Wingfield’s roles have included controller and interim chief information officer. Wingfield graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway in 1983 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting, and she worked in public accounting at Arthur Young & Co. (now Ernst & Young) before joining ACH. Wingfield has served as a member of the Child Health Association audit/compliance committee and the CHA financial services committee. She serves on the finance committee
for the Children’s Hospitals’ Solutions for Patient Safety and has served on the finance committee of the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas. Wingfield is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Arkansas Society of Certified Public Accountants and the Healthcare Financial Management Association.
SUZANNE YEE, M.D. Owner/Founder
Dr. Suzanne Yee Cosmetic & Laser Surgery Center/Med Spa
Suzanne Yee, M.D., is the owner of Dr. Suzanne Yee Cosmetic & Laser Surgery Center/Med Spa in Little Rock. She completed her medical degree and residency in head and neck surgery at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, where she trained under a laser surgeon, an opportunity few surgeons have. Then she completed a facial plastic and reconstructive surgery fellowship in Houston, and she still reaps the benefits of the hands-on training in fillers that she received there.
However, what really set the trajectory for her career was attending the very first course in Botox after the treatment first hit the market in 1997. Although Yee performs a full slate of surgical and nonsurgical procedures, she said today’s patients mostly ask for minimally invasive fillers and laser treatments that require no downtime and help prevent aging, and new techniques have been developed to reduce the invasive aspects of surgery, as well.
Money & Politics
Arkansas Money & Politics understands and appreciates the value of having women in positions of power. Our December issue will feature profiles on the Arkansas Power Women who are leading and making significant contributions in their careers, community and society. Nominate a woman in Arkansas who deserves to be recognized for her time, efforts and character.
TRAILBLAZING MEN ARKANSAS MONEY & POLITICS
Whenthere is a job that needs doing, a problem that needs fixing or a world that needs changing, it is often remarkable men who rise to the occasion. It was that spirit that responded to a call to arms against tyranny, settled the American West, pulled the nation out of the depths of the Great Depression, and set the pace for innovation and compassion the world over.
Most every generation is defined by strong, capable and just men, which inspired this inaugural edition of AMP’s “Trailblazing Men.”
Herein, discover the remarkable individuals who have built businesses, served their fellow Arkansans unselfishly and guided their children in the finest of American ideals — justice, respect, hard work and faith.
As a state, Arkansans are singularly privileged to have these men in their midst, and in a society, all excel by following their strident examples.
Congratulations to all of this year’s honorees.
ALAN W. COLE
Principal, Executive Vice President
Colliers Arkansas
Career inspiration comes from the unlikeliest of places. Shortly after graduating from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Alan Cole worked at his family’s clothing store, Walker Brothers, all the while shopping around for a new job. Direction would come in the form of a customer, who remarked to Cole, “If you can sell suits and socks, you can sell real estate in northwest Arkansas.” Cole took the hint and set his sights on commercial real estate.
“Through a longtime friendship of my mother’s, I was connected with the founders of the predecessor company to our Colliers office and was the first broker they hired in northwest Arkansas,” Cole said. “I have been with
Colliers my entire career, starting with answering the phone and research projects to now a principal in the company.”
Every deal presents a new set of challenges. That variability is Cole’s favorite part of the work, since it is because of those issues that he can add real value for his clients. There is also the gratifying opportunity to be involved in someone’s life-changing dream.
“When a client is buying a property for investment or opening a new business, they are altering their lives forever,” he said. “It is an honor to be a part of that process and incredibly fulfilling to look back on all of our clients’ successes.”
In commercial real estate, a successful agent has to be able to navigate several different fields, from laws and contracts to construction pricing and civil engineering plans. That is on top of the relationship skills that make or break any salesman. Cole found all of his skills put to the test in dramatic fashion just five years into his career.
“In August of 2008, I married my amazing wife, Allison. Then, in October, the dominos started to fall on the crash of the economy,” Cole said. “It was pretty scary starting our lives together and seeing an entire pipeline disappear overnight.”
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WHEN A CLIENT IS BUYING A PROPERTY FOR INVESTMENT OR OPENING A NEW BUSINESS, THEY ARE ALTERING THEIR LIVES FOREVER. IT IS AN HONOR TO BE A PART OF THAT PROCESS.
Allison worked day and night to support the pair, and Alan Cole contemplated changing professions in order to secure a stable salary. His wife’s belief in him, Cole said, allowed him to ride out the storm and make a comeback.
“I maintained many relationships through that time, and when things turned around, I was in a position to take advantage,” he said. “I learned to be prepared for the unexpected, the value of maintaining relationships in good and bad times, and that my wife is my hero.”
In addition to his proudest personal accomplishment — his marriage and his three daughters — Cole has plenty to celebrate professionally. He recently hit 20 years at Colliers, with the last 12 spent as a principal and executive vice president. He successfully brokered both Topgolf locations in the state. Most recent has been the completion of the Collection at Uptown development in the Pinnacle Hills area of Rogers, where Colliers has relocated its northwest Arkansas office and where Walker Brothers will soon open a flagship location.
MARK EVANS
Founder and Senior Pastor
The Church at Rock Creek
MarkEvans considered going to law school, but as he put it, “God had other things in mind.” He worked in various positions at churches for the first 13 years of his career before founding the Church of Rock Creek in Little Rock, where he is senior pastor, nearly 30 years ago.
“I loved the concept of starting a church from scratch,” he said. “My wife, Terri, and I started learning as much as we could about what it took to start a church and then praying about locations around the U.S. to start. Doors kept closing in other cities, and doors kept opening in Little Rock.
I grew up in Little Rock, so I knew the city, and we knew this is where God was leading us to start a church.”
Although his education gave him Biblical knowledge, he said learning how to work with people and help them through their problems came with experience.
“The most important thing that I can do on a daily basis is to love people, show grace and mercy, and be willing to help them if I can,” he said.
He added that he finds satisfaction in working with others to help accomplish projects and achieve goals at the Church of Rock Creek.
“I love that God has allowed me to pastor the same congregation for 29 years,” he said. “It is one of the best blessings. To go from meeting in a small hotel conference room to meeting in warehouses to the church’s 40-acre ministry campus, this has been a great ride.”
He said his two greatest mentors have been his father, David Evans, and Dale Cowling, the late pastor of Second Baptist Church in Little Rock. Evans added that he, in turn, enjoys coaching young men and helping them talk through their problems as they start their careers and families.
”
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING THAT I CAN DO ON A DAILY BASIS IS TO LOVE PEOPLE, SHOW GRACE AND MERCY, AND BE WILLING TO HELP THEM IF I CAN.
“In my work at Rock Creek, getting to watch a person’s life change, is still the most amazing experience,” he said. “When the Lord works in a broken person’s heart and starts putting the pieces of their life back together again is still amazing to me to watch. I hope I never get over that.”
Inspired by a lifelong love of men’s fashion, he purchased Mr. Wicks in Little Rock’s Heights neighborhood in 2017 and relaunched the business as a premier destination for the latest looks and trends.
In addition, he is the founder of Feed Arkansas Kids, a Little Rock nonprofit that provides children who qualify for school nutrition programs with food to eat on weekends. The program feeds seven meals a weekend to 1,800 students every weekend during the school year.
Evans and his wife also support a pastor in Cusco, Peru, who oversees a mission center and several churches in the region.
BRIAN HAGEWOOD
Owner Southern Interiors
Handling all the moving parts that remodeling a home entails is a challenge, said Brian Hagewood, owner of Southern Interiors in Sherwood, but it is a challenge that pays off when he sees the finished product and knows that his team helped turn someone’s dream into a reality.
He started in the home remodeling business 37 years ago, while he was still a teenager.
“I had to learn from the ground up,” he said. “I started working in a flooring warehouse while in high school and learned everything I could to move up.”
Hagewood grew up in a military family, and although his life might have taken a different course had he joined the military, he said he stayed in remodeling because he enjoyed the work. In 1999, at just 27 years old, he launched his own company, Southern Interiors.
The business works to be a one-stop shop for home improvement, offering everything from flooring, counters, cabinets and blinds to complete remodeling services and kitchen and bath design.
He said the greatest obstacle he has had to overcome is balancing his time between work and home.
“It takes a lot of sacrifice to run and grow a business for 25 years,” he said.
However, he added, his children have all become successful in their own right, and he is proud of them.
“They all took advantage of their opportunities and have become amazing individuals,” he said.
He is also proud of his business and said it is a great accomplishment to survive more than 25 years through changing economic climates.
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I HAD TO LEARN FROM THE GROUND UP. I STARTED WORKING IN A FLOORING WAREHOUSE WHILE IN HIGH SCHOOL AND LEARNED EVERYTHING I COULD TO MOVE UP.
“Professionally, managing growth has been the hardest part for me,” he added.
Throughout the years, he said, he has learned to always do what is right for his clients and treat every project like his own.
“Your company’s reputation is more important than anything else,” he said.
He added that his biggest role models were his father, his late brother and Richard Akel, owner of Akel’s Carpet One Floor & Home.
“Father taught me work ethic, my brother taught me so much after his passing, like empathy, and Mr. Akel taught me a lot about this business,” he said.
He advised youngsters in the industry to follow the same course he did: work hard, be passionate and learn everything there is to know about the business.
“I love to give people opportunities to be successful and watch them achieve their goals,” he said.
When he is not on the job, he enjoys golfing, fishing and spending time with his family. His wife and children also play golf, and his daughter competed in college.
GARY HEAD
CEO, Chairman of the Board Signature Bank of Arkansas
At some point in his life, Gary Head was as likely to end up as a fishing guide as he was a bank CEO. With no idea what direction his career would take and a world of possibilities before him, he knew that no matter where he landed, his success would be built on relationships. One of those early connections, finance professor John Dominick — who now sits on Head’s board at Signature Bank of Arkansas — set up the then-recent University of Arkansas graduate with an interview at a bank.
“Education gave me the opportunity to get a job, which led to an opportunity to learn how to do that job correctly,” Head said.
Head soon climbed his way from the basement to the C-suite. On his way up, he received a piece of advice from none other than coach Frank Broyles, his longtime mentor and, later, another member of his board. “You can never have too many friends,” Broyles told him. That lesson proved especially true when Head decided to strike out on his own and start a bank from scratch. Though he had not asked any colleagues to follow him, some three dozen did so, becoming the first employees at Signature Bank of Arkansas.
“We started out with the largest round of capital funding in the history of our state,” he said. “After that, I was sure it was going to work.”
That was nearly two decades ago, and the time has flown by for Head. His vision for Signature was a bank founded on local, personal customer service, and employees are held to the highest standards of quality and excellence. The company’s culture, diverse leadership and business success have already made it a pioneering institution, but Head is not one to rest on his laurels. Enter Banco Sí, the first entirely Hispanic-dedicated bank in the state, which Signature opened in 2022.
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A COMMUNITY BANK IS ESTABLISHED TO PROVIDE SERVICES TO THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY, NOT JUST PARTS OF IT.
“My inspiration for Banco Sí came from an awareness that the Hispanic and Latino community was not being well served in our region,” Head said. “A community bank is established to provide services to the entire community, not just parts of it. I made sure that Signature Bank culture was the same at Banco Sí — learning to provide the same level of service in Spanish as in English.”
One of the bank’s directors, who is Latino, has helped create the atmosphere and direction for Banco Sí, Head said, and he and the rest of the board are all committed to making the venture a long-term success. Head is proud to see the people around him grow into the business and achieve great things, and his vision for the future is simple: to do more of the same.
“I want people to know that we’ve built a bank for the community,” Head said. “Whether you’re at Banco Sí or Signature Bank, in any market, you’ll receive the same personal service — and if anyone treats you otherwise, you can call me yourself.”
GREG KENDRICK, M.D.
Internal Medicine Residency Program Director,
Hospitalist Program Director
Conway Regional Health System
Helping people who are experiencing health problems understand the next steps and navigate an often confusing industry is the greatest part of working in health care for Dr. Greg Kendrick, internal medicine director at Conway Regional Health System, who added that he has wanted to be a doctor since he was a child.
“The most challenging part of my work is taking care of patients who do not have an option for curing their disease, so sometimes answering a patient’s questions and being present for them is the best thing I have to offer,” he said. “The most rewarding part of my job is having someone tell me that my team took great care of them and that they appreciate the care we have provided them.”
Although medical school taught him about different disease states and treatments, the practice of medicine is not always straightforward, and there are nuances to making good decisions. He said one of the most important skills he has learned is how to listen to patients.
“Sometimes the complaint doesn’t match what is in the book,” he said, “but if someone is bothering to tell you about their problem, then something is going on with that patient, and my job is to figure out what that is.”
He named the COVID-19 pandemic as the greatest challenge he has faced during his career.
“I am not one to linger on the hard things that happen in life, but that two years of watching patients struggle and deal with a life-threatening illness that we did not know much about was tough,” he said. “I really think that many people in health care are probably scarred from that experience, as are many outside of health care.”
His greatest professional achievement has been establishing and directing the hospitalist group at Conway Regional, he added.
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SOMETIMES THE COMPLAINT DOESN’T MATCH WHAT IS IN THE BOOK, BUT IF SOMEONE IS BOTHERING TO TELL YOU ABOUT THEIR PROBLEM, THEN SOMETHING IS GOING ON WITH THAT PATIENT, AND MY JOB IS TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THAT IS.
“We started that program in 2008, and it has grown into a fantastic group of physicians that take wonderful care of inpatients at our hospital,” he said.
His mentors have included his father, George Kendrick, who taught him to work hard for rewards rather than feeling entitled to them; his father-in-law, Jim Hill, who taught him the value of listening and humor; and Dr. Bill Furlow of Conway, who taught him to be a lifelong learner but that books do not have all the answers.
“Now that I am in the second half of my career, I have opportunities to mentor others in their career journeys,” he said. “The internal medicine residency at Conway Regional has provided a path for teaching young physicians about internal medicine.”
He advised aspiring physicians to approach their work with both confidence and humility.
“The thing I know for certain is that we don’t know very much of what there is to know,” he said, “so be prepared to learn something new every day.”
He and his wife, Jenifer, have three children and have been active members of Conway First Baptist Church for 25 years.
BRIAN MARSH
President and CEO
If it sounds like an unconventional career path, that is because it is. Prior to joining Goodwill Industries of Arkansas as chief operating officer in 2013, Brian Marsh led the automotive emissions testing program for the state of Colorado. Marsh was first introduced to the nonprofit during a previous stint in operations for Black+Decker.
“When the opportunity arose to join Goodwill Industries of Arkansas, knowing what I did about their mission to change lives through education, training and employment, I couldn’t turn it down,” Marsh said.
Marsh became president and CEO in 2017. During his tenure with Goodwill, he has seen the tangible impact the nonprofit makes for individuals,
their families and their communities. Before joining the team, however, he had never even considered working in the nonprofit space.
“One of the things I didn’t fully appreciate and which isn’t fully appreciated is that this is a business,” he said. “We must be especially diligent because our social enterprise is what powers and funds our mission. Without being effective in our business and operational processes, we wouldn’t be able to deliver the mission to our state.”
Goodwill’s focus on workforce development targets those who are underemployed, many of whom have faced difficult barriers in their education and work history. These individuals are often considered unemployable and have challenges getting and keeping jobs with other employers in the area. By setting people on the path toward education and gainful employment, Goodwill has been able to change the narrative for scores of Arkansans.
“Operating a high school for adults and providing access to education for the more than 300,000 Arkansans without a diploma creates generational transformation,” he said. “It’s the ABCs of work: a job, a better job and a career. Empowering and equipping those with little or no experience and helping them on the path to a rewarding career and a living wage is so impactful. It fills our cup.”
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IT’S NOT ALWAYS ABOUT MORE MONEY. IT’S NOT ALWAYS ABOUT MORE THINGS. IT’S ABOUT THE IMPACT YOU HAVE ON PEOPLE. IT SHOULD ALWAYS BE PEOPLE FIRST.
Looking back on his career, both for- and nonprofit, Marsh advised young professionals to “fill up their toolboxes” by learning as much as they can about people and processes.
“Some advice that I wished I had disregarded [is that] bigger is better,” he said. “Building the empire. Always going for what is perceived as the golden ring. It’s not always about more money. It’s not always about more things. It’s about the impact you have on people. It should always be people first.”
Among Marsh’s dearest accomplishments are his marriage of 37 years and his three adult children. He is also proud to have worked with legislators to change laws in Arkansas that allowed for the launch of the Excel Center in 2017. The adult high school is now looking to expand as it nears its current capacity in central Arkansas.
Goodwill Industries of Arkansas
REESE ROWLAND, FAIA
Principal Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects
Reese Rowland has been around construction, in some fashion or another, his entire life. With both parents in the industry, it was natural for him to chase a similar dream.
“I spent time in the summers with my dad going to jobsites where he was a representative for a brick company,” Rowland said. “My mom worked for a small construction company as a bookkeeper and office manager. I loved seeing the process of building.”
As one of those lucky people who always knew what he wanted to do with his life, Rowland recognized early on his skills as a three-
dimensional thinker. Peers and teachers complimented his keen drawing abilities too. Solidifying his path was the sense of wonder he had for the craft — and the art — of creating physical spaces, a sense he has kept with him ever since.
“I had such an interest in every city I visited,” he said. “ I have always been fascinated by buildings.”
As the young architect embarked on his career in Little Rock, he aimed to improve his design skills by learning from the best. He made a list of his favorite buildings around the state and sought out the creative minds behind them. As it turned out, most of them had originated at Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects. He joined the firm in 1996, back when there were only 20 employees.
Early on, Rowland was given the opportunity to tackle significant design projects that now serve as landmarks in the capital city, such as the Little Rock Regional Chamber and the Acxiom River Market Tower — which he later redesigned for Simmons Bank. From there, he designed the Heifer International Headquarters and Education Center, as well as several projects for the Central Arkansas Library System and two headquarters for Bank OZK.
” I HAD SUCH AN INTEREST IN EVERY CITY I VISITED. I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN FASCINATED BY BUILDINGS.
“The success of early projects allowed me to become a principal in the firm at age 34,” he said.
So far, Rowland has been awarded more than 60 national, regional and state design awards and is one of only 3,000 or so architects in the country elected to the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows. Turning a client’s hopes and dreams into reality, telling their story in stone and steel, is no mean feat — much less on a finite budget. An innovator’s spirit combined with a fierce love of his home state inspires him to improve the place that raised him with every project.
“I desire my reputation among clients to be that of a strong collaborator and a partner in distilling their vision into physical yet personal narratives,” he said. “I’ve always had a philosophy of allowing natural light to enliven space and spirit while reducing our dependence on generated energy.”
If there is anything more important than literal buildings, it has been building his family. Rowland counts his two sons, Preston and Pierce, as his greatest achievement, and while his work will certainly outlive him, so will his legacy as a father and community figure.
CALEB TALLEY
Executive Director
Startup Junkie Foundation
CalebTalley knows a thing or two about turning a vision into reality. In fact, he is no small part of the reason this issue of Arkansas Money & Politics is in the world at all. After a stint as a reporter and columnist for his hometown newspaper, Talley served an editor for Vowell, where he helped bring AMP back from an online-only publication into the sought-after business and politics magazine that now graces newsstands statewide. It was during that work that he caught the startup bug.
“My experience there brought me into close proximity to all of the heat and energy around Arkansas’ entrepreneurial ecosystems, particularly in north-
west Arkansas,” Talley said. “I wanted to be a part of that.”
In 2019, Talley joined the team at Startup Junkie, a group offering no-cost consulting services and support to entrepreneurs. He now heads the Startup Junkie Foundation, which works to expand the group’s impact. The organization operates at an impressive scale, hosting more than 250 events each year and distributing more than $1.5 million in capital to underserved small business owners through the Kiva Northwest Arkansas Hub program, among several other offerings. Talley described his work championing innovation and empowering entrepreneurs as both a passion and a privilege.
“We operate like a startup ourselves,” he said. “It requires strategic allocation of staff and capacity to ensure every entrepreneur receives the support they need, all while maintaining a rapid pace of activity and delivering tangible outcomes. We take on a lot of responsibility, and we take a lot onto our plate, but we always deliver.”
That eagerness — and that struggle to say no to a project — comes naturally to Talley, who has always sought out as much additional responsibility as he could handle. No matter the work, he is driven by a desire not only to do the job well, but to be a valuable teammate and leader.
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I HOPE I CAN CONTINUE TO BE SOMEONE OTHERS WANT TO WORK WITH AS WE WORK TO SERVE OUR CLIENTS, BUILD BRIDGES WITHIN OUR COMMUNITY AND LOCK ARMS WITH THOSE WHO SHARE OUR VISION OF IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP.
“As executive director of the Startup Junkie Foundation, I hope I can continue to be someone others want to work with as we work to serve our clients, build bridges within our community, and lock arms with those who share our vision of improving lives through innovation and entrepreneurship,” Talley said.
Shaping his work ethic, both within the office and without, have been men such as his father and grandfather, whose guidance has taught him the lasting impact one can have on others.
“My grandfather passed away earlier this year, and I have reflected many times over these last few months about the man he was and the lessons he taught me through his stories,” he said. “By his example, I hope to have a positive impact on my coworkers and our clients, as well as our community and, of course, my family.”
MAHESH VENKATRAMAN
Chief Financial Officer
Welspun Tubular
Asa wise band once said, it is a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll.
In the case of Mahesh Venkatraman, chief financial officer at Welspun Tubular, it was 13,820 kilometers — that is, 8,587 miles, or the distance from Mumbai, India to Little Rock.
Venkatraman has close to three decades of experience in finance and initially joined Welspun at their international headquarters, Welspun Corp., in 2014 while still in Mumbai. He moved to Little Rock in 2018.
Welspun Tubular specializes in making helical submerged arc welding and high-frequency induction welding pipes and coatings. The company has supplied hundreds of miles of pipes for major projects all across the U.S. since 2006 and recently announced a $100 million expansion of the Little Rock plant.
As expected, coming to Little Rock from a city of 21.6 million people — more than 2 1/2 times the population of New York City — was a drastic change, Venkatraman said. Ultimately, he found that his family was happy with the change, and that there was a welcoming community to call home in Arkansas’ capital city.
Many newcomers to the Natural State quickly come to appreciate all of the nature on offer, as well as weather that actually reflects all four seasons. Venkatraman is no exception, and he enjoys walking local trails in particular.
“When you see the change in the weather, you see the fall, these are pretty new things for us coming from India,” he said.
As a businessman, Venkatraman describes himself as “a numbers guy,” while his personal life centers more around his family and traveling.
” BEING CLOSE TO THE BUSINESS, YOU SEE HOW IT IS RUN, HOW IT IS TO BE MANAGED, THE CHANGES YOU WANT TO DO. WHEN YOU DO THE 36,000-FOOT REVIEW, IT WILL BE TOTALLY DIFFERENT FROM THE GROUND-ZERO REVIEW.
“Anything that I look at, I look at from the business side of it,” he said.
Back in India, Venkatraman was tasked with reviewing Welspun’s business and providing assessments. Now he is on the “other side of the table” as part of the leadership at the company. He assessed the Little Rock company regularly while in India but has since learned that “driving” a business and reviewing it are worlds apart.
“It’s quite different from what you were handling before, but what it also gives you — being close to the business — you see how it is run, how it is to be managed, the changes you want to do,” he said. “When you do the 36,000-foot review, it will be totally different from the ground-zero review.”
Venkatraman stands apart in the field because of his unique understanding of Welspun’s business, bringing true value to the company and its offerings. Outside of the office, he serves as a trustee on the board and chair of the ethics committee of the Hindu Temple of Central Arkansas in Little Rock. He also participates in the Harmony Clinic, a Little Rock nonprofit that provides free medical and dental care to those without insurance, and he is an active member of the local Indian community.
BEN WELLONS
BenWellons, president and land developer at Wellons Real Estate in Little Rock, has been an entrepreneur since childhood. First he built lemonade stands, and then he started a lawn mowing business and a powerwashing business.
He has also been a lifelong lover of all things outdoors and has enjoyed hunting, fishing and camping since his youth. He took a break during college to work in Alaska, an experience that sparked his interest in land real estate, and Wellons said he even considered taking a position at a land real estate company.
However, when he was tasked with writing a business plan for an
imaginary business his senior year, he took the assignment to the next level by actually starting the business in his garage. He spent the next decade in health care distribution, using any extra money he earned to purchase small parcels of land across Arkansas.
“The outdoors had always been a passion for me, and I would spend weekends and spare time making improvements to the land and learning how to do things that added value,” he said. “Over time and through word of mouth, people began hearing about my properties and offering to purchase them.”
He had not planned to sell the land, he said, but as an eager young businessman, he realized there was money to be made and began using the profits from each property sold to buy even larger parcels of land. In time, 40 acres grew to 120, 320, 640 and, eventually, more than 1,000 acres of farms and recreational properties.
After he sold his health care distribution company, the land business became his full-time occupation, and Wellons Real Estate was born.
”
I SET OUT WITH A SIMPLE GOAL TO BUY ONE PARCEL OF LAND A YEAR, MAKE VALUABLE IMPROVEMENTS TO IT AND SELL IT, HOPEFULLY WITH ENOUGH PROFIT TO TAKE CARE OF MY YOUNG FAMILY. THANKFULLY, AND MOSTLY THROUGH GOD’S FAVOR ON MY LIFE, OPPORTUNITIES HAVE CONTINUED TO GROW.
“My hobby and passion became my work, and I set out with a simple goal to buy one parcel of land a year, make valuable improvements to it and sell it, hopefully with enough profit to take care of my young family,” he said. “Thankfully, and mostly through God’s favor on my life, opportunities have continued to grow.”
Today, the company has grown into a fully staffed land brokerage firm and development team that can handle projects of any size. Listed among the top 20 land brokerage firms in the U.S., Wellons Real Estate is unique in that it not only brokers outdoor properties, but develops them, offering an unmatched fleet of equipment, engineers, wildlife biologists and others.
The company has received the National Association of Realtors award for outstanding achievement in the land real estate industry and was recognized as one of “America’s Best Brokerages” by the Land Report magazine in 2024.
“Our motto has become, ‘If our clients can dream it, we can build it’ — a pretty lofty claim, but we stand behind it,” Wellons said.
ZACHARY T. YOUNG, M.D.
Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon Arkansas Plastic Surgery
Growing up the son of a physician and nephew to two surgeons tends to tip the career scales in one direction. Dr. Zachary Young cannot recall a time in his life where he thought he would be anything but a physician. Now a board-certified plastic surgeon at Little Rock’s oldest continuous private practice clinic, Arkansas Plastic Surgery, Young has had jobs at just about every level of the health care system at one time or another.
“The operating room is where I felt most comfortable,” Young said. “Every person in the room has one focus and goal, all in the name of helping the patient.”
After general surgery training, Young was accepted to a fellowship in plastic, reconstructive and hand surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina. Even with 18 years of post-secondary schooling, his field is so vast and each patient so unique that he still must work to stay abreast of the newest procedures, techniques and technology. Young focuses primarily on aesthetic and reconstructive surgery of the breast and body, in addition to a bevy of nonsurgical options such as Botox and microneedling. Still, he said, there is one challenge that especially plagues his field: the “Instagram expectation.”
“Patients will often show photos from Instagram, and it is clear that what they are showing is either edited or manipulated in such a way that the results are misleading,” he said. “Common techniques include specific lighting, angles or positions in which the results are not truly representative.”
Social media hurdles aside, Young is proud of the reconstructive care he provides for those who have had breast cancer, a disease that has affected many people in his life. It is rewarding when patients reach the end of their surgical journeys and are finally able to see the version of themselves they want to be.
” WHAT MAY BE A ROUTINE CASE FOR ME MAY CHANGE SOMEONE’S LIFE FOREVER. MY BIGGEST PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT IS BEING ABLE TO POSITIVELY AFFECT THE LIVES OF OTHERS DAILY.
“What may be a routine case for me may change someone’s life forever,” he said. “My biggest professional achievement is being able to positively affect the lives of others daily.”
While his professional footprint is set to be impressive in itself, it is his personal legacy — his children — that he is most proud of. His family is full of examples and mentors he aims to follow, both within the operating room and without.
“My paternal grandfather was a Chinese immigrant and sent all of his children to college, and they all went on to have successful careers,” he said. “My maternal grandfather was a man of God and showed me what it meant to stay humble, be appreciative for the things you have and put family first. Outside of my family in medicine, I have been truly blessed to have wonderful uncles to help me along the way. My father-in-law has been a great sounding board and friend in the last 16 years, as well.”
Practical Elegance
Parker Lexus offers great service to complement the sale
Parker Lexus in Little Rock believes that guest transparency is essential for a seamless and successful service experience. Whether visiting for routine maintenance or addressing more complex concerns, the company’s commitment to keeping guests informed is paramount.
As part of its award-winning service, each guest receives a video multi-point inspection performed by Lexus-certified technicians. This provides a clear understanding of the vehicle’s condition and any necessary repairs or maintenance. Parker Lexus’ goal is to provide complete transparency so guests can make informed decisions about their vehicle’s care.
What truly sets Parker Lexus apart is its complimentary valet service, a program it launched in 2018 with a single driver covering a 50-mile radius. Over time, this initiative has grown significantly, now featuring seven drivers who cover the entire state. This expansion reflects the program’s immense success and how much it has resonated with guests.
The valet service allows clients to have their vehicles picked up and dropped off for service without the need to leave their homes, providing added convenience and peace of mind.
SAVORING YOUR SUCCESS
As a result of this growing success, Parker Lexus has been able to extend this service to its valued guests in Northwest Arkansas, offering them the opportunity to have their vehicles transported to the service department without any additional mileage. That has been a game changer for Parker clients in that part of the state, making it easier than ever to maintain vehicles in peak working order. Once the car is serviced, it is returned washed and vacuumed, ensuring a top-tier experience from start to finish.
The best-in-class program has become a major perk for Parker Lexus clients and a testament to the company’s dedication to exceptional customer service.
TX 350
An all-new, three-row crossover SUV, the Lexus TX comes loaded with features and offers plenty of passenger and cargo space. It is “a product that we had never had, a true thirdrow vehicle where there’s actually room behind that row,” said Bruce Gilby, Parker Lexus general manager.
Edmunds wrote that the TX “should appeal to shoppers who want a roomy and comfortable SUV crossover that’s great for family duty.” The vehicle comes powered by a 2.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine with standard front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive available. Buyers looking for more power and speed can step up to the Lexus TX 500h hybrid or the TX 550h+ plug-in hybrid.
Car and Driver raves about the “interior space, including an adult-accommodating third row,” and a host of standard features, including heated front seats, a power-tilt and telescopic steering wheel, a 12-speaker audio system, ambient interior illumination, wireless charging, and a 14-inch infotainment touch screen.
GX 550
RX 500h
A consistent bestseller for Lexus, the RX SUV continues the company’s tradition of expertly built, quiet and comfortable luxury vehicles.
Gilby said auto buyers are embracing hybrids, and the RX 500h is a solid example that combines smooth power delivery, quick acceleration, and the familiar look and features for which Lexus is known.
With a 2.4-liter, turbo-four engine and electric motor, the RX 500h is heralded the “sportiest version” of Lexus’ midsize SUV, according to MotorTrend. It provides a gentle ride, engaging handling and a suite of up-to-date tech combined in a sharp-looking Black Line styling package.
One of Lexus’ most reliable off-road vehicles, the latest GX has been massively modernized and upgraded. Similar in size to the TX, the GX 550 has a body-on-frame architecture and a focus on offroad capability.
The new design is “literally the hottest thing on the market right now,” Gilby said. “We have wait lists for that vehicle, and we hope, over the next six months, we can work through that.”
Car and Driver reports the GX has “no-excuses off-road capability, stellar towing capacity [and] strong twin turbo V-6.” All GXs are powered by the 349-horsepower twin-turbo engine, which has 10-speed automatic transmission and full-time four-wheel drive with low range.
UX 300h
Toyota and Lexus, Gilby said, have been building hybrids since 1997, and that long line of experience shows in the UX, a hybrid hatchback that delivers improved acceleration, powertrain refinement, great mileage and a plush interior.
The model’s horsepower goes up from 181 to 196 thanks to the more powerful electric motor, Car and Driver noted, and there is also a new lithium-iron battery pack. Other updates include a larger digital gauge cluster screen available as an option and other enhanced driver-assistance features.
“The public has really grasped how awesome that vehicle is,” Gilby said. “Great gas mileage, additional acceleration, — it just gives you the best of both worlds, having that electric engine and gas engine to complement it.”
Parker Lexus would not be in business if the brand did not keep up with the times. Among the many creature comforts Lexus vehicles are coming off the line with are a 360-degree view camera and a traffic jam assist feature that takes some of the pain out of being stuck in a slow-moving line of traffic.
“I talked to a guy the other day that had been in stop-go traffic for an hour and a half and never touched the accelerator or brake,” Gilby said. “It just gave him a more comfortable ride. He wasn’t stressed. The car just does it for you.”
As Parker Lexus looks ahead to 2025 and beyond, it will be able to show off the new vehicles and new tech at its expanded and remodeled showroom, which has made the dealership a “comfortable and warm place to visit,” Gilby said, adding, “Providing that welcoming environment is just another way Parker Lexus goes the extra mile for its valued clients.”
— Bruce Gilby, general manager “
The car just does it for you.”
A HAVEN
HIGH-TECH
By Todd Traub // Photos by Steve Lewis
Builder Ron Harris at the Village of Maumelle.
On a brisk weekday morning in Maumelle, homebuilder Ron Harris was found outside two under-construction homes at his latest development project, the Village of Maumelle.
In recent days Harris, co-founder of Summerwood Homes, with his wife, Vikki, has been trying to get up to speed on some of the unique technological features to be included in the Village’s homes — a range of electronic systems to monitor the health and safety of the seniors expected to comprise a majority of the residents.
Harris is no stranger to state-ofthe-art construction, energy efficiency and green technology, but on that sunny morning, he brought along Krista Hughes, master care partner at Electronic Caregiver, to help explain the tech her company is providing for the development.
“This is going to be kind of an interesting scenario,” Harris said, taking stock of the health-monitoring, activity-detecting devices that can provide seniors with a greater degree of freedom while also reducing health care costs.
“Builders need to think about aging in place,” said Hughes, a former state director of the Department of Human Services Division of Aging, Adult and Behavioral Health Services.
The 13-acre development on Maumelle’s Commerce Drive will be a gated community for seniors, retirees and empty nesters that will boast leading-edge technology and a ton of walkability. Residents will be able to stroll to city parks and walking trails, as well as a number of local businesses, including a grocery store, and restaurants will also be in reach.
There will also be a clubhouse with pickleball courts and two dog parks, while future development plans include shopping, movies and other entertainment.
“A lot of it has to do with walkability,” Harris said.
The two homes going up side by side among the otherwise vacant plots, and utility hookups are complete enough for Harris and Hughes to take visitors in out of the cold. Harris first shows off the storm-proofed cupboard in one home and utility room in the other, both reinforced with hurricane straps and bolts, that he refers to as a “poor man’s tornado shelter.”
Stepping into the kitchen area of the first home, Harris and Hughes explain the health-monitoring technology and the need to have it in homes as the U.S. grapples with an aging population. Each day, 10,000 Americans turn 65, and in addition, 12 million people older than 65 live alone, and 97 percent of older adults said they would prefer to live in their own homes.
“I just saw a need,” Harris said. “I started asking questions. That’s where I learned about this tsunami of aging.”
Hughes offers a variety of data explaining some of the health risks and financial hardships faced by seniors who live alone. The No. 1 reason for hospital readmission is the failure to properly take prescribed medications; a person spends an average 17.5 hours without help after falling; and there are 52 million caregivers caring for someone 18 and older.
As of December, the average cost of a home caregiver in Arkansas was $17.40 an hour, $696 for a 40-hour work week and $2,262 a month (130 hours). The cost of assisted living in the state ranges from approximately $3,400 a month to $4,400 a month, while a semiprivate room in a nursing home is about $5,170 a month, and a private room is close to $5,800 a month.
“The cost of a person one-to-one taking care of somebody is quite expensive,” Hughes said, adding that many other health care-related expenses are not covered by insurance.
Harris is familiar with the pricing.
“I saw my parents go from owning their own home to, boom, $6,000-a-month assisted living,” he said.
Harris said much of the appeal of his latest development has to do with walkability.
Electronic Caregiver offers Premier, a mobile device and wrist pendant that uses GPS and location services and features customized activity detection; the ProHealth smart health hub system that measures and records vitals associated with a treatment plan; a 24-hour emergency response monitoring center; a 24-hour PocketMD service that allows immediate connection to a physician facilitator and a quick response from a doctor; the FamilyCare App, which allows families and caregivers to send messages directly to an Electronic Caregiver device and keep tabs on loved ones; and programming that matches a client’s care plan and sends reminders to follow through on medications and appointments.
The systems can track anything from a person’s location to their blood sugar levels to weight fluctuations. If someone normally rises at 5:30 a.m. and has not moved by 6:30 a.m., for example, the technology recognizes that and sends out alerts, and doctors, family and any other members of a senior’s care team can be looped in.
The Premier costs about $49 a month with no contract, Hughes said, which is much less expensive than having a caregiver on retainer, waiting for something to happen. Just as important, the tech allows seniors greater freedom and independence to come and go as they please, rather than be “tied to a wall,” Hughes said.
The cost of assisted living in the state ranges from approximately $3,400 a month to $4,400 a month, while a semiprivate room in a nursing home is about $5,170 a month, and a private room is close to $5,800 a month.
Founded in 1997, Summerwood — a combination of Summer, Harris’ daughter, and his middle name of Woody — has completed 250 projects in its 21 years. It is a number that should increase drastically when the Village of Maumelle comes online.
Harris noted that since the 2022 ribbon cutting, Summerwood has received 199 responses expressing interest in the three- and two-bedroom single family homes and the three- and two-bedroom town homes. The interest is greatest among people 55 and older, with some older than 75, though people younger than 55 are also interested.
Harris said there are no age restrictions necessarily, and Hughes points out that anyone from 21 to 55 can be disabled and have use for the smart tech.
There are not many developments like the Village of Maumelle yet — Harris has heard of one in Missouri and one in northwest Arkansas — but with the population growing older, he has no doubt there will be more, and he is happy to help fill the need.
“As a builder, I like to build what people want,” he said.
The homes at the Village of Maumelle come with built-in storm reinforcements, top, and the Electronic Caregiver activity detection system.
home-like
encouraging each resident to achieve the maximum level of activity and independence.
Northwest Arkansas’ Premiere Independent Living Community
Discover a lifestyle of freedom, fun, and fulfillment in Northwest Arkansas’ community. Our facility is designed to provide a vibrant and engaging environment, where you can embrace an active lifestyle while enjoying the comforts of a well-appointed home.
Luxe Life
By Steve Wilcox
SENIOR LIVING IN NWA IS ALL ABOUT THE ‘LIVING’ PART
Preparation for senior living is a reality most every family must face. Some folks think it a grim time of hand wringing and worry, but they are looking in the wrong places. For active seniors in northwest Arkansas, the options are many and some are downright spectacular. Here are two stories:
“We’re a bit of a unicorn even in the state of Arkansas. We’re completely unique between here and Tulsa, and we are what’s called ACCRC, which is “a continuing care retirement community,” said Kelly Syer, director of marketing at Butterfield Trail Village in Fayetteville. “Essentially, what that means is that people move here as independent living residents, and they have to be independent living and can care for their own needs. Then, over time, if their health declines in a way where they need assisted living or memory care or skilled nursing, long-term nursing home care, then we have those facilities all located on this campus.
“It’s a continuum of care from the point where someone is able-bodied and active and doing all kinds of things. We even have some people here who are still working, all the way to the point where someone might enter hospice or pass away.”
The model is also referenced as a life plan community.
Although Butterfield Trail Village has amenities galore — a large theater with professional technical capabilities, a wellness and aquatic center, two gyms and 44 manicured acres in the heart of a college town — the community is actually a nonprofit organization that was founded by a group of churches.
Grand Village at Clear Creek (Photos provided)
...THE FINANCIAL STRUCTURE HAS ALLOWED BUTTERFIELD TRAIL VILLAGE TO BE APPROACHABLE FINANCIALLY FOR SENIORS WHO ARE WILLING TO LIVE IN A SMALLER RESIDENCE BUT WANT ACCESS TO ALL OF THE AMENITIES OFFERED.
Although no longer affiliated with a religious organization, the community’s charter as a place where people can retire and live a vibrant life with lots of social engagement and activities remains intact. In addition, the financial structure has allowed Butterfield Trail Village to be approachable financially for seniors who are willing to live in a smaller residence but want access to all of the amenities offered.
“It’s pretty wonderful because it means that once somebody decides to come here, and especially those people with a spouse or a partner, regardless of how somebody’s health changes over the years, they’re going to be able to continue to be in an environment where everybody knows them, where their friends live,” Syer said. “Even in the case of a couple where one person may retain their independent living because they’re doing just fine but the other person needs to go into a setting that can accommodate what their needs are now, they’re still right here on the same campus.”
The community is private pay, but Syer said the effort is to offer a range of residential options that allow people of middle-class means to afford the lifestyle.
“We know from the viewpoint of someone looking in from the outside, we do look like a luxury facility because of the incredible focus on programming and on physical fitness,” she said. “We have a huge connection to the University of Arkansas, and so we benefit from having lots of performing arts here, guest lecturers. There’s always something going on that would be really difficult for some other locations to provide. I’m sure it feels like luxury or it’s premier retirement living, but we try to make it an accessible place.”
Residential options range from studio apartment living at about 500 square feet and a one-bedroom apartment that may be about 600 square feet all the way up to 2,000-square-foot village homes, which are constructed as duplexes.
There are two buckets of costs for residents of Butterfield Trail Village.
“The first and the big one is the entrance fee, and the entrance fee is dictated by the size of the residence that somebody chooses, and that up-front cost is, to put it in simple terms, treated like a long-term care policy,” Syer said. “When someone comes to Butterfield as an independent living resident, they pay an entrance fee. That money is held aside and is used as an investment in the long term — what we anticipate will be a resident’s eventual need, 24-hour care. People pay a larger amount up front, but then it’s done.”
The up-front fee at the village ensures that if someone goes into nursing care, they do not see their cost per month jump from $2,500 to $9,000 a month, for example. The up-front cost is something of an economic level because the one-time fee is invested so money is available to care for residents long term.
Finally, there is food, which is a make-or-break consideration for people in the retirement demographic.
“Food is important, so we’ve got a main dining room, which really kind of feels like a restaurant. It has a really huge buffet that was just recreated this past spring, so it’s very new. It’s
A village home at Butterfield Trail Village.
full service, or people can opt to have the buffet, so that’s one location,” Syer said. “We also have a bistro, which is kind of a fast-casual setting, and that’s open for breakfast and lunch.”
The lunch hour extends from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and then food service picks back up from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. for dinner. The bistro is open 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Butterfield Trail works with a monthly meal allowance plan from a monthly service fee that is dedicated to dining. Residents can use their allotment in whatever setting that they wish, plus they have the option to buy groceries in a small general store on the campus and cook at home.
There is no formal agreement between the University of Arkansas and Butterfield Trail Village, but a look at the roster of residents and the people who are on the waiting list reveals that there are a lot of people affiliated with the Fayetteville university, either as staff or in the teaching professions.
It is an interesting side note that speaks to the quality of the community and its good word of mouth — and that good press translates into a wait list of about 375 applicants. Depending on the size of the living quarters, that stay on the list may extend for two years to potentially as long as eight years for a village duplex home. The community is home to about 400 residents served by a staff of about 200.
A TOTALLY DIFFERENT OPTION
Across town is another senior living consideration that is long on natural beauty and amenities but close to all the shopping, entertainment and urban living perks people enjoy. That is Grand Village at Clear Creek.
“It’s all independent, so that being said, we try to put things in place so that people can still age in place without having to transition to that higher level of care,” said Rochelle Johnson, chief operating officer. “We have doctors who come in and do concierge visits. Residents sign up with them so they don’t have to go out into the community for a
Apartment complex at Butterfield Trail Village.
doctor’s appointment. Therapy is in here too. The goal is trying to keep residents active and mobile and help them age in place.”
Grand Village is a traditional senior retirement community. That means residents are ages 55 and up.
“We actually did a little bit of research on our current population, and our average age right now is 84, which sounds really high, but we’ve got a couple of residents who are skewing those numbers. I have one resident who’s 67, and I have one who’s 101,” Johnson said. “These are people who are still active, can still live here independently and live here safely. They still want an active social life with lots of activities that they can do and not have to be at home by themselves. We see many people who move in and may have lost a spouse or they’re moving up here to be close to family. That’s our typical resident — moving here to be closer to family.”
The facility was built in 2019, and no expense was spared on the details, Johnson added. All of the units, including the cottages, come with full-size kitchens and extensive lighting.
“It’s just a really, really beautiful setting, a beautiful environment,” she said. “We have an indoor swimming pool. We have a movie theater, a fitness center. We have a beautiful dining room — lots of great things to draw people in.”
Costs at Grand Village range from about $3,500 for a one-bedroom studio apartment to about $8,800 for a two-bedroom, stand-alone cottage. There is a onetime $5,000 up-front fee, and rent is month to month, so there is no long-term contract.
“I think one of the reasons why people come here is we’ve got a variety of living options available. We have cottages available. We have three-bedroom apartments, one- and two-bedroom apartments, and one-bedroom studios — and we’re in a very good location in Fayetteville,” Johnson said, adding that the Village is located near the Sam’s Club. “We’re kind of off the beaten path, which also makes it charming because it’s not in a crowded area. We’re right off
Clabber Creek Trail, so if some of our residents want to start walking down the trail, it’s right there.”
The community is made up of 127 units, 107 of which are currently occupied. Residents are served by a staff of 48, of which 28 members are full-time employees. The majority of the staff works on the food service side of the ledger.
“Our main department is our kitchen staff. As you can imagine, food is a big thing in a retirement community,” Johnson said. “We have a very large dining room, and our dining services are not just single times; it’s actually flex dining. For example, lunch started at 11:30 a.m. and won’t close until 1:30 p.m., so as a resident, I can pop in anytime between those hours, sit down for beverage service, order off the menu, and it will be made for you and served, so that takes a lot of staff.”
There are also dining opportunities for alternative meals, and the offerings may be more of a buffet setup on various days.
“We’re different in that it’s more of a country club style,” Johnson said. “You go into a country club, you’re going to order off a menu, but they always have a special or a
chef special of the day, and that’s exactly how we do it.”
Grand Village boasts an executive chef who received training in New York and California.
“He definitely has his own take on food, but he wants to give the residents what they want, so he listens to them when coming up with a menu,” Johnson said. “The options are amazing. You could have a shrimp salad off the menu, or you might want to have a steak or a quesadilla. I mean, the options are kind of limitless.”
The one “complaint” Johnson hears from residents at the Grand Village community is that they wish that they would have made the decision to move to the village earlier instead of waiting for a life event that may have nudged them to seek out senior living, and some note that they have gained weight because the food is so good.
“Getting older doesn’t have to be a bad thing because these residents are active nonstop,” Johnson said. “They’ll say, ‘I wish I would’ve done this sooner. I wish I would’ve sold my house sooner.’ It’s so nice not having to worry about doing the landscaping or having to call someone to fix the fridge or having to go to the grocery store, cooking, cleaning — all that kind of stuff. It’s done. Why not start to live that life?”
COO Rochelle Johnson said no expense was spared at Grand Village at Clear Creek.
Dependability where it matters most: Denman, Hamilton & Associates CPAs
Led by certified public accountants and industry leaders
Neil Denman and Deron Hamilton, Denman, Hamilton & Associates CPAs offers an array of accounting and financial services designed to give clients peace of mind, whether they are opening a business, growing their operation, or preparing to hand over the reins and enjoy a well-deserved retirement.
With 48 years of combined experience and a reputation for responsiveness and client satisfaction, the firm takes a strategic and proactive approach to business planning, tax planning and cash-flow management. Key performance indicators developed and tracked by the firm based on their extensive industry knowledge allow business owners to track the success of their personalized strategy and be ready to adjust in the face of changing circumstances.
Effective, smart planning for one’s later years is especially crucial for business owners. Denman, Hamilton & Associates meets with clients’ most trusted advisors to ensure a cohesive approach to everything from succession to senior living options.
With Denman, Hamilton & Associates, clients can feel prepared for both themselves and their businesses to enter the next chapter.
Neil Denman
Deron K. Hamilton
501.753.9003
and a covered outdoor patio area.
We specialize in short-term rehabilitation and long-term care services. The short-term rehabilitation area has its own dining area and day room. From the moment you enter our facility, we want you to experience the difference our facility has to offer. From our light-filled day areas to our beautiful outdoor areas, we want you and your loved one to feel comfortable and safe when staying with us. You will also notice the pride we take in our facility by keeping our building sparkling clean from the inside out.
building sparkling clean from the inside out.
Our team is dedicated to providing a safe and comfortable environment. Robinson Nursing and Rehab offers modern conveniences in a gracious setting. We provide daily planned activities led by certified activity directors, like social events and outings and pastoral services with spiritual care for all religions. We strongly encourage family participation in group activities, meals and celebrating family birthdays and special days.
Our team is dedicated to providing a safe and comfortable environment. Robinson Nursing and Rehab offers modern conveniences in a gracious setting. We provide daily planned activities led by Certified Activity Directors, like social events and outings and pastoral services with spiritual care for all religions. We strongly encourage family participation in group activities, meals and celebrating family birthdays and special days.
To help you plan your visits, we provide a monthly event calendar and a monthly meal planner. Robinson Nursing and Rehab does not have set visiting hours. We view this facility as the “home” of each resident.
To help you plan your visits, we provide a monthly event calendar and a monthly meal planner. Robinson Nursing and Rehab does not have set visiting hours. We view this facility as the “home” of each resident.
We try our best to communicate with patients and families to help alleviate the anxiety that accompanies this journey. Our team of nurses, therapists and support staff work closely together to develop a plan based on the individual needs of each person. We recognize that rehabilitation involves not only the patient but the entire family.
We try our best to communicate with patients and families to help alleviate the anxiety that accompanies this journey. Our team of nurses, therapists and support staff work closely together to develop a plan based on the individual needs of each person. We recognize that rehabilitation involves not only the patient, but the entire family.
Living Independent
Living Independent
Aging population finds quality of life in Arkansas
By Jeremy Harper
Today, 62 million adults aged 65 and older reside in the U.S., and that number is expected to reach 90 million within the next 30 years. As more Arkansans age, the demand for housing and amenities directed specifically to seniors grows.
Senior living is a $100 billion industry, but it is not a “one size fits all” product. In fact, there are several categories of senior living, which include the traditional nursing homes and assisted living that many think about when it comes to senior care and more focused options such as memory care, which specialize in supporting residents with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.
Those forms of senior living have their place. However, what many seniors want from senior living
is a sense of belonging. The children are raised and have started families of their own. Familiar neighbors have come and gone. The house now seems too large and too high maintenance. For those reasons and many others, independent living communities have become popular options for seniors looking to initiate their next phase of life.
“The simple fact is people get lonely,” said Kim Currey, communications and human resources director at Good Shepherd, a full-service retirement community with five facilities in Arkansas. “They get tired of their home’s upkeep. We have fun here.”
Among the facilities Good Shepherds maintains is the Cottages in Little Rock, 104 one- and two-bedroom, one-story apartments bearing amenities that
include washers and dryers, refrigerators, microwaves, emergency alert pendants, an exercise room, and a computer room. While the on-site amenities are well appreciated, it is the activity that many of the residents find most appealing.
“We go to movies. We go on shopping excursions. We have a department just for developing activities,” said Currey, who added that if residents do not have their own transportation, the Cottages will provide it for them
Social interaction is a major element of independent living’s appeal. According to AARP, communities fulfill a need for people to be among peers with shared experiences. In addition, the communities simplify several life aspects. For example, residents reduce their number of bills and may no longer worry about landscaping and home maintenance, which is provided.
Independent living has grown dramatically, the number of independent living communities increasing by 1.2 percent between 2022 and 2023. That category of senior living represents nearly 67 percent of the entire industry. It is little wonder why senior care companies are working to provide appealing options for seniors. Saying yes to indepen-
dent living might seem like an easy choice, but Currey said there are obstacles to overcome.
“The biggest hurdles are misconceptions,” she said. “Many prospective residents often confuse independent living with assisted living, which is much different.”
Many people find the cost of living in Arkansas to be a major contributor.
Assisted living provides residents assistance with “activities of daily living” such as bathing, dressing and eating. Such residences also typically offer amenities such as meals, transportation and social activities. While there is a time and place for assisted living, many seniors are both healthy and active. For healthy seniors, needs are more nuanced.
— Kim Currey, Good Shepherd
“Many of our residents simply want to move closer to family,” Currey said. “We have people from California, from up north, from surrounding states. Many people find the cost of living in Arkansas to be a major contributor.”
According to U.S. News & World Report, Arkansas ranks No. 1 nationally for cost of living, which helps seniors on a fixed income get more from their budgets. What Currey wants most to impart on prospective residents is that independent living is most focused on improving the quality of life for seniors. Residents are free to come and go as they please. While onsite medical care is not provided, many day-today chores come with the community’s service plan, freeing residents to pursue the hobbies and activities that they value most.
“Just come on out and get a feel for the place,” she said. “If it feels like home, great. If not, that’s OK.”
Options like Good Shepherd’s The Cottages provide independent living for aging seniors. (Photos provided)
Wade Partridge, Senior Wealth Advisor
ranking. The rankings are based on firm surveys, and filings with the regulatory databases were used to cross-check the data provided. The rankings are based on assets managed by the firms, technology spending, staff diversity, succession planning, and other metrics. The formula Barron’s uses to rank firms is proprietary. The number of firms included in the rankings was: 20 (2016), 30 (2017), 40 (2018), 50 (2019), and 100 (2020-2024). The ranking does not indicate future performance, and there is no guarantee of future success. For additional information, visit www.barrons.com.
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OLD DOGS, NEW TRICKS
Sheepdogs are brilliant creatures known for being high-energy dogs with an unwavering ability to serve and protect those who they are aligned with. As retired Col. Dave Grossman wrote in his book On Combat, the sheepdog is an analogy used to describe all in American society who serve as protectors, including first responders, police, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, and military men and women.
One of those brave individuals, retired Sgt. Maj. Lance Nutt of the United States Marine Corps, not only identified with the analogy but used his skills to found a nonprofit, Sheep Dog Impact Assistance, which is based in Rogers and has 16 chapters across the U.S., all of which focus on the mission of engaging, assisting and empowering U.S. heroes.
The organization has skyrocketed over the past 13 years, and support for the nonprofit has garnered national attention. The mission of SDIA is to foster camaraderie and transform struggle into strength while focusing on post-traumatic growth, working to change outlook on life and, ultimately, aiding in further healing while providing a renewed sense of purpose and belonging.
SDIA survives on three different pillars, including physical activity, mental wellness and continued service. The pillars can be further broken down to the programming SDIA provides through Outdoor Adventures, Warrior PATHH and continued service opportunities.
DISASTER RELIEF MISSIONS
Nutt spent almost 30 years in the Marine Corps and, upon leaving the military, was faced with the familiar question that many retired first responders and veterans face: What next? According to SDIA, that innate desire to serve is what gives meaning and purpose to lives of many sheepdogs, and after moving on from careers in which that path is journeyed daily, there is a large adjustment period.
“I started researching different things as I was trying to find my continued purpose and belonging. I became more involved in my church. I joined the American Legion. I went on a disaster mission,” Nutt said, adding that those endeavors and more kept him necessarily busy.
In 2005, shortly after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, Nutt put together a disaster mission to provide relief to those who had been impacted by the natural disaster. As Nutt put it, the experience of helping in that way was one of the most compelling experiences of his life, and it paved a way for him to think of ways to continue extending relief through disaster missions.
“I remember asking, ‘Just how powerful would it be if we could do something like this for the rest of our lives?’ I remember just knowing that I wanted to help people,” Nutt said. “That was the beginning of the idea. I decided that I would start a disaster relief organization, but we’ve grown into so much more.”
Continuing to serve when needed, the 2023 SDIA Impact Report revealed that it had 12 disaster relief missions. Almost 500 volunteered, assisting more than 70,000 people. SDIA met the needs of those impacted by tarping structures, mucking homes and clearing trees, in addition to distributing more than 66,000 pounds of food, 4,000 cases of water and 111,700 pounds of supplies.
OUTDOOR ADVENTURES
Aiding in physical activity, Outdoor Adventures also exist in order to engage sheepdogs to foster healing and camaraderie.
Nutt said that, ultimately, what led him to the point of starting a nonprofit was his overall desire to have continued purpose, belonging and the promise of continually making a difference in the world. While participating in disaster relief missions, Nutt began to notice a pattern in which he and his team felt great when helping people but experienced a struggle to feel good after coming back home. That time in between became a focus point for Nutt, who started brainstorming activities to keep himself and his team busy and engaged.
“You can’t control when disasters are going to happen, so we set a schedule and a plan in place to continue helping our veterans and first responders through outdoor adventure activities,” Nutt said. “We thought of adventures that would inspire people to continue living a healthy life, and then we would plan them. The long story short is that it helped to fill the void a little bit. Just being able to get up and appreciate the blessing of the great outdoors helps so much.”
According to Mental Health America, spending time experiencing nature is correlated with improved focus, lower stress and a better mood, in addition to other
favorable benefits. As the primary Get Off the Couch program, Outdoor Adventures serve the purpose of engaging sheepdogs in physical activities that not only foster camaraderie but also provide a space for peer support and healing. The activities include hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, skydiving, scuba diving and even snowmobiling.
WARRIOR PATHH
In an effort to assist the more than 2.7 million service members deployed to combat zones, including those who were deployed multiple times following Sept. 11, 2001, SDIA and Boulder Crest Foundation partnered to develop Warrior PATHH as an alternative training solution.
The programming is now facilitated by SDIA in conjunction with Avalon Action Alliance and Boulder Crest Foundation and, since its inception, has run multiple courses, serving hundreds. As of October 2023, Warrior PATHH had completed 14 courses and served 135 sheepdogs.
Warrior PATHH, which stands for “progressive and alternative training for helping heroes,” is based around the science of posttraumatic growth. PTG is defined by the American Psychological Association as a positive transformation that can follow trauma. As the first training program in the U.S. dedicated to teaching military and first responders about the concept, Warrior PATHH assists heavily in improving mental wellness and shifting participants’ perspectives while they process their trauma.
That shift in thinking paired with continued service opportunities exists because Warrior PATHH allows a way for sheepdogs to continue their lifelong service through giving while also receiving tools necessary for their well-being.
The 90-day, non-pharmacological, peer-delivered training program begins with a weeklong intensive, immersive initiation, which is then followed by three months of support, training, accountability and connection from a team of trained Warrior PATHH guides.
“We believe in combining all of our programming. We have a great method for engaging with our men and women to get them up and moving. We are able to see the value and importance of living a better, healthier life through continued service,” Nutt said.
IMPACT OF SDIA
As of the 2024 annual impact report, there were 204 sheepdogs served and a 65 percent increase in post-traumatic growth indicators. The report indicated that 190 sheepdogs and volunteers deployed to assist nearly 3,000 people through mission efforts.
Listed in SDIA’s 2023 accomplishments, there were 21 Outdoor Adventures and Get off the Couch events, which led to 387 sheepdogs sponsored. The participants had several diagnoses, including depression, anxiety, physical injuries, sexual trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder, and 97 percent felt a sense of belonging and
I remember just knowing that I wanted to help people. That was the beginning of the idea. I decided that I would start a disaster relief organization, but we’ve grown into so much more.
—Retired Sgt. Maj. Lance Nutt, founder of Sheep Dog Impact Assistance
camaraderie because of the OA experience.
There were 14 Warrior PATHH courses completed in 2023. The volunteers helped in relief efforts by supplying food and distributing tarps, water and supplies, as well as by tarping structures and clearing trees from properties.
In addition to the impact made through Outdoor Adventures, Warrior PATHH and continued service, SDIA also celebrated the grand opening of the Heroes Ranch Training Facility in July 2023. The $1.2 million state-of-theart facility was under construction for more than a year and now serves as a space for SDIA to conduct Warrior PATHH programming.
SUPPORTING SDIA
Active in the local community, as well as on a national level, SDIA is also responsible for several northwest Arkansas annual events, including the Turkey Trot for Heroes and the SDIA Annual Heroes Gala, both of which serve as fundraising events for the nonprofit. SDIA also hosts Thanksgiving and Christmas outreach programs, which help military and first responder families by providing meals and gifts for the holiday season.
While SDIA is heavily involved, Nutt said the organization is always looking for support, whether it be financial or through volunteer opportunities. All of the programming SDIA does is run through Hero Ranch, which is located in southwest Missouri about 25 minutes north of Bentonville and Rogers. Hero Ranch is 50 acres and is fully functional, making it a great place for volunteers to get involved.
“Volunteers can get involved at the ranch through helping us with grounds work, cooking, cleaning or taking care of our livestock. In our national office, volunteers can help us in mailing out materials or gathering information,” Nutt said.
In addition to volunteering or donating, Nutt said the biggest thing people can do is share the message of what SDIA does in northwest Arkansas and across the country.
“We would certainly love to see people get involved as much as they would like,” Nutt said
Chords of CONTENT
Local music stores have become a rare sight since the era of online shopping began, becoming veritable islands to themselves scattered across the state these days (or maybe islands in the stream). Once a staple in any small- to mid-size town, now only a few remain in Arkansas as the industry declines and chain-store giants squeeze out the little guys.
For small businesses, what does it take to survive in today’s music market landscape, and will music lovers soon hear the last note from what used to be a thunderous chorus?
The National Association of Music Merchants releases a yearly snapshot of the industry in its NAMM Global Report.
The 2024 report, published in August with sales data from 32 countries, found that as the U.S. government’s measures against COVID-19 have finally subsided in most states, the sale of school music products have trended upward as school music programs
Local music shops fight uphill battle but remain committed to personal touch
By Lance Brownfield
returned to pre-pandemic levels. That said, the findings also spell uncertainty for the industry as a whole.
“The results of this year’s report also show that the sales booms in certain categories experienced during lockdowns have come to an end, with 2023 showing revenue declines across these product segments,” the report states. “However, the inventory imbalances of these categories continue to recover, and like many industries, we are encouraged to see that we’re moving in the direction of more balance and stabilization.”
Paul Shuffield said local stores like his — Shuffield Music Co. in Arkadelphia, above — can provide invaluable face-to-face interaction. (Photo provided)
Paul Shuffield, owner of Shuffield Music Co. in Arkadelphia, said he feels cautiously optimistic about the report, despite it indicating a downward trend overall in the number of small, locally owned shops.
“I’ve seen a lot of stores come and go over the last 16 years,” Shuffield said, “and I’ve had a lot of friends that had stores that are no longer in business. It’s sad to see them go. I hope people will still continue to support their local stores because we’ve got a lot of good things to offer. There’s nothing better than that face-to-face interaction sometimes. That’s something you don’t get in front of the computer screen.”
A lifelong musician, Shuffield started the business in 2008 after years in the nonprofit sector. He chose Arkadelphia because there was not another music store in town and the town has an abundance of musicians. He always aspired to own a music store and initially intended to offer guitar lessons and repairs and sell a few guitars and accessories. The store is now full service, providing everything from that original idea to launching a spin-off business that focuses on live production and equipment installation. Shuffield is sometimes assisted by his three sons and his wife, who recently joined the operation.
His new venture, AV Arkadelphia, provides audio/video installation and rentals to churches, stadiums and other venues. The company helps local organizations add public-address systems, projectors and other necessities and is also available to put on live events. Shuffield said the move was the “next logical step and growth area” for his business and an area where he sees a lot of opportunity for future growth and expansion as clients look to keep up with the latest technology.
“There was a need for that locally,” he said. “It’s really cool that we’ve been able to grow into that and now have a separate business that’s handling a large chunk of that too.”
Meanwhile, 91 miles away in Conway, another small music store is establishing a similar effort.
Palmer Music Co. is building out the growing PA installation portion of its business, actively working with and seeking small churches around central Arkansas in need of sound system upgrades. The business offers live sound services such as rental equipment and sound system installation.
“
In 2016, I had the opportunity to purchase Jack’s Music, the place where it all started for me. It felt like a natural fit, and we rebranded the store to Palmer Music Co. Since then, we’ve grown to over 350 students and have continued to offer lessons, performance opportunities, instrument sales and repairs.
– Preston Palmer, owner
“Our model of transparency and service after the sale has really been key in growing this part of the business,” said owner Preston Palmer.
Palmer Music Co. has a large retail showroom with about 200 guitar hooks on the walls for all the top brands, including Taylor, Martin and Fender. The store also has a full-service instrument repair shop, which is an accredited warranty center for all the major brands. More than 300 students per week attend music lessons at Palmer, Palmer said. The shop also hosts events such as recitals and concerts.
“What sets Palmer Music Co. apart from a big chain ... is the personal experience and sense of community we offer,” Palmer said. “When you come to Palmer, you’re not just another customer. We take the time to get to know you, your needs and your goals.”
As a teenager, Palmer worked at Jack’s Music in Conway, teaching lessons and making repairs. That is where he learned the ins and outs of the business, he said. Palmer worked there for 15 years before branching out on his own. He started Preston Palmer Studios in 2011 with the simple idea to focus on his passions of music lessons and guitar repairs. The business quickly grew to 160 students and a full staff of teachers and repair techs by 2015.
“In 2016, I had the opportunity to purchase Jack’s Music, the place where it all started for me,” said Palmer. “It felt like a natural fit, and we rebranded the store to Palmer Music Co. Since then, we’ve grown to over 350 students and have continued to offer lessons, performance opportunities, instrument sales and repairs.”
Through all the changes, Palmer said, the mission has remained the same — to help people make music.
Maybe Shuffield and Palmer have found that secret chord that the late Leonard Cohen
and Jeff Buckley sang about, allowing them to thrive where others have not. Despite their longevity, there are still challenges in the internet age.
Shuffield said that businesses today live and die by their online presence, and owners have to be willing to pivot quickly.
“You have to be online,” he said. “You have to accept technology, and you have to be open-minded with new technologies.”
Another key to success is catering to the needs of the community.
“We’ve been able to stay open by adapting to the times and really focusing on what our community needs,” Palmer said. “Staying active on social media has also helped us connect with local musicians and keep up with trends.”
In addition to its growing lesson program, Palmer Music Co. has expanded its retail services to include a “broader scope” of instrument sales and repairs plus more opportunities for students to perform.
Palmer said staffing is always a challenge, but he is thankful for the dedicated experts in his employ. One of the company’s biggest challenges is staying on top of retail trends and pacing to keep up with the growth of its lesson program, which is running out of room and instructor availability.
“It definitely poses some challenges,” Palmer said, “but we decided years ago that we were going to keep our eyes forward and focus on our community, our employees and our customers. We lean hard into treating each
Shuffield Music Co. in Arkadelphia.
(Photo provided)
Paul Shuffield
customer like a rock star when they walk in. That mindset makes the relationship between customer and employee much more than just a guitar purchase.”
Palmer said he plans to continue expanding the retail and lesson offerings slowly and conservatively over time.
“I bet we will be building some new lesson rooms next year, and I bet you will see some new guitar brands on our wall,” he said.
The common thread between Palmer and Shuffield is their convenient location in a college town. Conway, known as the “City of Colleges,” features a major university and two smaller colleges, while Arkadelphia is home to two rival universities across the street from each other, Henderson State University and Ouachita Baptist College. Shuffield makes it a point to get to know the local musicians at both colleges, which bring in students from all over Arkansas and surrounding states.
“It’s great. Every fall, you get a new group of students that pop in, and it’s a good opportunity for us to give them a place where they can get their supplies, rather than having to deal with ordering or waiting until they go back home,” Shuffield said.
He said the two schools have really good musicians, and he is glad to “give them a place that they can come hang out.” His shop focuses more on modern rock setups with guitars, bass guitars, drums and PAs than marching band or orchestral instruments, but he said the shop keeps the basic supplies that those segments need, as well.
“Being in a college town like Conway definitely helps,” Palmer said. “There’s a younger crowd with a passion for music, and we’ve tailored some of our offerings, like production classes and flexible lesson times, to fit their needs.”
Speaking of education, Palmer has begun a push to make music lessons more accessible to families through the Arkansas Education Freedom Account program. His shop is in the process of becoming a service provider for the LEARNS Act, which would allow families who qualify to use their education funds for private music lessons at Palmer Music.
“This is a great opportunity for us to reach even more aspiring musicians in the community,” Palmer said.
With mom-and-pop operations few and far between in the 2020s, Palmer and Shuffield represent the best parts of what made traditional music stores so memorable while also staying up to date on the technology it takes to succeed in business in the modern world.
“There’s still nothing better than somebody coming in, buying their first really good guitar,” Shuffield said. “That’s always a really cool feeling.”
“Instruments can be so personal,” Palmer said. “From the feel of the woods to the vibrations in your chest to the undertones your ear picks out, it is all factored into the formula of a customer’s perfect guitar. Most of those personalized factors, you just can’t get sight unseen. We give our customers a place to come and feel the array of differences between each instrument and find the one that is just right for them.”
Palmer said instruments and accessories can be personal, and local shops focus on providing the personal touch.
(Photo provided)
BETTINGBig on Local
Jordan Bedding thrives with handmade mattresses
By Lance Brownfield
It is something that virtually everyone has but most do not often think about — a mattress. Today, most mattresses are bought from online vendors such as Amazon or from big chain stores like Mattress King, but one Arkansas
company was founded at a time when mattresses were mostly handmade, and that company has thrived into the internet age.
Jordan Bedding & Furniture Gallery at 4735 Malvern Road in Hot Springs was started in 1958 by Buddy and Naomi Jordan. Also known as Jordan Mattress, the company was founded in Little Rock out of the couple’s garage on Forbing Road when Buddy started making mattresses to support the family of five. The World War II vet’s mattresses became so sought after that he built a factory showroom to serve his customers. Naomi helped him handsew covers.
Rachel Callender, left, and Shanna Jordan represent the second and third generations to continue the familyowned business.
According to its website, “many of Jordan Bedding customers today still remember their families purchasing mattresses from Buddy and Naomi.”
At first, Buddy’s two sons were reluctant to take over the family business, but in 1981, Robin Jordan opened a factory store in Hot Springs. Buddy trained Robin there to make mattresses deserving of the Jordan name. The Hot Springs location has become the main focus of the business, which still owns the Little Rock factory showroom.
At a time when it seems like nothing is made to last and everything comes from overseas, Jordan stands out for its dedication to handcrafting a quality product with materials sourced in the U.S..
“Because everything is handcrafted and put in place, we pay more attention to quality,” said Shanna Jordan, who owns the
Because everything is handcrafted and put in place, we pay more attention to quality.
— Shanna Jordan, owner
Jordan Bedding & Furniture Gallery has provided high-quality, handmade mattresses in central Arkansas since 1958.
company with her husband, Robin. “We stand by our products. We have an outstanding reputation because of taking care of our customers and being around so long and the quality.”
The company sources almost everything from the United States, including foam from Oklahoma City and cotton from Texas. The Jordans craft everything from pillowtop, memory foam and talalay latex to the Heirloom Collection and adjustable beds. Jordan still makes two-sided innerspring mattresses that can be turned periodically to prolong the life of the product.
The showroom also offers a selection of bedroom and living room furniture.
Now entering the company’s third generation, Robin and Shanna are training their daughter and son-in-law, Rachel and Ryan Callender. Robin is mostly retired but is still hands on with the company’s orders, consulting and making sure employees are trained up to the standards that Jordan Bedding is known for. The couple maintains a concentration on making a good product and teaching the business to the next generation in the hopes they will keep it going for many years to come.
“If you make a cheap product, eventually, you start losing customers,” Shanna said.
She said Jordan has gone through the ups and downs of the industry and has outlasted many of its competitors. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company saw a rise in sales because people
stuck at home wanted high-quality mattresses. Since the pandemic ended, the market has seen a minor decline. She said many of Jordan’s competitors have “fallen by the wayside.”
“People are starting to want better quality,” she said. “If we had lessened what we put in our beds or made it cheaper, then we wouldn’t keep our reputation.”
A small operation, only six people work in the store, doing construction and sales.
Some clients include the local hospitality industry. Jordan mattresses have been featured at the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa, the Waters Hot Springs, Mountain Harbor Resort and Spa, SunBay Resort, Best Court Cottages and several other luxury resorts and higher-end hotels in and around Hot Springs.
“That helps us too,” Jordan said. “People stay on the beds. Sometimes we don’t make as much money on those, but then people come in and stay and say, ‘Hey, I want this mattress,’ and they call.”
In addition to making standard beds for homes and hotels, they make custom size mattresses for antique bed frames or special sizes for recreational vehicles and house boats.
For more information, visit jordanbedding.com or call 501-262-1581.
IGHTER, ARMER, AVORITEF FAN
Bryce Mitchell representing Arkansas on UFC stage
By Mark Carter
Bryce Mitchell on his training mat at his farm in White County.
(Photo by Steve Lewis)
Coming off a third-round TKO of Kron Gracie at UFC 310 in Las Vegas on Dec. 7, Bryce Mitchell, the Arkansan who proudly represents his home state in the UFC octagon, believes he may be in line for a featherweight title bout if he can string together another couple of wins.
Mitchell is known throughout the mixed martial arts arena for several things — his Thug Nasty handle, the signature camo shorts he wears for fights, his outspoken faith and his love for Arkansas.
Mitchell, 30, is the 13th ranked featherweight (145 pounds) in UFC. His bout
with Gracie was part of the main card for UFC 310 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. His opponent was Kron Gracie, unranked with an overall MMA record of 5-2 (1-2 in UFC), but the latest fighter in what Mitchell described as a respected, generational fight family. Gracie now represents Mitchell’s first UFC knock-out.Mitchell, who graduated from Cabot High School and and earned an economics degree from Harding University in Searcy, has a professional MMA record of 16-3 — 7-3 since signing with UFC — including nine submissions. He was an athlete at Cabot, where played basketball and wrestled. As a wrestler, he finished second in the state as a junior and fourth as a senior.
Once he got into MMA in his late teens, Mitchell had 14 amateur matches
Mitchell defeated Gracie on Dec. 7.
(Photo courtesy of UFC)
and racked up a 9-0 professional record before UFC came calling. He was chosen to participate in the featherweight competition that was a part of the UFC-produced reality TV series, The Ultimate Fighter: Undefeated. Mitchell advanced to the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Brad Katona and was offered a full UFC contract.
Last December, he was a last-minute replacement to fight Josh Emmett, the eighth-ranked UFC featherweight. He filled in for the injured Giga Chikadze. With just 10 days to prepare, he suffered a first-round knockout. In his fight-week interview with UFC for the Emmett bout, Mitchell said his participation in the fight was not expected — not by a long shot.
the $150,000 prize money that came with it. After all, he and his wife, Erin, had a baby on the way, and Mitchell was in the middle of building a house and training facility on the 16-acre farm he owns just outside of Searcy.
A year later, heading into the Gracie fight, Mitchell was putting the finishing touches on the farm, where he lives with Erin and 8-month-old son, Tucker. (The Mitchells named their son for Tucker Carlson, the political commentator who was an editorial writer for the Arkansas DemocratGazette in the 1990s, who hosted the Mitchells as guests on his show streamed on X.)
— Josh Throne, Throne Management “
He’s one of the world’s best fighters. How can you not get excited about that? Our goal is to elevate his brand, especially here in Arkansas.
“When I got the call, I was 20 feet up a ladder doing some construction on my barn,” he said. “My wife hands me the phone, and it’s my manager. I’m wondering what’s so important that my wife brings me the phone? I just said, ‘Yeah, I’ll take the fight.’ When you’re 20 feet up a ladder and working with power tools, you feel like a real macho man, so I didn’t even come down off the ladder.”
Mitchell said he had no idea he would fight again that year but added, “I knew I couldn’t say no because I hadn’t had an opponent that great before.” Despite the outcome in the Emmett fight, Mitchell proved his toughness by agreeing to fight “impaired,” with no real time to train, and is optimistic about his future in UFC.
“If I can get three finishes in a row against ranked opponents, I really do think I’d get a title fight,” he said.
Mitchell’s toughness in the octagon is offset by his self-effacing and easy-going demeanor outside of it. He said part of the motivation for taking the fight was
When he is not training in the gym that adjoins his cedar-walled house, Mitchell is busy on his farm. On an overcast November morning about a month ahead of the Gracie fight, Mitchell gave a reporter and photographer a tour of the farm. On it, he raises a baker’s dozen head of cattle — including a prized Limousin bull named Twister — as well as chickens and pigs, and he plans to start growing vegetables this spring.
For Mitchell, a typical day is a full one. He may be Thug Nasty in the ring, but at home, he is husband, father and gentleman farmer.
“Today, I’m gonna go and get 2,000 pounds of
For Mitchell, UFC prize money helps him invest in his farm. (Photo courtesy of UFC)
feed from the cattle store,” he said. “It’s about 20 minutes away from here. I’ll get back, and then I’ll put all of that feed in the trash cans to keep it from getting wet. Then, I’ll feed the cows, I’ll feed the pigs, I’ll feed the chickens with all of that bulk feed. I’ll put out two bales of hay for those cows, and then I’ll check the water for the cows. I got cows down the road too. I’ll check their water, and that’ll be it for the animals.”
Mitchell’s genuine Arkansas-ness has helped earn him a big UFC following, but his Halloween fight against Andre Fili in 2020, which he won by unanimous decision, did a lot to propel the Thug Nasty brand. That fight represented the first time a UFC fighter had worn custom trunks. UFC founder and CEO Dana White relented and allowed Mitchell to wear camo shorts for the fight after a post-fight plea from Mitchell went viral.
“I was the first fighter in the UFC to have cus-
tom shorts because I started complaining,” Mitchell said. “After one of my fights, I said I was mad because they took away my camo shorts that I wanted to fight in. I got up on the microphone [after the fight], and I said, ‘Dana White, I want some camo shorts. I’m tired of fighting in these shorts. I don’t like them,’ and we had millions of people on the internet show their support — millions. It just blew up so bad, and he saw that there were millions of people behind me, and he got me in my shorts.
“You think about it — an international sports organization of the highest level like UFC, and I was the first fighter to have custom shorts. Conor McGregor didn’t even have custom shorts. God put me there to do that because you know, it’s almost unbelievable that I would get those shorts before Conor McGregor.”
It is possible that Mitchell may be better known
Mitchell raises cattle on his 16 acres outside of Searcy, including Twister, his prized Limousin bull. (Photo by Steve Lewis)
“I’d also like to help grow the sport in Arkansas if I can. In 20 years, MMA could be the No. 1 sport in Arkansas.
— Bryce Mitchell “
outside Arkansas than he is in his home state. Josh Throne, the former Razorback football player, sports marketing agent and serial entrepreneur who manages Mitchell’s brand through his firm, Throne Management, wants to change that. He thinks Mitchell should be as popular and recognized inside the Natural State as Jermain Taylor, the Little Rock boxer who won a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympics and went on to become the undisputed middleweight champion of the
Mitchell earned his first knockout against Gracie.
(Photo courtesy of UFC)
world. Though MMA has replaced boxing as the most popular fighting sport, Throne said local media and the sporting public have not yet embraced UFC stars in the same way they historically embraced boxers. This, he suggested, may explain why Mitchell receives more national and international attention than he does in his home state.
Throne said Thug Nasty should be stopping to sign autographs wherever he goes in Arkansas, just like Taylor did in his prime. Working with Mitchell has provided the spark he has missed since he worked with a sports agency in Baltimore, he added.
“He’s one of the world’s best fighters,” he said. “How can you not get excited about that? Our goal is to elevate his brand, especially here in Arkansas.”
Mitchell is proud of his roots, and while his camo shorts may not say Arkansas across the back the way Taylor’s boxing trunks did, Mitchell has made sure UFC fans know he is from Arkansas. A Razorback flag looks down on his home training facility on the farm.
The Thug Nasty brand helps him stand out in a crowded field of fighters.
“My friends just started calling me that,” Mitchell said, “so we just kept that name, and it really stands out. It’s something different, you know. It definitely makes me stand out. People remember it.”
Mitchell said he wants to headline a UFC card from Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock one day.
“I believe it’s gonna happen,” he said. “It could happen now. They would sell out instantly. People would be coming out of the woodwork. There wouldn’t be spots to park down there. The whole town of Little Rock would be flooded. It’s gonna happen. I really do believe that I’m going to have an event at Simmons and be the first person ever to do that event for Arkansas. It’s coming.”
Meanwhile, Mitchell said he has been surprised at both how hard farming can be and how fast his
UFC career is flying by but insists he is blessed to do both.
“This is a life worth dying for,” he said. His goal is simply to recover between fights as well as or better than his opponents and let the chips fall where they may. Family and farm will be waiting on him back in Searcy regardless. Like all fighters, Mitchell knows his days in the octagon are numbered, and he is content to live out the life of gentleman farmer, with a catch.
“My great-great grandkids are gonna farm this land,” he said. “I’d also like to help grow the sport in Arkansas if I can. In 20 years, MMA could be the No. 1 sport in Arkansas. I want to open up a gym and help take it to the next level. I’ve got more potential as a coach than I do as a fighter.”
Humble to the end, Thug Nasty still has much potential to realize in both arenas.
Thug Nasty has no regrets; his is a life worth dying for, he said. (YouTube)
A GUIDE TO THE HOGS’ LIBERTY BOWL MATCHUP WITH TEXAS TECH
By Andrew Hutchinson
After a one-year hiatus, Arkansas is back in the postseason again — and has a familiar destination.
The Razorbacks are heading to Memphis to face Texas Tech in the Liberty Bowl. The game is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Dec. 27.
Head coach Sam Pittman has now earned a bowl bid for four of five years, including his first season, when the Texas Bowl was canceled.
It will be the second time in three years that the Razorbacks have played in the Liberty Bowl, having won a wild triple overtime game against Kansas in 2022.
The Hogs have also played in the Liberty Bowl five other times, making this their seventh appearance in the bowl, which has been around since 1959. Only the Cotton Bowl has hosted Arkansas more often — 12 times.
Next year, the Razorbacks will return to Liberty Stadium to play Memphis, but for this trip, they will face former Southwest Conference foe Texas Tech for the first time since splitting a home-andhome against the Red Raiders in 2014 and 2015.
What to know about the 2024 Liberty Bowl
On paper, it seems as though it was a successful season for Texas Tech. Picked to finish ninth in the Big 12, the Red Raiders actually finished tied for fifth and one game out of first place, since there was a four-way tie atop the conference standings.
Fans are probably excited about an 8-4 season, but two of Texas Tech’s wins were over the two teams that played in the Big 12 Championship Game: Arizona State and Iowa State, both of whom went 10-2 in the regular season.
Despite exceeding expectations, those two wins probably left
Texas Tech fans feeling similar to Arkansas fans — wanting more and thinking about what could have been.
The lone common opponent between the two teams was Oklahoma State. While the Razorbacks came up short in double overtime in Week 2, the Red Raiders won a 56-48 shootout in the season’s penultimate game.
Texas Tech replacing both coordinators
That Oklahoma State matchup was a snapshot of the 2024 Texas Tech football season.
The Red Raiders own one of the best offenses in the country (No. 5 in scoring at 38.6 points per game) and one of the worst defenses (No. 121 in scoring at 34.5 ppg).
With units on opposite ends of the spectrum, Texas Tech finds itself in the unique position of replacing both of its coordinators — for vastly different reasons.
Offensive coordinator Zach Kittley was hired as Florida Atlantic’s head coach and was replaced by Mack Leftwich, whose hire was officially announced Friday. Leftwich comes from Texas State, where he worked alongside former Arkansas football coach Chad Morris.
A couple of days before that, the Red Raiders hired Shiel Wood of Houston to be their defensive coordinator. He replaced Tim DeRuyter, who was fired following the regular season. They also fired secondary coach Marcel Yates, who served as the defensive passing game coordinator.
It is unclear what kind of role the new hires will play in the bowl game, but Texas Tech football coach Joey McGuire said their main task is to evaluate the current roster.
Unique approach to the transfer portal
The transfer portal is an issue for every team this time of year, and Texas Tech is no exception, with several players on their way out already.
However, only one of those transfers is a key contributor. Ty Buchanan started seven games for the Red Raiders in 2024 — three at right tackle at the beginning of the season and then, down the stretch, four at left tackle.
Of course, the portal does not officially open until Monday, so more transfers could be coming down the pipeline. For Texas Tech, though, that does not necessarily mean they will be barred from playing in the Liberty Bowl.
“It’s been my kind of policy the last couple years is you’ve earned the right to play in this bowl game,” McGuire said. “You’re trying to make a decision if you’re going to stay at Texas Tech [or] if you’re going to leave, so we’re going to have some guys practice tomorrow that have their name in the portal. … If they choose to play in the game, I want them to because, guys, I want to win.”
For proof the Texas Tech coach is a man of his word, look no further than last year’s Independence Bowl. Despite being in the portal, wide receiver Loic Fouonji played in the game and even caught the go-ahead touchdown.
That may be hard to imagine in today’s era of college football, but it is a policy that could benefit McGuire down the line as his former players spread out across the country and speak highly of him — similar to how former Arkansas catcher Dylan Leach helped the Razorbacks land Ty Wilmsmeyer last summer.
It remains to be seen if star running back Tahj Brooks — the Red Raiders’ all-time leading rusher who has gone for more than 1,500 yards each of the last two seasons — will play in the game or opt out to focus on the NFL draft, but it appears Texas Tech will be closer to full strength than Arkansas.
Who’s left for Arkansas football
Despite the apparent excitement for the bowl game following Arkansas’ win over Louisiana Tech, quite a few players are not sticking around to play in it.
Even before the Liberty Bowl was announced as the Razorbacks’ destination, eight starters and several other backups and reserves announced their intention to enter the transfer portal or opt out in order to focus on the NFL draft.
The list includes Arkansas’ highest-graded players — per Pro Football Focus — on both offense and defense, as wide receiver Andrew Armstrong and defensive end Landon Jackson have already declared for the NFL Draft. Veteran defensive tackle Eric Gregory has done the same, and Best of Arkansas Sports has confirmed none of the three will play in the bowl.
The Razorbacks will also be without their No. 2 receiver and starting tight end, since Isaiah Sategna and Luke Hasz are leaving the team to hit the portal. There have been three departures up front in starting offensive guards Patrick Kutas and Joshua Braun, as well as defensive end Nico Davillier.
Not only will Arkansas be thin in the trenches, but backup quarterback Malachi Singleton is gone, so if anything happens to Taylen Green, true freshman KJ Jackson would get his first action since the opener against UAPB.
On one hand, it is scary to imagine going through a bowl game down eight starters. On the other, the game — and, more importantly, the practices — will give the coaches a sneak preview of some younger players.
What’s at stake for Pittman
Because Arkansas managed to secure one of the SEC’s “pool of six” bowls, there is quite a bit to be gained for Pittman.
By playing a Power Four school in Texas Tech, it counts toward the head coach’s performance-based incentives. His contract includes an automatic $250,000 raise for winning seven games, which would happen with a win in the Liberty Bowl.
Unlike a traditional bonus, this is an increase to his salary, so he would go from making $5.25 million to $5.5 million for the final three years of his deal. That equates to an additional $750,000.
The game also impacts Pittman’s buyout in multiple ways. Not only could it increase his salary, which would also increase his buyout, but it would alter the record Arkansas has to post next season to ensure he maintains a 75 percent buyout.
With a win, the Razorbacks would owe Pittman about $8.75 million if they fired him with a record of 5-7 or better next year. That would drop to $5.5 million if they go 4-8 or worse.
With a loss, the Razorbacks would owe Pittman about $7.875 million if they finish 6-6 or better next year. If they miss a bowl, though, it would drop to $5.25 million.
(This column first appeared online at bestofarkansassports.com.)
How to Watch Arkansas vs Texas Tech in the Liberty Bowl
ESPN FPI: Arkansas has a 56.2 percent chance to win the Liberty Bowl.
SEC’S OWNERSHIP OF ACC SHOULD BE CAUSE OF CONCERN FOR STILL-SCUFFLING HOGS
By Eric Bolin
Welcome to the state of Arkansas, where a calendar flip to December changes the state’s sports focus. Few places in the country are like the Natural State when it comes to change. Few state flagship schools have basketball programs that are far superior to their football team. That has been the case with the Razorbacks for the better part of the last 30 years.
Only nowadays, in a world of perpetual doom and damnation, the focus is hardly excitement. Arkansas basketball entered the season with solid, clear NCAA Tournament expectations, and most outsiders thought the Hogs could challenge for another Sweet 16 or even Elite Eight, just like they did in the heyday of Eric Musselman’s tenure. Some of the most fool-headed locals said the Sweet 16 was a minimum with new coach John Calipari, given his resumé and the roster he assembled in his first year in Fayetteville.
While the smart money says Arkansas makes the NCAA Tournament, heading into the final month before Southeastern Conference play, it is not wise to lay a heavy bet on the Hogs doing much more than that.
If they make it at all.
Arkansas’ 76-73 win over Miami was not required in the sense that it saved the Hogs’ tourney chances. Nor was it required in that it provided a massive resumé boost for the Razorbacks. The SEC rolled over the ACC, 14 wins to two, in the second annual SEC-ACC Challenge.
The quality of Miami basketball has dipped since making the Final Four two years ago. The Hurricanes had lost five games straight after the loss to the Hogs, including to Charleston Southern, Virginia Commonwealth and Drake — not exactly a murderer’s row. Yet the Hurricanes led for more than 36 minutes of the game. Arkansas trailed with 2:25 left before Boogie Fland hit two free throws to tie the game, a 3-pointer to provide the lead and a jumper to counter Miami’s bucket late.
Combine the less-than-inspiring win against a mediocre — perhaps even poor — major-conference team with losses to quality teams in Illinois and Baylor, the Hogs are still looking for that marquee — or even slightly impressive — victory. They
Boogie Fland brought the Hogs back from the brink during a recent game against Miami. (Photos provided)
got a final chance against Michigan on Dec. 10. After that, only SEC teams remain to build a case, teams that look better than Arkansas right now, regardless, and already carry signature outof-league wins: Kentucky beat Duke, Oklahoma beat Arizona, and Tennessee beat Baylor.
Do not let Auburn’s loss to fellow big dog Duke mislead you. The Tigers and Tennessee remain the class of the best league in the land and Final Four contenders. Kentucky, Alabama and Florida are NCAA top-five-seed types. Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Texas, Mississippi State and Ole Miss all appear to be firm “ins” a month into the season. Arkansas stands with Georgia and, perhaps, LSU as a bubble team. The rest of the SEC looks like the bottom tier. Those thoughts are independent of where ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has things in Bracketology.
We start there because it gives us an idea of what the Hogs need to do during conference play to move off the bubble and into the Dance, which should be the minimum standard of Arkansas basketball with Calipari as coach and with the roster make-up the Razorbacks currently have. These are not Stan Heath’s, John Pelphrey’s or even Mike Anderson’s Hogs. Several future NBA players dot the current Arkansas roster. Fland is an almost-guaranteed one-and-done lottery pick. Anyway, this is the Arkansas SEC schedule.
JANUARY
• at Tennessee
• vs. Ole Miss
• vs. Florida
• at LSU
• at Missouri
• vs. Georgia
• vs. Oklahoma
FEBRUARY
• at Kentucky
• at Texas
• vs. Alabama
• vs. LSU
• at A&M
• at Auburn
• vs. Missouri
• vs. Texas
MARCH
which finished 9-9, did not.
Arkansas, without an impressive major conference victory outside of a 9-9 SEC league record, would be unlikely to get the benefit of the doubt. Maybe Miami improves and impresses in the ACC. About the only way to see the Hogs Dancing otherwise, with that record, is if the committee chooses the Hogs on the basis of Calipari. Perhaps
The truth is Arkansas must play better basketball to ensure an NCAA Tournament season. That is not a tall order considering Johnell Davis and Jonas Aidoo, two projected leaders this season, are only now rounding into form coming off injuries.
his legacy would be enough of a pull to get the Hogs in over, say, a Boise State or a Xavier or some other mid-major line-dweller.
• vs. South Carolina
• at Vanderbilt
• vs. Mississippi State
Optimistically, what, 11 league wins? Pessimistically, five wins. Realistically, a 9-9 season seems about right.
That would yield a .500 league record in the best basketball conference in the country. Incidentally, Arkansas has had five league marks above .500, four under and one at 9-9 over the last 10 years. Such a record this year is not terrible, certainly, but is it really worthy of an NCAA Tournament bid? Last year, LSU went 9-9 in league play and did not make it. Granted, the Tigers were only one game above .500 overall. Mississippi State, on the other hand, was 8-10 and did go Dancing. In 2023, Arkansas and Mississippi State each finished 8-10 in league play and went (the Hogs went to the Sweet 16 for a third straight year) while Florida,
If you’re thinking it is way too early in the season to think about these things, well, you’re wrong. It is only moderately too early to think about these things. A month into the season, Arkansas has not shown any significant improvement. It was always going to take time for the players to find each other’s styles and grooves and for them to coalesce in Calipari’s system. That is just college basketball now. Not a ton returns to any college program in the country; it is hardly exclusive to Arkansas and is, therefore, not an excuse — or a reason, for that matter.
The truth is Arkansas must play better basketball to ensure an NCAA Tournament season. That is not a tall order considering Johnell Davis and Jonas Aidoo, two projected leaders this season, are only now rounding into form coming off injuries. That isn’t to say the Hogs’ program is in dire straits if somehow they fail to make March Marchness competing in the nation’s top basketball league. It’s just that, in the wild world of college hoops now, is disappointment really something a program can handle in consecutive years? Maybe.
Or maybe, in March, we’re flipping the calendar again, our eyes turning about a mile south down Razorback Road.
D UBLING DOWN
Small office technology company thinks big
By Dwain Hebda
Tim Stanley bills himself as owner, founder and problem solver of TDSIT, an information technology services and office technology firm based in Lowell. Recently, he added another unofficial title to his business card, that of “acquirer,” by which he bought Business World in Little Rock, effectively doubling the size of the company.
For the 60-year-old Illinois native and former collegiate football standout, signing the check for that was only the start of his biggest adventure in business, short of launching the firm itself 28 years ago. Like all mergers, the real work started after day one and the integrations of the two ventures.
“I didn’t realize how easy my life was until I bought Business World,” he said. “It has made me sharpen my game. It’s stretched me and pulled me in directions I didn’t know I could go. It’s a hard thing to bring two companies together in two completely different markets, even though they’re within the same state.”
Stanley found the expertise he needed to pull off the merger of the two companies and their clientele close to home. He gives his daughter, company president Christina Morgan, the lion’s share of the credit for sussing out the details.
“She’s the one that really did the numbers on Business World Inc.,” he said. “I mean, she’s a financial queen; she caught things the M&A guys didn’t catch. If I were to diagram what she means to this company, I’d draw these three circles. One would be the people that get the work. Then you have people that do the work, and then you have the other circle where people get paid. Where all three of those circles intersect is where Christina sits. I’m just so proud of her.”
Tim Stanley
Christina Morgan
I didn’t realize how easy my life was until I bought Business World. It has made me sharpen my game. It’s stretched me and pulled me in directions I didn’t know I could go.
— Tim Stanley, owner of TDSIT “
Stanley first came to Arkansas in 1989 with Eastman Kodak Co., which, at that time, was in the copier business and needed someone to run the Fayetteville office. After a successful run in northwest Arkansas, the company transferred him to Memphis, where he managed national accounts, including the Home Depot and Sam’s Club.
Returning to Arkansas, he caught wind that Kodak was getting out of the copier business, and in 1996, he opened TDS.
“Initially, TDS was just the initials of my name,” he said with a chuckle. “I settled on TDS Inc. because it was monogrammed on the cuff of my shirt. Nine weeks later, we figured out that stood for Total Document Solutions, and then about eight years ago, I put IT at the end of it.”
Stanley said he would have been content to remain in northwest Arkansas indefinitely had it not been for an early mentor, the late businessman Jerry Carlisle, who owned Business World. Carlisle took a run at buying Stanley’s operation and, despite being rebuffed, took a liking to the young entrepreneur anyway. Years later, Stanley found out just how much his mentor respected him.
“I wasn’t looking to expand. I wasn’t looking to grow or buy somebody,” Stanley said. “Jerry basically had been prepping me this whole time to buy him if I wanted to. He didn’t want an outsider to come in who didn’t have the same values that he did for client support.”
Unfortunately, Carlisle died of cancer during the closing stanza of negotiations, which took from Stanley not only a wealth of operational knowledge but a rich vein of connections within the business community.
“You know, in northwest Arkansas, 80 percent
of the people aren’t from there. Everything’s new and shiny. Well, down in Little Rock, hell, 80 percent of the people that live here and work here are from here,” Stanley said. “My kids didn’t go to Catholic High School or Pulaski Academy, you know? I didn’t go to the University of Arkansas. I had zero Little Rock connections. Suddenly, my guy, who was going to introduce me to everybody he knew in Little Rock, was gone.”
Connecting with a former Kodak colleague, Stanley made the acquaintance of two retired bankers in Little Rock who agreed to come aboard solely to make introductions. Thanks to the local ambassadors, Stanley, who later relocated the company’s physical location to NorthShore Business Park in North Little Rock, steadily built the connections that have the Little Rock branch office humming.
“It has been the best,” he said. “It’s slow. I’m having these 15- to 20-minute individual appointments with business leaders, but once I go in there, 98 percent of the time, I’m coming out in a competitive account.”
Now, with a burgeoning reputation in central Arkansas, 42 dedicated employees, and a solid leadership team behind him led by Morgan, Stanley is thinking even more growth for his company, which, in addition to copiers, also handles managed IT, cybersecurity and cloud solutions, among other digital services.
“I think within the next two years, we’ll need to make another acquisition,” he said. “This process has really reenergized me, and with the people we have in place, I can see a lot of opportunity for the future.”
THE COMPANY MAN ARKANSAS VISIONARY
Simmons Bank’s Bob Fehlman reflects on time well served
By Dwain Hebda
Bob Fehlman
(Photo provided)
When word arrived Nov. 12 of Bob Fehlman’s impending retirement as CEO of Simmons First National Corp. and its subsidiary Simmons Bank, the news signaled the end of one of the more remarkable career stories in Arkansas business history.
Fehlman, who spent nearly 40 years at Simmons, helped build the institution from a relatively modest Arkansas bank facing choppy market waters into a bold, multistate enterprise that perennially ranks near the top of Arkansas’ largest homegrown banking systems.
BOB FEHLMAN ON MENTORS
“In my career, there’s been four major mentors that I’ve worked for. One would be Barry Crow, our former CFO/COO with the bank for a long time. Obviously, Mr. Tommy May; he and I spent a lot of time together, were very close and still do a lot together. Marty Castile, he and I actually started the same year at Simmons, 1988, and we came up through different paths but we worked together very closely. He retired a couple years ago and was on our board. Then George Makris [Jr.], obviously. Even though they were all different, the things that they all held in common were operating with absolute integrity, challenging people to do their best work, and doing what was right for the customer and community.”
“I’m really proud of what the company’s grown to,” Fehlman said. “I started in 1988, when the company was half a billion dollars, and we were stretching to be $500 million at the time. Over the 36 years I’ve been here, I’ve worked on 25, 30 acquisitions, and we’ve gone from a $500 million bank to $27 billion.
“We went from just being an Arkansas franchise to being a six-state regional bank, one of the top 50 banks in the country. We’ve got almost 3,000 associates. I’m just very proud of the relationships we’ve built with customers, our regulators, our communities and our associates.”
As Fehlman likes to say, it was not the acquisitions that went through that made the difference in his career; it was the ones that did not happen that truly kept the bank on its successful heading. That is because the ones that did not happen, which greatly outnumber the ones that did, fell through for all the right reasons.
“In dealmaking, you can’t give on the things that are nonnegotiable, such as your culture and your values,” he said. “We never wavered on those things. We had some deals we walked away from because there was something going on that just didn’t fit our culture. Some of those were right at the end of due diligence, but you’ve got to be willing to walk away.”
Fehlman’s story began in the Chicagoland community of Zurich, Illinois, as the youngest of four. Growing up, his father, a carpenter, took him to job sites, where the youngster learned pride of work and the value of effort. As time went along, Fehlman would also learn certain skills, and while he would never be mistaken for a master carpenter in his lifetime, he can still wire a socket or plumb a sink with the best of them.
In 1979, the family relocated to Hope, Arkansas, thanks largely to his parents having fallen in love with the state many years before on their honeymoon. The household’s youngest member, however, remembered being less than impressed with his new surroundings.
“There were three or four channels on TV,” he said. “The food was different. People had a hard time understanding me because of my accent, and I had a hard time understanding them.”
Fehlman assimilated mainly through sports; entering ninth grade, he excelled on the high school football and baseball teams. He also got an exposure to the business world that struck an unanticipated nerve through a class called Junior Executive Training, which he enrolled in on a whim.
“I was bored by history and math, but when I discovered JET, everything about it clicked,” he said. “I only took the class because my friends were in it, but they really did a good job with general business, finance, tracking stocks.”
Seeing his enthusiasm for accounting, the instructor
BOB FEHLMAN ON PROFESSIONAL COURAGE
“The first thing is to be willing to step out there and take on challenges whether you know what you’re doing or not. You may fail, you may not, but try and figure it out as you’re going. Ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help as you go. A lot of things really just come down to an attitude of what do we need to do?
How can I help solve it or get the people involved to help get it solved? Don’t be afraid to step out there and take on projects and figure it out as you go along.”
arranged for Fehlman to talk with a local accountant, who laid out the careers available in the industry. After graduation, Fehlman headed for Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, the first in his family to attend a four-year college or university, and graduated with a degree in accounting.
More than the academic side of his chosen field, Fehlman also credited his college years for developing various other soft skills that would become invaluable in his business career. His membership in Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, for example, brought him out of his shell and gave him leadership opportunities on various committees.
One particularly impactful project was chairing the house’s annual boxing night with rival Ouachita Baptist University, a major Sigma Phi fundraiser through which he found his voice by asking for sponsorship and advertising money, managing people, and generally gaining a boost of self-confidence in his abilities.
in mothballs for two years for lack of the expertise to put them to use.
FEHLMAN ON GETTING AHEAD
“Some days, you get rewarded and praised more than you deserve, and some days, you don’t get the praise and recognition at all. You’ve got to be able to handle both sides of it. The best way I know how to do that is to work hard. Even when you’re, maybe, not getting the praise or reward all the time, when you’re working hard, it will eventually catch up with you, and it will be noticed.”
In 1988, Fehlman made the jump to Simmons Bank in the internal audit department, which was not the no-brainer it might be today. The Pine Bluffbased bank was mired in one of its less-flattering chapters, struggling with serious financial problems. Fehlman signed up anyway and was soon ringside to the bank’s stabilization under Arkansas Business Hall of Famer and Simmons President and CEO Tommy May.
One of May’s most valued foot soldiers as Simmons Bank was retooled and positioned for growth, Fehlman credited his former boss as a master in the areas of corporate leadership and vision.
To this day, he and others refuse to call the former Marine by his first name as a sign of enduring respect.
Also while at Henderson, he laid the first brick in his foundational belief in balance in one’s life by marrying his high school sweetheart. With a wife and future family to support, he doubled down academically to the point that he was able to begin work on a master’s degree even before graduating with his bachelor’s when he was awarded a graduate assistantship in business development as part of the Small Business Association.
By the time he walked the stage, he had wrangled a position at Baird, Kurtz & Dobson, which is today Forvis, at the company’s Pine Bluff office. He was offered the job on the spot during his interview, which was a major get considering the Pine Bluff branch was the company’s largest at the time.
Fehlman quickly established himself as one to watch not just for his accounting prowess but for his interest in leveraging technology to work smarter, not harder. A couple of months into his BKD career, the brass pulled him aside and asked him to get some computers up and running that had sat
“He would challenge you in your work, but he was fair in everything he did,” Fehlman said. “His famous thing that he always said was he was a benevolent dictator, and I will tell you that that is true — not the dictator side as much as the benevolence. He may make a decision we may not agree on, but the bottom line was he’s going to make sure we’re taking care of people, whether it’s our associates, our communities, our customers or our shareholders. We’re going to be
BOB FEHLMAN ON NEGOTIATION
“First, you’ve got to establish your principles. What are you trying to negotiate that’s best for the company or yourself, for what you’re trying to negotiate? You’ve got to establish what you are trying to accomplish here, and what is that worth to you? After that, as you’re going through the negotiation process, No. 1 is to be fair to both sides. You’re not trying to take advantage of one side or the other. You lay things out on the table. You listen to both sides, and be honest. You’ve always got to stick to your main principles, but you’ve also got to be willing to give some when the time is right.”
doing the right thing. We called it the ‘Do Right Rule,’ and it’s still ingrained as part of our company culture.”
By the early 1990s, the bank had reached another existential crossroads: Down this path was to grow and grow aggressively via acquisition, and down that one, cash out as a tasty guppy swallowed by larger predators. The bank’s board of directors chose growth, and management went after one strategic target after another, racking up an impressive record of success with Fehlman ankle-deep in all of them.
During the buying spree, the company learned a great deal about negotiations and procedure, enough to actually create a handbook that spells out the exact steps to a successful deal and the telltale earmarks of something to stay away from. Simmons Bank’s reputation for fair dealing and treatment of employees even had some banks calling in, asking to be acquired.
BOB FEHLMAN ON RESILIENCE
“I think you have to realize, No. 1, there’s going to be things that are fair in life, and there’s going to be things that are not fair in life. Don’t focus on all the times that it’s not fair because those times are coming. Just be prepared for them. To me, the biggest thing is to have patience when things don’t go your way, to keep your head down and work through it. Don’t turn negative; if you start talking with others about how bad things are, that just builds more negativity. If you just put your head down and say, ‘OK, I can muscle through this,’ you’re more likely to figure out what you need to do to keep moving forward. I firmly believe hard work and doing the right thing eventually catches up with a person, even in those times when life’s not fair.”
“I will tell you, in negotiations, when we talked to banks on doing a deal, one of the things they liked about us is we were open on the front end,” Fehlman said. “We said, ‘Pricing is not rocket science, and we’re not out here trying to get as much as we can out of you. We have these four or five factors that we have to hit to benefit our shareholders, and we’re going to tell you what those are.’ This is simple math when you get down to it.”
Playing a role in one of the state’s biggest bank success stories is an obvious plumb of any executive’s career, and for Fehlman, the satisfaction of pulling off all those deals goes beyond what it did to the stock price. He pointed to the opportunities that growth created for the company’s associates and the good it allowed Simmons to do for causes and communities as major points of personal pride.
“About 10 years ago, we started the Simmons First Foundation,” he said. “[Simmons’ Executive Chairman] George Makris Jr. was the one who went to Mr. May and asked him to lead that, and I worked on the inception of it and helped build it this whole time. We’ve got a lot of money in it now, and we give away thousands and thousands of dollars each year related to our youth, to education. It’s a part of the Simmons legacy that we’re all very proud of.”
During his decades with the company, Fehlman served as controller, chief financial officer, treasurer, chief operating officer and president, capping his ca-
reer in the CEO chair starting Jan. 1, 2023. He will officially step away Jan. 1, 2025, at a time when the bank is operating at an unprecedented level of financial success and, equally important, to unprecedented recognition as an employer of choice. Simmons was one of U.S. News & World Report’s 2024-2025 “Best Companies to Work For in the South” and one of the 2024 Forbes “America’s Best-In-State Employers 2024” in the state of Missouri, presented by Forbes and Statista.
The “Do Right Rule” is, evidently, as strong as ever when it comes to Simmons’ treatment of its people, which is perhaps the biggest source of Fehlman’s satisfaction as he steps into an advisory role and then full-blown retirement.
“Well, I’ve got to tell you, I won’t miss the emails that I get every day or the crisis and deadlines that come up that are part of it. I’m happy to let the younger guys handle that from now on,” he said. “It’s always been about the people to me. I’m going to miss the incredible board that we have here. They’ve been so supportive of me. I’ve been going to board meetings since probably 1994. Heck, I’ve been at the bank, I think, longer than anybody on the board, currently.
“Also, the leadership in this company, I’ve really grown close to. We’ve got a lot of young leaders coming up who I have a lot of faith in. I’m very optimistic; I know where the company’s heading, and I feel very comfortable about it. Then you have all the associates around the whole company who have done such an incredible job. That’s what I’m going to miss — the people here, the customers, the people in the community. That’s the biggest thing.”
Sarah Bailey TOP TEN x
DEAL MAKER
By Sarah DeClerk
Buying or selling a home is one of the largest transactions most people will ever make, and the process is often fraught with complexities it takes an expert to navigate. Enter Sarah Bailey, owner and principal broker at Bailey & Co. Real Estate in Little Rock. The 20-year real estate veteran said she enjoys solving the puzzle behind every deal.
“I like a challenge,” she told AY About You in 2023. “I like to come up with the solutions for all these problems, and being in the business for so long, I’ve learned so much from all the many deals I’ve done and the different people that have been in my life and taught me things.”
Although she said she has always nurtured a passion for real estate, she earned a bachelor’s degree in health science from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway before finding her calling when she returned home to Benton after her graduation.
At the invitation of family friend Mike Duke, she went to work at his company, Phillips-Moudy-Duke Real Estate, now BaxleyPenfield-Moudy Realtors in Bryant, in 2003. A few years later, Rector Phillips Morse, which later merged to become Coldwell Banker RPM Group, recruited her to be the executive broker of the company’s new Bryant branch, prompting Bailey to earn her broker license.
Another opportunity arose in 2013, when Erik Bailey and Matt Lamb partnered with Sarah Bailey to start iRealty Arkansas in Little Rock. The company opened a Benton branch soon after. Starting a company from scratch was a huge achievement for Bailey, who was in her early 30s at the time.
“I think opening iRealty was a really big accomplishment,” she told AY. “That was pretty big, just starting from scratch back then.”
After the partners sold the company to Kristen Kennon in 2016, Bailey retained part ownership and stayed on as principal broker for about a year. Then she partnered with Ray Ellen to found Pixel Properties in Little Rock in 2018. The company went on to open a Benton branch the following year, followed by a Fayetteville branch in 2020.
After dissolving Pixel Properties in 2022, Bailey struck out on her own to found Bailey & Co., which has offices in Little Rock and Fayetteville.
“It’s an interesting career,” she told AY. “Every single sale is different. There are going to be different problems that come up and different positives and negatives that you learn from every
single situation, and a lot of times, it’s very challenging.”
Bailey described herself as a hands-on leader who works to ensure the highest ethical standards from her staff. She provides regular training to her agents, many of whom have been with her since the iRealty days, and encourages agents to come to her for solutions whenever they encounter a problem.
She also still works with clients, many of whom have trusted her with their real estate needs for years. Her strategy is to know the ins and outs of every home she touches and understand the details of every contract that passes across her desk.
After more than two decades in the business, she said she still enjoys working with clients and walking them through the intricacies of buying and selling homes.
“I truly like to help people,” she told AY. “Some of my favorite deals that I’ve done are helping somebody buy their very first home, just to see how excited they are. It’s something they’ve really worked hard for and saved money for, and they’re just so excited to buy a house. I just feel good when I get to help people with that.”
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Rod Bigelow
Bridge Builder
By Sarah DeClerk
Rod Bigelow’s job title may read executive director and chief diversity and inclusion officer at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Momentary, both in Bentonville, but he said the bulk of his work actually involves building: building a building, building a team and building a collection.
“The museum has grown so much since we first started,” he said. “When we first opened the museum, we didn’t know how many people would come, and in 2024, we had nearly 800,000 people come, so it’s thrilling to be able to see people both in Arkansas and outside Arkansas responding to the space.”
A native of Washington, Bigelow has no formal arts or art history education, having gone to college with hopes of becoming a marine biologist before switching to business. He joined a telecommunications company after earning his master’s degree, but with a lengthy commute and a new baby at home, he joined an art museum as an accountant so he could spend more time with his family.
He worked at Tacoma Art Museum in Washington, the Art Institute of Seattle and the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio prior to joining Crystal Bridges, which opened in 2011, and the Momentary, which opened in 2020.
Throughout his career, he has often helped build physical spaces at museums, and he joined Toledo Museum of Art to help finish a building project before being recruited to Crystal Bridges as deputy director of operations and administration in 2010. He became executive director in 2013.
He said one of the things that struck him most about Crystal Bridges was the vision of founder Alice Walton.
“Alice Walton’s vision is monumental, and having a vision to create spaces that are accessible to all is a humbling objective,” he said. “It is inspiring and humbling at the same time because we’re trying to work to create an environment where people feel welcome and they feel like they belong, especially in a space like museums where often there’s a legacy of exclusion rather than inclusion. Alice sort of changed the way I think about what the purpose of a museum is.”
Instead of simply preserving art, museums now serve as spaces to build community and cultivate social connection, he said. From hosting lectures and performances to organizing art workshops and nature activities such as owl prowls, Crystal Bridges hosts more than 800 community programs a year, he added.
“The way in which we present work, interpret work and create programming around work is something quite different and unique because it allows the guest to have a voice in the dialogue,” Bigelow said. “Much of our thinking is about inquiry-based engagement
where we’re asking questions of the community rather than giving a lecture or dictating facts, and I think that empowers people to have a different kind of relationship with art and own that experience based on your lived experience.”
Furthermore, the natural setting of the 120-acre campus provides an entry point that is familiar to people in the Ozarks, making the arts more accessible to people who may not have much experience at museums, he said.
Crystal Bridges is currently undergoing an expansion set to add 100,000 square feet in 2026. Bigelow said he is particularly excited about the expansion’s potential to enhance learning and engagement by reaching more community members through artists in residence and workshop and meeting spaces.
Furthermore, the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine is set to open at the Crystal Bridges campus next year, along with the Heartland Whole Health Institute.
“The idea there is to create a one-campus experience where people can come and journey through the trails and go in and out of all of these new buildings and spaces and purposes, where you’re always having an integrated art experience too,” Bigelow said. “Those entities, specifically, open us up to creating these spaces between art and nature and wellness and health, so there’s a wonderful exploration that we can launch that looks at the power of art within a person’s real-life experience, within their wellness journey.”
Bigelow said he believes art museums will continue to respond to community interests as they work to provide spaces where social connection can happen.
“I think museums will flourish,” he said. “I have no question, and I think they’re very relevant to life. I think there’s a big component in our world today that’s filled with anxiety, and museums are a place to build relationships with others, create a sense of connection, and a place where we can build unity.”
Elicia Dover TOP TEN x
From Reporting to STORYTELLING
By Lance Brownfield / Photo by Dewaine Duncan
Elicia Dover has certainly been all over. Her career has taken her across the country as she has spent more than a decade producing award-winning journalism.
She started as an intern at ABC News in New York before landing a job as a breaking news producer. She produced and reported for all ABC News shows, including Good Morning America and World News Tonight. During her time with the company, she won a Peabody Award and an Edward R. Murrow Award and was nominated for four national news and documentary Emmy Awards. She also spent a year on the campaign trail covering the 2012 presidential election for ABC.
After almost five years in the Big Apple, she came back home to work as a reporter for KATV Channel 7 in Little Rock. She was selected to host the newly launched Good Afternoon Arkansas after five years at the station. Eventually, she decided to branch off onto another path — marketing and public relations. In October 2023, she joined her husband, Jeremy Flynn’s, marketing company, JF Media+Marketing, which he launched in 2020. Coming on full time, she added a PR and communications side to the business.
“Having been on the receiving end of PR story pitches for years, I knew this was something I could do well,” Dover said. “I’ve been blown away at the response we have received and how quickly that side of our business has grown.”
JF is a full-service marketing company that offers digital marketing and traditional advertising, as well as fractional marketing and communications. Companies can hire JF to fill a role part-time and still receive all the benefits of a full-time executive at a fraction of the cost. Staff members complete their work virtually with a work-from-home model, allowing JF to hire some of the best in the industry.
“The arsenal we offer our clients are not only experienced on major ad campaigns but creative and full of fresh ideas,” Dover said. “It’s energizing to be around.”
The motto at JF Media+Marketing is “stop selling, start storytelling.” Dover said it represents a passion that she has felt since journalism class at Bryant High School. When she started at the firm, she set a goal for herself to meet by the end of her first year. The goal was met by the end of the first quarter. Five years since the firm’s launch, the company has added another full-time employee.
For Dover, the biggest motivation for leaving the TV news world was to spend more time with her two sons, one 18 months old and another who just started kindergarten.
“The news is mostly on when people are home, which is not always optimal for being with your family,” she said.
Dover said she is now investing her spare time at her son’s school and picks him up nearly every day. She said she also gets to enjoy holidays a bit more, being able to spend that time at home instead of anchoring a show. Living on her own schedule is a privilege she appreciates and recognizes every single day.
For those who wish to build the same kind of career that Dover has had, she warned that it is hard work and long hours — and one has to truly love it. She suggests that up-and-comers never stop learning and growing from those around them.
“The hours in marketing and PR are way better with the exception of some early morning live shots and still getting pulled into Election Day this year with a client,” Dover said. “I thought those days were over when I left TV, but the joke’s on me when I have to set a 2:30 a.m. alarm. I did it to myself.”
She said she is inspired by her parents, who are also smallbusiness owners, and Flynn, who is “one of the best marketing minds anywhere.” She said they both think alike, have the same way of working and have extremely high standards for the work they put out. The two, she said, are both very creative and futuristic in their thinking, and they have a lot of fun working on projects together.
Aside from the PR side of the business, she said she enjoys managing social media accounts and has had success in quite a few branding projects. She likes using her creativity to launch entire companies and see them come to life.
“Anyone can send a press release; not everyone can tell your story,” she said. “It’s been refreshing to take everything I know about reporting the news and offer our clients calm direction, decisive planning and bold messaging. Sometimes they don’t see the amazing story sitting right in front of them, and I love finding it for them.”
TEN x
Molly Harrell
Keeper of ‘THE PLAYBOOK’
By Mark Carter
Molly Harrell’s grandfather knew a thing or two about rallying people behind a cause. For most of Frank Broyles’ professional life, that entailed rallying support around the state for the Arkansas Razorbacks. Mission accomplished.
As executive director of the Frank & Barbara Broyles Foundation, Harrell is working to rally more people around a cause about which her family is passionate — providing help and resources for caregivers of those with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
Harrell’s mother, Betsy Broyles Arnold, started the foundation in 2006 to honor her mother’s long battle with Alzheimer’s. Barbara Broyles, the wife of legendary Arkansas coach Frank Broyles, died from complications of the disease in 2004. In the aftermath of her death, the hall-of-fame Hog and his family became outspoken national advocates for Alzheimer’s awareness.
Soon after its launch, the foundation published Coach Broyles’ Playbook for Alzheimer’s Caregivers: A Practical Tips Guide, the first resource of its kind for caregivers dealing with the disease and other forms of dementia. With the help of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, the foundation distributed 100,000 free copies of “The Playbook” to pharmacies across the state. Over the next few years, Coach Broyles raised funds to distribute 1 million free copies of the book, including 100,000 copies written in Spanish, to caregivers nationwide.
The book has been translated into 11 languages and a digital version is available to download online for $10 at broylesfoundation. org. In 2009, Harrell, Arnold and Broyles undertook a nationwide tour to discuss how Alzheimer’s had impacted three generations.
“We quickly realized there was more we could do beyond just distributing the book,” Harrell said.
The next year, Harrell and Arnold moved the foundation — originally named the Barbara Broyles Legacy Foundation — from the auspices of the Razorback Foundation, established it as a separate 501(c)(3) nonprofit and renamed it to honor both of Harrell’s grandparents.
“This marked a new chapter, and we’ve continued to implement programs that we wish we had when we were caregivers,” Harrell said. “When we first wrote The Playbook, we had no idea how farreaching its impact would be. It’s remarkable that even though it was published in 2006, we still receive orders nearly every day. The Playbook is grounded in our real-life experiences and is written in simple, relatable terms that resonate with both at-home and professional caregivers.”
Harrell said the book is more than a simple resource. She called it a practical tool that helps caregivers navigate their challenges.
“With more than a million copies distributed and many being passed along, it’s hard to know how many people have been impacted by it,” she said. “I’m proud to announce that a second edition will be released next year with updated content to continue supporting today’s caregivers.”
Harrell said it is heartbreaking when she hears families tell her, “I wish I had known about you sooner.” Oftentimes, families are already struggling by the time they talk to the foundation, she added.
“That’s why raising awareness — both about Alzheimer’s and the resources available for caregivers — is so critical,” she said. “Early education can make all the difference, giving caregivers the support they need before they’re overwhelmed.”
The Playbook applies a coach’s strategic eye to caregiving.
“Education is key to creating lasting change,” Harrell said. “My grandpa always said, ‘You have to know your opponent.’ To win a game, you have to study film, develop a strategy and be prepared to adjust as things unfold. The same approach applies to Alzheimer’s care. Despite being a leading cause of death, Alzheimer’s is still one of the least understood diseases, and there’s little awareness about what a real ‘game plan’ for care looks like.”
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, the number of Americans older than 65 living with the disease is expected to grow to 13.8 million in 2025, and fewer than 10 percent of caregiving families remain financially independent following a dementia diagnosis.
“The foundation is deeply rooted in the values and vision of my grandparents,” Harrell said. “They would have wanted nothing more than to take something as devastating as Alzheimer’s and transform it into an opportunity to ease the burden for other families. By sharing our experience and offering resources to others, the foundation honors their legacy by making sure no family has to face Alzheimer’s alone.”
Coach Broyles passed away in 2017, ironically from complications of Alzheimer’s. Harrell said he would be proud that the foundation’s programs remain free of charge to caregivers.
“He always believed that resources for caregivers should never be a financial burden, and I think he would be thrilled to know that we’ve stayed true to that vision,” she said.
Angela Harrison TOP TEN x
Staying STRONG
By Todd Traub
At the time of its July acquisition by gas and welding supplies distributor nexAir, Arkansas-based Welsco was one of the world’s largest woman-owned and -operated welding supply and industrial gas distributors.
That has not changed.
While Welsco will now operate as a subsidiary of nexAIR, which has more than 70 locations in the southeastern U.S., that does not change Welsco’s family history or owner and CEO Angela Harrison’s unique place in a male-dominated industry.
“We have known and worked with our friends at nexAir for decades and are glad to be joining a company with a similar culture focused on doing what is best for the customer and our employees,” Harrison said when the acquisition was announced.
Headquartered in North Little Rock, Welsco serves as a complete welding and cutting equipment distributor with a full selection of industrial gases for welding, cutting, plasma and lasers. A family-built company, nexAIR can trace its roots to Standard Welders Supply, which was founded in Memphis in 1940, and is the result of a 1996 merger between Standard Welders and Mid South Oxygen.
Of the Welsco acquisition, nexAIR
mail and answering phones. Eventually, she learned every front-office job and led the creation of Welsco’s human resources department.
She segued into sales, an enjoyable experience by her account, but was thrust into her leadership role in 1994 at 27 when her father, who passed away in 2010, began to experience ill health. At the time of the nexAIR acquisition, Welsco, which has made strategic acquisitions of its own through the years, had grown to 16 locations and 14 retail stores in Arkansas and Oklahoma.
President Bill Proctor said, “This expansion is aimed at boosting productivity for both our current and future customers in these areas, reinforcing our commitment to growth and excellence.”
With the backing of his father Claude G. Harrison, R.G. Harrison, Angela’s grandfather, founded Welsco as Welder’s Supply Co. in 1941. The company’s leadership eventually fell to R.G.’s sons, Stephen E. Harrison and Richard G. Harrison, who ran the company through the 1970s and 1980s.
Stephen, Angela’s father, who went on to purchase Richard Harrison’s shares, invited her to join the company. While the men were running the show, she began her career by handling
Harrison acknowledged the need to stay strong in a male-dominated industry. Along the way, she earned accolades such as being one of the first women and one of only four Americans elected to the International Oxygen Manufacturers Association’s leadership board.
She has appeared on the Arkansas Money & Politics “Power Women” list, while Welsco has also been named one of AMP’s “Most Admired Companies” and is known as one of the state’s notable generational businesses.
“I’m determined to show that women are just as capable of success in any industry,” Harrison said.
Harrison attributed her and Welsco’s success to smart hiring and being unafraid to take on those she feels might be smarter or more talented than her. As far as advising women starting out in business or industry, she said to be fearless about what they want and maintain high goals while continuing to be polite and respectful and to give back to the community.
Among her altruistic pursuits, Harrison has been a member of the state Easterseals board since 2003.
In a traditionally male industry, Harrison said “you’ll have to work smarter and harder than anyone else.”
TEN x
Sonny Kay
Pumping up the ARTS
By Lance Brownfield / Photo by Aaron Brewer
Whether he is staying on the “Sonny” side or keeping things “low key,” Sonny Kay, executive director at Low Key Arts, has had a busy year building up the arts scene in Hot Springs.
The Valley of the Vapors Independent Music Festival, the Persistence of Vision Film Festival (formerly known as Arkansas Shorts), the Inception to Projection filmmaking program, also known as I2P, and solar-powered community radio station KUHS are just some of the projects for which Low Key Arts is responsible.
Its flagship event this year almost eclipsed all other offerings in a literal way. In parnership with Atlas Obscura, VOV happened for four days in conjunction with the 2024 solar eclipse, with the path of totality passing directly over Hot Springs. Atlas Obscura’s Ecliptic Festival at Valley of the Vapors brought in 2,500 people from around the world for the music festival’s celestial 20th anniversary. It was Atlas Obscura’s second eclipse-based event, the first having been held in 2017 in a remote part of Oregon without a local partner organization. There were a host of musical guests gathered in Spa City, as well as artists, performers and speakers from NASA. Comedian Fred Armisen and former Mythbuster Adam Savage also made appearances.
“The opportunity to bring the artists we did to Arkansas for the eclipse was truly incredible and something I’m very proud of,” Kay said.
He said the six months between October 2023 and April 2024 were spent collaborating one on one with Atlas Obscura and that the festival was “essentially a collaborative curation between myself and their vice president of experiential, Megan Roberts.”
Having moved VOV to Cedar Glades Park from its downtown space in 2021, the music festival will return downtown next year to Whittington Place for a “cozier and more intimate experience that can still accommodate a big crowd.”
“We plan to bring even more foreign acts to Hot Springs and create an opportunity for an exciting event that feels even more international, pushes boundaries and puts smiles on as many faces as possible,” Kay said. “We’re so grateful that this tradition is ours to maintain and feel like it embodies the spirit of Low Key Arts both then and now.”
The nonprofit was founded in 2005, and Kay took over in 2017. Kay moved to Arkansas seven years ago to take on the executive director role. He has previously worked as a freelance graphic designer and was the art director for a handful of Los Angeles-based record labels. He founded and co-owned independent record label Gold Standard Laboratories, which operated from 1993 to 2007.
“Probably the most rewarding thing of all has been to surround
myself with the creative community in Hot Springs and take inspiration from work being produced by some exceptional artists here,” he said. “My own artwork has improved as a result, and I think that makes me a better and more effective leader.”
Kay said his work today is roughly half administrative and half creative. He manages fundraising correspondence, bookkeeping and day-to-day operations while helping maintain the studio. He is also responsible for much of the graphic output, social media, printed posters and programs, and merchandise that includes Tshirts, stickers and more.
“We fill the gaps and offer things people who live in big cities take for granted,” Kay said. “Without the kind of specialized arts education we offer, a lot of people who live here would simply not have access to it. For example, this year, Inception to Projection partnered with the [state] office of workforce development, trained nearly 40 people to crew a film production and put them to work in the industry right here in Arkansas. Likewise, our Ecliptic festival attracted a phenomenal lineup of legendary headliners, many of whom had never set foot in this state before.”
LKA opened a digital arts studio in downtown Hot Springs two years ago to support its ever-growing I2P program, which teaches locals the basics of filmmaking and gives them a chance to screen completed films at POV Fest when the course is over. The move came after the organization left its warehouse space during the COVID-19 pandemic to go fully virtual.
In addition to the events and radio offerings, LKA launched a series of classes in 2011, including a recent three-day course about designing film posters led by Kay. I2P classes originally took place once a year until the digital arts studio opened in 2022.
Supporting a growing film industry in the state, the I2P program has quickly grown over the past two years to offer classes year-round at various skill levels.
“The ambition to turn Inception to Projection into a legitimate film school is real for us and something we feel is perhaps only a couple of years away, the rate things are going,” Kay said.
Like the rest of his activities, his advice for others is full of attitude yet poignant.
“Don’t be a spectator. Be an instigator,” he said, “or at the very least, an active participant. Take comfort in the fact that the future is unwritten, and do the things that bring you joy to the best of your ability.”
TEN x
Roger Mangham
OUTSIDE is His Office
By Matt Smithmier
If you happen to catch him indoors, there is a good chance Roger Mangham is doing his best to get back outdoors as soon as possible.
“I’m just fascinated with it and just feel compelled to do something to protect it,” he said. “I would do this work for free.”
Mangham serves as state director at the Nature Conservancy, a conservation nonprofit that works through partnerships with state and federal agencies to “keep our most special places special,” he said. The group works to protect public access to natural areas for hunting, hiking, fishing, birdwatching and other outdoor activities. Along with a team of 27 people across two state offices, Mangham spends much of his day collaborating with TNC’s partners to develop strategies to manage wildlife and important natural lands across the state.
His biggest thrill comes from connecting residents to those natural areas and watching the effects.
“Connecting people to nature is important,” he said, “and people connect in different ways, through storytelling, and taking people to see these places and watching them light up and get excited about it has been really cool.”
Born and raised in Texas, Mangham called himself a “typical redneck kid” who grew up on the farm and spent much of his waking hours outside, along with summers and vacations hunting and fishing in the swamps of Louisiana, where his mother was from.
“That’s what got me connected at a very early age,” he said. “That was sort of my connection into conservation, forestry and wildlife management. I knew I wanted to do something outside. I believed God’s mission in my life was to create habitat in very large places for our animals and plant community. It’s something that continues to burn in me strongly.”
After earning a bachelor’s in forestry from Stephen F. Austin State University and a master’s in biology from Texas A&M University, he worked for TNC in Texas in the organization’s prescribed burn program for six years, conducting controlled fires around the state. Through that work, he learned of a similar but even more advanced program in Arkansas. Between the allure of that program and his fond memories of duck hunting in the state as a child, the move was an easy choice to make.
After working as the director of conservation and living in Arkansas until 2016, he moved to Alabama for three years to serve as state director of TNC there, yet he was always looking for a way back to Arkansas and found it in a role at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Later, when the previous state director at TNC
retired, Mangham was happy to accept the role.
“When I moved here in 2006, just right out of the gate, I knew it was the place for me,” he said. “People in Arkansas really care about each other and work well together. Partnerships aren’t transactional. They’re very real, and in the conservation business, that’s particularly important.”
Because he spends nearly all his life outside, it is no surprise the outdoor world is at the top of the list of his favorite aspects of Little Rock and Arkansas in general.
“The ability to live in a city but actually be outside is really incredible,” he said. “It’s a place where I can take my kids fishing in really incredible places after work in the summer, and I can go hunt in the morning and still get to work on time. That’s something you can’t really find anymore. I mean, you can live an outdoor lifestyle while still having the civility of a city.”
He added that Arkansas is also home to some governmental agencies, including the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission and the Arkansas Department of Agriculture, that truly care about collaborating to protect the state’s natural regions.
“We plan together. We develop projects together. We fund projects together,” Mangham said. “The relationships are real and meaningful, and that’s unique these days.”
The same goes for the people of Arkansas, he said.
“The state’s so beautiful. There’s so much access to nature that I think people here have an affinity for it. They love it, they vote for it, they support it, and it really is the DNA of our state — and that’s pretty cool.”
Despite a busy career leading a team and wearing many hats, the married father of three teenagers said he would not be anywhere else — and rarely is.
“Any second I have, if I’m not at work in the woods, I’m in the woods in my personal time. It’s sort of my passion,” he said.
Chase Outlaw
Dominate the RIDE
By Mak Millard / Photo by Andy Watson
Asked what might be the No. 1 question a professional bull rider faces from spectators, fans and curious onlookers — “Where do you go, mentally, for those eight seconds?” — the man USA Today dubbed the “Toughest Athlete in Sports” did not mince words.
“I go to a mean place,” Chase Outlaw said. “The whole time, you’re calm, cool and collected, but deep down, I mean, it’s a fight.”
The battle between man and beast is a simple one — two creatures at odds thanks to opposing objectives and a not insignificant size difference. Interwoven with the daunting task of holding on is something more like an art, one where it pays, literally, to have a knack for reading the animal’s movements.
“If you can match that dance, it’s a pretty great feeling to step off of that,” Outlaw said. “All odds are against you, and you come out on the other side, and you dominate, and you ride the animal.”
To say that the Hamburg native has represented his home state well on the Professional Bull Riders circuit might be putting it lightly. The 32-year-old ranks among the sport’s top performers and earners and was even featured as a main character in The Ride docuseries on Amazon Prime Video. Since his 2012 debut, he has racked up a collection of accomplishments — and injuries — that might make a less obsessed rider think of leaving the chute for good.
A 2018 wreck shattered nearly every bone in Outlaw’s face and required hours of reconstructive surgery, not to mention screws, plates and surgical mesh. The video of the incident went viral, but what really sealed the legend was the fact that he made his return after just 75 days, subsequently going on a run that would see him qualify for a seventh straight world finals. The next year, he finished third in the world. That kind of comeback does not come from chasing fame and sponsorships. For Outlaw, it is just a matter of pursuing the passion he has tended since childhood.
“I loved to do it before I even knew that you could make a career out of it,” he said. “I’ve loved it my whole life, since I first got on. Really, it hit when I was in fifth, sixth grade. I was like, ‘This is what my career is.’”
While the mechanics of the sport — do not get bucked — have not changed, the game has evolved in other ways. Today’s younger talent has grown up riding a higher caliber beast, and the
competition gets tougher every year as a result. PBR has also implemented changes meant to add interesting dynamics to the mix, such as teams, where riders compete as a unit in five-on-five games.
“You’re not only riding for yourself; you’re riding for the other guys on your team,” Outlaw said. “It’s helped the sport as far as riding and the guys staying on bulls, for sure. I’ve learned probably just as much on the fundamentals of bull riding since the team series, just breaking down the little things, from having that close-knit connection with somebody that’s done it longer than me.”
No injury or disappointing result has yet been enough to deter Outlaw from his ultimate goal, a world championship. Still, he acknowledged that bull riding is a shorter-lived career than most, and some hang on into their 40s, “I said a long time ago, I didn’t want to ride these things until I’m 36, 37 years old.”
“But heck, we ain’t there yet,” he said, “so who’s to say? When I hit 36, I may be still firing and roaring to go.”
He has his eye on another prize, as well, this time from the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, from which PBR initially broke away in 1992. Outlaw set his career sights on PBR early, but now that he has made an impressive mark on that league, he wants to claim a PRCA World Champion Gold Buckle before he retires.
Outlaw has plenty lined up for when he does exit the professional spotlight, much of which is focused on training and preparing the next generation of riders. Over the last couple of years, he has also been able to add bull riding to the National Championship Chuckwagon Races in Clinton, and Chase Outlaw’s Chuck ‘n Buck is already on the schedule again for 2025. Whether he is putting on a show for a sea of fans or just passing on his own hard-won wisdom to a hopeful young athlete, his affection for the sport is contagious.
“I just love everything about it,” Outlaw said. “Really, it’s the best life you can live.”
TEN x
Mimi San Pedro
On-BRAND
By Sarah DeClerk
After spending more than 30 years in marketing and business strategy, Mimi San Pedro knows a thing or two about building a brand, building a company and building a reputation. However, she said one of the most important things she has built is her network.
“The companies and brands are not just about companies and brands,” she said. “It’s about the people running it and the people who own it. When they are successful, that means that they are contributing to their employees’ success, meaning they’re contributing to their families’ income and their families’ future.”
Over the course of her career, she has helped transform relatively unknown companies into household names, and she said her most recent post as chief strategy officer at the Venture Center in Little Rock is a culmination of her previous experiences.
She retired in August but still serves as the Venture Center’s executive advisor.
“I enjoy a lot of the programs at the Venture Center,” she said. “Some of them I started, so I’m super dedicated to it.”
She joined the entrepreneur support organization in 2019. While there, she started the Women Achieve program, a woman-towoman mentorship program that has allowed women to grow their startups and side hustles into full-fledged, full-time businesses.
Stone Ward in Little Rock during its infancy, helping grow the advertising agency into the powerhouse it is today. While working there, she was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 38. She joined ContourMed, a Little Rock company that makes breast prostheses, after a year of treatment.
“I think I came out of it as a person who’s not just passionate about what I’m doing as a career but also doing something else, like a mission, kind of a purpose,” she said. “That’s why I joined ContourMed — because it needed me because I had the experience and I’m also a breast cancer survivor, and I needed it to get well and to be OK again.”
“I think part of my big accomplishment, too, is putting the Venture Center on the map, meaning communicating all the things that the Venture Center is doing and all the success it has had,” she said. “It is a globally recognized fintech accelerator program, and everybody needs to know that. It’s through strategic communication and aggressive communication that you can really do that.”
Although she majored in computer science and accounting at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, her friend Steve Holcomb insisted she was a good fit for marketing and recruited her to his company, Mangan Holcomb Partners, now MHP.si in Little Rock.
“From there, I learned the trade and became really interested,” San Pedro said. “My personality and my skills, you know, it was just a great fit to be in the marketing/advertising field.”
It was the start of a long and varied career. San Pedro next joined
She was then recruited to Acxiom, now based in Conway, which she described as an exciting company in constant flux. She went on to build the brand of renowned Little Rock-based garden designer P. Allen Smith and help a catalog company transition into ecommerce before joining the Venture Center and retiring at age 58.
“I actually retired because I’ve always said to myself, ‘I’m retiring early,’” she said. “My father’s always said that you work to play, and I was like, ‘Well, I’m going to play, so I can’t work until I’m, like, 65,’” she said.
Along the way, she has contributed to a number of other causes. She currently serves on the boards of the Downtown Little Rock Partnership, the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame and the Southern Capital Project, which works to empower female entrepreneurs.
San Pedro grew up in the Philippines and moved to the U.S. with her family as a teenager in 1974. The transition was difficult, she said, but she began hitting her stride when she went to college.
“I started just kind of understanding that there’s a lot of opportunities, and I have to be the one that seeks it out and takes advantage of those opportunities,” she said. “It’s the whole thing that my mother and dad were saying, which is in America, you can do anything you want. You just have to work hard.”
She said she and her life partner, Mary Ann Coleman, plan to travel more, having visited more than 50 countries already, and she plans to return to UA Little Rock to take noncredit classes. She also hopes to continue contributing to women’s causes.
Travis Worley
The Great Taste of SUCCESS
By Dwain Hebda
For Travis Worley, the restaurant business has always hit close to home. Growing up, he first took an interest in the industry at age 16, learning at the elbow of the head chef at the Pelican Cove in Sandusky, Ohio. He also grew up eating Marco’s Pizza, and later, he worked for the corporate headquarters of the Toledo-based chain, which dispatched him to Arkansas eight years ago to get a struggling franchise running smoothly.
Today, he and his business partner, Dan Cook, are the lords of the brand in Arkansas. Owners of 11 locations, they are also area developers, meaning they can issue their own franchises, through which they are connected to six more units. His is a challenging business, particularly on the labor front, but one which still runs on some very simple cornerstone ingredients.
“Our guests do quality control for us,” he said. “We have a program where we do guest surveys, and we have a scorecard where every store gets rated on their service. There’s no way for me or you to change that information. It’s literally what the guest says goes into your scorecard. That keeps us from being complacent, right? You have to make sure that you’re satisfying that guest because that guest is going to tell you how you did.”
Worley said the scorecard serves as ample motivation as stores try to compete for the best customer reviews. He said as an owner, it gives him a basis for conversations with store management on specific points of potential improvement.
“If you get the right people in place, the competition that you form between your restaurants on who’s going to do better can be powerful,” he said. “It’s not just sales; some stores can be challenged in ways, you know? There may be construction outside. If you have a competition set up among your stores, though, they’re going to compete against each other to become that top spot.
“My message to my employees, I tell them all the time, listen, we’re going to mess up sometimes. It’s going to happen because we’re human, right? It’s OK to mess up, but the important thing is how do we perform after we’ve messed up and still win that customer for life?”
Worley said it was a unique situation to have come from the corporate side of the company to the public-facing owner-operator role, both of which required a certain set of skills to be successful.
“I came in knowing all the specs. I knew all the training. I mean,
some of the job aids were stuff that I formulated while at corporate,” he said. “I think the main thing that I learned on the owner-operator side was how valuable it is to build relationships with employees as a store owner. Sometimes you’re like a father to some people that don’t have someone in their life. I recently lost a general manager to cancer, and her daughters work for us. My district manager just lost his mother. As an owner, you’re a best friend. You’re with them through those hard times.
“When you’re with corporate, you’re in and out of so many different territories that you can’t really build those relationships. Now I can’t go a day without an employee saying, ‘Hey, I missed you,’ or ‘I’m so glad to see you,’ or they give you a hug.”
Worley’s relationships with his employees have really shined during challenging times in the life of the business. During COVID-19, his locations were flooded with business to the tune of 72 percent growth in sales.
“We were blessed to stay open, you know? We were called the essential workers,” he said. “That allowed us to keep employees employed, and they were able to make money, but as far as being a success, we were still fighting with commodities pricing, which were some of the highest we’ve ever seen. It was a difficult time.
“We are starting to see some relief of that. Gas has come down. Diesel is below $4 for the first time since I don’t know when. We’re starting to see some of those savings come in. We should start seeing much better profits in our stores than we’ve ever seen.”
The future looks so bright Worley said he and Cook are actively looking to grow the brand through owned stores and franchises to 30 units statewide. Even as they grow, he said, the same foundational concepts of quality and service will apply.
“I grew up on Marcos in Ohio, so my whole thing is I want our locations here to be that local favorite place to go,” he said. “It’s like we tell our people: If you’re embarrassed to open that box, then you shouldn’t open it because you shouldn’t be serving that one. The goal is to open that box, and you show the guests their pizza, and they say, ‘Wow, that’s a good-looking pizza.’”
ATTENDING to the STATE’S BUSINESS
Education, corrections issues headline full session docket
By Dwain Hebda
Much of the political world will be focused on Washington, D.C., and the peaceful transfer of power early in the new year, via the certification of the 2024 presidential election on Jan. 6 and the inauguration on Jan. 20. In between those two important events, on Jan. 13, the Arkansas Legislature will convene the regular session of the 95th General Assembly.
The Democratic minority has already made its priorities known, while members of the overwhelming Republican majority face a myriad of things to be covered in the new session.
After decades of Democratic stranglehold on governance, the GOP enters its 10th year in control of the Arkansas House, Senate and governor’s post, and there is little sign of that dominance slowing down. Current headcount is 81-19 in the House and 29-6 in the Senate in
We
want to make it clear what we stand for and who we stand for — you — and how we’ll lead once you give us the chance again.
—Rep. Andrew Collins
favor of the Republicans.
Still, that likely will not stop the minority party from making a case for what it sees as glaring deficits in maternal care and continuing to assail the LEARNS Act as an assault on public education, not to mention seeking to overturn the state’s current abortion laws.
“We recognize we are currently in the minority. That doesn’t mean we tuck our tails and go home,” House Minority Leader Andrew Collins of Little Rock said during a November press conference to outline the left’s legislative agenda this session.
“We’re coming out with a bold agenda that would make a huge difference for Arkansas families. … We want to make it clear what we stand for and who we stand for — you — and how we’ll lead once you give us the chance again.”
Of those initiatives, the maternal health issue would seem to have the most traction heading into the new session. Both sides have been very public on the need to improve the state’s woeful ranking when it comes to maternal health. Earlier this year, a task force appointed by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders returned its recommendations for improvement, and last year, a bipartisan bill was introduced that would have followed other states’ lead in extending Medicaid coverage from 60 days to 12 months after birth, a measure that failed to advance.
Sanders called the measure duplicative of existing options for women under current law; proponents have vowed to reintroduce the bill in 2025.
Democrats are also likely to seek exceptions to the state’s abortion law, which currently bans the procedure at all stages of pregnancy and in all circumstances except for endangerment of the mother.
Collins said he will go further by introducing the Restore Roe Act. As reported by the Arkansas Advocate, the measure would return the state to the standard of the late 1980s, which was legal abortion before fetal viability and exceptions for cases of incest and threats to the life and health of the mother after fetal viability.
Meanwhile, the GOP continues to manage its widespread power without substantial infighting, said one House Republican, Rep. Matt Duffield of Russellville.
“When you have such a large Republican majority, there is always going to be a certain amount of personality conflicts, but by and large, most get along,” he said. “I think people would be surprised at the number of elected officials who really do have their hearts in the right place.
“Those who know me know that I am a stickler for good communication. I have always heard that in life most conflicts are a result of miscommunication or, at times, no communication. As a body, I think we need to constantly strive for better communication, which, in turn, produces a better efficiency of time and better use of taxpayer dollars.”
Duffield said the legislature has a long list of issues to discuss, including income tax cuts, tort reform and harsher penalties for crimes against children, to name a few.
“There is a lot of interest in legislation clean-
I think people would be surprised at the number of elected officials who really do have their hearts in the right place.
As far as working relationships overall, I would say they’re good. I would characterize it as like one giant family; you get along most of the time, but sometimes you have disagreements, and we try to work it out
ing up our food by getting the crap chemicals out that have been banned in numerous other countries,” he said.
As for working with the opposing party, Duffield said in most instances, it is a nonissue.
“In my district, I was elected to represent and, in turn, work for 30,000 Arkansans. I do my best to communicate with everyone regardless of party affiliation,” he said. “I try my best to get along with everybody, and as long as they are standing for the true wishes of their respective districts, I can understand and respect how they choose to vote.”
House Majority Whip Stetson Painter of Mountain Home said he also did not anticipate any unity issues from within the ranks as they tackled their diverse list of issues, nor did he expect any rancor from across the aisle.
“I don’t really have a concern about unity, I just want the Republican caucus to complete our goals, which help the everyday Arkansan who put us into the majority,” he said.
“As far as working relationships overall, I would say they’re good. I would characterize it as like one giant family; you get along most of the time, but sometimes you have disagreements, and we try to work it out.”
Painter said overall, he is pleased with what he has seen out of the governor’s proposed state budget, but some work is still required.
“I believe, overall, the budget is a good budget, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have some concerns with it,” he said. “We are going to have to address the Medicaid issue in this state at some point. Education is rising in the voucher system, which is a good thing, but we also need to tighten some loose ends in the voucher system. Also, the employee payment plan — we need state workers, and we need to make sure we give those on the bottom a good pay increase instead of always paying the top.”
Painter also mentioned the outcome of the recent national election will likely bode well for the state governing bodies in Arkansas.
“I think [the election] will have a huge impact,” he said. “I believe the federal government will be easier to work with. It’s vital for the people of Arkansas to have both the state government and the federal government working together, and that hasn’t always been the case in the last four years.”
Rep. Stetson Painter
Rep. Matt Duffield
ONCE AND FUTURE DEN OF DEALS
State Capitol’s 500 Grill set to reopen in 2025 after
spring fire
By Mark Carter
The 2025 legislative session set to convene on Jan. 13 may represent priority No. 1 for Arkansas state lawmakers, but there may be a few who are looking forward in even greater anticipation to the reopening of the 500 Grill.
The old basement cafeteria has long served as a spot where deals were struck and status obtained at the Arkansas State Capitol, especially when legislative sessions are underway. A kitchen fire in May, however, rendered it unusable because of extensive smoke damage.
No one was injured, but the damage in the kitchen was such that the entire lower level of the Capitol was impacted.
“It looks like it may have been burning for a while,” Captain Jason Weaver at the Little Rock Fire Department told KARK. “A lot of the plastics and stuff are melted, and there’s soot, heavy soot, so I think it was smoldering for a while. There were
doors open, and it allowed the smoke to get into the entire basement, which is the length of the Capitol.”
In its absence, lawmakers, legislative employees and visitors did not have to go without — the 500 Grill Express was opened on the third floor of the Capitol. The renovated basement space is scheduled to reopen for the upcoming session.
Before it received a facelift and was renamed the 500 Grill for the capitol building’s address of
Robert Moore Mark Johnson
The 500 Grill as it appeared before the fire that forced it to close last May. (Photos provided)
Lots of deals were made there, but I remember it more being the unofficial place to be seen with the right person and sitting at the right place at the big round table.”
— Robert Moore, Former House Speaker
500 Woodlane St., the cafeteria was named in honor of Marcus Holbrook, the former longtime director of the state Bureau of Legislative Research.
“I hope the cafeteria will reopen soon,” said Sen. Mark Johnson, a Republican from Little Rock. “At some point, the name was removed. I hope it is reinstated.”
A popular table in the southwest corner of the space was adorned with memorial plaques bearing the names of former regulars who sat there. There was no reserved seating, officially or otherwise, but seats at the table came to be equated with status. It was not the “cool kid’s” table, but many legislators coveted a seat there.
Former House Speaker Robert Moore of Arkansas City, a Democrat who represented southeast Arkansas from 2007 to 2013, quipped that status could seemingly be lost or gained on such a trite matter as where one sat for lunch.
“Lots of deals were made there, but I remember it more being the unofficial place to be seen with the right person and sitting at the right place at the big round table,” he said.
That big round table will soon be returned to its former corner in the renovated space.
“The table had extensive smoke damage during the fire,” said Chris Powell, press secretary at the Secretary of State’s office. “It has been restored and is currently in storage off-site. Plans are to have it back in the new cafe when it opens at the first of the year.”
Powell added that he was unsure if the memorial plaques would return, as well.
“The table was not reserved for anyone, but it was a favorite of legislators,” Johnson said. “Certainly, lots of legislation was discussed there, but there were no rules, and lots of good banter took place.”
Returning for sure will be the grill’s menu of classic Southern home cooking. Burgers, fried catfish, chicken-fried steak and tacos were favorites, but the eatery also served up dishes like taco salads, beef stroganoff, three-meat lasagna and more, as well as more healthy options and traditional grab-and-go breakfast staples.
When the legislature is in session, downtown Little Rock eateries are filled with state senators and representatives. Oftentimes, though, legislators do not have time to leave the Capitol grounds. The 500 Grill always made sure legislators were not forced to go hungry.
“It was a great option to have,” Moore said. “It was convenient, and plus, the food was good.”
The 500 Grill is known for its classic Southern fare including fried catfish and chicken-fried steak but also serves up dishes like beef stroganoff. (Photos provided)
THE MANDATE
By Dwain Hebda
Regardless of one’s political leanings, an intellectually honest assessment of Donald. J. Trump’s victory on Nov. 5 reveals it as nothing short of the most sensational political comeback in American history.
The first split-term presidency since Grover Cleveland (18851889, 1893-1897), President-elect Trump’s win capped the most bizarre campaign season most people can remember, one which often blurred the lines between reality and reality TV.
American society being the slave to immediacy it is, it bears repeating just how stunningly fast the reversal of fortune has been. Trump left Washington less than four years ago a defeated and humiliated figure, his enemies in politics and media snapping at his heels. Now, in a shorter time period than the average auto loan, Trump returns to the White House as nothing less than a conquering hero.
Most presidential wins as decisive as 2024’s came in successive reelection bids in which the country was either queasy about changing horses during wartime (Franklin D. Roosevelt) or liked what it saw and wanted more of it (Thomas Jefferson, Ronald Reagan).
Even under ideal circumstances, Trump’s bid ran against the winds of history, since topping the ticket on the next election cycle after leaving office had only happened twice and not for a major party. Millard Fillmore, the Whig who ascended from the vice presidency to serve out Zachary Taylor’s term, failed to get his party’s nomination in 1852 and returned atop the American Party ticket in 1856.
Teddy Roosevelt honored a campaign promise to be a oneterm president, declining to seek reelection in 1908, but he was so incensed by William Howard Taft’s subsequent failure to follow through on progressive reforms that he challenged Taft for the Republican nomination. Failing that, he ran atop the ticket for the Progressive Party in 1912. Both Fillmore and Roosevelt came away with little more than participation ribbons.
The tumultuous gap between Trump administrations should have been the kill shot on what was already an unlikely proposition to regain the White House. A reputational morass for the once and future president, the interim played out in bellowing headlines over the billionaire’s legal woes and President Joe Biden’s administration vilifying Trump’s time in office at every opportunity.
Unlikely though the win may be, the preamble for Trump’s victory can be seen in Reagan’s win in 1980 versus Jimmy Carter, a campaign that comes closest to matching the tone and timbre of 2024. For both, the Republicans feasted on an incumbent’s wobbly economic performance, runaway inflation and shaky foreign policy in ways that resonated with the common person, and Americans responded.
Fed up with what they saw as weak leadership at home and abroad, voters elected true political outsiders: Reagan the movie
star, Trump the reality TV maestro. Both were converted Democrats from deeply blue states with little to zero initial experience in federal office. The similarities are striking.
Like Reagan, Trump also owes a bit to luck. Invested with a war chest of more than $1 billion and up against one of the most polarizing candidates in recent memory, Vice President Kamala Harris’ stumbling campaign will go down as an alltime bust. There is plenty of blame to go around, from a ropea-dope media strategy to leaning on banal (and pricey, turns out) celebrity endorsements to bricking layup questions from friendly “reporters.”
By the time Biden and billionaire supporter Mark Cuban stuck their feet in their mouths by insulting Trump supporters just days before the election, Harris-Waltz 2024 was the certified gang that could not shoot straight.
Supporters call such assessments unfair, saying Harris was handcuffed by Biden’s summertime withdrawal, which left her roughly 100 days to make her case. That argument conveniently overlooks the fact that in Britain, national election seasons are limited to five weeks, have strict spending limits, and ban political advertising on radio and TV. Not to mention all the Harris water carried by so-called journalists drumming out daily media warnings of a dystopian America under Trump’s authoritarian rule.
The fruits of this billion-dollar boondoggle are bitter. Harris lost ground among traditionally blue demographics of Blacks, Hispanics and women, voting blocs in which Republicans traditionally have been massacred, at or near historic margins.
She also played Trump evenly in every age group, notably among voters ages 18 to 29, per the Roper Center, something that has not happened since George W. Bush played Al Gore to a draw among that subset in 2000. Before that? The aforementioned Reagan-Carter tilt.
What the Trump administration accomplishes, of course, is yet to be seen, but the tides that returned him to the seat of power are very familiar. The electorate wants change but of the reductive variety, a return to the meat and potatoes of lower prices, reduced taxes and safer streets. In addition, voters demand secure borders and a reversal of what many see as a gelding of U.S. power abroad and the wacko woke running the cultural asylum at home.
Like the Reagan Revolution before it — a conservative movement by which every subsequent Republican administration has been measured — the Trump Triumph has a rare opportunity thanks to unquestionable election results that delivered the GOP every battleground state, the House and the Senate. The endorsement of younger voters and a potent Republican bench suggest that if managed correctly, Trump’s second term could signal a new era of prolonged conservative power and a long slog back for the Dems.
• 4 hunters per team on private land
• Teams will be randomly paired with landowners and hunting locations
• Winning team members and landowner will share equally in grand prize
