Arkansas Money & Politics January 2024

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CELEBRATING 10 YEARS

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A YEAR IN, ARKANSAS’ FIRST FEMALE GOVERNOR LOOKS TO BUILD ON AGENDA Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders

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FEATURES JANUARY 2024

TOP TEN

48 SIGNING OFF Arkansas radio and TV legend Randy Hankins, known by most Arkansans as Craig O’Neill, called it a broadcasting career as the calendar flipped to the new year.

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60 ALI KRISHT, INFLUENCER

BYE-BYE, BOOKIES

Dr. Ali Krisht is leading world-class research at the Arkansas Neuroscience Institute. It’s possible his work is known more beyond the state’s borders than within.

Arkansas’ three casinos have their own sportsbooks and apps to help the state’s sports fans get their bets on right from their own phones.

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January 2024 PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER

8 | Plugged In 9 | Publisher’s Letter 10 | Viewpoint 144 | Arkansas Visionaries 174 | Digs of the Deal 176 | The Last Word WHAT’S NEXT

18 Technology From factory robots to AI, technology continues to impact industry. AMP asked Arkansas business leaders what changes to expect in the year ahead.

BUSINESS SERVICES

34 Marketing Long gone are the days when an ad in the Yellow Pages was enough to sustain a business.

AMP talks to experts about what it takes to market these days and what might be ahead.

INFLUENCERS OF THE YEAR

54 Katie Beck

The director of communications for former Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Katie Beck is ready to tackle her new role as CEO of the Arkansas Hospitality Association.voted to the list by former AMP Influencers.

56 The list

AMP once again recognizes Arkansas’ Influencers of the Year, as nominated by readers and voted to the list by former AMP Influencers.

60 Ali Krisht

Dr. Ali Krisht is leading worldclass research at the Arkansas Neuroscience Institute. It’s possible his work is known more beyond the state’s borders than within.

68 Wayne Smith

Wayne Smith’s journey took him from his native Rhode Island to Las Vegas and St. Louis, but he’s found a home at Oaklawn in Hot Springs.

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Heather Baker | hbaker@armoneyandpolitics.com

76 Tiffany Wilkerson

Young, Black and female, Tiffany Wilkerson broke several glass ceilings when she took the job as director of the Arkansas State Fair.

88 Impact Management Group Richard Bearden and Terry Benham began their venture with the odds stacked against them — a conservative-leaning firm in a deeply blue state politically.

AMP TOP TEN

119 X marks the spot AMP celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2024, and to commemorate such a milestone, we’re launching a special monthly section profiling 10 of Arkansas’ best.

130 Flag girl

Kerry McCoy literally went from flags to riches. Her Flagandbanner.com is one of the country’s leading supplier of flags, banners and related items.

136 Mission possible Selling donated items is not Goodwill’s mission but enables it to fulfill its mission, which is to get Arkansans educated and into the workforce, says Brian Marsh.

SMALL BUSINESS

152 SOMA success story

Miles Roberson and Trevor Papsadora opened a pop-up shop in Little Rock’s trendy SOMA district, and its rapid success took them by surprise.

SPORTS

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Dwain Hebda | dwain@armoneyandpolitics.com SENIOR EDITOR Mark Carter | mcarter@armoneyandpolitics.com ASSOCIATE EDITORS Sarah Coleman | scoleman@armoneyandpolitics.com Mak Millard | mmillard@armoneyandpolitics.com EDITORIAL COORDINATOR Darlene Hebda | darlene@armoneyandpolitics.com STAFF WRITERS John Callahan | jcallahan@armoneyandpolitics.com Sarah DeClerk | sdeclerk@armoneyandpolitics.com MANAGING DIGITAL EDITOR Kellie McAnulty | kmcanulty@armoneyandpolitics.com ONLINE WRITER Kilee Hall | khall@armoneyandpolitics.com PRODUCTION MANAGER Mike Bedgood | mbedgood@armoneyandpolitics.com GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Lora Puls | lpuls@armoneyandpolitics.com Jenna Kelley | jkelley@armoneyandpolitics.com SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Greg Churan | gchuran@armoneyandpolitics.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Mary Funderburg | mary@armoneyandpolitics.com Karen Holderfield | kholderfield@armoneyandpolitics.com Jona Parker | jona@armoneyandpolitics.com Dana Rodriquez | dana@armoneyandpolitics.com Bethany Yeager | bethany@armoneyandpolitics.com EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT Jessica Everson | jeverson@armoneyandpolitics.com ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Natika Gatson | ads@armoneyandpolitics.com Angela-Maria Jones | ads@armoneyandpolitics.com CIRCULATION circulation@armoneyandpolitics.com ADMINISTRATION billing@armoneyandpolitics.com CEO | Vicki Vowell

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162 Into the ring Boxing promoters say an upcoming event scheduled for North Little Rock is the start of something big for the sport in Arkansas.

168 Play the game

NIL has changed the way the college football game is played beyond the gridiron. Is Arkansas finally prioritizing relevance over noble intention?

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CONTRIBUTORS

Becky Gillette, Jamie Lee, K.D. Reep, Lori Sparkman, Chris Davis, William Greenfield, Kenneth Heard, Andrew Hutchinson, Steven Lewis, Brian Sorensen AMP magazine is published monthly, Volume VI, Issue 9 AMP magazine (ISSN 2162-7754) is published monthly by AY Media Group, 910 W. Second St., Suite 200, Little Rock, AR 72201. Periodicals postage paid at Little Rock, AR, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to AMP, 910 W. Second St., Suite 200, Little Rock, AR 72201. Subscription Inquiries: Subscription rate is $28 for one year (12 issues). Single issues are available upon request for $5. For subscriptions, inquiries or address changes, call 501-244-9700. The contents of AMP are copyrighted, and material contained herein may not be copied or reproduced in any manner without the written permission of the publisher. Articles in AMP should not be considered specific advice, as individual circumstances vary. Products and services advertised in the magazine are not necessarily endorsed by AMP. Please recycle this magazine.

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PLUGGED IN JANUARY 2024/armoneyandpolitics.com

FULL SPEED AHEAD

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CELEBRATING 10 YEARS

amp Arkansas Money & Politics

A YEAR IN, ARKANSAS’ FIRST FEMALE GOVERNOR LOOKS TO BUILD ON AGENDA

ON THE COV E R

INSTAGRAM

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders was photographed in her office inside the State Capitol by Lori Sparkman.

Following a politically successful first year in office, Arkansas’ trailblazing chief executive plans to keep the momentum going in 2024.

(See story, page 12.)

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders

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FEEDBACK PARALYMPIC MEDALIST AMY PURDY BRINGS INSPIRATION TO BATESVILLE An amazing lady who shares her incredible story!

Deb Knoedl Sefcik POWER WOMEN 2023: BEVERLY ROBERSON, CONTROLLER, PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING OFFICER, GARVER Congratulations and we’ll deserved recognition!

Brian Marsh AMP TOP 100 PROFESSIONALS, ROB FINLEY, ARKANSAS GAME AND FISH COMMISSION CRANOR’S WHITE RIVER LODGE A very good man that has helped many people. He does it the right way with little to no fanfare. Thanks Rob and God Bless you and your family.

Van Nowlin

Nick Roach, who began his career with Stone Bank in 2010, has been appointed as the bank’s new CEO.

BURNS PARK’S FUNLAND APPROVED FOR $3.1M CONSTRUCTION PLAN Funland was a big part of my childhood and a big part of my son’s childhood. Now my grandsons enjoy it. Very happy it’s coming back even better than before.

Deidre Burress POWER WOMEN 2023: CHARLOTTE POTTS, EDUCATION + PASSION = SUCCESS So incredibly thankful to call Charlotte Potts a friend. Her selflessness, dedication and compassion for helping others are also attributes that contribute to her success!

Jennifer Delahoy Jensen PAUL BYRD, PAUL BYRD LAW FIRM, PLLC, ONE OF AMP’S 2023 LEGAL ELITE He is the BEST. Jessica Hughes Ford

TOP ONLINE ARTICLES Dec. 6 - Jan. 8 1 Dogpatch USA Awaits Its Remake 2 Lance Turner Starting New Career Outside Journalism 3 A Contrarian Take On the Petrino Hire 4 Jaylen Smith, A Mayor Like No Other: Earle’s Young Leader Not A Typical Civic Authority 5 Arkansas Visionary: B.J. Sams, The Voice

Arkansas-based Lexicon recently promoted Jeremy Ingram to vice president of its Fabrication Group.

6 Opening Day for Topgolf Little Rock 7 Elopak Chooses Little Rock for U.S. Production Facility 8 Wet? Dry? Sunday Sales? A Look at Arkansas’ Disparate Alcohol Laws 9 Power Women 2023: Lara Blume McGee, Owning Her Power 10 Burns Park’s Funland Approved for $3.1M Construction Plan JAN UA RY 2 024

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FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

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By Mark Carter

TROPHIES FOR ALL

hinking about the NBA’s appropriate renaming of its MVP trophy for Michael Jordan served as reminder for just how differently we celebrate excellence these days.

MJ represents the game’s Everest. They are those basketball intrepids who reached its stratosphere alongside and just to the side of him—Wilt, Russell, Magic, Larry and Kobe come to mind. LeBron arguments notwithstanding, we don’t expect anyone to play the game better than Michael Jordan did. And that’s OK. But these days, woe is the societal scrooge who dares suggest excellence isn’t seeping from each and every pore on each and every one of us. Because if we went by the numbers of trophies and awards handed out like crackers in a soup line, an extraterrestrial visitor might justifiably suspect that we imagine ourselves Olympians, lounging in luxury between marble columns, sipping wine and nibbling dates between feats of prowess.

In addition to the expected league MVP and championship trophies, the NBA has trophies for coach of the year, defender of

the year (hello, Mr. Moncrief), sixth man of the year (and Mr. Williamson), clutch player of the year and rookie of the year. But that’s just the first breath.

There’s also the all-star 3-point shooting trophy, the dunk contest trophy, the all-star game MVP trophy, the Finals MVP trophy, trophies for the MVPs of each of the conference finals, divisional championship trophies and finally, heavy sigh, a trophy for most improved player. We may have missed one or six.

Literally, a full NBA roster of trophies with the makings of a practice squad.

Every person is significant and has value.

But we’re not all excellent. If we were, excellence would cease to exist as a concept.

It would equate to mere existence. In what may be Pixar’s best movie, protagonist superhero/dad Bob Parr — aka Mr. Incredible — bemoans this contemporary trophiesfor-all trend. And his vent is just as apt for today’s world as it was in 2004: “They keep celebrating new ways to celebrate mediocrity, but if someone is genuinely exceptional, they shut him down because

“When everyone is super, then no one will be.”

—Syndrome (the bad guy), from The Incredibles they don’t want everyone else to feel bad!”

The line between value and excellence, however, is being erased, to society’s detriment. These days, simply showing up for work is a trophy moment. Got out of bed before noon? There’s a trophy on its way.

When everyone gets a trophy, no one gets left out. No one is devalued. But as Syndrome (the bad guy) said in The Incredibles, if we’re all incredible, then no one will be. (It should come as no surprise that The Incredibles was a purely Pixar production, released two years before the Disney takeover.)

We prefer to imagine ourselves the next MJ as we stay late after practice to shoot free throws or hit the gym early to work on our corner 3. After all, trophies shine that much brighter when they’re earned.

PUBLISHER’S LETTER

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By Heather Baker

X MARKS THE SPOT We’ll profile 10 individuals each month and cannot wait to share them all. January also brings AMP’s Influencers, an annual list of the state’s most influential leaders in their fields. These Arkansans are nominated by readers, and a panel of former Influencer honorees decides who makes the list from among the nominees.

We received so many nominations this year that we decided to honor 100 Influencers.

Plus, AMP got an exclusive interview with Gov. Sarah Sanders, who visited with us about her first year in office and what’s to come in 2024. When Sanders moved back to Arkansas from Washington, D.C., in August 2019, her first exclusive interview was with AMP, and she appeared on our November 2019 cover.

Also inside, you will not want to miss Dwain Hebda’s profile of Arkansas broadcasting legend Craig O’Neill, who is moving on to his next chapter after decades of broadcast excellence on radio and television.

We also have a special package on “What’s Next” in various Arkansas industries and on business services; a feature on Arkansas’ own pro-wrestler-turned-legislator, state Rep. Matt Duffield; and a look at the rise of homegrown sports betting apps.

There is a lot to like in this issue. We think the bar is being set high, and that is the way we like it. We hope you feel the same. Please reach out with any comments, questions or story ideas at Hbaker@ armoneyandpolitics.com.

he January issue is an important one for any publication. It kicks off the new calendar year and sets the tone for the next 12 months.

Here at Arkansas Money & Politics, this month’s issue is especially significant. 2024 represents the magazine’s 10th year of telling the stories behind Arkansas’ business and political leaders and shining a positive light on industry and economic development in Arkansas. Ten years.

“Time flies when you’re having fun” is a triedand-true cliche for good reason because time does go by in the blink of an eye when you enjoy what you do. Not only has it been our pleasure to bring readers the stories behind the people Heather Baker and businesses that make Arkansas such a great place to live, it has truly been a blast.

In honor of our first 10, this month we launch a special section called the AMP Top 10, in which we profile 10 Arkansans who have had a great impact on business, their communities and more. Some of them have operated above the radar their entire careers; others may not be as well known, but their impact is just as great.

The first installment includes heavyweights like Patrick Schueck of Lexicon, Adam Mitchell of Citizens Bank, Kerry McCoy of FlagandBanner.com and a few who have made a difference mostly under the radar (for now), such as Arvest Bank’s Pansy Johnson and Brian Marsh of Goodwill Industries of Arkansas.

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VIEWPOINT

ECHOES OF LOSS: A CALL TO UNITE

FOR SAFER PREGNANCIES AND CHILDBIRTH

By William Greenfield racial disparities. The most striking and motivating fact remains that more than 90 percent of pregnancy-related deaths were considered preventable. This statistic must serve as more than just a call to action. It is time for a united commitment from all stakeholders — health care providers, patients, policymakers, facilities and systems — to implement effective strategies to save the lives of women in Arkansas.

Recent legislative developments and William Greenfield state initiatives have focused on improving maternal health. Despite extensive debate, a proposal to extend Medicaid coverage to 12 months postpartum did not pass in the latest legislative session. The Arkansas Perinatal Quality Collaborative was launched, and together with the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health, it initiated a campaign to reduce cesarean section rates. Participating in these quality improvement initiatives helps adopt best practices, enhancing birth safety and maternal health outcomes. The Hear Her campaign aims to increase awareness of urgent maternal warning signs during and after pregnancy, promoting better communication among patients, their support networks and healthcare providers.

Arkansas faces challenges, such as declining maternity units, a shortage of maternal health care professionals and socioeconomic obstacles. Health care access is uneven, leading to “maternity deserts” in certain areas in a rural state like Arkansas. Effectively tackling maternal health issues in Arkansas involves overcoming funding and policy constraints. Policy recommendations should concentrate on bridging disparities, engaging communities, and enhancing data collection and research efforts.

The high rates of maternal mortality and morbidity in Arkansas, particularly among certain demographic groups, are unacceptable. As we approach Maternal Health Awareness Day on Jan. 23, there is an urgent need to address these issues head-on.

We must harness our collective resources and expertise to improve maternal health, ensuring safer pregnancies and childbirths for all mothers. Our efforts must be sustained, targeted and inclusive, aiming not just to lower mortality rates but to forge a future where every mother’s life is valued and protected.

“I never knew my mother. I only remember her funeral; the men wore blue suits, and the steps entering the church were tall.”

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hese haunting words, shared by a centenarian reflecting on his earliest memory of his mother, who passed away nearly a century ago following childbirth, poignantly underscore the enduring legacy of pain and loss borne by a child deprived of a mother. This narrative is not just a relic of the past. It echoes a persistent and pressing issue in maternal health that still afflicts many families — far too many of those living in Arkansas — today.

The 20th century witnessed incredible advancements in health care across the United States, including antibiotics, blood transfusions and enhanced hospital services, leading to a dramatic decline in maternal mortality. However, the 21st century has seen a disturbing reversal of this trend. In 2020, about 800 women died daily worldwide due to preventable causes related to childbirth, predominantly in low- or lower-middle-income countries.

Regrettably, the U.S. suffers from a high maternal mortality rate of 32.9 per 100,000 live births, one of the highest among industrialized nations. Specifically, Arkansas stands out with the highest rate in the nation at 43.5 per 100,000, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from 2018 to 2021.

Defining maternal mortality is crucial to addressing it effectively. The World Health Organization describes maternal death as a woman’s death during pregnancy or within 42 days of its termination, excluding accidental causes. Additionally, the CDC and maternal mortality review committees broaden this definition with terms like pregnancy-associated death and pregnancy-related death.

Pregnancy-associated death includes any death of a woman during pregnancy or within a year of its end, regardless of the cause. The related term, pregnancy-related death, specifically refers to deaths caused by pregnancy complications or a chain of events initiated by the pregnancy, offering a broader perspective on maternal health risks. There is significant variation in pregnancy-related mortality ratios among states, with Arkansas having one of the highest rates.

In 2019, Arkansas took a significant step in confronting maternal mortality with the formation of the Arkansas Maternal Mortality Review Committee. Tasked with the comprehensive review of deaths that occur during or within a year of pregnancy, the committee identified cardiac conditions, hypertensive disorders, infection, hemorrhage and mental health issues among the leading causes of deaths. Notably, women ages 35 and older face a significantly higher pregnancy-related mortality rate. Moreover, Black women in Arkansas experience twice the rate of pregnancy-associated deaths compared to white, non-Hispanic mothers, highlighting alarming

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William Greenfield, M.D., MBA, FACOG, is a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.

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WHAT’S NEXT

For Arkansas’ First Female Governor, It’s

GREEN LIGHT AHEAD in '24

By Mark Carter

JAN UA RY 2 024

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Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (Photos by Lori Sparkman)

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POLITICS

ov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders spent the first year of her historic term turning campaign promises into political accomplishments. She does not intend to ease up in Year Two. “We have no intention of slowing down or taking our foot off the gas in terms of an aggressive, bold agenda for Year Two,” she said.

Bold agenda notwithstanding, year one of the Sanders administration set a high bar in terms of political wins. Sanders campaigned on four main priorities, each of which was addressed by legislation passed in 2023.

“We had what I think has been probably one of the busiest and most successful first years,” Sanders told AMP in an exclusive interview. “I’m a little biased, but I’m very proud of what we’ve been able to do in the first year.”

Sanders indeed spent her first year in office checking off a list of campaign promises.

First up is education. The general assembly last spring passed the Arkansas LEARNS Act, which, among other things, increases teacher pay in the state, creates school vouchers, raises literacy standards for elementary students and enhances workforce development opportunities.

Then there’s criminal justice reform. The Protect Arkansas Act passed last year includes the restructuring of the state’s parole system to ensure that those convicted of violent crimes such as first-degree murder, rape, kidnapping and child trafficking must serve 100 percent of their prison sentences without the possibility for parole, as well as the construction of a $470 million, 3,000-bed prison.

Next up, an old favorite — tax cuts. Two of them, in fact, were passed, including the $124 million tax cut Sanders signed into law in April. The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration reported 1.1 million Arkansans who make more than $24,300 a year would receive a cut — and why not?

The state ended fiscal year 2023 with a $1.1 billion surplus.

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Growing the state’s burgeoning outdoor recreation economy was another Sanders priority. Early on, Sanders issued an executive order creating the Natural State Initiative with an advisory council (led by her husband, First Gentleman Bryan Sanders) tasked with establishing a framework to further market the state for recreation tourism and outdoor business opportunities. Initial recommendations included enhancing an already strong state park system; promoting careers in outdoor recreation, tourism and hospitality; and growing the outdoor rec economy in the Delta.

Sanders benefited from what has grown to become one of the nation’s most ruby-red state legislative bodies, but like her policies or not — and a vast majority of Arkansans do — she just completed what even her critics would have to concede was a successful first year politically. ************ It’s no surprise Sanders opted to make her office inside the Arkansas State Capitol a little less “like a cave.”

For previous occupants — including Sanders’ father, Mike Huckabee, who served as governor from 1996 to 2007 — the space had reflected a more masculine vibe.

Sanders seems at ease in her current role. She is no stranger to politics, despite this being her first go-round in public office, and it helps, of course, that she presides over a legislative body largely in tune with her politics, which was not the case for her father. Given who he is, it is almost a given that Sanders followed him into politics. She was helping stuff envelopes and putting up yard signs for her dad’s campaigns at an early age, and once Huckabee became governor, Sanders finished growing up and graduated high school from Little Rock Central while calling the Governor’s Mansion home. By the time Huckabee was running for re-election as governor in 2002, Sanders, by then studying political science and mass communications at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, was serving as campaign field coordinator.

Her later experience working for multiple state and national Republican campaigns and, ultimately, her signing on as advisor to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and rise to press secretary for the former president, of course, is well documented.

Experience has served her well, even at the relatively young age of 41, and there has been much of it behind the scenes and in front of reporters and cameras. Sanders appears as comfortable in her current role as any one-time candidate has a right to be. In an exclusive visit with AMP, she laid out her vision for Year Two, which will include a fiscal session and the same conservative legislature.

Arkansas’ chief exec is intent on seeing through her pri-

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orities at the state Capitol. She eschewed the prospect of being picked to serve as Trump’s running mate in 2024, but neither did she shut the door on the notion.

“I’ve done my time in D.C.,” she said, “and my kids love it here.”

Sanders stressed that she loves her job and, in 2024, implementation will be the key word for her administration.

“First, implementation of some of the big pieces of legislation that we passed in this first year, LEARNS and growing the Education Freedom Account access, making sure the career and workforce development piece is growing,” she said. “More and more people are engaged in that dualtrack diploma. Early access to pre-K, the literacy program, all of that growing and being implemented will be a big part of next year. It’s already ongoing, aggressively taking place, and we’re already seeing the impact of it.”

Although the full impact of LEARNS will take time to measure, the law’s immediate impact manifests itself in parental empowerment and teachers’ pay.

“That’s pretty tangible,” Sanders said. “We were 48, and now we’re top five [in teachers’ pay].

I think it will take through at least this school year before we start to see some of those other pieces and get further into the implementation process, but you’re already seeing the support grow directly. Recent polling is showing that as people learn more about [the LEARNS Act] and see it in practice, support is growing.

“We’re very excited about it and just want to continue to make sure that the execution is done correctly,” she said.

Sanders said Arkansas can rid itself of the long-held “No. 49” stigma firmly attached to its reputation for education and even become a national leader.

Officials from other states and even countries, she said, have reached out to the Arkansas Department of Education about the LEARNS Act, which was modeled after Florida’s educational agenda under Gov. Ron DeSantis.

In fact, Sanders tabbed Jacob Oliva, a former teacher and principal who helped craft Florida’s model, to lead ADE. The Florida approach became controversial for its so-called “don’t say gay” component, but the model was popular among rank-and-file Floridians for a focus on parents’ rights and workforce development. The Sunshine State earned its highest-ever rankings in the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress scores, which measure academic achievement for students in

fourth and eighth grades.

Sanders said she would like to see Arkansas follow Florida’s lead.

According to the 2023 State of Education in Arkansas report from nonprofit Forward Arkansas, student test scores still have not rebounded to pre-COVID-19 levels. Before the pandemic sent students home for remote learning, scores were already low: 41 percent of Arkansas students were proficient in reading, and 48 percent were proficient in math.

“We’re not there yet, but I think we’re making our mark when it comes to education and

“We had what I think has been probably one of the busiest and most successful first years,” Sanders told AMP in an exclusive interview. “I’m a little biased, but I’m very proud of what we’ve been able to do in the first year.”

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workforce development,” Sanders said. “So many things are tied to that. If you want to recruit and/or retain big companies, you have to do those two things really well. I think it’s a space where Arkansas is showing itself to be a national leader. Do I think it’s going to happen tomorrow? No, but I think we’re getting there ,and we’re already seeing ourselves move up in certain categories like parental empowerment. We were middle of the pack, and now we’re top four in the country in that space. As LEARNS gets further implemented, we’ll just continue to see ourselves move up.”

Given the makeup of the legislature and the size of the state surplus, Sanders said she expects the upcoming fiscal session to include another tax cut. What it might look like will have to wait for upcoming conversations with

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Sanders: “Anytime you take on a role like this... there’s going to be a weight and a pressure that comes on you.”

lawmakers, she said, adding “I think there’s certainly an appetite for it, and we are in a good place to be able to do that again.”

Sanders said she hopes to see site selection and groundbreaking for the new prison in 2024, and as more components of the LEARNS Act dealing with pre-K through 12th grade are put into practice, the focus will shift to higher education.

The state has made strides in connecting post-high-school technical education and training with industries desperately in need of workers.

“We’re starting to look at what we can do to make our higher education system stronger, better and more industry-driven so that when people are graduating and completing those higher education degrees, it’s translating into meeting the demand of the workforce here in our state,” Sanders said.

As a small state, Arkansas does not need to be good at everything, but “it can be great and be the best at a handful of things,” she added.

“I think we absolutely have the ability and

JAN UA RY 2 024

opportunity to do that, and you’re seeing that happen, whether it’s the steel industry, aerospace and defense, lithium, or oil and gas,” she said. “The energy sector has always been really important to Arkansas. That will continue.

There are a handful of places where we have the right to be first, and we’re proving that we can get there and what that can mean for the long term.”

Sanders will continue to champion the state’s outdoor economy and wants to firmly establish Arkansas, known for its bountiful natural resources, as a top travel destination in the United States.

“We have 52 state parks and some of the best that you’ll find anywhere in the country,” she said. “We want to continue to elevate those experiences so we’re giving people a reason not just to come to Arkansas, but to keep coming back time and time again. Our tourism industry is the No. 2 industry in the state, second only to agriculture, and we think it can continue to grow exponentially over the next decade. The more it grows, the greater ability we’ll have to do things like phasing out our state income tax, so I’m excited about that space.

It’s fun and it’s a great unifier.

“There are very few peop,le who will argue that having more people in the outdoors, growing our economy and adding to that quality of life is a negative. It’s one of

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those few areas where you bring a lot of people together.

It’s such a special industry for our state, and it’s an area where we certainly have the right to be first.”

Sanders knew much of what to expect in office through her father, who she admitted to using as her “phone a friend” once or twice. A couple of things, though, took her by surprise once she was elected in November 2022.

“One of the busiest times in my entire life was actually the transition,” she said of the interim between election and inauguration. “I knew that we would be busy and there would be a lot of things going on, but I didn’t realize just how quickly those flood gates would open up and how many things had to take place in such a short amount of time.”

The other kicker was one for which very few could have been prepared.

“Any time you take on a role like this and you have the responsibility of leading and governing, there’s going to be a weight and a pressure that comes on you,” she said. “How quickly that hits was a tiny bit surprising. I’d had a lot of conversations with my dad, obviously. It’s pretty nice to have him as a 24/7 resource, so I was able to talk to him about certain things, as well as with other governors around the country I have a good relationship with and with different people with whom I developed good mentorships. But just how quickly the weight of the office hits…

“You know, you take the oath, you’re sworn in, and you immediately come in, and you’re signing executive orders.

You go directly into your first legislative session on the first day of taking office. Things get real really fast, but I’m proud of the way our team dealt with that and delivered for the people of Arkansas over the course of the first year.”

Sometimes lost in the politics is the historical significance of Sanders becoming the first woman to be elected Arkansas governor. Not only is she the first woman, but she is the first person to do so whose father also served as governor — and she beat the state’s first major-party Black candidate, Chris Jones, to boot.

The historical significance is not lost on Sanders, but on this day, her approach is more akin to late Arkansas Razorback great Alex Collins, known for calmly handing the football to the back judge after scoring a touchdown as if he expected to be standing in the end zone.

Her election surely served as an empowering symbol for any young girl in Arkansas, regardless of whether she wants to be in politics, she said.

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“We’re starting to look at what we can do to make our higher education system stronger, better and more industry-driven so that when people are graduating and completing those higher education degrees, it’s translating into meeting the demand of the workforce here in our state.” “[The election] gives them a way to say, ‘I can do X, Y or Z,’ that there’s nothing they can’t do and try to accomplish,” she said. “I’m certainly proud of that for my own daughter.

I meet girls all the time from all over the state who say, ‘I’m going to be governor one day,’ or ‘I’m going to work in the White House one day.’ Now they’ve seen somebody not just do it, but somebody from their own state.”

When asked to grade her first-year job performance, Sanders gave herself an A (“What else?” she joked), but she acknowledged there always are things one can do better and opportunities to grow.

“I don’t know that I would do anything differently because that’s how you learn,” she said. “That’s how you get better. We had four big priorities when we came into the year and into that first legislative session, and we were able to get significant things done on every single one of them. I feel proud of that and happy with the first year. We learned a lot and grew a lot. That will make us that much better for years two, three and four.”

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Edge of

Tomorrow

Tech experts weigh in on what’s next

By Dwain Hebda

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abriel Stiritz is a soft-spoken, mild-mannered tech entrepreneur, family man and founder of the recently launched Lexamica, headquartered at the Little Rock Technology Park. He is not the type of person one envisions on a street corner crying, “The end is near.”

That said, he does have a few pronounced thoughts about technology Gabriel Stiritz in the new year, particularly as it pertains to artificial intelligence and its continued encroachment on, well, everything.

“Everyone is sick and tired of AI. Unfortunately, we’re just on the beginning of the curve,” he said. “If you look at the progress that’s being made in large language models right now, we’re just at the base of this curve that’s going to go up so much more in 2024 than it did in ’23 in terms of the capabilities of these models and their application.

“I wasn’t around when the internet really took off, but in a lot of ways, I think it’s similar to that. We birthed this tool basically a year ago, and we’re still just figuring out how to use it, what it’s for and what the capabilities are while we continue to improve it at the same time. It’s the Wild West again; you can lump the internet and social media together, but actually, those were 15 years apart. We had the Wild West of the internet, and then we had the Wild West of social media, and now we’re going to have the Wild West of LLMs, which are even more powerful.”

Artificial intelligence has been around for years, but 2023 was an inflection point at which the technology hit the mainstream in a big way. Led by ChatGPT, which debuted in November 2022, millions got their first taste of AI operating like Siri on amphetamines. Some computer scientists likened ChatGPT’s role in the advancement of technology to the iPhone, while others were not shy in their attempts to punch holes in the “ask me anything” attitude of omnipotence it put forward.

In December, the New York Times sued ChatGPT’s parent company, OpenAI, claiming developers used copyrighted material to train the chatbot, basically providing the answers to the questions posed by users. Already this year, embarrassing data from a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that when ChatGPT was asked to diagnose a child’s medical symptoms, it gave incorrect answers 83 percent of the time.

Such developments, while legitimate, do nothing to cool the fervor that seemingly every industry has for the potential of AI itself as a transformative technology. For every cautionary statistic — such as survey results published this month in New Scientist in which researchers predicted a 50 percent chance of AI outperforming humans on every task given by 2047 and the “non-miniscule” 5 percent risk AI eliminates the human race altogether — there is just as much to get excited about.

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WHAT’S NEXT way that you interact with other people. That would be the major shift in where AI is going.”

The foundation leaned into the topic heavily last year, leading a pilot health tech accelerator program in addition to the AI and machine learning cohort that has been held for the past few years, said Caleb Talley, executive director of the foundation “Those [cohorts] saw a lot of success with the companies that participated, and a growing interest from companies locally and beyond to participate in another cohort,” he said. “The Arkansas Economic Development Commission has always Caleb Talley funded the AI/ML program that we run, but they are also funding, for the first time, our health care accelerator in 2024.

“Their support of that, I think, demonstrates the value of [health tech] as an area of importance. Health outcomes in Arkansas, when you look across all the health care categories, we’re not exactly at the top, which is why we always say, ‘Thank God for Mississippi and Louisiana.’ Having the opportunity to potentially recruit companies that are either improving outcomes or creating efficiencies for hospitals can go a long way toward changing that.”

Talley said health tech continues to be a leading segment in technology startups overall in Arkansas, especially in the state’s northwest corridor. Given the ecosystem that has been created in that part of the state, he said he expects the segment to only grow in the new year.

“I think it’s kind of a consortium effect where you’ve got a number of things going right at the same time. It’s not by accident,” he said. “You think about, just for example, cycling. A few years ago, there was a concerted effort where somebody said we’re going to make northwest Arkansas a cycling hub. It wasn’t just any one person that went about it; it became kind of a collective thing.

“In the same way, we’ve got pillars within an ecosystem that kind of holds [health tech] up. You’ve got higher education in that. You’ve got the enterprises that are interested in adopting some of the technologies. You’ve got the talent that has come to the area from various other places or companies or locations.

Then you’ve got your entrepreneurial support organizations, so everybody’s all kind of pulling at the same end of the rope at the same time, and it really starts with a few organizations saying this is an area of need and focus; let’s start marching in that direction.”

Increasingly, this all-in approach is making northwest Arkansas a destination of choice for new entrepreneurs and existing companies looking to relocate.

“I think we’re well-positioned to bring in a lot of new tech-

We had the Wild West of the internet, and then we had the Wild West of social media, and now we’re going to have the Wild West of LLMs. — Gabriel Stiritz, Lexamica

As Interesting Engineering points out, AI is revolutionizing manufacturing by providing intelligent machines that can work around the clock with no drop off in precision or productivity.

It also has improved weather forecasting and disaster response and eliminating redundant, menial tasks, allowing humans to focus on more meaningful work. Already this year, there are reports of AI in the hands of pathologists who are reimagining the way breast cancer is diagnosed and similar advancements in the field of banking, financial planning and law.

“We’re seeing things like coding; it can code better than most software programmers,” Stiritz said. “For me and my team, we’re using LLMs constantly, but we’re constantly having to reevaluate how to interact with them because they’re getting so much better so fast. I think that anyone who is looking to increase the quantity or the quality of the business they’re doing will have to engage with it.

“It’s like when we were at the beginning of the internet and people said, ‘Oh yeah, but the Yellow Pages are great.’ I understand that, but a few years from now, you’re not going to use that anymore, and there’s a million things that are like that right now with large language models. I think everyone is going to get really tired of the rate of change for some amount of time, and I don’t know how long that is, but certainly in 2024, we’re all just babies learning to crawl in this new space, myself included. It’s not going to get any better for a while.”

Darian Harris, fuel accelerator director at Fayetteville-based Startup Junkie Foundation, also portrayed tech in 2024 as the Year of AI. “Without using AI as a copout answer, I think what we’ll see is that kind of penetrate every area of life,” he said. “If you look at the previous three years, you really saw the deep tech businesses using everything AI. Over the last 12 months, you’ve seen consumers begin to use it. I think Darian Harris over the next 12 to 24 months, it’s going to be something that consumers use on a daily basis.

“It improves their life. It also goes into the way people work.

I think right now the actual working population may use it at home; they may have some fun with ChatGPT, but they’re not actually using it in day-to-day life in the workplace. I think over the next 12 to 24 months, we’re going to see that kind of be ingrained in everything that we do, whether it be operational efficiency, whether it be content writing, whether it be just the JAN UA RY 2 024

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I think we’re well-positioned to bring in a lot of new technologies.

— Darian Harris, Startup Junkie Foundation

foot, one-bedroom apartment. We moved to downtown Little Rock to 2,400 square feet, and we’re paying the same on a monthly basis to own instead of rent. The quality of life here is great; you can have a family, get anywhere in 15 minutes. Your dollar is almost doubled over what it is on the coasts. That’s absolutely fantastic. If you want to just live and breathe tech and that’s it, move to San Francisco, move to New York, whatever, but as someone for whom life is bigger than that, this is a great place to build a company.”

nologies,” Harris said. “We meet with the hospitals, the clinics, all the enterprises in the area, and we figure out what their pain points are and what problems they want to solve on the [business-to-business] side, and we bring in technologies from all over the world to come solve those problems. We’ve hosted companies from Portugal, South Korea, Canada, California, Texas, Florida, Costa Rica.

“We’ve had companies come in, spend time here in Arkansas, and we’ve heard these companies say things like, ‘We’ve been everywhere in the world, but we’ve never seen a community that supports entrepreneurs in the way that we have here.’ I think that’s in large part to Startup Junkie but also just the entire ecosystem that’s been built over the last couple decades to be one that supports entrepreneurs all the way from early resources to enterprises that are willing to engage.”

As a tech entrepreneur, Stiritz’s experience in central Arkansas has been positive but different than that described in the northwest Arkansas corridor. A native of Arkansas, Stiritz moved back to the state with his family in 2019 before launching Lexamica, a platform that takes the leads a plaintiffs’ law firm generates and places unwanted leads with other law firms.

“I was not really in the tech space until the beginning of last year,” he said. “I’ve said this to the folks that I’ve met along the way: The hardest part is that there isn’t a map if you want to go and start a tech company in central Arkansas. Someone needs to put together a one-pager, like, here are the resources. You’ve got the CEO Forum. You’ve got Innovate Arkansas. You’ve got the Tech Park. You’ve got the Venture Center. Nobody told me that those things existed and how they related to each other and who was who. I had to figure that out for myself over the course of about 18 months.

“There are great supports; it’s just not super easy to find the path into all of those supports. The community has been so open, and I’ve met some really fantastic people through the fintech accelerator. The resources are there. You just have to do a little bit of digging to find them.”

As for the state’s potential as a tech entrepreneurial hotbed, Stiritz said Arkansas offers some fantastic amenities that, once people learn about them, are a powerful potential draw.

“I would say the downsides are that it is harder to recruit talent. Little Rock is, in some ways, a big small town. There’s not a huge startup community here, and the startup community that does exist is more focused on fintech, ag tech and retail verticals,” he said. “Being in legal tech, there just isn’t a community, and there really isn’t just a more general [software as a service] community in this area, which is something that I would love to see grow and develop.

“What drew us back to Arkansas, me and my family, was the quality of life. We lived up in New Jersey and had an 800-squareARM O N E YA ND P O L I T I C S .COM

What’s Going On

Wondering what else the tech world holds in 2024? Here is a short roundup of expert views on things to watch for besides AI. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND SECURITY DEPARTMENTS WILL BECOME ONE As threats become more sophisticated and damages caused by breaches more severe, experts look for IT and cybersecurity departments to increasingly abandon silos and work together to thwart intrusions. (Technology) BLOCKCHAIN CONTINUES TO EVOLVE No longer merely about cryptocurrencies, look for blockchain technology to become increasingly vital to supply-chain tracking, digital-identity verification and other applications. (Forbes) QUANTUM COMPUTERS POISED TO REINVENT THE INDUSTRY The new age of the supercomputer is coming in the form of quantum computers that are designed to tackle extremely complex problems and have great potential for the fields of medicine, economics and more. (CNET) GETTING SYSTEMS IN SHAPE As companies enter a new year many find themselves in the “technical debt” of aging IT infrastructure. Those who upgrade smartly and efficiently hold a major advantage in the marketplace. (Deloitte) CLEAN AND GREEN Sustainable technology is expected to garner headlines in 2024 as companies seek to reduce their carbon footprint and meet consumer demand for everything from garbage recycling to electric vehicles. (Inc.)

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CHECK UP Health care challenges, opportunities mark transition to new year

By Sarah DeClerk

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peek at the vital signs of health care in Arkansas reveals plenty of recent growth and technological innovation, as well as some challenges related to cost and accessibility. 2023 proved to be a fruitful year for many of the state’s health care systems, which expect to continue making strides to improve the health of Arkansans in the coming year.

One of the biggest events of last year was the opening of the Proton Center of Arkansas, a collaborative effort of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, Baptist Health, Arkansas Children’s and Proton International. The Proton Center of Arkansas is in the UAMS Radiation Oncology Center in Little Rock, which also opened last year. The state’s first proton center, it provides state-of-the-art cancer care.

“A big area of focus for us right now is achieving National Cancer Institute designation,” said Cam Patterson, chancellor of UAMS and CEO of UAMS Health. “This will bring cancer therapies and clinical trials not currently available in Arkansas and is estimated to create about 600 jobs and have an economic impact of $72 million a year on our state.”

In addition, UAMS opened a milk bank in Little Rock that provides donor milk for infants in neonatal intensive care units throughout the state. The bank is set to improve patient outcomes by reducing the time needed for regional hospitals to receive milk.

UAMS also opened its new orthopedic and spine hospital in Little Rock and broke ground on an orthopedic and sports performance center in northwest Arkansas, Patterson said. In 2024, UAMS will open its ninth regional campus, which will be in El Dorado, he added.

Baptist Health opened seven additional critical care locations across the state, as well as new critical care and behavioral health units in North Little Rock, said Troy Wells, president and CEO, who added that the health system also acquired its 12th

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Ron Peterson

hospital, Baptist Health Medical Center-Drew County in Monticello.

Unity Health opened its hospital in Jacksonville and doubled the number of cancer patients it can serve by expanding Unity Health-White County Oncology in Searcy, said Mark Amox, president and CEO. The health system also announced plans for the development of an ultramodern neonatal ICU at White County Medical Center in Searcy, which will open in July, he said.

Ron Peterson, president and CEO of Baxter Health in Mountain Home, said adding new clinics and providing new services, including remote monitoring of patients in their homes, were among Baxter Health’s main accomplishments for the year, in addition to its work to save Fulton County Hospital in Salem. He added that legislation from last year that allows ambulances to transport patients to alternate destinations will be a boon to care.

Patterson said recent legislation that reforms health insurance prior-authorization requirements by exempting some health care providers that provide certain health care services will help prevent care delays for patients, especially those with cancer.

According to a statement from Conway Regional Health System, the Arkansas Children’s Nursery Alliance made strides to advance its educational initiatives last year. Neonatologist Dr. Ashley Ross visited Conway Regional to lead a specialized training program for NICU nurses about administering surfactants to newborns, ensuring that local infants who need such care can receive it close to home at Conway Regional.

In addition, Conway Regional Health Foundation

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successfully closed the Growing Together capital campaign at more than $10 million, providing funds for advancements in facilities, technology and patient services, the statement noted.

Wells said Baptist Health continued to invest in innovative technologies last year. Such technologies included the SherpaPak Cardiac Transport System, sonic pressure wave treatment for peripheral artery disease, transcarotid artery revascularization and updated MRI equipment.

“The medical field is certainly changing as a result of new and advanced technology,” he said. “Just like in other industries, the effect [is that] health care is smaller, faster and cheaper in many cases. In addition, and more importantly, some technology yields incremental and, frequently, significant improvements to patient outcomes.”

He added that the industry is currently evaluating how artificial intelligence can be used to improve health care systems by improving business practices and providing faster, more accurate diagnoses. Insurance companies are now using AI, which will, in turn, cause providers to adopt AI to keep up with denials and audits, Peterson said.

“The near-term game changer will be leveraging new technologies to reduce the paperwork and documentation burden from our nurses and providers,” Amox said.

Patterson said AI and other emerging technologies can streamline and personalize interactions between patients and providers, improve drug safety and the management of diseases, and make it easier for patients to make appointments and contact physicians directly.

“Virtual learning, artificial intelligence and machine learning will continue to play a significant role in advances in medical education,” he added. “Students are already able to perform virtual surgeries.

Curriculum development and analysis, learning and assessment are other ways in which AI can be used in medical education.”

Amox also stressed the importance of virtual reality, augmented reality and simulation-based learning when it comes to medical education.

“These tools enhance experiential learning, allowing students to practice surgical procedures, patient interactions and diagnostic skills in a safe, controlled environment,” he said. “With the rise of telemedicine, medical schools are also adopting remote learning modules and telehealth experiences. This approach

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exposes students to virtual patient encounters, remote consultations and telemedicine practices.”

Despite such innovations, there are still numerous challenges when it comes to providing health care in Arkansas and beyond.

“Arkansas is a very rural state, and that presents a lot of challenges,” Patterson said. “Many people don’t have access to care, especially in areas like the Delta.

Some smaller rural hospitals are closing or discontinuing programs like obstetrics because of higher costs brought on by such things as inflationary increases to the costs of supplies and wages, lower reimbursements from commercial payers, and the inability to attract physicians to those areas.”

He said UAMS has added programs such as an accelerated three-year medical school program and an accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program to the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus in Fayetteville to help meet the need for nurses and physicians.

The university is also working to expand residency opportunities, he said, adding that the number of residency programs in Arkansas does not currently accommodate the number of students who graduate from UAMS with Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degrees.

“This means some graduates either match with out-of-state programs, or they can’t practice once they graduate,” he said. “We want to keep graduates in Arkansas. Research shows that physicians are more likely to practice in the area where they complete their residencies.”

UAMS partners with Baptist Health to offer a residency program at Baptist Health Medical CenterNorth Little Rock, which currently has residencies in psychiatry, internal medicine, family practice and obstetrics, Wells said. He added that UAMS West, a three-year family medicine and obstetrics program, has been learning at what is now Baptist Health-Fort Smith since the early 1970s.

In addition, Baptist Health-Fort Smith partners with medical schools such as Arkansas Colleges of Health Education in Fort Smith and Lincoln Memorial University DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine in Tennessee.

“Looking into the horizon, I think we need to see the speed with which we can train health care providers increase,” he said. “To meet the future demand and demographic challenges, we are going to have to rethink how we train and prepare clinical professionals.”

According to the statement from Conway Regional,

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“Vitual learning, artificial intelligence and machine learning will continue to play a significant role in advances in medical education.”

— Cam Patterson, UAMS

the health system is using telemedicine, in addition to partnerships with hospitals in Clinton, Clarksville and Dardanelle, to meet the health needs of rural Arkansans. The health system also has a current focus on graduate medical education, per the statement states, and launched the Rural Track Residency Program last year. Family medicine residents who participate in the program will receive more than half their training at Dardanelle Regional Medical Center.

Peterson said Baxter Health was working to meet the needs of rural Arkansans in a number of ways.

“We have expanded to over 40 locations to be more convenient and accessible in rural areas,” he said.

“We are expanding primary care office hours. We are utilizing telemedicine, and we are working diligently to keep a critical-access hospital open.”

Keeping the operating budget balanced is a top priority for Baxter Health, he said, adding that the organization works to maintain a positive bottom line by reviewing cost-cutting measures and which services to stop or continue providing. By balancing the books, the health system will be able to purchase new equipment and provide new or enhanced services, he said.

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Mark Amox

In addition to access troubles, Arkansas has an older demographic and high rates of certain health problems, Wells said.

“Arkansas does have some unique challenges,” he said. “We are a largely rural state, which creates access challenges. We are at or near the bottom of U.S. states in terms of chronic disease, obesity and maternal mortality. From a demographic standpoint, we are becoming an older population, which presents certain challenges.

Add all this up, and you have an older and sicker population with varying degrees of health care access.”

The health care workforce is aging with the overall population, he added, and recruiting health care professionals is difficult because there are shortages across the country.

“Health care organizations are responding to these challenges in several ways,” he said. “First, every health system dedicates a tremendous amount of resources to attracting and retaining the health care workforce.

Second, hospitals and health systems are increasingly working upstream to attract young people to the health care professions.”

For example, he added, Baptist Health has created health care academies at multiple high schools in central Arkansas. The health care system also partners with the Fort Smith School District to offer a healthsciences academy at the middle school level.

Like other health care systems, Baptist is using telemedicine to meet the needs of rural Arkansans, and the Baptist Health Mobile Health Unit also provides care in places that would otherwise have no access.

The health system also operates five hospitals in rural communities, he said, adding that he expects that number to grow.

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Wells also noted the high rates of maternal morbidity and mortality in Arkansas, where a declining number of communities have access to women’s care, especially obstetrics.

“It is likely that we will continue to see providers, payers and state leaders work on health care solutions for some of the more rural parts of our state,” he said.

“Coming together to find solutions to the maternity deserts in Arkansas is one example of where I expect to see progress.”

He said Baptist Health and other organizations are working to address the problem not only by recruiting caregivers, but by creating new care models that provide access to prenatal and obstetric care. One program, Arkansas Health and Opportunity for Me, not only provides health insurance to more Arkansans but has some unique initiatives, including one that is focused on women with high-risk pregnancies.

Managing costs and providing affordable health care are two perennial concerns for Baptist Health, he added.

“Health care spending makes up 19 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product, so we cannot ignore the relationship between health care spending and our local economy,” he said. “Another area of focus at the local and national level relates to emerging technologies and therapeutics and how we pay for them. For example, we have tremendous drug treatments available for patients that are, at times, too costly to access.”

As much money as people spend on health care, it is drastically underfunded in Arkansas relative to other parts of the U.S., he said.

“We have to compete nationally for physicians and nurses, and the market continues to experience financial pressure,” he said. “Our cost for medical supplies, devices and drugs is based on a national market price.

Health care providers, however, are paid the lowest reimbursement rates in the nation. This is good for Arkansans in the short term, but we have to be mindful of the long-term sustainability of our health care system here in the state. We are beginning to see the impact of this, as many of Arkansas’ rural hospitals are suffering financially and at the risk of closure.”

Financial resiliency, workforce development and providing access to care are high on Unity Health’s priority list, as well, Amox said.

“Hospitals and health systems are finally starting to see some stability across the country in our operating margins. However, that stability, which is being propped up by increased volume and demand, is

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somewhat vulnerable as we face tremendous reimobstetrics, and that the support of legislators will be bursement pressure from Medicare Advantage,” he essential to training doctors and recruiting them to said, adding that more than half of all eligible Mediwork in rural areas. care beneficiaries had some form of Medicare Ad“I am hopeful our state’s medical community will vantage as of 2022. “This is not only difficult for the continue to evolve with the technology to specifically providers, such as hospitals, but ultimately, the patarget patients in rural communities,” he added. “We tients are suffering because must continue to grow their much-needed and necour health care footprint essary care is routinely deby recruiting top-tier phynied or delayed by the insursicians to provide elite ance companies.” care in the communiMany health care workers ties throughout our state. who took travel jobs during We have incredible talthe COVID-19 pandemic are ent at Unity Health and returning to work, he said, in health care facilities but staffing shortages continacross our state, and we ue to leave their mark on the must remain committed industry, particularly when to attracting and retaining it comes to radiology technihigh-quality talent.” cians, respiratory therapists, Conway Regional’s registered nurses and laboragoals for the coming year tory technicians. Like Baptist include establishing partHealth, Unity Health is worknerships in cancer care ing on upstream recruitment and vascular surgery to through partnerships with increase the scope of spehigh schools and technical cialized care for patients, colleges, he said. per a statement states. AcHe added that the Associacording to the statement, tion of American Medical Colthe health system also leges predicted a shortage of up hopes to expand its wellto 124,000 physicians by 2034. ness services through a “This alarming projection human performance cenis a concern on its own, but ter, which will increase — Troy Wells, Baptist Health add to it rural areas [being] the health system’s ofdisproportionately affected, ferings for performanceand you have a crisis leaving improvement training for hundreds of thousands of children and teens at the Americans in its wake,” he said, adding that there are Conway Regional Health & Fitness Center. several primary care and obstetrics deserts in ArkanPeterson said he expects the coming year to bring sas. “With lack of medical facilities and physicians, a number of legislative changes, as well as continued especially in specialty services, the residents of these funding stress. communities are forced to travel for care, sometimes “I believe you will see a revitalization of the total hours round trip, for something as simple as a visit Medicaid program, along with several new bills,” he to their family practitioner. Recruiting is the tool to said. “You will see providers continue to struggle with get this on track. Hospital systems must be able to the new cost structure and no new revenue to support recruit doctors to work in rural areas close to where those increasing costs. You will see more people withtheir patients live. As a state, we must ensure this is a out insurance and struggling to find places to receive continual priority.” care. You will also see the health care industry rise to He said he would like to see improved access to the challenge and continue to provide high-quality health care in underserved communities, especially in care to Arkansas.”

“It is likely that we will continue to see providers, payers and state leaders work on health care solutions for some of the more rural parts of our state.

Coming together to find solutions to the maternity deserts in Arkansas is one example of where I expect to see progress.”

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Across

Arkansas

Economic development on an upswing

By Kenneth Heard

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Arkansas is known as the Natural State, but public and private officials are working to highlight the state’s strengths across multiple industries. Flights and enplanements are up in northwest Arkansas, which has grown into a mountain biking tourism hotspot. (Photos courtesy of Northwest Arkansas National Airport and Northwest Arkansas Council)

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fter a strong fourth quarter, state economic leaders are expecting to continue projects in 2024 that accommodate population growth, lure more industries and further the financial successes seen by the state.

Major projects for this year include renovations to the Northwest Arkansas National Airport; preparations for the northwest Arkansas metropolitan area that includes Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers and Bentonville to reach a population of 1 million; and the completion of 17 miles of drilling through Blakely Mountain to provide Hot Springs with water for generations.

State officials also want to keep Arkansas’ leading industries and manufacturers in aerospace, timber, metals, food, firearms and transportation equipment thriving.

Plans also call for economic organizations to create partnerships with the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and ARM O N E YA ND P O L I T I C S .COM

Tourism to promote the state as an area that offers more than jobs.

“As a whole, Arkansas is strong,” said Clint O’Neal, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.

“It is a place where people want to come.”

Work will continue on the $34 million terminal renovation project at the Northwest Arkansas National Airport this year, said Nelson Peacock, president and CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Council.

The council was established in 1993 by Sam Walton, J.B. Hunt, Don Tyson and other business leaders to create jobs, recruit industries, and improve health care and quality of life.

The renovation is a result of the rapid growth of both the area and the airport’s usage, Peacock said. The airport saw 1 million enplanements, or passengers boarding or leaving airplanes, last 31

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WHAT’S NEXT

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks at Dassault Falcon Jet’s announcement of a planned $100 million expansion in Little Rock.

(Photo by Sarah DeClerk)

year. In 2022, there were 936,195 enplanements.

“The airport is growing rapidly,” Peacock said. “We’re trying to accommodate that growth.”

The airport averages 39 flights to 21 airports across the country and provides service by six airlines, including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines. The council is trying to recruit Southwest Airlines to offer service there too.

The renovation will see upgrades in its terminal with new elevators, escalators and stairwells; new baggage handling equip-

ment; upgrades to Transportation Security Administration and airport security and police offices; and architectural improvements in the arrival hall and baggage claim area.

Alex English, XNA’s public affairs manager, said the renovation will take two years to complete.

The airport was originally created for business travelers who did not want to drive to Little Rock or Tulsa, Okla., before flying to their destinations. Now, Peacock said, there is a focus on recreational travel and cheaper fares at the airport.

Work also continues on the Springdale Northern Bypass project, a $180 million extension of Arkansas 612 from Arkansas 112 to U.S. 412 in northwest Arkansas.

The first phase of the bypass opened in April 2018. The second phase, a 5.4-mile project, should be completed by this summer.

“Our population growth created the need for the bypass,” Peacock said.

A portion of the project includes creating a better access road to the airport. A section of the two-lane road now leading to the airport often floods near Cave Springs.

Area officials are gearing up for the metro to soon top 1 million residents. The area is averaging 36 new people a day, Peacock said.

The boon is credited in part to companies such as Walmart and J.B. Hunt, which are headquartered in Bentonville and Lowell.

Work continues on the Springdale Northern Bypass project, a $180 million extension of Arkansas 612. (Photo courtesy of the Arkansas Department of Transportation)

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Development in downtown Hot Springs includes new life at the historic 16-story Medical Arts Building, left, and renovations at the Arlington Hotel, right.

(Photo courtesy of Visit Hot Springs)

“We have these pillars,” he said of the Fortune 500 companies. “Compared to other regions, we have a low cost of living.

This is a destination.”

The council will continue recruiting entrepreneurship to the area.

“We want to look at how we retain talent and not have people relocate,” he said.

“You’re either recruiting or fighting an uphill battle.”

In December, Dassault Falcon Jet announced a $100 million expansion at its facility in Little Rock that would add 800 jobs. The company currently employs 1,400 people in Little Rock, where it provides the finishing touches on its custom business jets. The expansion is the third since 2008 at the Little Rock plant, opened in 1975.

“We had a strong finish for 2023 with that announcement,” O’Neal said. “We’ve had strong years for the past several years.

We want to see a lot more of that.”

The expansion will add 4.35 acres to the 130 acres Dassault now leases at the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock.

“Today’s announcement cements Arkansas’ role as an aerospace powerhouse, growing our state’s largest export industry,” Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at the December announcement of Dassault’s expansion.

Work will also begin on Exxon’s lithium extraction facility in southern Arkansas, O’Neal said.

RelateCare, an Irish health communications organization, will create 255 new jobs in Sherwood when it opens its remote clinical support services facility and telehealth and patient appointment scheduling service.

Bad Boy Mowers in Batesville also announced that it is expanding operations in Batesville, adding 300 new positions within the next four years.

“Arkansas workforce is great,” O’Neal said. “The state provides favorable business-cost incentives, but the existing employees in Arkansas are giving businesses more confidence. It’s one of the factors that brings businesses here.”

In Hot Springs, workers are wrapping up a 17-mile drilling project through Blakely Mountain to bring water to the Garland

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County seat. It is the longest mining operation in North American history, said Gary Troutman, president and CEO of the Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce and Hot Springs Metro Partnership.

Water will be piped from Lake Ouachita at a rate of 23 million gallons a day and should provide Hot Springs and the area with adequate water for decades.

“It was dicey in 2012,” Troutman said, referring to a drought that hit the area that summer and nearly depleted the city’s water supply.

“We were at 90 percent capacity,” he said. “We were looking at rationing water.”

The additional water source means developers can build more housing subdivisions and attract more businesses, Troutman said.

Hot Springs also plans to continue its effort to make the area a travel destination with the openings of several chain restaurants, including Whataburger and Chipotle Mexican Grill, as well as another Chick-fil-A. Downtown Hot Springs is experiencing its share of development. The historic Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa is undergoing renovations and the Medical Arts Building is being converted into a high-rise hotel.

“Central Avenue will have quite a beautiful appearance,” Troutman said.

He added there will be a major announcement for a manufacturer coming to Hot Springs later this spring.

“There’s a lot of excitement for 2024,” he said.

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BUSINESS SERVICES

: E U L A V D E

ADD

THE F O E C N A T R O P IM

G N I T E K AR

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By Joh

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Callaha

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R

unning a business is not easy, and there is a great deal of unglamorous work that has to happen behind the scenes to keep everything else working smoothly. Many business services fall into this category, but there is an exception. Marketing can be as flashy and glamorous as one pleases — in fact, that is the point.

Unlike the work that happens in the employee-only section, marketing is made to grab someone’s attention, be it a spinning sign on a street corner, a billboard on the freeway or a social media ad campaign. It’s what gets feet in the door to make sure all the other hard work pays off. This does not just apply to traditional businesses either; nonprofits, government entities and all manner of other organizations need to get their name and their message to the masses.

As important as it is, however, extensive marketing can easily eat up more time in a business owner’s day than there is to spare.

That is where marketing agencies come in. Even for organizations that are large enough to boast their own dedicated marketing departments, many agencies have specialties that can open up new possibilities.

“We are what you would call a full-stack agency,” said Aaron Buckley, president and creative director of Hot-Springs-based SixtyOne Celsius. “We do everything from public relations, media buying all the way to graphic design, to web development, video production and copywriting.”

Why, one might ask, would a company hire an agency instead of handling the marketing in-house and potentially saving money?

“I should hire an agency to advertise our services,” Buckley said. “I don’t think that it’s possible to run your business successfully and market it. People try it all the time, and it’s a miracle when it works because marketing is my full-time job. I’m not thinking about customer service and product quality in the same way my clients are. I’m thinking about how I’m going to get people in front of that product. That’s the job of the agency.

“If you’re the owner of a pizza shop, you want to make a good pie. That’s all you want to do. You don’t have time to think about how you’re going to get it in front of people. Businesses need that extra push and that expertise of knowing what kind of message engages someone to buy a ticket, visit a gallery or use this bank over that bank.”

It may come as a surprise, but Buckley noted that several of his clients are nonprofit organizations that do a lot of advertising, and many are not even using donated funds to do so. Google, for example, awards nonprofits with grants of up to $10,000 a month for ads.

“We have a nonprofit client, a museum, and they can advertise all over the United States. It costs them nothing to do that,” Buckley said. “When Google awarded that grant to them, I immediately kicked off an ad campaign, and we started seeing ticket sales from all over the country. Typically, we would see ticket sales from Texas, Tennessee — the obvious states around Arkansas — but after the grant was awarded, we started seeing Colorado, Montana, New York, and they had never seen that before.”

Digital technology has revolutionized the world of advertising in many ways. Social media marketing has been used successfully by many companies, particularly small-business owners, and is a particularly attractive option because its effects are so easy to quantify. If a business puts up an ad on Facebook, the business can track exactly how many clicks it gets and how many visitors it brings to the website.

A newspaper, by contrast, could tell you how many readers its circulation reaches, but not how many actually see an ad.

Despite these advantages, more traditional means of advertising still have an important role to play. A business that only markets on social media, Buckley said, puts all of its eggs in one basket and limits their potential audience. No matter how well a photo or video does on Instagram, it is not likely to reach someone who does not have an Instagram account. Meanwhile, an advertising campaign via a local publication or during a college football game can hit additional audiences that might not be affected by

“I’ve really started to see, in the last couple of years, a lot of businesses believing that digital marketing is the way to go.”

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BUSINESS SERVICES efforts on social media.

“There was a lot of pushback [against digital] for a while,” Buckley said, “but I’ve really started to see, in the last couple of years, a lot of businesses believing that digital marketing is the way to go. I’ve had to kind of arm wrestle with some folks and say, ‘This particular magazine is your audience.

You should run an ad in there.’

They say, ‘I don’t know. Digital is where it’s at.’ I know that, but don’t cut out any audiences that are out there. Sometimes putting something in print is important.”

Marketing and advertising are often treated as synonyms, and while one could argue that all ads are marketing, not all marketing is made up of ads. There are a variety of other factors that can be easily overlooked but are just as crucial, and that is where specialists are needed.

Ryan Orrell, CEO and founder of Webmonster, is personally familiar with the importance of a good website. Before getting into web design, he sold insurance and paid to have a custom website made. It cost all of the money he had to his name and ran so slowly it barely functioned. Frustrated but without the money to have it rebuilt, he bought a book on web design and studied for years to make a new website himself. It was such a success that he founded Webmonster at the turn of the century and, in the 23 years since, has witnessed both how websites have changed and how they have become ever more essential.

“If anyone believes their front door is made of glass with a lock on it, they’re hiding under a rock,” Orrell said. “Your website is your front door. It’s a statistical fact that about 75 percent of people that go on the internet and see your website will instantly develop an opinion of you. If your website looks [terrible], you’re not go-

Ryan Orrell

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ing to get anything. So many times, we’ve seen websites that have upwards of a 70 to 80 percent abort rate. That means seven or eight out of 10 people that are coming to that website are leaving. They either aren’t finding the products they need, they aren’t being presented properly, or it just doesn’t look good.

“Even if they’ve done business with you in the past, 91 percent of people will Google you, so it’s important to have a professional-looking website in a number of different areas. It needs to be aesthetically pleasing.

It needs to have great graphics. If you’re selling insurance, for example, they go to your website, and you’re charging them a premium of $500 a month, but your website looks like it was built by a kid in a basement somewhere, you’re going to have one heck of a problem, but a highly professional-looking website can inform the consumer. It can showcase products, services, everything you have to offer, in a pleasing way.”

It is also crucial to consider how a website will function on mobile devices, since more than 80 percent of people access websites on their phones or tablets, rather than computers.

There is more to the online game than just making sure a website is attractive and functional, however. Just

“Saving $100 or $200 a month [doing it yourself] is probably costing you thousands of dollars a month. That’s what people need to look at at the end of the day.”

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like a product, businesses have to be able to get people in front of their sites, and while that can come from online ads, it is also vital that a website be one of the first results in a search for whatever a business provides.

“Google business profiles are absolutely critical to the long-term success of any small business, yet it’s one of the most overlooked facets,” Orrell said.

“It’s a place where you can list your business, and searches bounce off of Dan Sawyer your Google business profile. You can see over time as you start rising in the rankings until you hit what we call the Google 3-Pack. If you search for something, at the top you’ll see sponsored content. Then the three businesses under that are the 3-Pack. We took on a handyman who was at $5,000 a month in revenue and built them up to $15,000 to $18,000 a month. It’s not that difficult to do; you just have to know how to do it.”

There are a variety of services that allow business owners to build their own websites, and with enough work, they can produce a good-looking website. On the back end, however, many of these websites can be difficult for search engines such as Google to read, making them less likely to appear in a search. A professionally coded website will be built to be easily readable by search engines and rank higher in search results.

“Saving $100 or $200 a month [doing it yourself] is probably costing you thousands of dollars a month,” Orrell said. “That’s what people need to look at at the end of the day. Whether they hire us or someone else, I just want small businesses in the state of Arkansas to succeed on the internet. Arkansas is behind the eight ball on this, and they don’t need to be. We’re on an equal playing field with everybody in the United States. Do it the right way, and you’ll profit.”

There is a great deal more that could be said about grabbing the attention of customers, but customers are not the only people that an organization might be interested in attracting, especially in the case of nonprofits and other organizations that are not traditional businesses. Dan Sawyer, president of ProFusion Marketing in Little Rock, got his start by working for the National Hockey League’s New Jersey Devils and, later, for the Arkansas State Fair. Today, his business helps fairs, sporting events and festivals with marketing and public relations, but its true specialty is sponsorships.

“What I do in my sponsorships are so very important to every event, whether it’s an air show, a balloon festival, a concert series, a professional or minor league sports team, or, obviously, the State Fair,” Sawyer said. “Sponsorships really help generate extra revenue up and above what just your attendance can bring in. It’s also guaranteed money. You never know if your attendance is going to be 400,000 people a year, 500,000 people a year or less than that. A lot of that depends ARM O N E YA ND P O L I T I C S .COM

“Sponsorships really help generate extra revenue up and above what just your attendance can bring in. It’s also guaranteed money.” on the weather and how well you market it, so it’s really important to find corporate sponsors because that really is the gravy on top of what your event can generate from ticket sales, food and drink vendors, and things like that.”

Getting those sponsorships is not a matter of trade secrets but of enough hard work and trial and error to find out what an organization or event can offer to attract sponsors. In recent years, especially, Sawyer has seen a growing trend of sponsors no longer being satisfied with just slapping their name on a banner and hanging it up. What they want is active participation and hands-on interaction with the community. At the last Arkansas State Fair, for example, Bank OZK partnered with Visa to have a large tent for Visa customers, where they could relax and have a short break from the heat and noise of the fair, making for an engaged experience between the brand and customer.

Technology has also provided a variety of new mediums for this interaction, whether through social media, influencers or something as simple as QR codes at events allowing attendees to quickly and easily reach the sponsor’s website to learn more.

“A big factor that affected our business was obviously the [COVID-19] pandemic,” Sawyer said, “where there were just no events for the period of a year or so. It has been a lot harder because one of the first things that companies cut in the pandemic were in their advertising budgets, and the only thing that was cut more than that was their sponsorship budgets because there was nothing to sponsor. It was reading and reacting to be prepared for when people came back. What would they want to come back to? It was almost a reset to clean the slate and fix all of the things that you may have done wrong in the past. We’ve reengaged with how people interact at these events.”

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DELIVERING EMPOWERMENT Payroll companies help businesses save time on payroll and HR

By Becky Gillette

T

he website URL for the Payroll Co. is morethanpayroll. com. That describes the companies business model because the company, which has offices in Little Rock, northwest Arkansas, Kansas City, Mo., and Springfield, Mo., does a lot more than handle payroll functions.

“We truly embody the essence of ‘more than payroll’ for our clients,” said Nick Polk, a partner with TPC. “With TPC’s robust human-capital-management technology backed by our exceptional local customer service support, we empower companies to navigate the evolving demands of their most valuable asset — their people.”

Polk said TPC’s commitment goes beyond ensuring accurate payments; it is about granting employees at all levels access to perform tasks easily at any time and from any device.

“The intelligently connected features of TPC’s HCM solution bring automation to routine tasks like onboarding and recruiting,” he said. “By merging cutting-edge, future-proof technology with personalized customer support from the outset, we cater to our clients’ needs comprehensively.”

Industry versatility is one of TPC’s most significant advantages. Polk said its solutions seamlessly adapt, whether for restaurants, banks, manufacturing or law firms. The common thread across these diverse industries, particularly in today’s landscape, is the shared imperative to attract and retain top talent. Polk said by leveraging HCM technology and a distinctive capacity for a personalized approach, the TPC team crafts holistic solutions that enable clients to address current and future company initiatives effectively.

“We want to make sure we are prepared to implement on the front end flawlessly,” Polk said. “We are very detail oriented when it comes to that because you have to be. The most significant advantage lies in our true industry versatility. Our solutions seamlessly adapt, whether for restaurants, banks, manufacturers, law firms or the many other types of industries we serve.”

Established in 2001, TPC still boasts the loyalty of its very first employee, a testament to the company’s enduring culture, Polk said.

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“Our continuous growth reflects our commitment to a personable approach with clients, striving for genuine partnerships, rather than mere transactions,” he said. “We prioritize effective communication and mutual assistance in our relationships. Unlike larger payroll entities, where you might be just a number in a bucket, we, as a privately-owned company, emphasize personal connections. With an average employee Nick Polk tenure of seven years, our customer service representatives forge meaningful relationships, actively engaging with clients to discuss any issues or improvements.

“At TPC, our strength lies in the quality of our personnel and the personal touch we bring to each interaction. We seek not just clients, but quality partnerships where we can genuinely contribute and make a positive impact.”

Polk said TPC collaborates with Andrew King companies of diverse sizes, catering to those with just a single employee to those exceeding 2,000. He said the strength of TPC solutions lies in recognizing that people and businesses vary widely, and the company’s HCM solution is designed to be flexible to meet the unique needs of each company.

“Embracing the inevitability of change, we effortlessly adapt to evolving requirements, ensuring a fluid partnership with our clients,” Polk said.

Andrew King, president of Complete Payroll Services in Little Rock, said companies use CPS’ services to save time on payroll and human resources tasks, minimize their liability, reduce their

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costs and the expense of hiring in the payroll and human resources departments, have access to unlimited support by certified payroll experts, and use world-class software.

“Some other advantages would be increasing retention of staff by utilizing the tools in our system, like benchmarking and report analysis, or offering our other services to their employees, like integrated 401(k) or earned wage access where they can receive their pay early,” King said.

Regardless of the type of business the company services, every industry has the same basic need of paying their employees, and CPS can meet that need, King said. Industries served by the company include construction, nonprofits, professional services, manufacturing, retail, hospitality and government. King said he has not found a type of client who could not use CPS to process payroll because of the type of work the company does.

Companies served can range from one employee to 1,500.

CPS mainly works with small- and medium-sized businesses, rather than businesses with more than 1,500 employees.

“Both small and medium or large companies benefit from using us, but for different reasons,” King said. “The small com-

attendance, King said. Complete Payroll spends a lot of time with new clients talking about time, attendance and HR because those systems create so much automation and efficiency in a client’s processes, he added.

Cybersecurity is a primary concern of the business world today. Complete Payroll’s software products handle sensitive information that are audited for internal control and security in what is known as a system and organization controls audit.

“This is called a SOC audit,” King said. “We also require all client applications to use multi-factor authentication, which is where you need a text code or something similar to access the system, in addition to a password. We also have internal training around client interaction. Most cyberattacks on payroll are around a hacking email and trying to request changes to the payroll system. For instance, a hacker will breach a client’s email and then email our people to change someone’s direct deposit.

We train on verbally confirming this type of data and reviewing emails for irregularities.”

King recommended businesses shopping for a payroll service company consider four main areas: expertise, technology,

“A hacker will breach a client’s email and then email our people to change someone’s direct deposit. We train on verbally confirming this type of data and reviewing emails for irregularities.”

— Andrew King, Complete Payroll Services

support and service, and cost. For expertise, businesses should make sure the people they will interact with at the payroll company have certifications or credentials in payroll, he said.

These are the people who can be trusted, so if they are not performing continuing education and achieving certifications, they are not much better than the company doing the payroll itself, he added.

“For technology, see if the software is a single program that will handle all the needs the company has or if there are several softwares integrated together,” King said. “It makes a difference in efficiency. Also, ask them how they protect the data and guarantee the system is secure. For support, confirm if you will have a single person to contact or if you have to put in tickets or email general mailboxes. Ask what kind of response times they have [or] guarantee. If all the above needs are met, cost is less important, but it is also good to understand cost and if there are any hidden fees.

“Also, check if they cap how often they can raise your fees and by what percentage. We see some providers who start a client at a very low price and raise the fee 25 to 35 percent in a single year.”

panies typically find value in not having to hire someone with payroll knowledge and saving money on paying a full-time payroll person. Medium-to-large companies find value in using our robust system to handle all aspects of the life cycle of the employee. Most companies, even large, cannot afford to write their own software to handle payroll, time and human resources.

“Also, because of the frequent changes in compliance, software that was purchased once or built internally couldn’t stay ahead of those changes. The large companies also appreciate our opinions on different approaches to solve big-picture problems since we have seen so many different scenarios.”

Payroll is only about a third of what the company offers clients. Its other two tentpole features are human resources, as well as time and attendance. The time and attendance tentpole includes tracking punches and workers’ time and automating time-off requests and scheduling. Human resources include features such as recruitment, paperless onboarding, benefit administration and performance reviews.

Most small companies will use payroll and possibly time and attendance. The medium and large companies will almost always use payroll, human resources and possibly time and

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BUSINESS SERVICES

CYBER SECURITY: THESE DAYS, A MUST-HAVE

FOR BUSINESSES

By Sarah Coleman

F

or any business, new or old and regardless of size, cybersecurity is a business service of utmost importance. As news reports have shown, cyber attacks can happen to any company of any size at any time and can end up costing businesses more than the cost of protection against them.

The United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which works to strengthen the security and resilience of cyberspace through education and communication about cyber trends and attacks, recommends using strong passwords, updating software, knowing which links are suspicious and turning on multi-factor authentication as some of the best cybersecurity practices.

According to a report released by the Arkansas Senate, 130 cyberattacks were reported in 2023 against local and state governmental agencies, more than twice what was reported in 2022. As of December 2023, 73 of the cyberattacks had been resolved, and the rest were under investigation.

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Arkansas, in an effort to strengthen its response to cyber threats as a whole, has been introducing legislation steadily. In 2021, lawmakers voted to require the reporting of cyber threats against public entities. This helps the state’s security officials evaluate incidents and plan against similar situations.

In 2023, the legislature passed two more acts in response to cyber threats. This includes Act 846, which formed the Arkansas Cyber Response Board. The board will oversee a self-funded insurance program that protects counties, cities and schools from damages caused by cyber attacks.

Government entities will be required to upgrade their computer systems in order to meet the security standards required to participate. Act 504, also introduced last year, requires local governments to have policies that govern use of technology and their approach to cybersecurity.

In Arkansas, private businesses are doing their part in the battle against cyberattacks.

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DATAMAX

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atamax has several locations throughout Texas, Arkansas and Missouri and has served the Natural State since 1983. It provides network security and data protection services, in addition to business technology solutions, technology assessments, information-technology consulting and more.

“The security landscape has changed, and people can no longer do business with technology the way they did five or 10 years ago,” said Jusin Huffaker, vice president of strategic technology.

Small businesses are just as much at risk as larger corporations when it comes to cyber threats, and Datamax offers training and education about these risk factors. Huffaker said Datamax provides these services to various industries and regularly to businesses with 25 to 250 employees.

“Everyone thinks it won’t happen to them. That’s not new.

That’s why people resist change,” Huffaker said. “That’s why I tell businesses that they need to take cybersecurity seriously.”

Huffaker starts businesses off with a basic three-step piece of advice: 1. Take it seriously; 2. Know size does not matter and that every business is a target; and 3. Don’t entrust defense simply to technology.

“Social engineering is the biggest threat. This takes advantage of us as human beings and the mistakes we are prone to make.

The most common mistakes happen when people are exploiting these weaknesses,” Huffaker said.

Huffaker suggested employee education is one of the strongest forms of defense, as hardware and software solutions are not permanent fixes. The education and training includes not just annual in-person training, but dedicated meetings about security. Because turnover is a fact of life, Huffaker said, training should also be implemented during onboarding processes, so new employees do not become the means of a breach.

“A lot of people want to throw hardware and software at the problem, but a comprehensive cyber defense requires more effort,” Huffaker said. “Hardware and software require a methodical approach to patching and updating. However, end-user education is critically important and frequently overlooked.”

He added that it is a misconception that these technological so-

“Social engineering is the biggest threat. This takes advantage of us as human beings and the mistakes we are prone to make.”

— Justin Huffaker

lutions will protect a company from the first quarter to the fourth quarter with no maintenance.

Further education outside of the office can be beneficial, including testing employees through phishing emails or scam telephone calls, which are common, he said.

While there are no guarantees a company will not be hit with a cyber attack, obtaining cybersecurity services is to an employer’s benefit. Huffaker likened implementing good cyber practices to choosing to live a healthier lifestyle in the new year. Both resolutions take a genuine effort and require a commitment to see long-term benefits.

“Improving security is hard. You have to make changes in business, and sometimes these changes make things less efficient. It’s only through making a commitment that security improves,” Huffaker said.

In addition to continued education and risk awareness, Huffaker said Datamax is encouraging customers to seek out a thirdparty audit at least once a year to determine where the gaps may be in their defense strategy.

“It’s better to spend a little money up front, rather than losing more money and reputation later. Security audits prevent companies from enduring much bigger losses,” Huffaker said.

PINNACLE IT

P

innacle IT is a business technology solutions provider founded in Little Rock in 1992 as the Computer Hut. Its service area covers the entire state, and it has locations in Little Rock, Fort Smith, Lowell, Jonesboro and Texarkana, Texas.

Pinnacle serves all sizes of firms with a focus on small to medium-sized businesses.

Arin Griffin, systems analyst with Pinnacle IT, said the company offers a wide range of solutions, including cybersecurity awareness training to help combat the ever-evolving security landscape.

Griffin said the most common threats Pinnacle IT has seen are email phishing scams for money extortion and network JAN UA RY 2 024

breaches through email phishing.

Logging data and monitoring potential data breaches are two areas that employers should be watching for, she added.

“In terms of logging data, ensure that you are getting good, solid backups. You want to ensure that in the event you need to restore from a backup, your data is solid and not corrupt,” Griffin said. “As for monitoring for potential breaches, there is a wide range of software that alerts users if malicious activity is detected.”

One of the biggest threats to businesses of all sizes, and especially small businesses, is the revenue loss that can come with failing to protect against cybercrime.

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“From what I have seen, it can take weeks to months for a client to fully return to operations. Depending on the level of breach and what was accessed, it could force some businesses to close if they were to be hit with a security incident with no proper security protocols or preventatives in place,” Griffin said.

To determine which services a company needs, Pinnacle IT starts with an assessment of the network, which will help determine the solutions that fit a client’s needs, she added.

Pinnacle IT serves many industries but mostly works in the legal, health care and property management industries, three of the biggest targets for cybercrime since they typically carry the most valuable data, Griffin said.

“As the landscape for cyber-threat actors evolves, we could see an uptick in logistics and supply-chain attacks, waste treatment centers and public utilities becoming targets,” Griffin said.

“In terms of logging data, ensure that you are getting good, solid backups. You want to ensure that in the event you need to restore from a backup, your data is solid and not corrupt.”

— Arin Griffin

NETWORK SERVICES GROUP

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ccording to Network Services Group’s Jeff Spann, who serves as the company’s executive vice president and chief information security officer, it is important for organizations to recognize the need for cybersecurity before enduring a cybercrime.

“Unfortunately, most people don’t even consider needing these services until they’ve had a problem or they’ve heard of another organization close to them having a problem,” Spann said.

According to Spann, Network Services Group handles managed services that contain a lot of security outright, but companies still need to take advantage of risk assessments, making necessary policy changes, knowing what to do in response to incidents and more.

Spann, who has 20 years of experience in cybersecurity, has been responsible for security protection for multiple industries and knows the common threats companies face.

Spann said it is not necessary for a company to be a managed

service client to receive cybersecurity services from Network Services Group.

“It is just about every business that will be attacked at some point, and businesses are attacked all the time, but if you have proper cybersecurity tools in place, that helps mitigate and block a lot of what is happening. The most important thing is for a company to know how to respond,” he said. “Companies need to be able to understand risks, and employers should be able to plan how to mitigate these risks proactively.”

Proactive management reduces the risk of a business-altering cyber situation from occurring. Spann said examples of being proactive include utilizing two-factor authentication, having employees use different passwords and usernames for different emails and accounts, and being trained to know which links are spam.

He said a cyber attack can be something as simple as someone using an employee’s email to something as complex as compromising company computers. This can come in forms of ransomware, which can ultimately cost businesses significant amounts of money.

Spann said he recommends a training tool that tests employees by sending phishing tests and through emails and calls.

These tools monitor which employees click on the emails and help to determine the amount of training needed.

“We always recommend some training videos that are associated with the attacks companies are susceptible to. We want to do this regularly throughout the year to truly educate and train companies on how to recognize when phishing is happening,” he said.

Live training is also a great benefit to organizations, he added, because it helps reduce risks and encourages understanding of what cybersecurity is.

“Everyone I’ve done live training for has absolutely loved it and thinks they should be doing this kind of training all the time. I’ve had some clients come back every year for 10 years to ensure continued employee education,” Spann said.

“It is just about every business that will be attacked at some point, and businesses are attacked all the time, but if you have proper cybersecurity tools in place, that helps mitigate and block a lot of what is happening.”

— Jeff Spann

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BUSINESS SERVICES

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Businesses Still Need

BUILDINGS;

Buildings Still Need

CLEANING

Despite the rise of remote working, commercial cleaners disinfect on

By Mark Carter

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espite the best efforts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting trend toward remote work, businesses still need buildings, and those buildings still need to be cleaned. Janitorial services represented roughly a $90 billion industry in the United States in 2022, according to data from Statista.

Many businesses with more than a couple of offices rely on commercial cleaning services to keep their space clean. These services are provided by large, franchised firms with full-time employees. One such firm is the nation’s largest janitorial services provider, Jan-Pro, which has a strong presence in Arkansas.

Others are small mom-and-pop operations that rely on moonlighting part-timers. The approaches to providing commercial cleaning services may be different between the franchises and the mom-and-pops, but each is successful.

Tinker Gibbons, owner of Gibbons Commercial Cleaning Services in Little Rock, represents the little guys. Gibbons has been cleaning office, school and church spaces for going on three decades. Rather than a large, full-time staff of cleaners, his crew con-

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“I want my employees to work hard because they want something, whether it’s meeting a goal or saving for something specific.

When you want something, you’ll work harder for it.” ­— Tinker Gibbons

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Nolen Hughes oversees a franchise support organization that services Arkansas and southern Missouri with Jan-Pro. (Photos provided)

sists entirely of “21 to 22” part-time workers, about 95 percent of whom have other full-time jobs, he said.

This dynamic is wrought by design. Gibbons said he prefers workers who are motivated to make extra money for whatever reason — to pay off debt or to save up to meet a specific goal. This formula allows him to pay his workers more than most employees at other cleaning services make, he said.

“I’ve never had a turnover problem,” he said. “I want my employees to work hard because they want something, whether it’s meeting a goal or saving for something specific.

When you want something, you’ll work harder for it. I try and provide my employees with the American Dream, and I only hire dependable and responsible people.”

Gibbons said he now employs the children of some of his first employees. The part-time-only model allows his employees to work three or four hours a shift and then “go home to be with their family,” he added.

Gibbons employs a vigorous two-step hiring system in which he interviews prospective employees over the phone first to gauge their work ethic and commitment before sitting down with them in person. Regardless of how well an applicant may do in the phone and sit-down interviews, if a prospective employee does not pass an Arkansas State Police background check, there will be no job waiting on the other side.

“If anything comes up in the check, they won’t work for me.

There has to be no criminal history,” he said.

Once an employee passes the background check, next up is an orientation week with the boss. Gibbons works with all new hires for a week, “working them in slow” and acclimating them to the job.

“I tell them, ‘Here is the job. You come in and you work, and it’s not about how fast you do it,’” he said. “Our thing is, ‘Do your job.

Keep clients happy.’”

His employees are expected to work hard, Gibbons said, and when they do, they are rewarded.

“I take care of my employees,” he said. “First, I pay them well, and second, I try to find out their stories, what they need. I’ll buy a $100 gift certificate for an employee who does a good job and might have a specific need I can help with.”

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Gibbons’ company services businesses large and small, as well as churches and schools. He personally conducts walk-throughs each day at each client’s location to make sure his workers met his exacting standards.

“I’ll take two hours to do a walk-through, and the clients love that it’s me in there doing them,” Gibbons said. “I’ll pick an area to focus on and detail that area.”

Being smaller and more agile has its advantages. Gibbons was called to one of his clients, Our Lady of the Holy Souls School in Little Rock, one Christmas Eve night several years ago after a water line burst in the gym.

“Water was covering half the court,” Gibbons said. “We had big Shop-Vacs going and were in there until 3 in the morning. But we saved the floors and saved the school hundreds of thousands of dollars. It’s stuff like that people appreciate. Knowing you did something good for somebody, that’s big.”

Gibbons said he only lost a couple of buildings during the pandemic and stressed that he took no Paycheck Protection Program money from the federal government. All his workers continued working despite some businesses taking the remote route. Gibbons’ business has no website, and he does not advertise his services beyond a Facebook page. All referrals are through word of mouth. Gibbons, it seems, would n0t have it any other way.

“If you work hard, you can have things. You’ll get noticed,” he said. “In today’s world, that model is almost reversed, but the American Dream is possible. It’s just about working hard.”

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Humphrey said Jan-Pro enables franchisees to offer full-time, non-minimum-wage jobs and access its cache of leads and contacts. One of his clients is the Vista Outdoors Remington ammunition plant in Lonoke, which he services six days a week.

Hughes said his parent company acts as a larger vendor that can invoice several locations for smaller franchisees, ensuring they get bigger jobs and businesses get local service.

“That’s the benefit that we provide as a parent company,” he said. “Our company exists to help smaller janitorial companies that are franchises to work with us and grow their business accordingly. We’re a one-stop shop with uniform processes that allow our folks to really focus on the clients and customer service, as opposed to smaller shops that might be dealing with staffing issues.”

The pandemic did cause industry disruption, including some for Jan-Pro in Arkansas. Hughes said Jan-Pro lost some clients that had to shut down, such as churches and daycare centers. The reaction to the pandemic, though, helped Jan-Pro pick up new clients, including factories.

“In a way, it made the category stronger because people started to value janitorial and cleaning services more,” Hughes said.

“Customers now are digging deeper into what they’re getting for their money.”

Hughes supports roughly 150 Jan-Pro-certified business owners. He said growing more and encouraging entrepreneurship are byproducts of the Jan-Pro model.

“We recruit people with a little bit of money and a vision,” he said. “Recruiting and bringing in talent that’s able to retain clients longer, that’s what my job is.”

Justin Humphrey’s clients include KATV and New Life Church.

Nolen Hughes joined his father, Dave Hughes, as a partner at Jan-Pro of Arkansas in 2018. Since then, the operation has grown to cover northwest Arkansas, northeast Arkansas and southern Missouri. With dad now retired, the younger Hughes said he is thinking of rebranding as Jan-Pro of the Ozarks and has more expansion in mind, likely to Fort Smith and the Arkansas River Valley.

Hughes oversees a franchising support organization, providing all sales, customer support, billing, collections and other administrative duties for individual Jan-Pro franchisees across the state.

The “Jan-Pro model” has been successful, affording individual franchisees the time to focus on growing their businesses without the administrative overhead. Each franchisee is certified through a five-step Jan-Pro training course.

“Honestly, as a small-business owner, it’s hard to hire a salesperson when you’re paying commission,” said Justin Humphrey, a central Arkansas franchisee who also owns Renew Exteriors in North Little Rock. “With Jan-Pro, you get paid faster, so you don’t have to worry about floating a payroll and then hope you get a job.

You don’t have to stress.”

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MEDIA

GOOD and NIGHT

Good LUCK

The legendary Craig O’Neill signs off

By Dwain Hebda

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Craig O’Neill (Photos provided)

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O

n a crisp, bright morning in Little Rock’s Heights neighborhood, Craig O’Neill strides briskly into a neighborhood coffee shop and takes his place in line. The man in front of him glances back and, recognizing the well-known news anchor, wishes him a happy new year before engaging in small talk. The two chat like old fishing buddies until, one after the other, they reach the counter, place their orders and receive their beverages.

As they part, the man does not look particularly starstruck, but O’Neill is glowing. These are the viewer encounters he relishes: unscripted moments of connection, a chance to learn someone’s story or just share a moment of their day with a laugh. In the age of social media, when everyone clamors to be recognized, it is a particularly low-key form of celebrity, but one by which O’Neill has grown his legend in Arkansas.

“I never chafed against anything,” he said of the recognition that comes with media celebrity. “If you recognized me, if you laughed at my jokes, if you mentioned something on the air, even if you came up and confronted me, I embraced it.”

O’Neill’s embrace of his home state pulled a little tighter on Dec. 29, when he appeared on THV11’s 10 p.m. broadcast for the last time. The tribute brought to a close 24 years at the TV station and a five-decade-plus career in media that made him a household name in the Natural State. From a celebrated career on radio to the stadium mic at Razorback football games and from the nightly anchor desk to the emcee podium for thousands of charitable events, O’Neill represents one of the last — if not the last — of a breed in local media.

“I was dead set on being Johnny Carson, and I was following the Johnny Carson blueprint, which was radio to local TV to Los Angeles to an afternoon show to The Tonight Show,” he said. “It didn’t mean staying in radio for 31 years in the market in Little Rock and then going into local TV for another 24 years.

“The crazy thing is when I got into TV, I still kept thinking like radio and words and how you use your voice to convey emotion. In television, we rely on those pictures, but the voice with the pictures, when it can convey the emotion,

I was dead set on being Johnny Carson, and I was following the Johnny Carson blueprint, which was radio to local TV to Los Angeles to an afternoon show to The Tonight Show.

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Jane and Randy “Craig O’Neill” Hankins, above, in the early days.

Despite changing stations, O’Neill remained popular and in demand for charitable causes.

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as well as that being shown, it becomes more powerful. Every word has power. Every word you say. Even the word ‘the’ — said ‘thuh’ or ‘thee’ — has power.

To know that vocal power behind the words, that’s radio training because that’s all you’ve got is your voice.

That really helped.”

O’Neill began life in Little Rock as Randy Hankins, the eldest of four. His mother was an art teacher at Hall High School in Little Rock who had a reputation for being, in his words, “unpredictable.” To her, he credits his performer’s streak, which he applied with great success at Little Rock Central High School.

“I got my first big laughs at Central High School in the senior talent show, when I parodied a weatherman, oddly enough,” he said. “I got great laughs, and I was hit. I also got laughs in the Key Club Capers that year at Central; it was like a talent show, but it was just one skit after another, and I wrote a lot of them. Wrote some of my senior skits, which also led to a meeting with the principal because some of them were inappropriate. Imagine that.”

He landed at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro because of its broadcast journalism program, which he majored in, minoring in theater. Once again, his sense of humor and creative audacity Craig O’Neill horses around with, clockwise from left, fellow THV would attract acclaim from the artistic set and cenemployees Liz Massey, Dawn Scott and Theba Lolley. sure from the powers that were.

“The crazy thing is at ASU, I made A’s in my minor and C+’s in my major, which was radio/TV broadcasting,” he said. “You’ll love this story; I wrote a play for a class three decades spreading his own unique brand of humor and assignment that was a modernization of Aristophanes’ The Frogs delivery. using modern names, at that time, of popular culture. I wrote “Early on, improvisational humor was an influence. We even this play, and my drama teacher loved it so much, he decided to had an improvisational troupe at ASU for comedy that featured, produce it that spring at ASU. One step further, I had a friend among other people, Rodger Bumpass, who has been the voice who wrote music, and we decided to make it a rock musical. of Squidward for well over 20 years and is from Arkansas,” he “Let me tell you something: In 1972, rock musicals like Hair, said. “So yeah, that part of the comedy did influence me.” featuring nudity, in a conservative, Baptist-oriented town like The wider comedy world was also changing from the Bob Jonesboro, the president of the university was not about that Hope model to the likes of Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Steve happening. That’s the only time I ever met the administration Martin and others who the young DJ looked at as a peer group. at ASU was my senior year, wanting to produce that show. We “In 1978, Steve Martin came along, and I stepped back and went, never did the rock musical. However, I did get to go to the girls’ ‘Wow,’” he said. “Then you had Robin Williams and that whole dorms and get on the PA and ask them to try out, and that was a parade, [Jerry] Seinfeld, this succession of wonderful comedians. trip. That was cool.”

Now I realize how much of an impact they all had on me.”

During college, he discovered the two great loves of his life, O’Neill’s bits were unlike anything the local market had seen, the first being his wife, Jane, herself a multifaceted creative artheadlined by his prank calls, which became a signature element ist, and the second being radio, in which he made his debut over decades in radio. at Jonesboro’s KBTM in September 1969. Following college, he “My first prank in 1978 was to David Pryor and Jim Guy Tucker, landed a gig at KARN-FM in Little Rock and, having been rewho were involved in a runoff election. I posed as Jimmy Carter christened Craig O’Neill by the program director, spent nearly wishing them both luck. I had a great Jimmy Carter impression,”

I was the first DJ to play a party at the White House, and that was a trip.

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he said, adding that the good-naturedness of the pranks is what people responded to. “[The calls] were not confrontational,” he said. “There was another group of pranksters that were confrontational, but these were situations that, at times, could be wonderful improvisation.

I absolutely loved it.”

A highlight among many of his radio career was an invitation to the Bill Clinton White House in 1993.

“I was the first DJ to play a party at the White House, and that was a trip,” he said. “In 1993, there was a TV commercial for California Raisins to “I Heard it Through the Grapevine.” I played dances back then, and I would get out on the dancefloor and have people line up behind me, and we’d dance in a long line as the Raisins.

“Well, we did that in the White House. It was me, then Bill, then Hillary, my wife, Al Gore, the cabinet and all these bigwigs

lined up, and we’re dancing through the White House to the raisin dance.”

Despite changing stations from time to time, O’Neill remained as consistently popular over the airwaves as he was in demand for charitable causes.

“When you’re starting on radio and trying to make a name for yourself and that first call comes in: ‘Hey, I love your morning show. Would you emcee the bike-a-thon?’ ‘Great! I’ll do it.’

That’s how it starts,” he said. “You want to be accepted, and you’re getting requested, and you view it as acceptance, which it is. Then you get asked back again and again, and the next thing you know, you’ve done a gala for 15 years in a row, and you’re getting asked by other people who were at that gala or that event.”

The total number of events, charitable soirees and fund drives O’Neill has lent his magic to is a slippery number. By his best guess, he has emceed about 9,000 events and raised more than $40 million.

“What I did not see happening but I did see coming was a talent I did not know I had, and it’s odd for a child of a divorce to have this — instant commitment,” he said. “The moment I walk on, I’m on, and I am so bought into what the bike-a-thon is doing or the gala or the school that I’m turning into master salesmen. If you are an organizer of an event and your emcee shows up and has the most fun of anybody in the room, you appreciate that.”

O’Neill’s transition from radio to television in 2000 only accelerated his activism and popularity as thousands of Arkansans welcomed him into their homes every night. He said the switch from a purely audio to a visual platform was not foreign to him, having done TV public service announcements for years and being one of ESPN Outdoors’ four hosts on ESPN2 beginning in 1976.

However, nothing that had came before would prepare audiences for what he would bring to THV11, starting with the sports desk, which gave him some latitude to indulge his king-sized personality. O’Neill treated Arkansas audiences to many memorable moments, from dancing on the Ellen program to dropping in on Razorback fans to spread the gospel as Brother Hogg and even doing restaurant-style reviews of concession stands at local high school football games.

In 1997, he landed the role of stadium announcer for all Razorback football home games, during which he launched an ingame tradition that survives to this day.

“Starting in 1998, Houston Nutt’s first year, the homecoming game against Ole Miss that year, Arkansas won big,” he said.

“Before that game, the staff and sports office came to me and said, ‘Craig, you know when you say, “Arkansas Razorback first down,” what you ought to do is get the crowd in with you,’ so the homecoming game against Ole Miss in 1998, we started the, ‘It’s an Arkansas Razorback,’ and the crowd would go, ‘first down!’ and the band would play. Within five years, that’s all over the

Brother Hogg is one of O’Neill’s popular personas.

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O’Neill is more than ever looking forward to the next chapter of his life. He plans to continue visiting schools to push his passion for literacy among youth and is working out the details of ideas for a YouTube channel and podcast.

country. If I had just charged for it.”

Such things brought flair to O’Neil’s work, but he said the 2008 move to the anchor desk, which he actively sought, required him to tone things down.

“Andy Pearson, the male anchor at Channel 11, left us and I said, ‘Y’all, I know education. I know Iraq and Afghanistan. I know Arkansas politics. I’ll do it,’” he said. “The downside of that is you can’t be the wild and crazy guy if you’re going to be doing the news. I tell people, when I do the news, there are two shows: There’s the one you see, and there’s the one inside my head, where the DJ still lives.”

O’Neill’s retirement announcement was met with some skepticism at first, having publicly flirted with stepping down before. In fact, his intentions had been in such apparent earnest, his announcements in 2019 and 2020 that he was putting off retirement were themselves headline material. In 2023, however, even the lure of stretching his television career into its 25th year was not enough to keep him on camera.

“Deadlines take energy. If you’re going to meet a deadline, you’ve got to gin up that energy so you can go meet it,” he said.

“I’m just to the point where deadlines are driving me crazy. It got to the point where I quit bringing up ideas because people would go, ‘That’s a great idea. Why don’t you do it?’ Oh God, me and my big mouth.

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“Besides, starting Jan. 1, 2000, ending Jan. 1, 2024. How easy is that? The only downside was I started at a bowl game, and I wanted to end with a bowl game, but no. Thanks, Sam Pittman. Way to go.

You ruined my career.”

Now 73, O’Neill is more than ever looking forward to the next chapter of his life. He plans to continue visiting schools to push his passion for literacy among youth and is working out the details of ideas for a YouTube channel and podcast. He is also looking to help promote his wife’s artwork, and there is more.

“I’m writing a book. In fact, for $100, I’ll put you in it,” he deadpanned before springing the punchline. “For $200, I’ll keep you out of it.”

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INFLUENCERS

Katie Beck

A DYNAMIC LEADER

By Angelita Faller

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s a testament to her outstanding leadership and unwavering commitment to the hospitality industry, Katie Beck, the accomplished CEO of the Arkansas Hospitality Association, is a driving force behind transformative initiatives within the state’s hospitality sector.

Though regarded by peers as a trailblazer and visionary in the field, Beck does not consider herself to be an influencer. In her opinion, she is just an ordinary person who loves doing her job.

Nonetheless, in her role with the Arkansas Hospitality Association, Beck is making big waves in Arkansas politics and tourism, serving as the voice of the Arkansas hospitality industry, as well as the industry’s representative before the Arkansas General Assembly, congressional delegation and government agencies.

“My job at the Arkansas Hospitality Association is really the culmination of what makes Arkansas such a great state,” she said. “We work every day with restaurants, lodging and tourism destinations and help ensure the cultural fabric of this state runs smoothly. Whether it’s advocating for our members at the state Capitol or promoting businesses or events, we are here to support this industry that makes people’s lives better.”

One event that Beck hopes will really shine a light on the state is the upcoming solar eclipse on April 8, when much of Arkansas will be prime viewing space for the spectacular celestial event.

“I’m very excited about the 2024 Great North American Eclipse,” Beck said. “Arkansas is directly situated in the path of totality, and we are expecting a huge surge in tourism surrounding that event. It’s really going to be a great way to show off the best of what our state has to offer. With an expected 1.5 million visitors, the state’s population will grow that day by 50 percent.”

Beck earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and history from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, as well as a juris doctor degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law. Before she joined the Arkan-

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Katie Beck (Photo provided)

sas Hospitality Association, she gained extensive political experience by working in a number of state government roles for the office of former Gov. Asa Hutchinson, most recently as director of communications.

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In 2015 and 2016, she served as executive assistant to the governor and economic development liaison to the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, where she participated in the recruitment, expansion and retention of businesses throughout the state. From 2016 to 2019, she worked as liaison to the Arkansas federal delegation, the White House and federal agencies, advocating for Arkansas at the federal level on issues such as trade, health care, education, workforce development, environmental protection and federal funding.

She said the two most important things she has learned from working in politics are: “One, you’re only worth as much as your word. Two, stick to your principles.”

Beck credits her desire to serve in state government to her father, who taught her the value of working in local politics.

“For years, I’ve always had a great interest in government,” Beck said. “It’s important to take ownership of your stake in society. My dad taught me that. He’s been on the city council of my hometown for over two decades and always instilled the notion that we have a duty to give back. Working in the governor’s office was my way of carrying out the lessons he taught me.”

She took on her latest role at the Arkansas Hospitality Association in 2021, just as the state was starting to emerge from the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, which had a devastating impact on the state’s hospitality industry.

“The most important aspect of my job revolves around supporting these incredible businesses and organizations that make up our membership. Imagine running a restaurant or hotel that, for two years, faced immense economic hardship,” Beck said.

“While it was a new position at the time, it was my role to connect our members to the resources they needed and promote the industry throughout the state. I am proud of our members’ work ethic and resilience and to see the industry bounce back to record-setting numbers in the time I’ve been here.”

Having been named to Arkansas Money & Politics’ 2022 “Power Women” list and now being recognized as one of its Influencers of the Year, Beck said the pride she gets from her career is the biggest honor of all.

“Working as the communications director for the governor of Arkansas and being CEO of an association representing the second-largest industry in the state is honor enough,” she said.

Beck’s idea of defining what it means to be an influencer can be found in one of her favorite books, A Message to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard. She likes the book so much, in fact, that she gifts a copy to all of her employees when they begin work at the association.

“I really don’t consider myself much of an influencer,” Beck said. “What’s important is who we are. Elbert Hubbard has a quote in A Message to Garcia: ‘Character is the result of two things — mental attitude and the way we spend our time. It is what we

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You must do your best.

Take responsibility for yourself. Be empathetic toward others. Love your country, and make your family proud. think and what we do that make us what we are.’ If you haven’t read A Message to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard, I highly suggest it.

While it’s a short book, it speaks volumes about taking initiative and personal responsibility.”

As an influencer and a responsible manager, Beck finds that it is critically important to motivate her team and surround herself with a group of great workers.

“If you want a good team, surround yourself with team members that want the same thing you do. I’m so proud of my staff here at the association. Everyone works hard and wants to see our membership grow and be successful,” she said.

Also an active member of the professional community, one can find Beck participating in various organizations, including Skål International Arkansas, the only professional organization that promotes all sectors of the tourism industry around the globe; the Arkansas Society of Association Executives; the Arkansas Society of Professional Lobbyists; and Rotary Club 99. She has also spent time fostering dogs and likes to help her church when members volunteer at the food bank.

When this busy influencer does have some rare free time in her life, she can be found hanging out with her fiancé, state Rep. Jeremiah Moore, and their dog, Betsy Ross, reading and planning for her upcoming spring wedding at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Little Rock, which will be followed by a reception at the Old State House Museum in Little Rock.

As a trailblazer in her field, Beck continues to leave an indelible mark, transforming challenges into opportunities and shaping the future of hospitality with passion and vision. While she does not consider herself an influencer, instead calling herself “just an ordinary person,” she does have some advice for the next successful group of influencers from Arkansas.

“If I had to say anything, it’s that you must do your best,” she said. “Take responsibility for yourself. Be empathetic towards others. Love your country, and make your family proud.”

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| Dana Abraham

| Stephanie Alderdice

Owner Abraham Breast Clinic

Director of Marketing Stone Bank

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ana Abraham, M.D., FACS, is the owner of Abraham Breast Clinic in Little Rock, which she founded in 2007.

A Little Rock native, she graduated from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire in 1989 before completing a general surgery residency and breast fellowship at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. She then returned to Little Rock in 1995 to establish a private practice in surgical breast oncology.

She is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a member of the American Society of Breast Disease and a member of the Association of Women Surgeons.

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tephanie Alderdice joined Stone Bank as its director of marketing in January 2024. Headquartered in Little Rock, Stone Bank has six locations throughout Arkansas and serves as a nationwide provider of Small Business Administration, Farm Service Agency and U.S. Department of Agriculture business loans. Alderice previously served as president of SixtyOne Celsius, a boutique advertising and marketing agency in Hot Springs. During her agency tenure, she led communications for various ballot initiative campaigns that generated $75 million in Garland County community improvement projects. Civic engagement has been a priority for Alderice since relocating to Arkansas in 2012. She is a Class XIV graduate of Leadership Arkansas and has served on a variety of boards, including the Hot Springs Area Community Foundation, the Rotary Club of Hot Springs National Park, the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival and Friends of Little Rock Public Radio. Alderice has been recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International, a Rising Star by the Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce and one of Arkansas Money & Politics’ Power Women of 2022. She is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University with a master’s degree in communications. She is married to Corey Alderdice, the director of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts in Hot Springs.

| Chad Aduddell CEO CHI St. Vincent

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had S. Aduddell has been CEO of CHI St. Vincent since 2015. He previously served as executive vice president and chief operations officer of CHI St. Vincent and president of CHI St. Vincent Infirmary in Little Rock.

Aduddell came to CHI St. Vincent from St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City, where he served as president of the SSM Health Bone & Joint Hospital and chair and administrator of Saints Heart & Vascular Institute. He has experience in hospital operations and physician enterprise with CHRISTUS Spohn Health System in Corpus Christi, Texas, and in physician enterprise and physician residency program management with SSM Health Care in Oklahoma City. Aduddell has a Bachelor of Science with honors from the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma and a Master of Business Administration in health care administration with highest honors from Oklahoma City University’s Meinders School of Business. He has served on the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce board of directors, the Arkansas Healthcare Transparency Initiative board and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Business advisory board.

| Susan Altrui Director Little Rock Zoo

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usan Altrui is director of the Little Rock Zoo, an organization committed to inspiring people to value and conserve the natural world. The zoo is one of Arkansas’ largest family attractions and an important destination for recreation and tourism. As director, Susan guides the care of more than 400 animals, ensures that the zoo maintains its accreditation with the prestigious Association of Zoos & Aquariums, and directs the overall strategic vision of the organization.

Under Altrui’s leadership, the Little Rock Zoo has more than doubled its annual revenue earnings and tripled its fundraising efforts with the Arkansas Zoological Foundation, a nonprofit that raises funds for the growth and development of the zoo.

Altrui helped secure the largest private gift in the zoo’s history and, most recently, led an effort to secure a $12 million bond for new capital investment in the zoo. Next year, the zoo will break ground on its largest capital project ever with a renovation and expansion of animal exhibits at the front entry that will update the zoo’s amphitheater, add new animal habitats and replace old structures, such as the old spider monkey enclosure. Altrui serves on the boards of Keep Little Rock Beautiful, the Little Rock Police Foundation and Wildwood Park for the Arts in Little Rock and is former board chair of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival.

| Richard Akel Owner Akel’s Carpet One and Akel’s Design Center

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ichard Akel is the owner of Akel’s Carpet One and Akel’s Design Center in Sherwood, which has been awarded the Reader’s Choice for the best flooring store for five years in a row. Akel is better known, however, as a professional tennis player, having reached a best singles world ranking of 345 and doubles world ranking of 182. He won one title at the ATP Challenger level and, in 2019, was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. After retiring from his tennis career, he started a lumber yard that eventually developed into one of the state’s most successful flooring companies.

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ARKANSAS HOSPITALS

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Providing advocacy, community, education, and resources to Arkansas’s hospitals and health systems for more than 90 years.

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Judy R. McREYNOLDS How did your education prepare you for your career?

My accounting degree naturally prepared me for one of my first roles at accounting firm Arthur Andersen, and then at EY, which is where I was introduced to the transportation industry. That education and work experience equipped me to serve as controller and later chief financial officer at ArcBest, and all of that combined has been extremely valuable in my current role of CEO. Who were your mentors or inspirations?

One of my earliest mentors, Harold Heiple, was a respected lawyer at a prominent firm in Norman, Okla., where I worked while in college. He was instrumental in encouraging me to always strive for something greater. Robert Young III, who led ArcBest for over 50 years before retiring, has always supported and encouraged me.

Have you mentored others?

It’s an honor to have raised our two children, who are now successful young men with families of their own. I’m glad they still seek our input and guidance. At work, I’m intentional about spending time with my executive leadership team, both individuallwwy and as a group, so I can be a guide and a sounding board for them, just like others have been for me. I’ve also mentored college students and found it to be very rewarding.

What is your leadership style?

Leading through trusted relationships is important to me. It’s never been my style to micromanage; I make it a point to empower our leaders to make the best decision based on their knowledge and experience. We stay closely aligned on our business strategy and goals, and I trust that they’ll do the right thing, even when it means taking intelligent risks.

What are you reading, watching or listening to right now?

I’m reading a book entitled Pilgrimage to the Museum: Man’s Search for God Through Art and Time

by Stephen F. Auth. I’m watching The Great British Baking Show.

INFLUENCER Chairman, President and CEO, ArcBest

INFLUENCERS

Ali Krisht

BIG ROCK IN LITTLE ROCK

By KD Reep

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s the co-founder and director of the Arkansas Neuroscience “When we went back and studied these tumors to determine Institute at CHI St. Vincent North in Sherwood, Dr. Ali why we weren’t initially able to remove them, we found out that we Krisht leads a team of researchers, surgeons and medical didn’t understand how they grew and how they spread,” he added. professionals who all think differently to provide one thing: exem“Now we have a plan of treating these benign tumors in a way that plary care for patients struggling with neurological disorders. we can save the nerves and arteries that are usually involved.”

Krisht’s life is filled with accomplishments. He was a soccer This research led to further discovery of how other tumors maniplayer in Beirut; is an honorary citizen of Taipei, Taiwan; was the fest, particularly benign tumors that can cause life-altering changes recipient of the international Herbert Olivecrona Award for conto a patient’s way of life. tributions to the field of neurosurgery; “We are treating tumors in other parts is counted among the top 1 percent of all of the brain based on what we learned neurosurgeons in the United States by the with cavernous sinus benign tumors,” rating firm Castle Connolly; is editor of the Krisht said. “There is a deep part of the journal, Contemporary Neurosurgery; and is brain called the hypothalamus, and the an accomplished author, researcher, pretumors there are being treated with sursenter, husband, father and friend to boot. gery. These tumors are also benign. You Heading into the new year, Krisht plans to can totally remove them. However, we add to his noteworthy list of accomplishonce could not do this because it was ments in March with the second-annual difficult to visualize them anatomically Arkansas Neurosurgery Institute Live Miand stay safe, so we looked at the studcro Neurosurgery Symposium. ies that we’ve done anatomically, and we Krisht has significant plans for Arkanfound out that there are different winsas Neurosurgery Institute in 2024 and bedows, which are safer, that we can apyond, but ANI’s accomplishments to date proach these tumors and remove them. are nothing short of phenomenal. ANI was I liken it to moving furniture into and founded in 2009, followed 10 years later by out of a house. If you only have a winthe Arkansas Neuroscience Institute Redow, you will break a wall to get out the search and Education Center, for which furniture. Because of our research, we Krisht and his team have conducted cruhave found where a door is. Now we can cial research. unlock these tumors and bring them out “We have done significant amounts of without injuring the wall. an atomic analysis of brain tumors where “There are a lot of patients who are Ali Krisht (Photo provided) we are able to verify how certain tumors 10, 11 years old or in their teens, and if grow,” Krisht said. “This has helped us not treated correctly, these tumors can map a way to resect [remove by cutting] them safely, particularly in make them lose their memory, hormonal control of their body, conan area which is called the cavernous sinus. Before, they were treattrol of urine output,” he said. “Finding new ways to treat tumors like ed in different ways, like resecting part of them and radiating what these makes all the difference in their lives.” could not be removed, so when you’re dealing with a tumor, usually Other procedures ANI studies will affect how neurosurgery is radiation was introduced to treat cancer. Now it’s been extrapolated conducted in the future including malignant brain tumors. Krisht to tumors that you cannot do much surgically, in particular this is adamant that researchers must look at new ways to approach the tumor in the cavernous sinus. When radiation was introduced, we removal and treatment of these tumors to be effective and maxifound out that a good number of these tumors would grow. Now we mize a patient’s quality of life. can safely remove them in total, and these patients will be able to “We still have challenges with malignant brain tumors, espemaintain a normal life. cially the type of tumors called glioma and glioblastomas,” he said.

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“These arise from brain tissue and are the nastiest, most aggressive kinds. There’s a lot of research happening over the years trying to find out how to kill those cells and control the tumor, and the success has been really mediocre at best. In our case, we think differently the way we have addressed the other tumors that were considered non-operable. We can think outside of the box, and I think we have the concept of using a different paradigm to where we can approach this from different ways.

“One way is there are certain parts of the brain which are immune, which means these tumors don’t grow in those areas, like the spinal cord of the cerebellum and parts of the brainstem, so that means there’s something about those areas which are making them immune. I think we must start from there, and my goal and my hope are we’ll be able to establish a research center and recruit the right people, the right Ph.D.s and do research along these lines.”

Krisht said it may be the environment and not the cell that causes those tumors to form.

“If there are environments which are immune from these tumors, why are they immune in these areas?” he said. “Maybe there are factors in these environments which prevent the cells from transforming into cancer. Maybe we can use treatment that will potentiate this change. I’m hoping I can find the right donor who understands this vision to provide funding for this research.”

Krisht goes on to say that tumors such as these have a genetic link in certain families, giving clues into how and why these anomalies form.

“We see a lot of people in Arkansas with these tumors,” he said. “It’s kind of very common in different families, which means that also there will be a brother who died from glioblastoma, and then another brother shows up with his sister with glioblastoma, so there’s also some kind of genetic predisposition to it, and it’s important that we don’t give up because millions if not billions of dollars over the last 50 years have been spent doing the research in the same way.

Krisht again used the furniture analogy.

“You’re trying to get into the door. You’re trying to use the handles, but the door is not opening,” he said. “We realize it’s not the handle we need but the key to unlock the solutions to these tumors.

If you are returning to something that’s been tried but is not working, why keep trying?”

Why Arkansas as the home of such advanced medical research?

“Well, I think we have the same diseases that everybody has,” Krisht said. “If research is happening in New York and a new drug is justified there, why shouldn’t it also happen here? I think, you know, if you have the right team and the right people who are interested and dedicated, which we do, as well as the funding, and Arkansans are generous, it can help open the door for research in the future. I want people to know not to underestimate Arkansas — what we have and how to help us to achieve our potential.

“Some people, when you talk about research in Arkansas, they ask, ‘Where is Arkansas?’ To that, I say Arkansas Neuroscience Institute is known all over the world. In fact, we have a meeting coming up in March where there will be new surgeons from around the world coming to see what we do and discuss different ways of doing neurosurgery and to watch through our tutorials, which is they’ll be watching surgeries that we’re doing live to learn how we’re doing them.

“We already are considered a lighthouse. In neurosurgery, we ARM O N E YA ND P O L I T I C S .COM

We already are considered a lighthouse. In neurosurgery, we are called the big rock in Little Rock. are called the big rock in Little Rock.”

Taking on so many crucial roles at ANI — surgeon, researcher, author, director and more — requires Krisht to apply the same precision and focus regarding his schedule as he does with surgical procedures and research.

“How do we do it all? Well, we work hard,” he said. “There’s nothing in this life, in this universe, that can be achieved without hard work. That’s for anybody. Anyone who says they can accomplish something based on smarts or talents or luck alone can’t without putting in the work. In my case, I do have a lot of discipline. I try to organize my day and my time in a very efficient way. Teaching is easy for me because I have established a setup to where our fellows and our medical students and our visitors are part of the cycle of our day.

“ANI is organized so we are learning in every step we do — seeing patients, operating. If someone is watching surgery from the auditorium, they put on 3D glasses and see exactly what I see under the microscope. We are also connected with them through microphones.”

Krisht has also developed a unique way to maximize the educational opportunities at ANI. “I think the educational setup we have is really advantageous, plus the lab is next door to my office, and it’s within walking distance,” he said. “I can come out from the operating room in between cases and see what our fellows say during this dissection or during this study — ‘We found this,’ and show it to me, and we walk to the lab, and together, we decide what to try next. Having a lot of young smart people around you is a good thing because they help with ideas, and research and in the same way they learn from me, I learn from them. This is important for me as an educator. My approach is not, ‘OK, I know more than you do, and I’m going to teach you my approaches.’ First, I don’t know anything. I can tell you that.

The more I know, the more I know how much I don’t know.”

Krisht said the more one advances in age and knowledge, the more one realizes how much is left to learn.

“Because of that, you cannot assume that people are not smart.

Because you know more in something, it doesn’t mean you know more than someone else,” he said. “I give the people around me permission and empower them to question and use their imagination. I tell them, ‘Look, do not underestimate what you think or ideas you can bring out. Don’t come and just wait for me to tell you something. I want you to think of what solutions we haven’t. I want you to help me think,’ so by prompting them, you open their mind and you make them think, and then suddenly, they can give you more.”

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| Mark Amox

| Kelley Bass

President and CEO Unity Health

CEO Museum of Discovery

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ark Amox was appointed as president and CEO of Unity Health in 2022.

He has more than two decades of health care leadership and has dedicated his life to improving the health and well-being of all the communities that Unity serves.

Since joining the Unity Health system, he has opened Unity Health-Jacksonville and established the Unity Health Academy of Health Sciences at Jacksonville High School. He previously served at Regional Medical Center in San Jose, Calif., as chief operating officer of Sunrise Children’s Hospital in Las Vegas, as CEO of El Paso Children’s Hospital in Texas and as administrator of the University of Florida Health Shands Children’s Hospital. Locally, Amox served for eight years as administrator of pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.

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elley Bass serves as CEO at the Museum of Discovery, Arkansas’ premier family museum and the oldest museum in Little Rock. He leads a staff of 31 full-time and 25 part-time employees and is responsible for all operations at the museum. The Museum of Discovery was named Nonprofit Organization of the Year at the Arkansas Business of the Year Awards in 2014, and in 2016, Bass was named Nonprofit Executive of the Year in the same competition. During Bass’ tenure, the Museum of Discovery has had its most successful years in its 96-year history in terms of both attendance and financial performance. Museum attendance in 2023 was the highest ever at an estimated 190,000 people, 15 percent above the previous record set in 2012. Before coming to the museum in December 2012, he served as assistant dean for external affairs for the Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, where he managed corporate relations and fundraising. Previously, Bass spent nine years as senior vice president of corporate communications for Acxiom, where he supported the executive team in all internal and external communications. Before joining Acxiom in 1999, he spent 18 years in the newspaper business as an award-winning reporter, columnist and editor at the Arkansas Gazette, the Springfield NewsLeader and the Arkansas Times.

| Elizabeth Burns Anderson Senior Vice President Farmers Bank & Trust

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lizabeth Burns Anderson is senior vice president of Farmers Bank & Trust and executive director of the Farmers Bank Foundation, a nonprofit that was created in 2021 to celebrate the 115th anniversary of Farmers Bank & Trust and supports local nonprofits that enrich the quality of life in the communities where Farmers Bank & Trust’s customers and employees live. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. In addition, she is the president of the school board for the Lonoke Public School District and has helped raise more than $16 million for workforce education. She is president of the statewide board of the CALL, which supports foster care in Arkansas. She is also an advocate for first responders and a board member of the Arkansas State Police Foundation. In addition, she was appointed by former Gov. Asa Hutchinson to be the consumer representative to the Arkansas State Medical Board.

| David Bazzel Entrepreneur; Founder Little Rock Touchdown Club

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former all-Southwest Conference linebacker for the Razorbacks and defensive MVP of the 1984 Liberty Bowl, David Bazzel is one of the most recognizable names and faces in Arkansas. Since his playing days on the Hill, the Florida native has done more to promote his adopted state than most lifelong Arkansans. A host for more than 20 years on 103.7 the Buzz radio network’s Show With No Name and now Morning Mayhem, he has also logged more than two decades covering Razorback football for KATV Channel 7. Bazzel is the creator of numerous awards and trophies associated with college football, including prominent national awards such as the Broyles Award, given to the nation’s top assistant coach; the Burlsworth Trophy, which recognizes the nation’s best college player who began his career as a walk-on; and the Cliff Harris Award, presented to the country’s top small college defensive player. Bazzel also is responsible for the Golden Boot and Battle Line trophies, awarded to the winner of Arkansas’ annual games with LSU and Missouri, respectively, as well as awards named for Arkansas football legends Dan Hampton, Willie Roaf, Darren McFadden and media hall-of-famers Steve Sullivan and Paul Eells. Bazzel also launched the Little Rock Touchdown Club and the Tusk live mascot program for the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

| Sarah Bailey Owner and Principal Broker Bailey & Co. Real Estate

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eal estate is Sarah Bailey’s passion, and she enjoys working with her clients to list and sell their homes. She began her real estate career in 2003 as an agent and became a managing broker in 2006. Now as founder, owner and principal broker of Bailey & Co. Real Estate, she helps a new generation of successful agents accomplish even more while staying front and center with the industry’s latest innovations. Bailey & Co. Real Estate is building a real estate brokerage that consists of knowledgeable agents who have multiple years of experience. Bailey enjoys helping agents master contracts, as well as information and systems that create a smooth buying and selling process for both clients and agents. Bailey earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.

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Congratulations Judson C. Kidd for being named one of Arkansas Money & Politics’ 2024 Influencers of the Year!

313 West Second Street | dkrfirm.com

Contact us today for a free consultation 501-375-9901

Hello to healing.

Kindness is a gift that each of us is born with. And when we share it, the goodness that’s released is amazing. This human connection is important to our well-being, but it’s essential when we’re sick and hurting. We know from experience that treating every patient with kindness, empathy, and respect is key to their healing. We call this power humankindness. It has driven us for 135 years.

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Richard BEARDEN What is your secret to success?

Be prepared. Build relationships when you don’t need anything in return. Be upfront with all sides of the issue, good and bad. Be a friend, even if it means you get the bottom end of the deal.

How did your education prepare you for your career?

Dr. Bob Meriwether at Hendrix College in Conway and Dr. George Thompson were excellent from an academic view on the mechanics of politics and the history of Arkansas politics, but the real education was the semester in 1986 when I worked as a field coordinator for Asa Hutchinson in his race for the U.S. Senate against Dale Bumpers. I learned the difference between classroom politics and realworld politics on the campaign trail.

Who were your mentors or inspirations?

Several longtime Republican trailblazers got me interested in politics when I was still young. Marguerite Turner sparked my interest at 15 years old to help put up yard signs and make phone calls for Ronald Reagan and Frank White.

When both won my hometown boxes in Smackover and carried Union County in their elections, I was hooked. Mike Huckabee was a big impact with his election to lieutenant governor, and Asa Hutchinson gave me my first big break.

What is your leadership style?

Lead from the front, a great lesson that many military leaders employ.

What has been the most challenging part of your work?

INFLUENCER Founding Partner, Impact Management Group

Taking an issue through the legislative process or a candidate from the early stages of recruitment to final victory on election day. Both processes may take months, with many steps to be completed before the next stage can unfold.

What is the most rewarding part of your work?

Seeing a bill signed into law or a candidate’s face on election day.

Terry BENHAM What is your secret to success?

Invest in people, not things. Make the goals of clients, colleagues and friends the priority over those of your own.

Getting credit has never been important because the people that actually matter know your contribution and your adversaries never see you coming.

How did your education prepare you for your career?

Strangely enough, my military education had more of an impact than my college education. Leadership, strategic thinking and a solid work ethic built the foundation for my academics at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Who were your mentors or inspirations?

There were many. Lee Atwater, Haley Barbour and Win Rockefeller were inspirations. I was blessed to be mentored by several older colleagues and military superiors that invested themselves into making me better.

Have you mentored others?

I’ve certainly made investing myself in the success of younger colleagues a priority. Whether they consider me a mentor is up to them, but they all know that their success is as important to me as my own.

In your experience, what is the secret to inspiring others to take action?

People have to believe in what they are doing to take action. That means you have to believe in what you are doing because if you don’t, they will see through it. This is how you create a shared priority and set a path for accountability.

What has been the most challenging part of your work?

Dealing with the rise of populism and the extreme polarization of the political process is the most challenging part. It’s very discouraging when a policy maker doesn’t care about the facts or the outcome of policy because of polarized politics.

INFLUENCER Founding Partner, Impact Management Group

| Richard Bearden

| Katie Beck

Founding Partner Impact Management Group

CEO Arkansas Hospitality Association

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ichard Bearden is one of the founding partners of Impact Management Group in Little Rock. He has 25 years of experience in lobbying, media relations and political consulting. Bearden is a registered lobbyist representing a wide array of national and state clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to regional and state based corporations. He is a past appointee of former President George W. Bush and served nine years as a commissioner on the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars and two years as a presidential appointee on the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships.

He currently serves as a member of the board of directors of the Old State House Museum in Little Rock, initially appointed by former Gov. Mike Huckabee, reappointed to a full term by former Gov. Mike Beebe and repointed to a third term by former Gov. Asa Hutchinson. He has also served as chairman of the Mayor’s Council on Tourism for the city of Little Rock. Bearden is a former executive director of the Republican Party of Arkansas, serving under then-chairman Hutchinson. He also served as chief of staff to former Rep. Jay Dickey, state director for the Bush-Cheney campaign for Arkansas in 2000, and he consulted and managed numerous federal, state and local races during his career in Arkansas. He is a 1987 graduate of Hendrix College in Conway with a Bachelor of Arts in political science.

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atie Beck and the Arkansas Hospitality Association team are the voices of the hospitality industry in Arkansas, representing restaurants, lodging, travel and tourism businesses throughout the state. Previously, the Arkansas native served six years in the administration of Gov. Asa Hutchinson in a variety of roles. This experience prepared her to serve as the face of the industry before the Arkansas General Assembly, the state’s Congressional delegation, government agencies and other stakeholders. Prior to joining the association, Beck worked as communications director for Hutchinson and represented his office in Washington, D.C. Beck is a graduate of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, where she earned bachelor’s degrees in journalism and history.

She received her juris doctor from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law.

| Matt Bell President and CEO Origame Sake

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att Bell, president and CEO of Origami Sake in Hot Springs, is an Arkansas native and a relentless entrepreneur. Born and raised in Little Rock, Matt has been instrumental in the creation of several successful Arkansasbased companies. Prior to founding Origami Sake, Matt was the co-founder of Bell-Corley Construction Co., a general contracting company in Little Rock; Viridian, a green building consulting company in Little Rock; and Entegrity Energy Partners, an energy efficiency and solar performance contracting company in Little Rock. Bell is a graduate of Little Rock’s Hall STEAM Magnet High School and received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Since graduation, he has dedicated his career to creating businesses with a focus on innovation and excellence in every endeavor. Aware of the challenges of any new industry, Bell has continued his education and is a certified level 1 sake professional and is currently engaged in more sake education and training. In 2022, Origami Sake was founded to become the leader in domestically produced craft sake by leveraging two of the state’s greatest assets: water and rice. Bell is applying his previous professional experience to create an Arkansasbased business that is positioned to succeed on a global scale. Understanding the secret of success in any business, he assembled a world-class team to execute the vision of making Arkansas the “Napa Valley of Sake.” The story of Origami Sake has received international attention, with coverage from the New York Times, Garden and Gun, Wine Enthusiast, Tokyo Broadcasting System, NHK World-Japan and the Japan News.

| Brent Beaulieu Chief Financial Officer Baptist Health

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rent Beaulieu is the chief financial officer at Baptist Health, Arkansas’ most comprehensive health care system with 12 hospitals and more than 250 points of access across the state. In this role, his responsibilities include all finance, revenue-cycle, supply-chain, risk-management and real estate activities in the organization. Beaulieu joined Baptist Health in 2007 as assistant vice president of finance and has been a part of leading the system’s financial operations ever since. Prior to joining Baptist Health, Beaulieu spent nine years as a certified public accountant specializing in health care matters with national accounting firm BKD. He received a degree in accounting from Harding University in Searcy. Beaulieu also lends his expertise to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Arkansas & North Louisiana, where he began serving on the finance committee in 2021 and joined the full board for 2022. Beaulieu is past president of the Arkansas chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association, and he also served on the national principles and practices board from 2013 to 2016. He was a member of the health care expert panel for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants from 2010 to 2013.

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Renata JENKINS BYLER What is an alternate path you could have taken if things had worked out differently?

For me, there was no alternate path because this profession is not just a career choice; it is a calling. I have been blessed with the interest, talent and empathy to help people tell their stories and find solace during their most challenging moments. Serving the funeral profession is my life’s purpose.

Who were your mentors or inspirations? Have you mentored others?

Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of being guided by numerous mentors, beginning with my grandparents, then my parents, as well as many figures that I consider family in our business. Their wisdom and experience have shaped my approach to leadership and provided invaluable support. In turn, I am committed to paying it forward by mentoring young professionals, offering guidance and being a resource for those seeking advice.

What is your leadership style?

My style revolves around collaboration and mutual respect and lots of laughter.

I believe in empowering my team members, valuing their perspectives and fostering an environment where everyone feels purpose. By leading by example, I strive to set a positive tone that inspires others to bring their best selves to work daily.

In your experience, what is the secret to inspiring others to take action?

Inspiring others to take action lies in effectively communicating our vision and purpose. Celebrating successes along the way further fuels inspiration and keeps the momentum going.

What is your morning routine like?

I believe in seeking guidance and offering gratitude to Christ before diving into feeding the animals and leaving the farm for the demands of the day.

INFLUENCER Third-generation Owner, Roller Funeral Homes

INFLUENCERS

Wayne Smith

STAYING ON TRACK

By John Callahan

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rkansans are not strangers to hard work. It is only fitting that they take time to relax and enjoy the fruits of their labor once in a while, perhaps with a little taste of luxury. It can be easy to forget, however, that entertainment for one person means just as much hard work for another.

Wayne Smith, general manager of Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs, is one of those Arkansans who works year round to ensure that people all over the state and the surrounding region have a place to take it easy and enjoy themselves.

A native of Narragansett, R.I., Smith earned an accounting degree from Northeastern University in Boston. After a few years in public accounting, he joined ITT Sheraton, one of the world’s largest hotel companies, and traveled the globe, handling internal audits.

“I grew up in a small town and never expected that I would go out to see the world,” Smith said. “I’ve been to every continent but Antarctica, and I never in a million years thought that I would be somebody who would do that.”

One of his audits was at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas, and he quickly fell in love with the city. When an opportunity opened up, he took a job at the hotel and eventually found a position at the MGM Grand.

“When I got off that plane for the first time in Las Vegas and it was 110, 115 degrees, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven,” Smith said. “I embraced that town and the casino business as a whole as I got to learn it and see what it does. I found that I am not necessarily a 9-to-5 type of person. I kind of like working different hours, off-hours, those types of things, and the casino business is 24/7, 365.”

Las Vegas marked the beginning of a career in the casino industry that has lasted for more than 20 years, taking Smith from the lights of the strip to Harrah’s in St. Louis — now the Hollywood Casino St. Louis — and eventually to the Empire City

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Wayne Smith (Photo provided)

Casino’s Yonkers Raceway in New York. It may come as some surprise, then, that Smith decided to come to the small state of Arkansas to join Oaklawn, but Southern hospitality should never be underestimated.

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“While interviewing with the Cella family, the previous general manager, learning the history of Hot Springs, a lot of those things were intriguing,” Smith said. “The feel I had with the team, the folks that I met were just so pleasant and the service both on the property and around town was remarkable, so I had a really good feeling about them and about how they treated people.

“My wife and I decided to come here once we got through the offer phase. We enjoy the town and the area. I’m five minutes from work. I’ve lived in major cities across the country, and I’ve never been able [to commute] in that short a time. The state, the town, the country, everything just seemed to fit right.

It reminded us a lot of where we grew up. I grew up in Rhode Island, and my wife grew up in Connecticut, so the topography and the lakes spoke to us in a way. The family and the people that I met were just so genuine that we felt it was the right place for us to move.”

Smith joined Oaklawn as general manager in 2016, and the almost eight years since have been a time of enormous change for Oaklawn as it transitioned into a fully fledged resort, rapidly adding a luxury hotel, spa and an event center to the long-standing racetrack and casino elements.

“When you couple everything we have internally and then accentuate that with the city of Hot Springs and everything it offers, [Oaklawn] is a true resort,” Smith said.

Adapting to such rapid growth has required significant cultural shifts, not least of which is the huge increase in personnel. Prior to the expansion, Oaklawn had a staff of around 425 year-round employees. In the span of four years, that number more than doubled to roughly 900. New lines of business at the resort also require different types of expertise. Running a hotel is a very different endeavor from running a casino, which is very different from a racetrack and so on. With each addition, the executive team has had to find new people with the right know-how, followed by a management team who can see the vision through. Then there are concerns such as human resources and accounting that keep everything else running smoothly and as one unit.

“You have to have the right mindset to work in the casino business and the hotel business,” Smith said. “When you’re working in an environment that is 24/7, 365, it’s not for the faint of heart. You might be working when all of your friends are off on holidays or weekends. You’re probably one of the few people in the neighborhood who’s not there at 5 o’clock every night. It’s a unique personality that you want to entertain and service people. For those workers, it’s a big sacrifice, but it’s something that you love doing. I’m very lucky to have a support system with my wife and two boys, and they understand what I do and why I do it.”

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Our goal now, short term and I would say long term for the next three to five years, is really focusing on and perfecting what we have today.

It was perhaps that unique mindset that led Oaklawn’s president, Louis A. Cella, to decide to continue construction on the resort and keep people working while the rest of the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing Oaklawn to become what it is today. Smith considers his own role in those expansions to be the greatest achievement not only in his time at Oaklawn, but across his entire career.

To leaders looking to guide their organizations through the same level of growth and success, Smith offered this advice: “Inspect what you expect. Continually follow up, [and always] continue to make sure that people are doing what they tell you they’re going to be doing. Inspect and ensure that they are doing it. That’s business in general, but particularly as you’re growing quickly, things can get out of hand very quickly if you don’t stay on top of it.

“The No. 1 thing is to hire the right people. You’re not always going to bat 1.000 on that, but just know when to say that you’ve made a mistake in that hire, move on from that and try to bring in somebody that’s going to see the vision that the property holds. The more people you add to the team, the more time you actually have to spend making sure that everybody is being treated fairly, doing the things that you ask them to do and those types of things. Management in general is something that you’ll really have to focus on as you’re growing quickly.”

With all of those issues being handled despite the obstacles created by the pandemic, Oaklawn is not in a hurry to undergo yet another major transformation soon.

“Our goal now short term, and I would say long term for the next three to five years is really focusing on and perfecting what we have today,” Smith said. “We have a luxury hotel.

There’s nothing like it in the state of Arkansas. We have a luxury spa — nothing like it in the state of Arkansas and nothing like it in the region.

“We’re seeing that sense of luxury, that sense of service, start to resonate with our guests, with the state of Arkansas and beyond. Who knows? Down the line, you never say never, what you might add or tear down or something else, but for right now, we’re focusing in on the operations and making sure that we give the best service possible to our guests.”

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| Terry Benham

| Sara Brown

Founding Partner Impact Management Group

Director of Marketing First Step

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erry Benham is a seasoned problem solver with an impressive career spanning more than three decades in the world of politics. He excels behind the scenes, consistently delivering practical solutions and empowering others to shine.

His journey is defined by a dedication to people-first principles, fostering connections that empower clients to shape decision-maker opinions and achieve their strategic goals. As a registered lobbyist and a founding partner of Impact Management Group in Little Rock, Arkansas’ leading government relations firm, Benham is deeply passionate about elevating the state’s global potential — particularly in energy, agriculture, economic development and foreign affairs. His extensive background in public relations, political strategy and government relations informs his consulting approach, which has had an extraordinary 90-percent client success rate over the past decade.

He also holds a seat on the board of directors of the Arkansas Society of Professional Lobbyists. Throughout his illustrious career, Benham has served as a trusted advisor to a diverse clientele, including top-level executives, trade association leaders, Fortune 500 corporations, nonprofits and high net worth organizations.

His influence transcends borders, facilitating discussions between foreign economic leaders and corporate stakeholders throughout the United States. Benham may not seek the spotlight, but his unwavering dedication, diversified expertise and steady counsel undeniably leave a mark on Arkansas’ financial and political landscape. He stands as a quiet yet influential figure, shaping the course of the state’s political and economic future.

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ara Brown, Ph.D., CFRE, serves as the director of marketing at First Step. In her role, she oversees the operation of the marketing and development offices for all four locations across 27 counties in southern Arkansas. She has worked in education for 17 years and has managed nonprofit organizations since 2013. She is an advocate for education and for serving others, which led to her current role with First Step. First Step serves individuals with developmental delays, disabilities and special needs from birth to end of life. Over the past 65 years, First Step has served about 10,000 families across the state and employed thousands of individuals while striving to be a beacon of hope, support and guidance for people with developmental disabilities and their families.

Brown is a Hot Springs native and deeply rooted within her community, volunteering with various civic, social and nonprofit organizations. She currently serves as the president-elect of the Rotary Club of Hot Springs National Park, as chair of the HSNP Rotary Scholarship Trust Foundation, and as public relations and publicity chair for Leadership Hot Springs, and she is a board member for Ouachita Children, Youth and Family Services. She is an active member in the Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce, Hot Springs Fifty for the Future, the Oaklawn Foundation Education Committee and the Association of Fundraising Professionals, as well as a graduate of Leadership Arkansas, Leadership Hot Springs, the Jeff Faris Leadership Academy and the Arkansas Community Colleges Student Leadership Academy

| Sandy Bradley Chief of Staff McLarty Companies

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or more than 17 years, Sandy Bradley has worked at the McLarty Companies, a fourth-generation business representing a diverse set of interests. In her role, she is responsible for managing day-to-day operations, overseeing employees and working hand-in-hand with the company’s executives. Bradley believes teamwork is the secret element to any company’s success.

She prefers to stay behind the curtain and takes pride in offering support, guidance and coaching to those who are in the forefront.

Additionally, she believes recruiting the right people to develop the best possible team is integral to any company’s success. She said assisting staff in continuing their education and growth in order to accomplish their personal objectives is one of the most gratifying functions of her position. Bradley also has a special innate skill to anticipate next steps and is always ready with a solution or two for immediate implementation if necessary. Prior to joining the McLarty Companies, Bradley was the executive manager for the Little Regional Chamber of Commerce for 16 years. Throughout her career, she has also held diverse roles in both the nonprofit and private sectors, including capital campaigns, marketing and political campaigns. A lifelong resident of Arkansas, Bradley grew up in Jonesboro and moved to Little Rock in 1986.

JAN UA RY 2 024

| David “Alan” Bubbus Jr. President David’s Burgers

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avid “Alan” Bubbus Jr. is the president of David’s Burgers, the restaurant chain he founded in 2010 as a tribute to his father, the restaurateur and master butcher David Bubbus Sr. The restaurant’s growth has been intense in the years since, with roughly one new location opening each year in central Arkansas for the past decade. David’s Burgers now can be found in Little Rock, Conway, North Little Rock, Bryant, Cabot, Maumelle and Hot Springs. Bubbus began working for Johnny Jacobs Meat Market in North Little Rock at 5 years old and was a master butcher by the age of 16. Managing his first restaurant, the JaMar in Pine Bluff, at just 19 years old, he went on to open El Matador in Pine Bluff in 1967. He has also been involved in developing numerous restaurants, chains and franchises throughout Arkansas. Bubbus and his wife, Jessica, also are heavily involved as board members for the CALL, a nonprofit organization that mobilizes local churches to serve children and youth in foster care.

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Congratulations DR. HEFLEY

Orthopedic surgeon Dr. William Hefley, Jr. has a passion for relieving pain and restoring the mobility that makes life worth living.

Congratulations on being named among the top Influencers of the Year!

We are honored to have eight attorneys listed among the best lawyers in Arkansas.

CONGRATULATIONS

DAVID FUQUA

on being named one of Arkansas Money & Politics’ 2024 Influencers of the Year!

3700 CANTRELL ROAD • SUITE 205 • LITTLE ROCK 501.374.0200 • FACSIMILE: 501.975.7153 • FC-LAWYERS.COM ARM O N E YA ND P O L I T I C S .COM

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RJ HAWK What is an alternate path you could have taken if things had worked out differently?

Had I not decided to go all in with real estate, I could still be waking up at 3:30 a.m. to do the morning radio show on 103.7 the Buzz as a producer. I loved that job, but at the same time, I needed a bigger challenge and I took a chance. So far, it has worked out.

Who were your mentors or inspirations?

Growing up, it was my mom. She raised myself and my two sisters, all while working and trying to provide to the best of her abilities. In my adult life, that person is David Bazzel. He is like a big brother to me.

Every major business decision I have ever made, I’ve always gotten his opinion. He has been extremely supportive of me and has always been in my corner.

INFLUENCER Owner, Principal Broker, Realty ONE Group Pinnacle State Representative, District 81, Arkansas House of Representatives

CONGRATULATIONS,

DALE COLE CHAIRMAN & CEO FIRST COMMUNITY BANK

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Stan JONES What is your secret to success?

Common sense and hard work.

How did your education prepare you for your career?

It helped me to learn to process information and to make better decisions based on facts.

What is an alternate path you could have taken if things had worked out differently?

I can’t imagine not being a farmer, but I always thought I would go to law school.

Who were your mentors or inspirations?

My mom and dad, Bill Rainwater, and Leonard Kae. Have you mentored others?

Yes, I have had many kids in the area through the years work for me on the farm.

What is your leadership style?

I try to lead by example. There is not a job on my farm that I haven’t done, nor is there a job I’m too proud to do myself.

In your experience, what is the secret to inspiring others to take action?

You must always be passionate about what you are doing.

What’s your morning routine like?

I get up at 5 a.m. everyday and enjoy a cup of coffee while I plan my day to maximize my efficiency. In farming, every minute of your day is important.

What has been the most challenging part of your work?

Not getting paid enough for my crops after months and months of hard work to make a crop.

What is the most rewarding part of your work?

INFLUENCER

Nurturing my crops throughout the year and then enjoying a beautiful fall harvest.

Arkansas Game and Fish Commissioner Owner, Stan Jones Mallard Lodge

| Aaron Buckley

| Renata Jenkins Byler

Owner and Creative Director SixtyOne Celsius

Owner Roller Funeral Homes

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aron Buckley is a Hot Springs native who spent 16 years of his career in Los Angeles, honing his craft with some of the biggest brands in the world. In 2010, he moved back to his hometown and landed a job as creative director of local advertising and public relations agency SixtyOne Celsius.

In December, he purchased the firm from former president Stephanie Alderdice. Under Buckley’s creative direction, SixtyOne Celsius worked with Hot Springs and Garland County leaders to pass ballot initiatives totaling more than $75 million in community improvement projects. The agency’s portfolio has included a wide range of projects, from highway infrastructure enhancements to the expansion of the Mid-America Science Museum’s facilities in Hot Springs and the development of the Majestic Park baseball complex in Hot Springs. Formerly Kirby & Co., the firm serves as the agency of record for Stone Bank, Mid-America Science Museum, Levi Hospital in Hot Springs, the Discovery Center at Murfree Spring and Arkansas Dental Centers and works with many other small businesses, nonprofits and financial institutions.

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enata Jenkins Byler, a third-generation owner of Roller Funeral Homes, is recognized as one of Arkansas’ most influential leaders in 2024 because of her unwavering leadership in the funeral profession nationally and in Arkansas. Her deep understanding of compassionate and personalized service was nurtured by her upbringing in the funeral home profession.

Witnessing the profound impact of a caring environment for grieving families, she made it her mission to uphold and expand on her family’s legacy of excellence. With a marketing and facilities management background, Byler brings an innovative perspective while respecting tradition. As the leader of Roller Funeral Homes, she embodies the company’s core values of respect, compassion and innovation.

Under her guidance, Roller Funeral Homes has grown into one of the most reputable funeral home companies throughout the United States and a trusted name in Arkansas. Byler’s passion, warmth and compassion make her an exceptional leader.

She honors her family’s legacy by creating meaningful and personalized experiences for those who entrust their loved ones to Roller Funeral Homes. Beyond her career, Byler continues to shape the future of funeral services through empathy, innovation and an unwavering dedication to future generations in the funeral profession. Through the Denver Roller School of Mortuary Sciences in Mountain Home, the next generation of funeral directors is being developed on the shoulders of Roller Funeral Homes. Byler’s commitment to excellence and compassionate care leaves a lasting impact on the lives of the families she serves and the teams she leads.

| Rachel Bunch Executive Director Arkansas Health Care Association

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achel Bunch is executive director of the Arkansas Health Care Association.

With more than 15 years working in the long-term care profession, Bunch brings a wealth of experience in health care, policy and press relations. In her role, she works on legislative advocacy, federal and state regulatory review and assistance, and survey compliance matters. Under her leadership, AHCA focuses on delivering policy solutions to state agencies and the Arkansas legislature, with a special emphasis on quality care. During her tenure, AHCA has remained the state’s largest organization of long-term care providers, representing more than 90 percent of the licensed facilities in Arkansas. In 2023, Bunch was appointed to the Governor’s Advisory Council on Aging. She also serves on the Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Advisory Council, as well as a number of committees at both the state and national levels.

| Johnny Campbell Partner Mockingbird Bar & Tacos

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hen Johnny Campbell started out as a delivery driver in the pizza business in 1988, he immediately knew that the restaurant and hospitality industry was in his blood. For him, experiencing the weekend rushes and putting smiles on people’s faces is still as exciting and rewarding as it was 35 years ago. After high school, Campbell left for the United States Marine Corps, where he served for eight years before returning to the hospitality industry within moments of his discharge. During the last 35 years, he has served in numerous capacities, including a 12-year stint as the vice president of a regional pizza chain that grew to 435 locations during his tenure. Other positions have included owner, operator and manager of various dining concepts, from fast-food restaurants to fine dining. Currently, he and his wife own a carryout and delivery pizza location he started out in during high school, as well as being a partner in Mockingbird Bar & Tacos in Little Rock, and there are three more concepts on the horizon.

| Marshall Butler Director of Commercial Services Pinnacle Advisors

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arshall D. Butler, MBA, APMA, AAMS, is a seasoned financial advisor with a wealth of knowledge and experience in the world of finance.

Butler’s specialization lies in business financial management, efficient portfolio management, and mergers and acquisitions for small businesses.

His strategic insights and financial solutions have made him a trusted advisor for businesses seeking to optimize their financial performance and navigate complex financial transactions, as well as the individual owners for their personal planning.

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Bill SOWELL What is your secret to success?

It comes down to two key things: hiring the right people and creating a growth work culture. While recruiting and hiring may not be an exact science, over the years, I’ve developed a personal approach that increases the likelihood of finding the “right people, right seat,” as we like to say. I have a natural ability for finding tremendously talented individuals who weren’t actively seeking new opportunities.

These types of team members really enjoy working at a growing firm that gives them challenges, along with career opportunities. This dual approach — strategic recruitment and a nurturing work culture — has been instrumental in driving our firm’s success and solidifying our position in the industry.

What is an alternate path you could have taken if things had worked out differently?

I ventured into the airline industry right after college, and I genuinely enjoyed the diverse roles I took on, mostly centered around customer service. My departure from the industry stemmed from the turbulence it faced, with major bankruptcies like Braniff Airlines, Continental Airlines and United Airlines.

This experience taught me a valuable lesson about working for large public companies in unpredictable sectors — they can make you feel like just a number.

I was not going to make that mistake in my company. At Sowell Management, the people matter.

Who were your mentors or inspirations?

One mentor stands out as profoundly influential in my life — Allan Mendel. Our connection began at Rotary, and our fast friendship evolved into a professional partnership when we co-founded MendelSowell Capital Management. Allan, a former executive at a large bank trust department, possessed a calm demeanor and a keen business acumen that left a lasting impact on me. Despite his stature, he was a gentle giant, and working with him was an invaluable experience.

Unfortunately, Allan passed away a few years ago, but the lessons he shared and the time we spent together will forever shape my journey.

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INFLUENCERS

Tiffany Wilkerson A FAIR BET

By Dwain Hebda

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he weight of history was not lost on Tiffany Wilkerson, who, in 2023, was named the Arkansas State Fair’s first female, first Black and youngest-ever general manager, but she knew the appointment was only the beginning; the real coronation would come 10 months later, during her 21st state fair and her first as GM. “I knew [the job] was going to be a challenge,” she said. “I knew I was going to have to prove myself, but at the same time, I had support from the right people, so I wasn’t really worried.

My board is very supportive. They have really let me go in the role and take it on, but I’m still able to lean on them, which I definitely appreciate.”

By that and any other measurement, Wilkerson validated every hope placed in her leadership when the state fair enjoyed the largest attendance in its long history, welcoming nearly 560,000 guests. At the same time, changes to the attendance policy — specifically a curfew for unaccompanied juveniles — meant the fair ran smoother than many of its lesser-attended predecessor events.

“We started working on that [youth curfew] last year, and that was very successful,” she said. “All of the positive things that I’ve heard from people about feeling very comfortable coming out late — everybody from our security to our law enforcement just jumped in to make it run. It ran smoothly. We didn’t have any problems. That was very good.”

Wilkerson is quick to deflect a lot of the credit for the State Fair’s 2023 success to the vendors, the midway company, her own staff and the weather, but her influence on all but the last cannot be understated. In her two-plus decades at the fair, Wilkerson has worked in virtually every department, routinely taking on tasks that stretched the boundaries of her job description. That experience paid off handsomely as general manager.

“In the past, I’ve always been eager to learn different areas within the fair,” she said. “Any type of challenge, anything new, any opportunity that came up, I wanted to be involved. That took me from working with the commercial vendors to working with JAN UA RY 2 024

Tiffany Wilkerson (Photos provided)

the concessions. Something new that I took on was developing our ticket program when we started scanning tickets at the gate, and I ended up being gate sales manager. Moving within the industry is where I formed those different relationships.”

Wilkerson, 40 and a mother of two, grew up in Little Rock and attended Central High School, where she already showed the makings of a leader.

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I’ve always been eager to learn different areas within the fair. Any type of challenge, anything new, any opportunity that came up, I wanted to be involved. lenges, which she is first to admit.

“It was a little different,” she said. “For one, I’ve always been there, working in the background, doing what needed to be done. I’m not a big person that likes being in the public eye, so that was different for me to work with the media this year.

“It was also a challenge, coming into the role of a leader, having to make those tough decisions. I grew up kind of being more of a people pleaser, so it has been a challenge. I just took the personal out of it. It’s a business, and in order for it to succeed, this is what I have to do.”

Like every general manager preceding her, Wilkerson is keenly aware that as big an event as the state fair is, there are still 11 more months of the year to think about when it comes to maximizing utilization of the fairgrounds assets. One look at the 2024 calendar of events shows she also succeeds in that regard.

“Scheduled for 2024, we already have five events scheduled in the coliseum,” she said. “The Hall of Industry is rented every weekend except for two through April already.

“We also have ongoing things on the grounds and, hopefully, get that word out more. We make improvements to the grounds every year. We’re adding new flooring to the coliseum that will allow us to transition events quicker. We have to move dirt in and out for shows or rodeos, and with this, we will put a floor on top of the dirt. That will allow us to change over quickly.”

Looking back on her successful career, Wilkerson said she would advise someone looking to follow in her footsteps to approach their work with an attitude that embraces challenges.

“Go in to learn and challenge yourself,” she said. “I started off answering phones, and I just did whatever they gave me. Even as general manager, there was a lot that was new for me. I got to work more closely with other sides of the grounds, such as the pageant, the livestock, the creative arts, that I hadn’t in my years before. I’d been so involved with everything else on the front side of the grounds, it was a challenge to move around and do a whole lot more.

“Always keep an open mind; you never know what a job is or where it can lead until you get there.”

“I was involved in student council,” she said. “Even as far back as junior high school, there used to be a group that took two students from each school, and they went to the [state] Capitol and met with the governor. I used to be a part of that, as well. I took on leadership roles within our dance groups at the school too. I’ve always tried to put myself in front and be a voice of different areas.”

After graduation, she went directly into the workforce, landing at the state fair as a receptionist. It was a career that almost did not happen. Like many people, she attended the fair while she was growing up and was under the impression the only time the organization operated was during the annual October event.

“My grandmother actually stayed right across the street, on Summit,” she said. “It was just kind of the thing to do to go to her house, park there [and] walk to the fair every year.

“When I was sent out to the fairgrounds on an interview, I was like, ‘Uh no, I want a full-time job.’ They were like, ‘It is full time.’”

As her career began to unfold into roles with more and more responsibility, Wilkerson never lost touch with the idea that the heartbeat of the fair was families attending together as hers did.

That attitude was on ready display in her role as general manager, and it paid off big in 2023.

“I really wasn’t a big ride person as a kid,” she said. “I really hated the midway because I was afraid of it. I came to the fair because my family went, and I enjoyed just being out there, the atmosphere, the food. I was a big funnel cake fan, loved corn dogs.

“Last year, we saw all those families coming back, and I think the families coming back really helped our numbers. For some families, it’s about getting together that one time of year. For a lot of families, they couldn’t travel over the summer, couldn’t afford it, and it kept that money here. They came out to the fair, and they used that as their vacation. Families are what it’s all about, and we’re just going to continually improve on that.”

Wilkerson’s successful first year as GM did not come without hiccups and growing pains; stepping from a team-member role to the top of the organizational chart is never without its chalARM O N E YA ND P O L I T I C S .COM

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Clatworthy had an opportunity to see true care and compassion firsthand. She watched her parents care for her grandmother, who eventually came to live with them so she could age in place and be surrounded by people who loved her. With such life experiences growing up, Clatworthy realized she has a deep connection to older adults, as well as those in need of care. She said her family’s approach to life and legacy of helping those in need is what led her to a passion for caring for others. Looking back on her career decisions, Clatworthy said it was not her Bachelor of Science, attending nursing school, working as a student nursing assistant or even working in surgery that led her to where she is today.

Instead, it was a combination of all those career choices, supported by the backdrop of her formative years with her family, that led her to become owner of Elder Independence in 2014. Clatworthy is a certified dementia practitioner with the National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners. She also studied under Teepa Snow to earn her Positive Approach to Care Trainer and Positive Approach to Care Consultant certifications.

| Charisse Childers Executive Director Arkansas Division of Workforce Services

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harisse Childers, Ph.D., was appointed by former Gov. Asa Hutchinson in 2019 and reappointed by Gov. Sarah Sanders in 2023 to serve as the director of the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services. In this role, she oversees the state’s workforce system, which includes the division’s programs and grants. She previously served as the director of the Arkansas Department of Career Education from 2015 to 2019, and as the executive director of Accelerate Arkansas, a statewide group of business and education leaders dedicated to increasing the per capita income of Arkansas to the national average, from 2006 to 2015. The Arkansas Division of Workforce Services includes the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act core programs and consolidates the Title 1-IV WIOA programs to ensure coordination among all core partner programs: youth, adult and dislocated worker services; the Arkansas Adult Education and Family Literacy Act programs; Wagner-Peyser Employment Services; unemployment insurance; the Division of Services for the Blind (Vocational Rehabilitation); and Arkansas Rehabilitation Services (Vocational Rehabilitation). Childers earned her bachelor, master and specialist degrees from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and a doctorate in public policy from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. With 30 years of work and personal experience in education, business, government, nonprofits and economic development, she has been recognized for her leadership at the state and federal levels, most recently being appointed to the Workforce Information Advisory Council of the U.S. Department of Labor.

| Dale Cole Chairman and CEO First Community Bank

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ale Cole is chairman and CEO of First Community Bank, which has grown from a single branch in Batesville to 30 locations in Arkansas and southern Missouri. Cole was one of the original board members and joined in August 1997.

After beginning his financial career in Dallas in 1974, he helped found First Community Bank by going door to door to collect nearly $3.5 million from shareholders. First Community employs 575 professional bankers and reported assets of $2.7 billion as of Sept. 30, 2023.

| Marvin Childers

TULATIONS M President The Poultry Federation

arvin Childers has served as the president of the Poultry Federation, a trade organization that has represented the poultry and egg industry in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri since 2007. Childers considers it an honor to lead an organization ation where the industry provides billions of dollars to the state’s economy. of Directors, and members Childers is a boardof member of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and co-chair ould like to congratulate Marvin of the chamber’s tax committee. He also serves as a board member of the Arkansas 4-H Foundation. In 2020 p, on being selected as one of and 2021, Childers served on the Governor’s Economic Recovery fluencers of the Year.

Task Force with a focus on agriculture issues. Childers served as an Arkansas state representative from 2001 through 2006 and has practiced law with Friday, Eldredge & Clark since 2000.

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| John C. Collins Partner Collins, Collins & Ray

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ohn C. Collins, a partner at Collins, Collins & Ray in Little Rock, has extensive experience on many sides of the justice system. His career began in law enforcement, where he served as a field training officer, patrolman, investigator and instructor of an alcohol education program. He has served as a prosecutor, defense attorney, special judge and as an educator, both training judges and teaching law students at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law. He is a founding member and currently president-elect of the DUI Defense Lawyers Association. Collins is also a member of the Arkansas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Texas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Inns of Court and the American Chemical Society. He received the Client Distinction Award from Martindale.com/Lawyers.com in 2013, was named by Thomson Reuters as a Rising Star 2011 and has been named a Super Lawyer by Thomson Reuters for several years.

He is a published author of the DWI book used in Arkansas and published by Lawyer & Judges Publishing Co.

SAVE THE DATE: JUNE 21-22, 2024

| Kim Clatworthy

k your calendars and join us at the Rogers Owner vention Center in Rogers, Arkansas for Home Care 64th AnnualElder PoultryIndependence Festival. Get ready to dle up for a feathured adventure that will aised in Hot Springs by parents who out of this world!

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owned a lake resort they operated with her two older sisters, Kim Clatworthy, owner of Elder Independence Home www.thepoultryfederation.com Care in Bryant, has been in the hospitality industry her entire life. Growing up, JAN UA RY 2 024

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Exceptional Care When You Need It Most At Conway Regional, we are growing to ensure all of your healthcare needs are met right here in Conway.

When your family needs emergency care, our board-certified providers will give you the comprehensive care you deserve when you need it most. When you’re facing an emergency, trust the care you’ll find at Conway Regional Medical Center.

Pictured: Megan Russell, MD

Conway Regional Health System congratulates our Chief Executive Officer

MAT T TROUP for being named one of Arkansas Money & Politics’ 2024

INFLUENCERS OF THE YEAR

| Patrick Curry President Allegiance Title of Arkansas

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atrick Curry is the president and founder of Allegiance Title of Arkansas. Under his guidance, the company has become known for its customer-centric approach and forward-thinking solutions. Curry also serves as the chief operating officer for AllFirst title companies based in Tulsa, Okla., which has roughly 30 offices and operations in Oklahoma and New Mexico. With a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Colorado State University and a master’s in taxation from the University of Denver, Curry has cultivated a foundation of financial knowledge and expertise. He began his career at Deloitte Tax in Denver as a certified public accountant in 2001, specializing in real estate partnerships and real estate investment trusts. In 2005, he moved to Arkansas to work at Waco Title Co., where he spent 15 years and held the roles of accounting controller, COO, and, finally, president and CEO. It was at Waco that he developed a reputation for operational effectiveness and customer service excellence. Curry founded Allegiance Title in 2021 with a desire for a smaller, more interpersonal experience with staff and customers. He has leveraged his past and current professional experiences to invest in industrychanging software and technology such as PropertySync. Over the past two years, PropertySync has become a title industry standard for real estate document storage. Curry currently serves on an advisory board of directors for First National Bank of Northwest Arkansas and was appointed by former Gov. Asa Hutchinson to the Electronic Recording Commission for Arkansas.

| Scot Davis CEO Arkansas Urology

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cot Davis has been the CEO of Arkansas Urology since 2013. Coming to Arkansas Urology with more than 20 years of experience in physician practice management, Davis also worked for Baptist Medical Group in Memphis, Tenn., and Northeast Arkansas Clinic in Jonesboro. He is a member of the Arkansas Medical Group Management Association and the American Medical Group Association, as well.

| Melissa Dawson CEO The Centers

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elissa Dawson, CEO of the Centers, is passionate about transforming health care by streamlining services, reducing barriers to access, and improving the mental, emotional and physical well-being of Arkansans. Under Dawson’s leadership, the Centers has expanded its services to include comprehensive and integrated care that meets evolving community needs. Notably, Dawson has developed a nationally recognized program to help victims of human trafficking. The Centers’ human trafficking treatment program is the only residential program in the state that helps minors process and overcome trauma. Focused on education, prevention and treatment, the Centers has helped hundreds of survivors from Arkansas and across the country and is actively JAN UA RY 2 024

working with other states to replicate the human trafficking program’s success. A native Arkansan, Dawson received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and history and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Dawson is a member of the federal Administration for Children and Families Region VI Human Trafficking Work Group and the Arkansas Human Trafficking Council.

| Bryan Day Executive Director Port of Little Rock

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ryan Day leads the Little Rock Port Authority. Prior to working in this position, Day spent 20 years working for the city of Little Rock. During his time with the city, he served as assistant city manager and director of Little Rock Parks & Recreation.

Day received both his undergraduate and Master of Public Administration degrees from University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

| Stephen “Fred” Divers Medical Oncologist Genesis Cancer and Blood Institute

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r. Stephen “Fred” Divers is a boardcertified medical oncologist at Genesis Cancer and Blood Institute, a community-based practice in Hot Springs. Over his tenure in medicine, he has become an advocate for not only his cancer patients, but for community oncology practices across the nation. Community oncology practices help keep quality cancer care affordable and accessible at the local level, which is where most patients receive care and treatments. Divers is passionate about driving this mission forward and ensuring the viability of community practices so patients can receive the care they deserve. To have a greater impact, he is on the Community Oncology Alliance’s board of directors, an organization dedicated to supporting community oncology practices and patients, and he serves as American Oncology Network’s chief medical officer and vice chairman of the board of managers, a nationwide network comprised of community oncology physicians and practices.

Divers is a sought-after speaker on the topic of community oncology and uses this platform to educate on the benefits of accessible local cancer care. His dedication to patients and community oncology is profound, and his mission to advocate for community oncology has ignited change for the better for both physicians and patients in these settings.

| V. Dexter Doyne President and CEO Doyne Construction Co.

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Dexter Doyne is a Little Rock native who began his construction company in 1983. Although this business did not relate to Doyne’s career aspirations in filmmaking, it was a natural outgrowth of another of his priorities, supporting his family. In 1972, Doyne graduated from Parkview Arts Science Magnet High School in Little Rock and moved to California, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in filmmaking from San Francisco State University. In

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Gar LILE What is your secret to success?

I haven’t found any secrets to success yet.

The best advice I can give is to be early to rise, hard working and eager to learn. Who you surround yourself with is also crucial.

I’ve been very fortunate to work for and with some great businessmen and women in Arkansas and beyond.

How did your education prepare you for your career?

The college business courses and investment analysis and valuation courses I took after college definitely laid a quality foundation. However, I believe that my jobs as a farm laborer, timber cruiser and real estate appraiser have better prepared me and our firm to be better “investment advisors” to our clients for our industry niche.

INFLUENCER President and Principal Broker, Lile Real Estate

CONGRATULATIONS

to Coach Darrell Walker for being named as one of Arkansas Money & Politics’ 2024 Influencers of the year!

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1977, Doyne returned to Arkansas to help his ailing father with the family’s housing rental and rehabilitation business, and from this humble and selfless start grew Doyne Construction Co. Over the past 39 years, DCCI has grown into a multi-milliondollar commercial construction company that performs all types of construction projects throughout Arkansas and in the surrounding states. Some notable Doyne Construction projects include the Clinton School of Public Service at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, the Little Rock Nine Historic Monument on the Arkansas State Capitol grounds, Little Rock Southwest High School and the iconic Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts in Little Rock. Some of Doyne’s community and professional associations include the Little Rock Port Authority board of directors, Little Rock Regional Chamber executive board and serving as past commissioner of the Pulaski County Planning Commission. Doyne also continues to fuel his first love, filmmaking, through the Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute, where he served as the 2003 board chair and remains a regular at its annual October film festival.

| Chris Fowler President Fowler Foods

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hris Fowler has served as president of Fowler Foods in Jonesboro for more than 35 years. His parents, Jama and Wallace Fowler, started the business in 1965 by purchasing a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, and by 1985, the company had grown to include 93 KFCs. The company sold all but four restaurants prior to the founders’ retirement, but Chris Fowler has returned the company to its former prowess, and as of 2018, the company owned 88 KFCs and a Taco Bell in an eight-state area.

| David Fuqua Partner Fuqua Campbell

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orn in Baton Rogue, La., David Fuqua grew up abroad but returned to the United States to complete his education. He graduated with honors from the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville in 1980 and has practiced law in central Arkansas since that time, developing his practice and legal skills in a variety of areas, including general litigation, commercial law and litigation, personal injury defense, employment and civil rights defense, employment law and litigation, and agricultural and commodities law. In addition, Fuqua has served for more than 25 years as a mediator and arbitrator.

| Price C. Gardner Managing Partner Friday, Eldredge & Clark

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rice C. Gardner serves as managing partner of Friday, Eldredge & Clark, which has offices in Little Rock and Rogers.

He joined the firm in 1989 and focuses on corporate and tax matters, mergers and acquisitions, real estate transactions and financing, and other related matters. He was appointed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson to the Arkansas State University System Board of Trustees in 2017 and has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America and Chambers and Partners in several different practice areas for many years. He is a member of the Arkansas Bar Association, the Arkansas Bar Foundation, the American Bar Association, the Arkansas Society of Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He is currently a member of Fifty for the Future and a former board member of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre in Little Rock, the American Heart Association and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Arkansas.

| Shane Frazier Regional Vice President Universal Health Services

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hane Frazier, MBA, BSN, R.N., has dedicated more than 24 years to improving health care for Arkansans.

Frazier started his career at CHI St. Vincent in Little Rock and spent many years in various leadership roles there, followed by nine years as the CEO for Pinnacle Pointe Behavioral Healthcare System in Little Rock. Currently, he is a regional vice president for Universal Health Services in Little Rock, where he works closely with the leaders of Pinnacle Pointe Behavioral Healthcare System, Rivendell Behavioral Health Services of Arkansas in Benton, the BridgeWay in North Little Rock and Springwoods Behavioral Health in Fayetteville to ensure the delivery of quality compassionate health care. He also works closely with the Pointe Outpatient Services, a network of 10 clinics serving the needs of Arkansas families throughout the state. Frazier serves as vice chair for the board of the Children’s Protection Center and serves on the community council for the Little Rock Air Force Base. He has a passion for ensuring Arkansas families receive the care they need to heal and thrive in life. Frazier holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and earned his bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.

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| Don Gooch Regional Director of Community Banks Arvest Bank

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on Gooch was born in Texas but raised in Enid, Okla., where he learned to love singing while driving back and forth to and from the family cattle ranch. He would sing hymns with his mother, father, brother and sister the whole way. Wherever Don is, he can be found singing.

He graduated from Baylor University in Texas with a degree in finance in 1987. Gooch joined the Arvest Bank Group in Oklahoma City in 2001. He currently lives in Hot Springs and serves as regional director of community banks for the central Arkansas footprint. He is particularly proud to work for an organization that has such a focus on the community, and Gooch has been active in his community. He currently serves as the chairman of the board of National Park Medical Center in Hot Springs. He sits on the First Step Arkansas, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce and Hot Springs Metro Partnership boards. Gooch is on the board of AR Kids Read and will co-chair the Spellebration event this year. The

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CONGRATULATIONS

Sarah Bailey

is honored in Arkansas Money & Politics’ prestigious 2024 Influencers of the Year.

Celebrate with us and honor her extraordinary work that continues to leave an influencial impact on Arkansas

5600 Kavanaugh Blvd., Ste. 10 | 501.255.5855 ARM O N E YA ND P O L I T I C S .COM

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organization focuses on childhood literacy, which is a real passion for Gooch, whose mother was a teacher. He was a member of last year’s Leadership Arkansas class. He is proud to be an Arkansan and proud to be from Hot Springs.

trustees for Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, the Arkansas Bar Foundation Board, the Young Men’s Service League Board and the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Model Jury InstructionsCivil.

| Bobby Gosser Jr.

| Tim Griffin

President and CEO Baldwin & Shell Construction Co.

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obby Gosser Jr. joined Baldwin & Shell Construction Co. in 1987, scaling the ranks from estimator to president and CEO. His notable achievements include recognitions such as Estimator and Recruiter of the Year from the American Society of Professional Estimators and Chairman of the Year from the Associated General Contractors of America in Arkansas. A member of ASPE and AGC Arkansas Chapter and current board member of the latter, Gosser is involved in the Ford Next Generation Learning Committee and participated in the Minority-owned Business Enterprises Construction Mentoring Program. Gosser committed to community service in his hometown of North Little Rock, where he has chaired the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce and the Heflin Family YMCA. In North Little Rock, he has also served in the Burns Park Athletic Association, the Rotary Club and as a board member of the North Little Rock School District. He is also a Little Rock Regional Chamber board member. Gosser has a Bachelor of Arts from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia and a Bachelor of Science in construction management from the University of Louisiana at Monroe. He is an active member of New Life Church Greater Little Rock. He is certified in health care construction, possesses a commercial environmental certification, and has been recognized by Arkansas Money & Politics and other publications.

He recently received the Ouachita Baptist University Alumni Milestone Award.

Arkansas Attorney General

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im Griffin was elected Attorney General of Arkansas in 2022, after being elected lieutenant governor in 2014 and 2018. He was chairman of the Republican Lieutenant Governors Association in 2019 and served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’ 2nd Congressional District from 2011 to 2015. During the George W. Bush presidential administration, he served as a U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Arkansas, special assistant to the president and deputy director of political affairs.

| Robert Hall Vice President Hugg & Hall

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obert Hall is vice president for Hugg & Hall, the Arkansas-based equipment company that now has offices in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas. The company was founded in 1956. With John Hugg, Hall purchased the company in 1990. The two have grown it into one of the leading companies of its kind in the region.

| John Harris President Coulson Oil Co.

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ohn Harris is president of Coulson Oil Co. in North Little Rock, which was founded by Ray and Lois Colson in 1969.

As president of Coulson Oil, Harris has continued the company’s tradition of philanthropy by contributing to charitable causes such as Shell’s Force for Good initiative. He has a Bachelor of Arts in business administration and management from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and a juris doctor from the University of Arkansas School of Law.

| Julie DeWoody Greathouse Managing Member PPGMR Law

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ulie DeWoody Greathouse is Arkansas proud. Hailing from Hope, she attended college and law school in the state. She grew a successful law practice while also managing PPGMR Law. Over the past decade, Greathouse has been named to The Best Lawyers in America for appellate practice, environmental law, litigation-environmental and commercial litigation. She was selected multiple times as Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers in environmental law. She received the Arkansas Bar Association’s Golden Gavel Award for service in 2019-2020 and was named to the Top 50 list of Women by Mid-South Super Lawyers and Arkansas Super Lawyers for civil litigation. Greathouse’s passion for law practice has taken her to state and federal courts around the country, including to the United States Supreme Court. She is admitted to practice in Arkansas and before the U.S. District Court and the eastern and western districts of Arkansas, as well as the northern district of California, the Court of Federal Claims, the United States Court of Appeals for the 8th and federal circuits, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Greathouse serves on the board of JAN UA RY 2 024

| RJ Hawk Principal Broker and Owner Realty ONE Group Pinnacle

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J Hawk has worn many hats throughout his career. He jumped into radio broadcasting right after college, working for 14 years at 103.7 the Buzz. He is still the lead broadcaster for the station’s high school football game of the week and serves as the lead broadcaster for the Arkansas high school football, basketball and baseball state championships on Arkansas PBS. In addition to proudly representing the people of Alexander, Benton, Bryant and Shannon Hills as a state representative since 2022, Hawk helped raise nearly $500,000 for local charities. Hawk has always been deeply involved in his community, and his approach to real estate is no different.

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Marshall D. BUTLER What is your secret to success?

Relationships. My ultimate objective is to surround myself with individuals who provide support, challenge my thoughts and offer diverse perspectives.

How did your education prepare you for your career?

Although formal education provides fundamental knowledge, I have found that hands-on experience is the best way to grow a career.

What is an alternate path you could have taken if things had worked out differently?

I tried to change my major to worship arts at one point. That would have certainly ended up differently.

Who were your mentors or inspirations?

My father has been in the industry for many years. He has always communicated openly, offered advice and allowed me to learn from his experiences.

Have you mentored others?

Occasionally, I notice my coworkers exhibit behavior similar to mine. I hope they’re adopting the good ones and not the bad ones.

What is your leadership style?

I always work alongside my staff and never direct them to take care of tasks that I should be doing myself.

In your experience, what is the secret to inspiring others to take action?

Empowering talented individuals to use their critical thinking skills is a great source of motivation and inspiration.

What has been the most challenging part of your work and the most rewarding?

The responsibility of a client relying on you and your expertise is a heavy weight. Watching them succeed after your assistance is incredibly validating.

INFLUENCER Director of Commercial Services, Pinnacle Advisors

Alongside other knowledgeable agents, Hawk opened Realty One Group Pinnacle in Bryant and has helped scores of longtime and prospective residents find their dream homes in central Arkansas. He relishes the opportunity to show people just what Benton, Bryant and the surrounding areas have to offer, and his deep understanding of the local community means that homebuyers can rest assured they are finding an ideal place to put down roots.

Surgery, a fellow in the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, and a member of the Arthroscopy Association of North America and the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons.

Hefley has been voted Best of the Best for many years by readers of AY About You and several other statewide publications. He has led numerous clinical research trials over the past 25 years. In addition, he also serves on design teams to develop new joint-replacement implants and has served as team physician for many area schools over his career. He is also chairman of the board and co-founder of MedEvolve, a software company in Little Rock that serves physician practices across the nation.

| Adam Head President and CEO CARTI

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dam Head joined CARTI as president and CEO in September 2017. He has served in health care leadership roles for 20 years, including four years as an officer in the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps. Head has been instrumental in guiding CARTI to achieve its vision of being a cancer-treatment destination.

Under his leadership, the organization has experienced an unprecedented statewide expansion, particularly in areas with limited cancer services. As part of its mission to make trusted cancer care accessible for every patient CARTI serves with compassion, innovation and purpose, CARTI has grown from 12 treatment locations in 11 communities to 18 locations in 16 communities. Since November 2018, CARTI has opened five cancer centers in Conway, Russellville, North Little Rock, El Dorado and Pine Bluff. In June 2023, CARTI unveiled the state’s only cancer-focused surgery center at its flagship campus in Little Rock. Over the past six years, Head has also spearheaded the expansion of CARTI’s patient services. He has overseen the addition of specialty clinics, including CARTI Urology, CARTI Audiology, CARTI Dental, the Breast Center at CARTI, Cancer Genetics and Risk Management, and CARTI Imaging North. Head is a student of leadership theory, culture establishment, team development and organizational system improvement.

| Judy Simmons Henry Business Litigation Chair Wright Lindsey Jennings

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udy Simmons Henry has been engaged in an active complex business litigation practice for more than 35 years and serves in management at Wright Lindsey Jennings in Little Rock as the law firm’s business litigation chair. She joined WLJ in 1988 after serving in the federal judiciary for three years. Highlighted clients include the CEO of the Miss America Pageant, NCAA Division 1 coaches, national banks, investment companies, construction industry businesses, public utilities, religious organizations, former cult followers, health care providers and a transportation company. Henry has served as a National Football League Players Association Certified Contract Advisor and is the firm’s sports law practice leader, for which she represents Division 1 coaches in contract negotiations and student athletes in compliance, NCAA eligibility and contract transactions. Most recently, Henry has led the charge for name, image and likeness and publicity rights representation of both businesses and athletes across Arkansas and regionally. Her diverse legal career has garnered cover stories in Super Lawyers and Arkansas Money & Politics, and she is frequently featured or quoted in local, regional and national publications. Simmons Henry is listed among The Best Lawyers in America, Mid-South Super Lawyers and Chambers USA Leaders in their Field. Super Lawyers has recognized her as a Top 50 Arkansas Lawyer since 2006 and as an Outstanding Mid-South Female Business Litigation Lawyer since 2012. She is an inducted fellow of Litigation Counsel of America. The Pulaski County Bar Association honored her with its Vincent Foster Outstanding Lawyer Award in 2021, and the Arkansas Bar Association honored her for her dedication to providing continuing legal education to her peers. In the community, Judy recently completed two consecutive terms as chair for the Baptist Health board of trustees, where she is a member of the executive committee. She has served on the board for more than 20 years.

| Dr. William “Bill” Hefley Orthopedic Surgeon and Founder Bowen Hefley Orthopedics and Arkansas Surgical Hospital

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r. William “Bill” Hefley Jr., is an orthopedic surgeon and founder of Bowen Hefley Orthopedics in Little Rock and Arkansas Surgical Hospital in North Little Rock. Hefley formed Bowen Hefley Orthopedics with Dr. Scott Bowen in 1997. Since that time, the group has grown to nine surgeons and 12 mid-level providers. Hefley is also a founding partner at Arkansas Surgical Hospital, a physicianowned specialty hospital. Hefley specializes in minimally invasive surgeries of the knee, hip and shoulder, including arthroscopic and joint-replacement procedures. He also treats sports-related conditions, such as ACL and rotator cuff tears. He is a native of Little Rock who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry from Harding University in Searcy in 1981 and a medical degree from Vanderbilt School of Medicine in Tennessee in 1985. Hefley has been published in journals such as The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. He is certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery, is a diplomate of the American Board of Orthopedic JAN UA RY 2 024

| Brock Hoskins President and CEO Garver

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rock Hoskins is chair of Garver’s management committee and became the Arkansas company’s ninth president and CEO during the firm’s 100th year.

Founded in 1919, Garver is an employeeowned multi-disciplined engineering,

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Mark AMOX What is your secret to success?

I am not sure I would call it a secret, but I have always believed if you focus on your relationships with the people around you — family, friends, co-workers and customers — and always strive to do the right thing, success will follow.

Health care for me is a calling, and I believe serving others is the highest honor.

What is an alternate path you could have taken if things had worked out differently?

I originally went to school to become a music teacher. I have a great admiration for our educators and the work they do every day teaching our children.

Had health care not been on my radar thanks to my mother, who was a pediatric nurse, I would have probably been a band director.

INFLUENCER President and CEO, Unity Health

CONGRATULATIONS Charisse Childers

is honored in Arkansas Money & Politics’ prestigious 2024 Influencers of the Year.

Join us in celebrating Charisse Childers and her extraordinary work that continues to shape a brighter future for our beloved state.

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INFLUENCERS

From Outsiders to Kingmakers IMPACT MANAGEMENT GROUP MARKS 25 YEARS

By Dwain Hebda

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“That’s what most lobbyists do. It’s a communication exercise with the members of the general assembly, trying to get a bill out of committee or a bill passed on the floor. It’s communication with agency directors, trying to get some mundane piece of budget moved around so a client can implement a program, or it’s trying to catch the governor for just a minute or two. It’s a lot of detective work, if you will. It’s not deals over golf and drinks. Those things certainly happen, but Hollywood overly romanticizes that.”

ichard Bearden and Terry Benham receive a visitor, one of the last appointments of the year, in an elegantly understated conference room high above Little Rock’s downtown. Three walls are decorated with mementos of past lobbying battles won, including photos of client dignitaries gathered around governors and other political heavies. On the other wall is a bank of oversized windows that, from up high, provides the sensation of floating on the cold, clear air of the stunning outdoor vista.

The view is one of the perks of the duo being very, very good at what they do and skillfully guiding their firm, Impact Management Group, through 25 years of shifting market and political waters at their choppiest and most perilous. In the aggregate, a quarter century of campaign direction, government-relations work and corporate consulting tickles the imagination with visions of backroom intrigue, political machinations and congressional delegates perennially on speed dial, a daily John Grisham-esque thriller come to life.

The longtime business partners laugh out loud at this Hollywood-manufactured image of their stock and trade. Getting here, they said, was a whole lot more grit than Grisham.

“I do want to tell you one funny thing. My mother has a Hollywood version of what I do,” Bearden said. “‘Did you meet with the governor today? Were you on the phone with the senator?’”

No, Mother, I was in the back of the committee room, trying to see the bill get passed. Sen. So-and-So or Rep. So-and-So was in the room so they could make the motion on the floor.

JAN UA RY 2 024

FOUNDING PRINCIPLES That said, the fact that Bearden’s and Benham’s venture is not only still around all these years later but thriving is one of the great underdog stories to be had in Arkansas. In 1999, the state’s great red revolution of today was in its earliest stages under then-Gov. Mike Huckabee, only the third Republican governor in Arkansas since Reconstruction. Forming a conservative-leaning firm bent on winning elections and shaping public policy in a state so deeply blue from its inception felt akin to selling cold-weather gear in the South — sure, there are snowfalls in Arkansas now and again, but hardly enough to make a living selling shovels.

However, for the two native-born, lifelong conservative Arkansans — Benham from Benton, Bearden from Smackover — being outside the reigning political party was nothing new, and given their long-held political philosophies, representing anything other than conservative candidates lacked credibility

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at best and felt downright disingenuous at worst.

“I’ve always been a conservative, just my own personal beliefs in smaller government,” Benham said. “I was always pretty well-grounded in my principles and what I believed in, and I was a little bit idealistic, as most 20-year-olds working in politics are.

“The term ‘conservative’ has a much different meaning now than it did 25 years ago, or at least a new meaning is trying to be forged. Most people forget that most [Arkansas] Democrats 25, 30 years ago were conservative Democrats. It wasn’t the hard left and the hard right back then. There was a lot of center. I miss it. I miss the hard center where we would fight like cats and dogs down at the [Arkansas] Capitol, but at 5 o’clock, we’d all go have a beer. Those were a lot easier times to get things done.”

The partners met while working at the Republican Party of Arkansas, where Bearden was executive director and Benham was his political director. Bearden left the party to hang his own shingle, and Benham headed south to head the Republican Party of Louisiana, during which time he also created Impact Management Group. The fledgling company landed a big project, and Benham asked Bearden for help, a working relationship that operated so well that after Benham moved back to Arkansas, the duo merged their firms.

“We went out and bought some secondhand furniture and some secondhand pictures to put on the wall and had a small office space over on Spring Street [in Little Rock],” Bearden said. “We were doing political work, but there weren’t very many Republicans, so we had a very small base, and we had some corporate clients.

“Years later, one of the principals of a Fortune 50 client that had hired us told Terry and I, ‘You know, we thought y’all had literally rented this little office to have a place for us to come to to meet.’ I said, ‘Why did you think that?’ He said, ‘Well, you had a couple phone books on the desk. You had some scattered sheets of paper.’ We had literally cobbled an office together from used furniture and stuff we brought from home — you know, bargain finds.”

Now, as then, IMG operates in an industry that is the ultimate meritocracy, where wins mean more business and losses can sink firms practically overnight.

Years of victories have given the company a track record to demonstrate its skill, as well as a solid reputation that has built a lengthy list of clients. In the early days, however, they were just another set of newcomers looking to earn their spurs.

“We started off as political consulting, and then grassroots efforts became kind of a big thing,” BenARM O N E YA ND P O L I T I C S .COM

Richard Bearden (Photo by Lori Sparkman)

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INFLUENCERS

the ultimate people person. People love to interact with him. He’s very social. No one wants to let him down. He’s just an enjoyable person to be around.

“I find myself of the other direction, and that’s not to say he’s not policy-minded and I’m not relationship-minded, but I live a little bit on the other end of the — Richard Bearden, spectrum. I’m more focused on policy isfounding partner of Impact Management Group sues, and I catch myself sometimes not being as relational as maybe I should be. I think where each of us lives on that spectrum is a good compleham said. “We were on the front end of that, on the tactical side ment to the others.” of it. Then 9/11 hit, but more importantly, the anthrax aspect Scott Pace, another 40-something and the fourth IMG partof 9/11, and 30 percent of our projects disappeared overnight. ner, agreed. The attorney, pharmacist and former vice president Suddenly, we’re looking at each other like, ‘I’m not sure how and CEO of the Arkansas Pharmacists Association said diversity we’re going to do this.’ That’s when we adjusted and went into of age does not begin to adequately describe the team’s varied government relations. skill set.

“We knew that we weren’t going to be one of the powerhous“We’ve all got our own individual subject matter expertise es, but we did know that we had a lot of strong relationships that lends really well together,” he said. “Terry and Richard with the few Republicans that were [in state government], and came from that political campaign background, and both of that mattered in certain committees.” them served as executive directors of state Republican parties.

The duo scored an important win in the early 2000s over proThey’ve got that in-the-trenches kind of political background posed tort reform legislation. Snubbed by colleagues working that is really helpful for Robert and I to rely on and learn from. on the business side of the issue, Benham and Bearden adjusted “Robert spent several years in D.C., working for national public on the fly. affairs companies, which I think has also been something that I’ve “All of our friends were on the business side of it, and we were learned from every day, and I worked in the nonprofit-association kind of patted on the head and told, ‘I think we’ve got it, fellas. world, running a trade association and bringing the health care That’s your corner over there,’” Benham said. “The other side and legal background. I think we all just kind of complement each needed an advocate, so we got hired. We locked [the measure] other with the skill sets that we bring to the table.” up, wouldn’t let it out of committee, got the part that our client Coon said it is a popular misconception that technology and cared about carved out and let the rest of it go through. social media have replaced the fundamentals of political cam“We had a lot of hard feelings from a lot of our good friends paigns, especially in a state like Arkansas. over that, but what it did was it sent a signal that these two young “Retail politics is still king. Candidates still have to be willfellas have got a little skill to them. All of a sudden, we started ing to get out and be active, interact with people at social setgetting more projects from that. That was a moment where we tings,” he said. “Knocking on a voter’s door is still as impactful turned a corner.” today as it has ever been and probably more so. There’s lots of new technology and tactics out there to help increase name ID, THE NEW GUARD and there’s obviously been a transition from traditional media As the company grew, it attracted its share of young talent, who to online media, social media and digital targeting in general. brought their own facets of expertise to the company’s operations.

Still, I think the door-knocking and interacting face-to-face with Robert Coon, managing partner, a South Carolinian who cut his a voter is fundamentally going to be the most persuasive thing teeth with a firm in Washington, D.C., by handling public affairs any candidate can do.” campaigns for corporations, trade associations and nonprofits, That is not to say IMG has not stayed abreast of technoljoined the compnay in 2005 among the first of the new guard ogy and analytics in its work, be it in a political campaign or whose individual talents blended seamlessly into the firm. in government relations on behalf of a company, nonprofit or “It’s less of a generational thing to me and more of a specother client. trum,” Coon said. “On one end, you have the people person, and “One thing that’s always been part of politics and always been on the other end, on the extreme, you have the policy wonk. We part of advocacy, even more so today, is public opinion research all live somewhere on that spectrum. I look at Richard, and he’s

A lot of times, we’re the connectors, the train conductor, whatever you want to call it, getting the client in front of the right people in state government.”

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and having the pulse of the community,” Coon said.

“Legislators want to know what the public thinks about issues they’re dealing with. A lot of issues that get dealt with at the legislative level in particular can be kind of obscure, and they’re not things that have a track record of public opinion data on them. I think elected officials want to know what the pulse of the public is on some of those things.

“That’s been an area where we’ve started doing more and more, trying to help our clients understand not only the best way to position an issue through public opinion research, but also being able to communicate to the folks that you’re interacting with where support or opposition of that issue will put them. That’s a continually growing part of the marketplace, both from a political standpoint and from an advocacy standpoint.”

Pace said the forward-looking view for the firm has less to do with any given industry or business sector but in how well such data is gathered and leveraged on behalf of clients.

“Public opinion research for candidates is important, but it is really important for individuals who are trying to advance a message. Frankly, legislators and regulators respond to good quality data that’s done in an objective, unbiased way,” he said. “It’s really a sophisticated way to get your point across. It’s not always a slam dunk that good data equals the right outcome, but it is certainly an advocacy tool that has gotten far more sophisticated in the last number of years. It’s a great arrow to have in your quiver.”

ONE-STOP SHOP As the reputation of the firm continued to expand its reach, additional professionals were added to round out the team. Among these are Megan Tollett, chief financial officer, Ashley Bearden Campbell, director of communications, and Shelly Dupré, a team member based in Baton Rouge, La. Each brought a unique background and valuable skill set to help manage the rapidly growing client list and played an important role in delivering the highest in customer service.

Dupré brought a large breadth of experience to IMG, including time in state government as a legislative aide and as a contract employee in the Louisiana lieutenant governor’s office, where she led public relations efforts on behalf of the state’s seafood industry following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. A registered lobbyist, she sees her role as a communicator tasked with getting out key information on com-

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Terry Benham (Photo provided)

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INFLUENCERS

Each client is different because it’s all based on what their objective is, what they’re trying to do and what relationships are important in that whole process.

when the party was starting to gain unprecedented traction in elections across the state. She looks at those days as great training for what was to come at IMG. “We were able to receive funding from — Terry Benham, so many different entities, and that was founding partner of Impact Management Group part of what I did at the state party was manage that money,” she said. “There are so many different rules that come along with how you can spend that money and accounting for it plex measures and gathering the opinion of the electorate in and just keeping so much documentation of that, so that was a response to those issues. She said the blend of talents at IMG is huge part of my job there.” one of the firm’s major advantages.

In her previous role, Tollett said, it was common to be the “I think it’s often very challenging for somebody to really unonly woman at the table in a roomful of her peers, which can exderstand the nuances of an issue based on what’s reported,” she hausts many women working in politics. She credits the inclusaid. “Many times, people are not aware of how they may be afsive environment of IMG for helping her keep her hand in the fected by specific legislation, and we often reach out to the grasindustry while reducing much of the stress that comes with it. stops or grassroots of people who could be affected and see what “Politics can burn you out when you’re working at the grasstheir understanding is and what their position is on those issues. roots level and all of that, and I knew by 2014 that I wanted to do “I think that’s where tapping into everybody’s experience [at something else,” she said. “Ultimately, I went with Impact ManIMG] is important. If you’re working with only a group of young agement Group because they had been one of our vendors when people who don’t necessarily have the depth of experience, I was at the state Republican Party, and they were great to work you’re missing something. If you work with just a group of older with. We all got along really well, and it seemed like a great fit people who don’t have the kind of nuances of today’s communifor me. It enabled me to stay involved in politics, doing my own cations environment, you’re missing out also.” thing without having to deal directly with as many candidates Bearden Campbell came to the firm in 2009, after interning and different entities.” with Little Rock advertising firm CJRW in the public affairs and advocacy sector. Today, she runs point on communications and THE FUTURE is also one of the firm’s registered lobbyists, a term she feels gets After 25 years, the firm’s docket has never been more full, and a bad rap from the general public.

Benham predicted the coming election cycles will do nothing to “When people hear the word ‘lobbying,’ there is a negative slow that momentum. While the stakes have never been highconnotation that immediately comes to mind,” she said. “I am er and the issues have never been more complex, both he and so proud that Impact Management, as a firm, is incredibly comBearden insist the fundamental things still apply in the little mitted to not only the formal ethics rules that are in place, but business that grew into a dominant player in its field. also from a personal standpoint. There are a lot of different ways “Here’s the thing, I think, to remember,” Bearden said. “It’s to lobby, and our firm is known for building true and genuine a small state. It is very much a relationship state based on trust relationships with each and every legislator, as well as makand expertise. Our client is always the most expert in the field, ing sure they’re provided with every viewpoint of the issue that but that client sometimes needs to connect with someone or get we’re working with. help from someone from the state. A lot of times, we’re the con“When I am approaching a legislator about an issue that we nectors, the train conductor, whatever you want to call it, getting want changed or passed, I make sure they not only have all the the client in front of the right people in state government.” statistics from our side, but I always talk to the lobbyists on the “Our firm represents pretty much every segment of the Arother side. I want to make sure we’re being transparent with the kansas economy,” Benham said. “Each client is different beinformation that we’re providing, but I also think it’s imporcause it’s all based on what their objective is, what they’re trytant for each and every legislator to make an informed decision ing to do and what relationships are important in that whole based on all of the information.” process. We have three legs to the stool, and that’s influence, On the surface, Tollett’s role as CFO appears the most tradiinformation and image. What we do is just what Richard said tional, largely governed as it is by generally accepted account— we connect, and we solve problems. That’s really what we ing procedures and state law, but here, too, there is more than do. We solve problems by connecting the people that need to meets the eye. She came to the firm in 2015, after a stint as execube talking to each other.” tive director for the Republican Party of Arkansas during a time

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Russ MARTIN What is your secret to success?

My faith, my family and my friends.

Whenever life is out of kilter, normally it is because I’ve let things get in the way of those priorities.

Who were your mentors or inspirations?

My dad and my two grandfathers. All of them had an incredible work ethic that I saw from an early age. They laid the foundation for me to work hard at whatever I was going to do.

In your experience, what is the secret to inspiring others to take action?

Leading by example. If I want people to adopt a new process, a new procedure or a new standard, it is best to show others that I am willing to follow the same new process, procedure or rule too.

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INFLUENCER Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer, Relyance Bank

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planning and environmental services firm with more than 1,200 employees across the United States. Hoskins’ leadership at Garver has been a major component in guiding the company through transformational growth, expanding into new markets and improving the Garver brand. Garver sits in the top 100 of the Engineering News-Record’s prestigious “Top 500 Design Firms” list and is consistently recognized as a best place to work.

| Gary Hudson Retired President and CEO Farmers & Merchants Bank

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ary Hudson served as president and CEO of Farmers & Merchants Bank, which is headquartered in Stuttgart, from 2010 until his retirement in 2020. He worked in banking for 40 years and served on the board of the Arkansas Bankers Association.

He was appointed to the Arkansas State Bank Board by former Gov. Mike Beebe and reappointed by former Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

He also serves as vice chairman of the board of trustees of the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University in Texas. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and a juris doctor at the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville.

| Howard Hurst President Tipton & Hurst

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oward Hurst spent his childhood working with the family business and is proud to carry on that tradition as president of Tipton & Hurst. His grandfather, Joseph B. Hurst, and David Tipton founded the floral company in downtown Little Rock in 1886. Hurst became vice president of the business after receiving his undergraduate degree in business administration and management from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 1980. Four years later, at 26, he stepped into the role of president, succeeding his father. Since then, Hurst has seen the company expand to Conway, North Little Rock and Pine Bluff with the help of the company’s talented staff.

| Charlotte John Principal Broker The Charlotte John Co.

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harlotte John started her real estate career in 1976. She had recently moved back to her hometown of Little Rock after living out of state for 12 years. After working as a real estate agent for four years at McKay & Co., she was hired by Faucett Real Estate to be a broker and manager of its new branch office.

In 1982, she decided to strike out on her own in the Prospect Building in Little Rock. Her late daughter-in-law, Melissa John, joined the company in 1994. It quickly outgrew the space and moved to the firm’s current location on Kavanaugh Boulevard in the Heights neighborhood of Little Rock. After a few years, Melissa took over the brokerage side of the business, and David JAN UA RY 2 024

John — Charlotte’s son and Melissa’s husband — took over the financial and administrative side. A branch office was established on Oak Street in the heart of downtown Conway. After the death of Melissa in late 2023, Jonie Burks was promoted to managing executive broker, and two other executive brokers — Lauren Clark and April Findlay — were given additional roles and duties.

Charlotte remains the principal broker, and she and David are involved in the day-to-day operations of the company. There are currently 45 Charlotte John agents. Their mission statement reads, in part, “to create positive real estate transactions for our buyers and sellers, as well as to develop long-lasting relationships with them.” The company is consistently ranked as one of the top real estate companies in Arkansas.

| Jordan P. Johnson Sr. Owner JPJ Consulting

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ith more than 20 years of communication consulting experience, Jordan P. Johnson Sr. has helped executives, companies, corporate boards, nonprofits and municipalities find their way. In addition, he helps companies navigate through crisis issues and economic development challenges. He served as the past chairman of the board for the Arkansas Foodbank and has recently served on the boards of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville National Alumni, Riverfest in Little Rock and Junior Deputy. Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Arkansas and a law degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law.

| Bill Jones CEO Sissy’s Log Cabin

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ill Jones is the CEO of Sissy’s Log Cabin, a family-owned and operated jewelry store with locations in Pine Bluff, the Little Rock Heights, the Promenade at Chenal in Little Rock, Jonesboro, Conway and Memphis, Tenn. With six locations overall, Sissy’s is the mid-South’s largest independently owned jewelry store. Starting in 1984 as a sales professional by day and a jeweler by night, Jones quickly found a love for jewelry and people. From weddings to anniversaries, birthdays and just because, Jones has enjoyed helping clients celebrate all of life’s special occasions. Today, that same love can be felt throughout each Sissy’s Log Cabin location. Known for its extraordinary service, selection, experience and quality, Sissy’s strives to make every customer who walks through the doors feel like family, something Jones has instilled in each of his employees. Jones is widely recognized for his design, industry leadership and community service. He is a National Jewelry Design Award winner and a retail member of the American Gem Trade Association.

Along with serving as an Arkansas Game and Fish Commissioner, he gives his time in a leadership capacity to several charitable organizations and regularly supports causes in the communities Sissy’s Log Cabin calls home.

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George B. McGILL What is your secret to success?

I believe that success lies in the power of listening. Effective communication is a two-way street. By actively listening to the needs, concerns, and interests of the people, I can tailor my words and actions to resonate with them.

Listening serves as the foundation for building trust and fostering meaningful connections.

How did your education prepare you for your career?

My education in public schools and the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville played a crucial role in preparing me for my careers in both business and government. I was equipped with essential skills, knowledge, and perspectives that have proven invaluable in navigating these professions.

What is an alternate path you could have taken if things had worked out differently?

I enjoyed teaching at the college level.

Educational consulting could have been a good path — working with educational institutions to provide guidance on curriculum development, teaching strategies or educational policy.

Who were your mentors or inspirations?

Robert Young Jr., the founder of ArcBest, provided the inspiration for building a business of my own.

Former Speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives B.G. Hendrix and Arkansas Rep. John Paul Hammerschmidt were my political guideposts.

Have you mentored others?

For more than 40 years, I have been actively involved with Fort Smith Boys & Girls Clubs and have mentored hundreds of young people and adults.

I also founded a youth leadership program in Fort Smith called the Round Table Golden Knights and Jewels.

INFLUENCER Mayor, City of Fort Smith

| Colbie Jones

| Chris Kane

Director Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission

Vice President of Business Development Delta Solar

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t 31, Colbie Jones is the youngest director to lead the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission. As director, she is charged with administering the Keep America Beautiful system in Arkansas by managing community networking activities and representing the state in national programs. Jones also communicates the mission of Keep Arkansas Beautiful through publicity, promotion, advertising, education and public appearances. Originally from Prattsville, Jones has served in a variety of roles, from crime reporter at the Hot Springs SentinelRecord to senior marketing account executive at MHP/Team SI in Little Rock. During her tenure at MHP/Team SI, she worked closely with nonprofit and government organizations, identifying and fostering relationships to increase reach and maximize resources. She also secured nearly 20 marketing and communications awards for her work for agency clients. Since starting as KAB director in 2022, the organization has been able to recruit cleanups in all 75 counties, a KAB record, as well as increase average annual volunteerism from 14,000 to 22,000 volunteers statewide. Additionally, Jones has been recognized as one of the Top 100 Women of Impact in Arkansas by the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas and one of the Top 100 Professionals by Arkansas Money & Politics.

Jones serves on the Arkansas Urban Forestry Council board, is vice chair of the Keep America Beautiful State Leaders Council and is a member of the Arkansas Environmental Education Association.

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Little Rock native, Chris Kane brings a local knowledge of Arkansas’ communities and business landscape from his career as a broadcast journalist.

Kane joined Delta Solar in Little Rock after a 12-year career with KATV Channel 7, where he served as a morning news anchor. At Delta Solar, Chris works to ensure client understanding and satisfaction with a solar investment as vice president of business development. He hopes to educate more community leaders about the benefits of solar technology and how it can provide value to their businesses or farms. Kane has the privilege of working with a spectacular team of industry leaders at Delta Solar and is honored to be able to work alongside them to provide the best client experience.

In addition to his role at Delta Solar, Chris is a member of the broadcast team for the University of Central Arkansas in Conway’s football team. He volunteers for the Little Rock Touchdown Club and the many awards it sponsors. He also serves as host and an emcee at many events around the state. Most notably, he has been the host of the Miss Arkansas Pageant for nearly a decade.

| Jim Keet Chairman JTJ Restaurants

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im Keet’s career began at Steak ‘n’ Ale and Winegardner & Hammons while studying at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Showing dedication, he became one of the youngest innkeepers in the Holiday Inn system at age 22. Keet and Gerald Hamra brought Wendy’s to Arkansas, opening 27 Wendy’s and Sisters Chicken & Biscuits restaurants and creating more than 1,200 jobs. Keet was then named chairman of Maxie’s of America and led a merger with Rally’s. He was co-founder and chairman of GuestHouse International, which was later acquired by Suburban Lodges of America. While leading Barnhill’s Steaks and Buffet, he oversaw the donation of 60,000 meals to the Gulf Coast for hurricane relief.

In 2008, Keet and his sons opened Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe in Little Rock, and Keet later served as president and CEO of the parent company, Taziki’s. Keet calls working with his sons the greatest privilege of his life. The Keets, alongside restaurateur Louis Petit, have garnered continuing acclaim for the elevatedcasual restaurant, Petit & Keet in Little Rock; for “Best New Restaurant” Cypress Social in North Little Rock; the expansion of projects like Waldo’s Chicken & Beer and Mt. Fuji Japanese Restaurant; the redevelopment of Breckenridge Village in Little Rock; and more. Today, Keet serves as chairman of the family’s JTJ Restaurants. Keet served in the Arkansas House of Representatives and state Senate and was the 2010 Republican gubernatorial nominee. He has served on more than 20 charitable boards, including Arkansas Children’s, Easterseals Arkansas and the Arkansas Literacy Commission. He currently serves as chairman of the Little Rock Advertising and Promotion Commission, the governing body of the Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau.

| Stan Jones Chairman Arkansas Game and Fish Commission

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s a lifelong hunter and farmer, good stewardship is critical to the foundation of Stan Jones. His life has revolved around taking care of that with which he has been entrusted, whether it be acreage for row crops or stands of timber for migrating waterfowl. Since his appointment to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission in 2017, Jones has brought his experience and passion for waterfowl hunting and conservation to the agency, helping inspire some of the boldest capital improvement projects in AGFC’s 108-year history. During his time as chairman of the commission, Jones has provided leadership in the beginning stages of the Craig D. Campbell Lake Conway Reservoir renovation, the largest lake renovation project in the agency’s history.

Jones, owner of Stan Jones Mallard Lodge in Lawrence County, has a deep and abiding passion for introducing new people to the outdoors and sharing his love for the beauty of God’s creation. “This is what it’s all about” is a common phrase in Jones’ vocabulary when stories of a mother harvesting her first deer or a boy enjoying his first duck hunt are shared during commission meetings. While he is content tending to his fields during harvest or sitting in a deer stand, Jones is people-focused and strives to make a genuine connection with guests at his lodge, AGFC staff and all those who cross paths with him.

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Arkansas Hospitality Association congratulates

Katie Beck CEO, Arkansas Hospitality Association (AHA)

CONGRATULATIONS MARVIN CHILDERS

PRESIDENT, the poultry federation On behalf of the staff, Board of Directors, and members of The Poultry Federation, we would like to congratulate Marvin Childers, the head of our coop, on being selected as one of Arkansas Money & Politics’ Influencers of the Year.

SAVE THE DATE: JUNE 21-22, 2024 Mark your calendars and join us at the Rogers Convention Center in Rogers, Arkansas for the 64th Annual Poultry Festival. Get ready to saddle up for a feathured adventure that will be out of this world!

Learn more about us by visiting www.thepoultryfederation.com ARM O N E YA ND P O L I T I C S .COM

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award by the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas and was named the 2020 Arkansan of the Year by Easterseals Arkansas.

| Judson Kidd Managing Partner Dodds, Kidd, Ryan & Rowan

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udson Kidd is managing partner of Little Rock law firm Dodds, Kidd, Ryan & Rowan. He has been practicing law since 1975 in the areas of family law, personal injury law, criminal law and medical malpractice.

Kidd has been recognized by Best Lawyers since 2001 and Mid-South Super Lawyers since 2006, and he has been given the highest peer rating issued by Martindale-Hubble for legal and ethical excellence. He is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers, American Board of Trial Advocates, American Association for Justice and more, and he has served as an Arkansas Supreme Court Special Justice.

| Gar Lile Founder and President Lile Real Estate

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| Ali Krisht, M.D., FACS

ar Lile is president of Lile Real Estate in Little Rock, which he founded in 1993 He is a licensed real estate broker in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas; an accredited land consultant; and a certified general appraiser in Arkansas. Lile is actively involved in the ownership and development of farms and recreational properties in Arkansas and has a hand in many major farm and recreational development projects. He is the managing partner of Lile Farming Co., which is actively engaged in farming row crops and rice.

Director Arkansas Neuroscience Institute at CHI St. Vincent

CEO Simmons First National Corp.

| George Makris Jr.

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li Krisht, M.D., FACS, is director of the Arkansas Neuroscience Institute at CHI St. Vincent North in Sherwood and chief editor of the Contemporary Neurosurgery journal. An acclaimed neurosurgeon, he was presented with the Herbert Olivecrona Award, one of the most prestigious awards for neurosurgery, in 2019. He is certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery and completed medical school and a residency at the American University of Beirut.

hen George Makris Jr. joined Simmons in 2013, the bank had operations in three states and total consolidated assets of about $2.1 billion.

Today, the company stretches across a sixstate footprint and has about $25 billion in assets. While serving as CEO of Simmons First National Corp., Makris has overseen the acquisition of numerous financial institutions. Previously, he worked with M.K. Distributors in Pine Bluff, a family-owned wholesale distribution business, and served as president from 1985 to 2012. Makris also was on the local board of Worthen Bank in Pine Bluff and its successors from 1985 to 1996, and he served as chairman of the board from 1994 to 1996. Makris currently serves as a member of the board of Jefferson Regional Medical Center in Pine Bluff and chairs the board of the Economic Development Corporation for Jefferson County. He has previously served on the boards of numerous local, state and national organizations, including several terms as chair. A alumnus of Rhodes College in Memphis, Makris also has a master’s degree from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

| Laura Landreaux President and CEO Entergy Arkansas

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aura Landreaux is president and CEO of Entergy Arkansas, a company that has helped power life in Arkansas for 110 years. She ensures Entergy Arkansas meets the power needs of about 730,000 customers every day. She is also responsible for driving the company’s financial and operational business results, customer service, safety, resource planning, economic development, employee development, and regulatory and governmental affairs. She became president and CEO in 2018.

She joined Entergy Arkansas in 2007 as senior counsel, practicing regulatory law for five years. She then became manager of regulatory affairs for Entergy Arkansas in 2012. She went on to have other leadership positions, including finance director and vice president of regulatory affairs, where she was responsible for interactions between Entergy Arkansas and the Arkansas Public Service Commission. Prior to joining Entergy, she was an attorney for Salt River Project, a water and electricity utility in Phoenix. She joined Salt River Project after spending several years in private practice at Quarles & Brady in Phoenix. An active member of the Arkansas nonprofit community, Landreaux currently serves on the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce board of directors.

She also serves as a board member for the Foundation of the Mid South, the Arkansas Research Alliance and Easterseals Arkansas.

She served as the chairperson of Junior Achievement of Arkansas’ 2019 Legacy Luncheon, was presented the 2019 Woman in Business JAN UA RY 2 024

| Nirvana Manning, M.D. Chair of Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

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r. Nirvana Manning is professor and chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine in Little Rock. She also serves as director of women’s health services at UAMS and is one of only nine providers in Arkansas to become a certified menopause practitioner. She is an elected member of the Arkansas Medical Society’s board of trustees who is serving her second two-year term and is an inaugural member of the Arkansas Maternal Mortality Review Committee, to which she was appointed by the governor of Arkansas. She also serves as a member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Council of University Chairs in Obstetrics and Gynecology, the North

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Tim GRIFFIN What is your secret to success?

My faith in Jesus Christ gives my life purpose, and that has contributed more than anything else to my success. My family, especially my wife, Elizabeth, my children, Mary Katherine, John and Charlotte Anne, and my parents continue to provide indispensable love, support and encouragement.

How did your education prepare you for your career?

My educational experience taught me critical thinking. I attended educational institutions where there weren’t many conservatives; as a result, I learned to defend my positions and perspectives in a way that I may not have had I attended institutions where more of my peers agreed with me. Throughout my educational experience, I was surrounded by a number of people who approached the world differently and had different perspectives. I learned the importance of being able to approach issues in a way that addresses the concerns of people who think differently than I do.

What is an alternate path you could have taken if things had worked out differently?

I thought about going into medicine, and I also thought about going into business, but I’ve enjoyed the public service path that I’ve taken. I’ve been able to simultaneously serve in the military and have my own small business.

What is your leadership style?

I try to hire the very best and brightest and give them great responsibility while requiring a high level of excellence. In my experience, the people I work with have been able to achieve and meet those expectations; the ones that can’t generally go a different direction.

In your experience, what is the secret to inspiring others to take action?

I always make sure my team operates from a shared understanding of the facts and a shared understanding of the goal.

I try to lead with passion, energy and servant leadership. I will not ask of them any more than I ask of myself.

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American Menopause Society and the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Manning graduated from UAMS in 2003 and completed her residency in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at UAMS in 2007. She is a staunch advocate for her patients, implementing such projects as Girlology to educate young girls and caregivers about puberty and self-care. She has been active in education regarding access to long-acting reversible contraception for all women in the state. Arkansas has the highest maternal mortality rate in the country, and Manning has played a vital role in bringing national attention to the issue. She recently participated in a significant grant to improve postpartum maternal outcomes in populations experiencing health disparities and to provide prenatal care in rural areas without access to providers.

Manning lives in Little Rock with her husband and three children.

| Bobby Martin Chairman of the Board Gap; Operating Partner Stephens Group

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obby Martin of Rogers is a long-time Arkansas businessman with a far reaching reputation across the country and other parts of the world. He currently serves as chairman of the board for Gap, operating partner for the Stephens Group and lead director at Conn’s HomePlus.

Martin has worked for three Arkansas titans of industry — Walmart, Dillard’s and Stephens. While known mostly as a retail pioneer, Martin has used his exacting style, along with his multi-industry and global governance experience, to remain an active contributor and supporter of wide-ranging opportunities for Arkansas. Although business has been a life-long passion, his commitment to conservation is among his greatest opportunities to serve and give back. His dedication to Arkansas and its natural resources, cultural heritage and economic future is well known, as is his strong advocacy for outdoor recreation and programs to inspire youth in the outdoors. Martin recently completed his seven-year term as a commissioner of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, including a stint as chairman.

| Russ Martin Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer Relyance Bank

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uss Martin is the executive vice president and chief credit officer for Relyance Bank and has been with the bank for more than nine years. He oversees multiple loan committees, directs the credit approval process, loan portfolio monitoring, loan policy and procedures, and participates in several committees involved in the management of the bank. Relyance Bank is the 17th largest bank in Arkansas, has 20 full-service branches, 24 loan officers and 170 other team members who serve their communities. Prior to joining Relyance Bank in 2014, Martin was employed at various financial institutions and was responsible for lending, credit or treasury-management-related functions. He is a Little Rock native and a 1997 graduate of Pulaski Academy in Little Rock. He became a certified commercial investment member in 2011 and earned JAN UA RY 2 024

his diploma from the graduate school of banking at Louisiana State University in 2017. Active in the local philanthropic and community activities, Martin has served or is serving as a member of the board of Junior Achievement of Central Arkansas, the Downtown Little Rock Kiwanis Club, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Business Real Estate Advisory Board, the Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock, the community housing advisory board for the city of Little Rock and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Arkansas, among others.

| Brian L. McGee, M.D. Medical Director Digestive Care of West Little Rock

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r. Brian L. McGee is a gastroenterologist who currently serves as the medical director for Digestive Care of West Little Rock. He is dual-board certified in gastroenterology and internal medicine.

He attended Xavier University of Louisiana, graduating with honors in the sciences, English and history. He later attended the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, where he completed his residency and fellowship training. McGee has received numerous accolades and awards for his patient care and dedication to educating all on proper digestive health. He is also a member of several professional societies and has many interests, but one of his primary focuses remains community engagement and education. McGee has been tapped as an expert in the field of gastroenterology and has served as a presenter or speaker to many groups and on numerous platforms.

He is the founder and president of a nonprofit, Colorectal Health Advocates & Doctors, which has a mission to eradicate colorectal cancer. These efforts have been recognized by the American College of Gastroenterology,, and McGee won an international award for his efforts regarding colorectal cancer awareness.

McGee currently serves on the Arkansas State Medical Board as the Arkansas Medical, Dental and Pharmaceutical Association representative.

| George B. McGill Fort Smith Mayor

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eorge B. McGill is a Fort Smith native whose family history is deeply entwined with the city. His father, Louis, was a prominent minister and community activist who helped peacefully integrate Fort Smith’s Northside High School. McGill’s mother, Elizabeth, championed the less fortunate and was the city’s first Black social worker. One of eight children, McGill credits his parents, the close-knit community they supported and thrived in, and an excellent education for instilling in him a heart of service driven by optimism and determination. McGill graduated from Lincoln High School and earned a Bachelor of Science in elementary education from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. He returned to the UA and earned an Master of Business Administration, becoming the first African American to do so. McGill is also a proud military veteran who was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Field Artillery during the Vietnam War. Following college, McGill worked for eight years at ArcBest in Fort Smith before starting the McGill Insurance

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Kim CLATWORTHY Who were your mentors or inspirations?

My most treasured mentors are my parents. I grew up in Hot Springs where they owned a lake resort. I grew up working there with my sisters. Watching my parents work hard and their dedication inspired me to want to help others and have a business of my own.

What is your leadership style?

I believe in leading by example and fostering open communication which allows an opportunity to build trust.

Leadership is about collaboration and inspiring others to do their best.

What is your favorite quote?

INFLUENCER

“The best leaders see themselves in service to something else,” by John C. Maxwell.

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Owner, Elder Independence Home Care

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Advocating for Arkansas’ Most Vulnerable Congratulations Rachel Bunch on being named an Arkansas Influencer of the Year.

Thank you for your commitment to long-term care facilities across Arkansas.

Rachel Bunch Executive Director Arkansas Health Care Association

w w w.arhealthcare.com 501.374.4422

Congratulations Dylan Potts

for being named one of Arkansas Money & Politics’ 2024 Influencers of the Year!

425 West Capitol Avenue, Suite 3800 | Little Rock | 501.376.3800 | gill-law.com JAN UA RY 2 024

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Congratulations, Laura Landreaux.

Strong leadership powers Arkansas.

We proudly congratulate our CEO and President, Laura Landreaux, on being selected to AMP’s 2024 Influencers of the Year. Her active and passionate stewardship will guide Entergy Arkansas into the future while empowering every community we serve.

A message from Entergy Arkansas, LLC ©2024 Entergy Services, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

and Financial Services Agency, which he owned and operated for 30 years alongside his wife, Millie. In 2013, McGill began his tenure at the Arkansas House of Representatives, where he served as deputy speaker pro-tempore until his inauguration as the first African American mayor in Fort Smith’s history in 2019. During his distinguished political career, McGill has received the National Guard Association of Arkansas Joseph T. Robinson Award; the 2013, 2015 and 2017 Arkansas Municipal League of Distinguished Legislators Awards; and the University of Arkansas School of Business Trailblazer Award.

| Judy McReynolds President, Chairman and CEO ArcBest

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udy R. McReynolds is the chairman, president and CEO of ArcBest, based in Fort Smith. Under her leadership, ArcBest has evolved into a multibillion-dollar integrated logistics company, using cuttingedge technology and customized solutions that help keep the global supply chain moving. She has more than 30 years of experience in the transportation and logistics industry, including 26 years with the company. In 2010, she was named ArcBest president and CEO, then in 2016, she was elected as chairman of the board of ArcBest Corporation.

McReynolds sits on several outside boards including OGE Energy Corp., First Bank Corp. and First National Bank. She serves as a member of the Wall Street Journal CEO Council, the Dean’s Executive Advisory Board of the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas and the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith Foundation board.

| Michael S. Moore Partner Friday, Eldredge & Clark

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ichael S. Moore is the head of the labor and employment practice group and a member of the Friday, Eldredge & Clark Management Committee at Friday, Eldredge & Clark in Little Rock. He is a board member of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and is the chair of its unemployment insurance committee. Moore is well-known among his peers as an outspoken advocate for recovery. He served on the board of directors for the Wolfe Street Foundation in Little Rock in the mid2000s and returned to serve in 2020. In 2013, he was appointed by the Arkansas Supreme Court to chair the Arkansas Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program. He continues to be an active volunteer for Arkansas JLAP. On his 60th birthday, he also started organizing an annual bike ride to raise money for Wolfe Street.

| Chris Moses President and CEO Moses Tucker Partners

Moses Tucker Partners has become the second-largest real estate company in the state. Moses currently focuses on development, historic renovation projects, tenant representation, landlord representation and investment sales. Moses became president and CEO of Moses Tucker Partners in 2013. Since then, he has created and been involved in development, leasing and investment projects that have a combined value of more than $800 million. He has also grown the firm’s property management division by more than 800 percent to more than 8.5 million square feet. Recent transactions and developments include the Vue on Riverfront in North Little Rock, a $36 million multifamily development; the EJ Ball Building in Fayetteville, a redevelopment and $10.5 million sale; Premier Medical Plaza in Little Rock, a $37 million medical redevelopment; and Mann on Main in Little Rock, a redevelopment and $16.5 million sale.

Moses is responsible for some of the most significant projects in downtown Little Rock, ranging from ground-up multi-family projects to 100,000 historic renovations. Prior to joining Moses Tucker Partners, Moses worked as a senior retail advisor for four years with a nationally recognized brokerage firm and for five years with a boutique firm in Irvine, Calif. Moses has worked extensively on both the east and west coasts on behalf of numerous institutional and private client groups.

| Jake Nabholz Chief Executive Officer Nabholz Construction

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ecently named Nabholz’ chief executive officer, Jake Nabholz began his 25-year tenure with the company working as a summer laborer while in high school. After graduating with his construction management degree from the University of Louisiana Monroe, his career advanced within Nabholz, and he later served in business development and leadership roles in Tulsa and Central Arkansas. In 2018, Nabholz was promoted to the position of regional president, overseeing construction operations in Central and Northeast Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Oklahoma.

He holds his contractors license for the states of Utah and Florida, is a member of the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) and maintains both the ASHE Healthcare Construction and OSHA Construction Safety and Health certifications.

Nabholz currently serves on the boards for Arkansas Children’s Foundation, Philander Smith College, Conway Corp., Conway Area Chamber of Commerce, First Security Bank and Associated General Contractors of Arkansas. He has previously served on the ACANSA Arts Festival, Rotary Foundation, UACCM Board of Visitors and the Broken Arrow Economic Development board of directors.

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hris Moses is the president and CEO of Moses Tucker Partners. Moses oversees the strategic direction of the Little Rock-based commercial real estate and development company throughout the state of Arkansas. Under his leadership, JAN UA RY 2 024

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Melissa DAWSON What is your secret to success?

I have found surrounding yourself with the right people and having a passion for your work contributes to success. It is essential to have individuals around you who are inspired and committed to creating a positive environment, proactive problem-solving and sharing success. A genuine passion for your work fuels resilience and determination, transforming challenges into opportunities.

I believe the right people and a heartfelt passion create a powerful recipe for success.

What are you reading/watching/listening to right now?

I am currently reading The Girl Behind the Gates, a fictionalized true story of a 17-year-old who, in 1939, was labeled as morally defective and institutionalized under the Mental Deficiency Act for becoming pregnant. Due to the laws and social attitudes of the time, she remained institutionalized for more than 40 years. It is an excellent reminder of how far patients’ rights and behavioral health interventions have come and, importantly, is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.

How did your education prepare you for your career?

Combined with a genuine commitment to behavioral health, a master’s in public administration equipped me with the knowledge and skills to successfully lead and manage a nonprofit health care organization.

MPA programs develop strong management and leadership skills, provide the necessary know-how to secure funding and manage resources efficiently, and teach strategic planning and implementation, which are crucial for developing and executing longterm strategies. With my MPA, I am better prepared to address the unique challenges of running a nonprofit and execute our mandate to meet evolving community needs.

What is an alternate path you could have taken if things had worked out differently?

I have always been interested in criminal justice and once considered becoming a forensic pathologist. The idea of unraveling mysteries and putting together the pieces — sometimes literally — was intriguing. While I didn’t become a crime-solving forensic sleuth, I did become a true-crime enthusiast and can get consumed by a good book, television show or podcast.

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INFLUENCER President and CEO, The Centers 105

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| Shannon Newton President Arkansas Trucking Association

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hannon Newton is the president of the Arkansas Trucking Association. She has been with ATA since 2003. During her tenure, Newton has filled a range of roles in the development and implementation of initiatives that include strategic planning, finance, member services, governance, and public and government relations. In 2018, she was recognized by the American Trucking Associations with the President’s Trucking Association Executives Council Leadership Award for her regional and national advocacy efforts. Former Gov. Asa Hutchinson tapped Newton for various transportation posts, including his working group on highway funding in 2019, the Arkansas Economic Recovery Task Force in 2020 and the Council on Future Mobility in 2022. Newton served as chair of the Vote for Roads committee that successfully campaigned to pass a half-cent sales tax in 2020. More recently, Newton served on Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ working group to prevent human trafficking in Arkansas. Newton currently serves as chair of the Trucking Association’s executive council, which is the federation of state trucking association executives from across the country affiliated with the American Trucking Associations. Newton also serves on governing or advisory boards for the following groups: the Arkansas Good Roads Foundation, the Arkansas Self-Insurers Association, Be Pro Be Proud, Arkansas State University Three Rivers in Malvern, the University of Central Arkansas College of Business in Conway and Project Zero, a nonprofit that raises awareness about adoption from foster care. In 2022, Newton was named to the Transportation Industry Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis to provide valuable feedback on the economic conditions of the trucking industry.

| Margaret “Marnie” Oldner Former CEO and Director Stone Bank

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arnie “Marnie” Oldner was CEO of Stone Bank until her retirement at the end of 2023. She will continue as a member of the bank’s board of directors.

She has been with the bank since July 1, 2011, serving as its CEO, chief financial officer and president during that time. Oldner worked with many banks inside and outside of Arkansas while a managing principal at DD&F Consulting Group in Little Rock for seven years. In addition to bank consulting, Oldner has more than 25 years of executive officer experience in banking, having served as a chief financial officer, executive vice president, president and CEO at four Arkansas-based banks. Before her direct involvement in the banking industry, Oldner was a certified public accountant for Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers). She is a graduate of California State University, Fullerton, where she majored in business and accounting. She was honored as Woman of the Year in Business by the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas in 2020 and named one of the Top 100 Women of Impact in 2023. She has served on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Community Advisory Committee, the Federal Reserve Bank’s Community JAN UA RY 2 024

Depository Institutions Advisory Council and the Arkansas Bankers Association’s board of directors.

| Janine A. Parry Professor of Political Science University of Arkansas

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anine A. Parry is university professor of political science at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and founding director of the Diane D. Blair Center of Southern Politics and Society’s annual Arkansas Poll, one of the country’s oldest and most reputable polling projects. An award-winning teacher, she has mentored more than 6,000 students, including many who now serve as elected or appointed public servants. The Arkansas Political Science Association awarded her its Distinguished Scholar Award in 2020. The author of more than 50 scholarly publications, Parry has provided analysis — often about Arkansas politics — to regional, national and international news outlets since 1998. An expert in state politics and policy, polling and public opinion, elections, and voter turnout, as well as women, politics and policy, Parry has been featured by National Public Radio, BBC, the Associated Press, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Newsweek, the Arkansas DemocratGazette and many other outlets. Not merely an observer of public life, Parry steered a “Status of Women in Arkansas” report for the nonpartisan, nonprofit Institute for Women’s Policy Research in 2002, and between 2008 and 2014, she directed the UA’s teaching and faculty support center, campus faculty and faculty senate.

After two terms on the board of trustees for the Fayetteville Public Library, Parry now serves as a poll worker. A native of Spokane, Wash., Parry is passionate about cultivating public greenspace, active transportation and the republic.

| Ron Peterson President and CEO Baxter Health

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on Peterson, FACHE, is president and CEO at Baxter Health, a fully integrated nonprofit health system based in Mountain Home that is focused on providing compassionate care beyond measure to patients of north-central Arkansas and south-central Missouri. The state-of-the-art health care system encompasses a 268-bed short-term acute care hospital, an outpatient surgery center and more than 40 primary and specialty care clinics. That allows Baxter Health to offer some of the latest advancements in medicine across a comprehensive array of specialties that include family medicine, emergency medicine, cardiology, heart and vascular surgery, neurosurgery, general surgery, orthopedics, women’s health, and more. Peterson has worked extensively with the state and national hospital associations. His 14-year tenure with the Arkansas Hospital Association earned him the Grass Roots Champions Legislative Award, and he is currently the sitting past chair. He spent more than five years on the American Hospital Association’s regional policy board and was recently recognized as its Most Valuable Political Action Committee Player in 2021. Additionally, he contributed to the governor’s trauma task force during the

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Matt BELL What is your secret to success?

Creating inspiring business concepts with a great story and vision and surrounding myself with the best team to execute that vision.

How did your education prepare you for your career?

My education provided me with a good foundation for business management.

However, most of my education has been on-the-job training, learning about each industry as much as possible.

What is an alternate path you could have taken if things had worked out differently?

INFLUENCER

As an entrepreneur, all I know is alternate paths. I am always seeking a challenge and creating unique businesses with a strong value proposition.

President, Origami Sake

Congratulations!

Harding University congratulates President Mike Williams for being named one of Arkansas Money & Politics’ 2024 Influencers of the Year.

Harding University is celebrating 100 years of highquality Christian education.

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Garland E. “Butch” RICE III What is your secret to success?

I owe my success to God. He has blessed me with an incredible life, family and business. Over the years, I have been given the opportunity to get to know and work with many wonderful people. Success, for me, is seeing those around me succeed.

What is an alternate path you could have taken if things had worked out differently?

I would have followed in the footsteps of my father and grandfathers, who joined the military. I have always had tremendous respect for those who have served our country.

Who were your mentors or inspirations?

My biggest inspiration was my father, Garland “Jiggs” Rice. I admire the love he gave to my family and my mom for 56 years. He worked for the same company for 40 years. His loyalty greatly impressed me.

Have you mentored others?

I truly enjoy working alongside people, building relationships while developing their professional skills and talents. I take advantage of every opportunity to teach and guide others to reach their full potential.

What is your leadership style?

I am an optimistic leader and work hard to cultivate a positive work environment at Stallion. I want people to believe in themselves and encourage them to reach their personal and professional goals. A strong team can only be built when outstanding individuals all strive for excellence.

In your experience, what is the secret to inspiring others to take action?

People need to know that you have confidence in them. They need to know that you are aware of their strengths and that you believe in their ability to perform their jobs. I strive to regularly compliment my employees’ performance while also constructively addressing any areas that may need improvement.

What is the most rewarding part of your work?

The most rewarding part of my work is seeing the people around me grow and succeed in their personal and professional lives. I am extremely grateful that Stallion has provided those opportunities.

What are you reading, watching or listening to right now?

I enjoy reading and watching anything pertaining to the stock market.

What is your morning routine like?

In the mornings, you can find me at the barn, feeding our horses and cleaning their stalls. I also make it part of my morning routine to keep up with the economic news of the day.

What is your most productive part of the day?

After 5 p.m. When most of the employees have left the building, I spend time in my office alone.

I use this time to reflect on my day and to prioritize and plan my upcoming interactions and responsibilities.

What is your favorite quote?

“Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law? First, love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and secondly, love your neighbor as yourself”. Matthew 22:36-39

INFLUENCER Founder, President and CEO, Stallion Transportation Group

development of Arkansas’ statewide trauma system and served on the governor’s COVID-19 taskforce during the pandemic. Peterson is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, a past chair of the Mountain Home Chamber of Commerce and an active participant in numerous professional organizations. He has a master’s degree in hospital and health administration from Xavier University in Cincinnati and a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in hospital administration from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn.

| Dylan Potts Director Gill Ragon Owen

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ylan Potts is a director and shareholder at Gill Ragon Owen.

His practice is focused on commercial litigation. Since joining the firm in 2002, Potts has devoted a significant portion of his practice to representing Arkansas’ largest pension fund, Arkansas’ largest and oldest adolescent and child behavioral health care system, and the nation’s largest health club receivable company. Potts is often recognized for his accomplishments by such publications as Chambers and Partners USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and Super Lawyers.

Potts has also received an AV Rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the organizations’ highest rank. Most recently, he was recognized in AY About You’s 2023 Men of Distinction and named as one of America’s Best Lawyers for 2024.

| Dawn Prasifka President and CEO Girl Scouts — Diamonds of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas

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awn Prasifka, president and CEO of Girl Scouts — Diamonds of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas, has aided in developing girls of courage, confidence and character that make the world a better place. During her tenure of more than 10 years, she has touched the lives of tens of thousands of girls, volunteers, caregivers and staff members. She has connected members to other businesses and organizations around the state to help girls discover who they want to be and the opportunities in Arkansas.

| Garland “Butch” Rice III Founder, President and CEO Stallion Transportation Group

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orn in 1962 and raised in North Little Rock by his parents, Garland and Carolyn Rice, Garland “Butch” Rice III grew up in the Rose City neighborhood and attended Northeast High School in North Little Rock. He continued his education at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville and Arkansas State University-Beebe. From a young age, Rice learned the importance of respect, dedication, passion and loyalty. These four elements of life have been a key factor in his success as a husband, father and businessman. Rice spent much of his young business career working with different types of trucking companies (van, flatbed, tankers, etc.) performing in various job positions. In 1992, he opened Stallion Transportation Group with two employees. Now, more JAN UA RY 2 024

than 30 years later, the company has 158 employees and annual sales of $75 million. Rice has served on the board of directors for the Arkansas Trucking Association since 2005. He is a two-time past chairman and currently holds the position of ATA state vice president. Rice also holds the position of committee chair for the Arkansas Trucking Association Political Action Committee. Rice was recently appointed by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders to serve on the Arkansas Office of Skills Development Career Education and Workforce Development Board. He is a member of the ASU-Beebe Advisory Committee, having served five times as past chairman.

He is the past chairman of the Beebe Chamber of Commerce and the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, as well as a former member of the Beebe Public School Board. Additionally, Butch served on the Arkansas Racing and Gaming Commission and various other community foundations. Butch resides in Beebe with his wife Robin. They have three children and five grandchildren.

| Brian Rosenthal Member Rose Law Firm

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rian Rosenthal is a member of Rose Law Firm in Little Rock, a native of Carthage, Mo., and a graduate of the University of Arkansas Sam M. Walton College of Business in Fayetteville, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. He earned his juris doctor at the University of Missouri and holds an inactive certified public accountant certificate. Rosenthal’s family has a long legal history. His great-uncle was a municipal judge and a contemporary of former U.S. President Harry S. Truman.

Rosenthal himself started down the legal path early. In second grade, his grandmother told him if he studied hard in school, she would take him on a trip. His response was, “Would you write that down?” Rosenthal served as the 122nd president of the Arkansas Bar Association, the seventh person from the Rose firm to hold the position. Rosenthal specializes in the fields of commercial transactions and environmental regulation. His first environmental project was helping with Save the River Parks during several legal proceedings to keep Riverfront Drive closed to thoroughfare traffic.

Years later, that area would be developed as the Big Dam Bridge.

Rosenthal is affiliated with numerous professional associations and nonprofit organizations, including service as founding regent and member of the American College of Environmental Lawyers and as former chair of the Arkansas Supreme Court Professional Practicum Committee, in addition to service to the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, for which he was 2023 Ovation chair, and Gridiron, among others.

| Bo Ryall President and CEO Arkansas Hospital Association

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o Ryall is president and CEO of the Arkansas Hospital Association. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Ryall also served as the chief lobbyist on the state level for Arkansas hospitals and was previously executive director of the Home Care Association of Arkansas. He is a board member of Home for Healing and is an Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency advisory member.

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ARE YOU THE FACE OF YOUR INDUSTRY? AL ESTATE

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In April, Arkansas Money & Politics will highlight business leaders in Arkansas who keep our state exciting, dynamic and unique. AMP’s Faces are those behind the prominent and notable businesses and industries across Arkansas. Don’t miss the opportunity to be a part of this special section recognizing the Faces of Arkansas.

FACES OF ARKANSAS Email hbaker@aymag.com to nominate yourself or someone else today.

JA N UA RY 2024

| Bryan Sanders Chairman Natural State Initiative Advisory Council; Arkansas First Gentleman

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ryan Sanders is a political strategist who has done polling and advertising for republican governors, senators and presidential campaigns and was named a Rising Star in American Politics by Campaigns and Elections magazine. A native of Kansas City, Kan., Sanders is a graduate of Colby College in Waterville, Maine, where he majored in government. Bryan met his wife, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, while working the presidential campaign for her father, Mike Huckabee, in Iowa in 2007. He followed her to Little Rock and has been a proud Arkansan ever since. Sanders is chairman of the Natural State Initiative Advisory Council, which was created to promote conservation, outdoor recreation and grow the outdoor economy in Arkansas.

| Scott Smith Executive Vice President Powers of Arkansas

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ne could say Scott Smith was born into the heating, ventilation and air conditioning industry. He grew up in North Little Rock where his father owned and operated two HVAC companies. When he was 15, Smith went to work at a sheet metal shop, where he learned the value of hard work. After graduating with a business degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Smith went to work in the family HVAC business in North Little Rock as an outside sales representative and later joined ADW Corp. in Dallas in the same role. In 1998, Smith returned to central Arkansas and worked for the John Prince Co. on the outside sales team and then as director of HVAC sales and marketing, a position he held until 2013. He then joined Powers of Arkansas and has worked his way up over the past 10 years from director of sales to his current role of executive vice president.

Smith’s career in HVAC has spanned 39 years, and he has worked with generations of families. He credits his father with instilling in him a strong work ethic and opening doors in the industry through the relationships his father built from the 1960s to the 1980s. He also praises the leadership at Powers for giving him every opportunity to succeed and the freedom to hire the best team with the best people.

| Wayne Smith General Manager Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort

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native of Narragansett, R.I., and a graduate of Northeastern University in Boston, Wayne Smith began his career in public accounting and finance before moving on to corporate accounting with ITT Sheraton, where he focused on hospitality. Smith served in senior management positions at MGM Mirage, MGM Grand Las Vegas, MGM Grand Detroit and Caesars Entertainment, as well as Empire City Racing and Gaming in New York and Penn National in Illinois, where he brought more than 28 JAN UA RY 2 024

years of successful and diverse gaming industry experience. In 2017, Smith was named the general manager of Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort and is only the sixth person to hold that title in Oaklawn’s 115year history. Since that time, he has overseen a multi-million-dollar expansion that included the addition of an expanded casino, hotel, spa and event center. He also successfully managed the transition into a new live racing schedule and extended the racing season for the first time in Oaklawn’s history. For more than two decades, Smith has been an active volunteer with multiple community and charitable organizations. He is currently a board member of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, and he serves as a commissioner on the Hot Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission and is an executive board member of Fifty for the Future, for which he served as president in 2020. His dedication to the growth and betterment of the Hot Springs community has also led him to sit on several local advisory committees.

| Bill Sowell CEO and Founder Sowell Management

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ill Sowell began his career in the financial services industry in 1990 and quickly became a top producer within the industry. In 1995, he began a fee-only practice now known as Sowell Management, which services a broad spectrum of some of the top Independent Advisor Representatives (IARs) and Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) in the United States. He and his wife, Cindy, have worked as a team for more than 20 years.

Sowell has strong roots in the community. He has served as past president of the Rotary Club of Little Rock and was named a Paul Harris Fellow. He has been a board member and is past chair of Leadership Greater Little Rock and is a past board member of numerous other nonprofit organizations. Passionate about helping advisors see an independent and prosperous future and guiding them through the entire journey, Sowell was named to AY magazine’s 2021 Men of Distinction.

| David Squires Vice President of Mechanical Service Powers of Arkansas

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n 1998, a friend of David Squires mentioned a warehouse position that was open at Powers of Arkansas. After a year of college, Squires knew he wanted the most direct path possible to a career, likely in a trade field, so he applied for and got the job to get his foot in the door.

Today, he is vice president of mechanical service. Squires worked through the ranks from the warehouse position to service technician, account manager and an area service manager for northwest Arkansas before being named vice president last year. He said he is glad he has stayed with the company for more than two decades. “If you run at the first sign of resistance, if you’re switching jobs to chase salary, you never have the opportunity to build family at work. You miss the opportunity that comes with rising through the ranks of learning and contributing to your company culture.”

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LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEXT 75 YEARS OF

safety, quality, service, and innovation

Bob Nabholz started Nabholz as a small construction company 75 years ago.

Now Jake Nabholz, Bob’s grandson, is CEO. Every day, Jake maintains his grandfather’s vision of a company that puts safety, quality, service, and innovation first.

Congratulations Jake on being named to AMP’s 2024 Influencers of the Year list!

LOOKING FORWARD SINCE 1949 1.877.NABHOLZ | nabholz.com ARM O N E YA ND P O L I T I C S .COM

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A natural problem solver, Squires was drawn to heating, ventilation and air conditioning work because it encompasses a little bit of everything that requires electrical, plumbing and mechanical skill. He applied those problem-solving skills to moving up, volunteering to help any journeyman learning along the way by helping him or her get noticed (though he admits his young self never envisioned rising to the C-suite). Today, when he mentors, he encourages young people not to leave jobs too quickly.

| Anna Strong Executive Director Arkansas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics

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nna Strong, MPH, MPS, has spent her career advocating for children.

Currently, she serves as the executive director of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Arkansas’ membership organization for pediatricians. In this role, she leads policy and advocacy initiatives and engages members and partners in programs that promote child health and quality pediatric care statewide. Recent successes include successful advocacy for Medicaid policy changes that allow primary care practices to provide needed screening, prevention and early intervention services and embed mental health supports for families with infants and toddlers. Her dedication to child well-being extends to previous roles, including executive director of child advocacy and public health at Arkansas Children’s and health policy director at Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. Strong was recently elected to serve on the Little Rock School District Board of Directors and said she hopes to bring her experience to this role by championing district efforts to invest in proven strategies to improve academic outcomes, such as early childhood programs and community schools. Strong currently serves on the board of directors for Forward Arkansas, and she received Hendrix College in Conway’s Humanitarian Award in 2023. A Searcy native, Strong received a Master of Public Service from the Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock and a Master of Public Health from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Public Health in Little Rock. She has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Hendrix College.

| Melissa Taverner President Lyon College

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elissa Taverner is the 19th president of Lyon College in Batesville, the oldest independent college in the state of Arkansas. Since becoming provost and dean of the faculty in 2017, interim president in 2021 and president in 2022, Taverner’s leadership has been integral to several of the most transformational decisions in Lyon College’s 151-year history.

Collaborating with Lyon College’s dedicated board of trustees, board of visitors, faculty, staff and communities, Taverner has led the college through an expansion of its mission statement to include the introduction of select graduate programs, including a master’s degree in teaching, and plans for graduate professional schools in dental and veterinary medicine through JAN UA RY 2 024

the Lyon College Institute of Health Sciences in central Arkansas. Furthermore, she played a pivotal role in orchestrating a partnership with White River Health in Batesville for a registered-nurse-to-Bachelor-of-Science-in-Nursing program.

Taverner championed the establishment of degree programs in anthropology, communications studies and exercise science on Exceptional Care When You Need It Most the Batesville campus. She also spearheaded the transition of Conway Regional, we are to ensure all of Scots Athletics from the NationalAtAssociation ofgrowing Intercollegiate your healthcare needs are met right here in Conway. your family needs emergency care, our Athletics to NCAA Division III inWhen 2023.

Taverner’s academic board-certified providers will give you the comprehensive care you deserve when journey culminated in a doctorate in environmental science from you need it most. When you’re facing an emergency, trust care you’ll findfrom at the University of Virginia, a Master of Science in the virology Conway Regional Medical Center. the University of Reading in the United Kingdom and a Bachelor of Arts in biology from Randolph College in Virginia. Taverner is a member of the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. She is married to David Taverner and has two children, Rachel Titus and Jordan Taverner.

Pictured: Megan Russell, MD

| Matt Troup President and CEO Conway Regional Health System Conway Regional Health System

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congratulates our att Troup has Chief served as president and Executive Officer CEO of Conway Regional Health MAT T TROUP System for more than eight years. Conway for being named one of Regional has achieved best place-to-work Arkansasthe Money & Politics’ 2024 designation for seven continuous years in INFLUENCERS Arkansas and six continuous years nationally OF THE YEAR since Troup joined the organization. Troup views health care as a faith-driven calling, a sentiment reflected in how he interacts with his team daily. Previously, Troup worked in Texas, Oklahoma and Florida as a chief operating officer and vice president in the health care industry. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in business administration from Texas A&M University and completed his Master of Science in health care administration from Trinity University in San Antonio.

| Kathryn Tucker Executive Director Arkansas Cinema Society

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ittle Rock native Kathryn Tucker is an Emmy Award-winning film director who serves as executive director of the Arkansas Cinema Society, which she founded in 2017.

Tucker spent the past two decades working in the film industry in New York, Los Angeles, Louisiana, North Carolina, Hawaii, Iceland and Arkansas as a director, producer and assistant director. Her nonprofit work nurtures new and existing film talent in Arkansas through educational programs like the Filmmaking Lab for Teen Girls, year-round screenings and ACS’s annual film event, Filmland.

| Kris Upton President and CEO RPM Group

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ris Upton, CPA, CCIM, serves as president and CEO of RPM Group, the parent company of RPM Commercial, RPM Management, Coldwell Banker RPM Group and numerous investment companies.

Upton oversees strategic direction and investment management. Prior to joining the firm in 2003, Upton

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Chad ADUDDELL What is your secret to success?

Hire and develop good people.

How did your education prepare you for your career?

The main part of my education that prepared me for my career was working in teams. The courses and projects that required groups to work together, prepare together and present together were the most valuable.

What is an alternate path you could have taken if things had worked out differently?

I have always been interested in teaching and coaching, so either of those could have been an alternative path.

Who were your mentors or inspirations?

I have been blessed to have multiple mentors who have advised me and have created growth opportunities for me.

The most inspiring leaders I have had the opportunity to work with are the religious sisters who have dedicated their lives to serving God and their community through their health care ministries.

Have you mentored others?

I continuously mentor about a half dozen leaders that we are developing for future roles.

What is your leadership style?

I have a coaching leadership style and work to help others identify and develop their strengths while also helping them to become aware of and improve on their areas of opportunity In your experience, what is the secret to inspiring others to take action?

I try to help others find and articulate their purpose — their “why”— and then to pursue that fulfillment of that purpose.

What is your favorite quote?

“Feedback is the breakfast of champions.”

INFLUENCER Market CEO, CHI St. Vincent

held finance, investor relations and operations positions at Alltel, a Fortune 200 company. He served as the company’s primary spokesperson to Wall Street on financial matters.

| Anthony Valinoti Chef and Owner DeLuca’s Pizza

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nthony Valinoti is the chef and owner of the widely acclaimed DeLuca’s Pizza in Hot Springs. A former Wall Street broker who was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Valinoti moved to Hot Springs in 2013 to start his second life as a restaurateur. DeLuca’s has been hailed as “Best Pizza in the South” by Southern Living, one of the “Top 50 Best Pizzas in the United States” by Food and Wine magazine, and “Best Restaurant in Hot Springs” and “Best Pizza in the State” for the past eight years by the Arkansas Times, as well as being featured on ESPN’s “TrueSouth”. A visit this past February from Barstool Sports owner Dave Portnoy put DeLuca’s Pizza into the national spotlight, receiving one of the highest scores Portnoy has ever handed out. DeLuca’s is set to open a second location in Little Rock in 2024.

| Darrell Walker Head Men’s Basketball Coach Little Rock Trojans

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arrell Walker, a former Arkansas Razorback All-American and NBA champion, has coached the Little Rock Trojans men’s basketball team since 2018.

A Chicago native who played at the former Westark College in Fort Smith before joining Eddie Sutton’s Hogs, Walker played 10 seasons in the NBA, after which he enjoyed a professional coaching career of 20 years, including stints as head coach of the Washington Wizards and Toronto Raptors.

| Bentley Wallace Chancellor Arkansas State University-Mountain Home

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entley Wallace was named chancellor of Arkansas State University-Mountain Home in June. He previously served as president of South Arkansas Community College in El Dorado, as vice chancellor for economic development and dean of technical and professional studies at University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College, and as division chair and director of business and transportation technology at ASU-Newport. His private sector experience includes serving as director of operations at Ronnie Dowdy Trucking in Batesville, division manager for WCA Waste Systems and general manager of JIT Warehouse Services.

| Arlo Washington Founder and President People Trust Community Federal Credit Union

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Little Rock. People Trust began as a way to support students of the barber college, but Washington’s entrepreneurial and altruistic spirit once again called him to do more. In 2014, People Trust became the nonprofit People Trust Loan Fund, which serves under-banked communities. In 2022, Washington opened the People Trust Community Federal Credit Union, laying the foundation for generations of financial empowerment as the first minority-owned and operated financial institution in Arkansas.

| Barbara Webb Justice Arkansas Supreme Court

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ustice Barbara Womack Webb currently serves on the Arkansas Supreme Court.

She began practicing law in 1982, serving as in-house counsel and in private practice. In 1997, Webb was elected as the first female prosecuting attorney for the 7th and 22nd judicial districts in Arkansas. She inherited a huge backlog of cases amidst an ongoing federal investigation of the former elected prosecutor, who was convicted of running the office as a criminal enterprise. She restored justice by taking hundreds of cases to trial and shutting down hundreds of meth labs.

Webb’s judicial career began in 2005 as an administrative law judge for the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission. She was elected president of the Arkansas Association of Administrative Adjudicators, served as an adjunct professor of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law and as chief administrative law judge. In 2015, Webb was named CEO of the workman’s comp commission. In 2017, she was appointed by former Gov. Asa Hutchinson as the first female circuit judge in Saline County after the elected judge resigned and was convicted of failure to pay income taxes. Again, Webb stepped forward to serve and improve the administration of justice. Webb has served as a special justice, a city court and special municipal judge, and an alderman. She served on the Arkansas Juvenile Justice Coalition, the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board, the state crime lab board and the Arkansas Ethics Commission. She is a member of the Arkansas Judicial Council and the Federalist Society.

| Tiffany Wilkerson General Manager Arkansas State Fair

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iffany Wilkerson is the first female and, at age 39 when hired in January, the youngest person to serve as general manager for the Arkansas State Fair. She is also the fair’s first African American general manager. Wilkerson worked for the Arkansas Livestock Show Association for 20 years in multiple roles. As general manager, Wilkerson is responsible for overseeing all business operations, as well as directing all activities for the promotion, preparation and production of the annual Arkansas State Fair.

rlo Washington started his career by opening a barbershop at just 19 years of age. Before long, his success and desire to help others succeed led him to launch the Washington Barber College in North JAN UA RY 2 024

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| Darrin L. Williams CEO Southern Bancorp

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arrin L. Williams is the CEO of Southern Bancorp, one of America’s oldest and largest community development financial institutions working to expand economic opportunity in rural and minority communities throughout the mid-South.

With more than $2.5 billion in assets and 56 locations throughout the Delta region, one of the nation’s most impoverished communities, Southern Bancorp focuses on the net worth building strategies of homeownership, entrepreneurship and saving. A frequent commentator in the national press, Williams is a former Arkansas legislator, a securities and consumer protection attorney, and passionate advocate for financial inclusion who is recognized nationally for his work to increase financial access. He is a recent addition to Business Insider’s 100 People Transforming Business, as well as a past member of the Bloomberg 50, an annual list of individuals who defined global business for the year. Williams is active in many organizations, including serving as board chairman of the Community Development Bankers Association, the North American board representative to the Global Alliance for Banking on Values, a board member of the St. Louis Federal Reserve’s Little Rock branch and an appointee to the CDFI Fund Community Development Advisory Board.

Williams received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Hendrix

College in Conway, his juris doctor from Vanderbilt University School of Law in Nashville, Tenn., and his Master of Laws degree in securities and financial regulation from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.

| Mike Williams President Harding University

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ike Williams is the sixth president of Harding University in Searcy. During his first year as president, the university saw total enrollment for the fall semester reach about 4,600 students representing 48 states and 58 foreign nations, surpassing his goal of 1,000 new students. This more than 7 percent increase in enrollment also includes 19 national merit scholars, tripling the total from the previous year and elevating the university’s national ranking.

| Larry Wilson President, Chairman and CEO First Arkansas Bank & Trust

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arry Wilson is chairman and CEO of First Arkansas Bank & Trust. The bank, chartered in Jacksonville by his father, Kenneth Pat Wilson, in 1949, will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2024. Larry Wilson’s civic involvement is extensive. He has served on boards or commissions with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s board of visitors, the University of Arkansas Walton College of Business Administration, the Metro Little Rock Alliance and the Arkansas Council on Economic Education, and he was former president of the Arkansas Bankers Association. He was appointed by the Federal Reserve Bank to serve on the Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council. Wilson was also awarded the 2022 Tampa Bay Trophy, which is given annually to an outstanding civic leader in recognition of their lifetime of sustained and enduring service, outstanding achievement and dedicated contributions to the success of the United States Air Force air mobility mission.

| Todd Yakoubian Meteorologist

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eteorologist Todd Yakoubian is closing in on cult status in central Arkansas. The former KATV weatherman, who announced his departure from KATV Channel 7 earlier this year, became the face of weather in Arkansas over the course of almost two decades at KATV. Born and raised in Little Rock and a 1992 graduate of Little Rock’s Catholic High School, Yakoubian is known for his love of the weather, his dedication, which includes live streaming from his home during weather events, and his seemingly endless knowledge of meteorology. Yakoubian joined KATV in 2005 from WRCB-TV in Chattanooga, Tenn. He has a broadcasting degree from the University of Oklahoma and a broadcast meteorology certificate from Mississippi State University. He is a member of and certified by the National Weather Association, as well as the American Meteorological Society. It is rumored, though not confirmed, that Yakoubian will join KARK as chief meteorologist in 2024.

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TOP TEN

CELEBRATING 10 YEARS

amp Arkansas Money & Politics

ARM O N E YA ND P O L I T I C S .COM

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rkansas runs on the efforts of talented people from all walks of life. From the farmhouse to the statehouse and from Main Street to the C-suite, it takes the talent of thousands to make the state what it is.

During our 10th anniversary year, Arkansas Money & Politics is saluting a few of the people who make the Natural State a great place to live, work and raise a family. Our monthly Top 10 profiles people from many personal and professional backgrounds — the well known and the not so well known — who make a difference through their businesses, nonprofits and advocacy.

At AMP, we share in the goal to improve Arkansas through our work, and we are humbled to be Arkansas’ publication of choice for business and political stories.

It gives us great pleasure to recognize the following individuals for their contributions to their community, the state’s economy and our quality of life as a whole.

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Inspiring Others Misti Coker

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ometimes the difference between a career and a calling is a matter of degrees — not necessarily literal ones, although Misti Coker has those, as well as a 23-year teaching career, to her name. Now a life coach and president of the nonprofit Personal Pep Rally, Coker’s work in education and her work in fundraising are divisible only by context. In substance, she is doing what she has always done: encouraging, motivating and inspiring others.

“My last job was as a literacy specialist for the Stuttgart School District, where my job was raising test scores,” Coker said. “Actually, that is where ‘personal pep rally’ came from. We had to take a subpopulation that was one percent proficient and bring them up to proficient. In 2010, we had a group of English teachers at the high school that I was working with, and one of the teachers said, ‘You know, what these kids need is a personal pep rally.’ I said, ‘You’re exactly right because everybody needs a cheerleader.’”

From that moment on, Coker and her colleagues worked to instill in those students a sense of belief and a feeling of being seen and supported by people committed to their success. That year, Coker said, the group went from 1 percent proficient to 60 percent. The key to their outreach was a focus on meeting students and their families where they were, whether in the classroom, at church or in the community.

It was an important year for Coker’s trajectory in other ways, as well, thanks to a few chance interactions. While out buying lights to decorate for prom — there is, after all, more to school life than test scores — the woman in front of her had the same lights but decided to put them back. At that moment, Coker felt a “nudge.”

“Never underestimate decisions God encourages,” she said.

“He told me, ‘You buy those lights for that lady,’ and I thought, ‘I’m not buying these lights for this lady. I have no idea who she is. That would be so weird,’ but I did it, and I followed her out in

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the parking lot and gave her the lights. I said, ‘I just felt like God told me I needed to get these for you,’ and I ran back in.”

Coming back out with her own purchases in hand, Coker found that the woman was standing in the same spot, now in tears. As it turned out, she had just been diagnosed with cancer and had wanted to put the lights up to bring herself a little joy.

“This was in 2010, and I didn’t start doing all this until 2017,” Coker said. “I decided then that any time there was somebody that I felt had a need, I was going to intentionally be there for them, whatever that looked like.”

One day that same year, a long-term substitute who worked next door to Coker’s office stopped her in the parking lot to tell her she was “wasted” at the high school.

“She said, ‘I’ve watched you. You are a motivator and an encourager. You’re going to do something,’” Coker said. “She said, ‘I put you on the prayer list that goes around three times a day. I don’t know what it is, but there is something big in store for you.’”

Coker left teaching in 2011, but that “something big” in her future still seemed far away. Her life all but fell apart for a variety of reasons, she said, and she entered a depression. Then, on Jan. 1, 2012, she decided that something would have to give.

“I wrote every single day for a year, and that’s how I really started the life coaching stuff,” she said. “I did a website and a Facebook page, [but I] didn’t tell anybody it was me. It started growing, and it grew to over 3,000 people.”

A few years later, the pieces of Coker’s life would start to fall into place, but not before a difficult and life changing journey for her family. Her son-in-law, Marc Stringer, was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2016. During the grueling rounds of treatment, friends sent “joy mail” packages to keep the family’s spirits up. Coker and her daughter, Lauren Moore, felt the impact of those gifts and decided to bring the same kind of encouragement to others facing the disease. Personal Pep Rally was officially founded by Stringer, Coker and Moore in 2017, and although Stringer’s battle ended in 2020, his impact continues to grow, thanks to the work of Coker, her daughter and countless others.

“People just need people, and we forget that,” Coker said. “Lauren always says, ‘People forget the power of a handwritten note.’ We think we have to do large, huge things to make people feel like you care about them, but we send a little something in the mail every month, and you wouldn’t believe all the notes and all the phone calls I get saying, ‘I don’t know who you are, but the package came at the perfect time. You helped me move forward.’”

Personal Pep Rally’s care packages ship free to cancer patients throughout the United States, thanks to a dedicated group of local volunteers known as the Chemosabe Sisters, who help assemble and ship the boxes each month. Coker and Moore have also become beacons for the fight against cancer in Arkansas in their own right, even traveling to Washington, D.C., to represent the state at the

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American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network’s Lights of Hope event.

“There’s just something about walking across the lawn and seeing your picture on an eight-foot pillar that you’re like, ‘Yeah, I’m really doing what I’m supposed to be doing,’” she said.

The nonprofit’s largest fundraiser, Endure the Dirt, is an adventure race at Mack’s Prairie Wings in Stuttgart, where participants crawl, climb and clamor their way through the mud. More recently, the group added a 5K walk for those less keen on getting dirty, as well as the Mini Mudder for children.

Coker, who has a knack for delegating as much as she does motivating, has learned the importance of relying on her team’s diverse strengths, from the office to the obstacle course.

“My base people have been there for seven years,” Coker said. “My registration ladies, they know what they’re doing.

All the farmers that build the obstacles, they know what they’re doing. Our crawfish guy, he knows what he’s doing.

You find the right people and plug them in.”

Coker’s life coaching, which she describes more as “parking-lot preaching,” pairs naturally with her nonprofit work.

Both are outpourings of her passion for people. Whether it is in the aisle at Walmart or in the waiting room at a doctor’s office, Coker listens to that “nudge’ wherever it finds her, reaching out and connecting with people in small but profound ways.

“I’ve taken some grief courses with my life coaching. So many of the professionals in that area say [that] in grief, you have to meet people where they are, but it’s really in any situation,” Coker said. “Being an educator, I’ve always put that on the front burner, and I did all that training just because I wanted to learn more about people, but yet, where it has led me is being able to talk to so many patients and so many families that are dealing with cancer.”

Coker said her goal is to continue reaching more people and “filling the gap,” whatever that looks like. She is currently working on a book, In Your Arena, about loss and grief, and she has a podcast in the works, as well. Her message is a timeless one but one that bears repeating about the ways in which joy and sorrow “live in the same box.”

Looking back, it is easy to see the ways her career and experiences have been building to this moment. Still, she said, she never could have dreamed it.

“I tell kids this all the time: You go to college, and you think you know what you’re supposed to be doing with your life,” she said. “You get all these degrees, and you do what you think you’re supposed to do. Then there’s a detour in the road, and it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, hang on for the ride.’ That’s what I’ve been doing.”

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Building High-performance RELATIONSHIPS Owen Ford

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rom an early age, Owen Ford loved cars, and not just any car. Growing up in Hardy near Cherokee Village, he became fascinated with high-performance and luxury brands, envisioning them as the ultimate symbol of status and success.

“Growing up, I had an infatuation with cars that seemed kind of unachievable,” said Ford, who has served as general manager of BMW of Little Rock since 2017.

During the course of a lengthy career, Ford would get to achieve his dream of working with some of the best and most revered autos money could buy. His path ultimately led him to BMW, where he could immediately appreciate the difference in craftsmanship that earned the carmaker its moniker, the “ultimate driving machine.” Where other makes were more blingy, BMW was designed to deliver performance, as well as style.

“As I’ve matured in my career, I’ve really come to understand what the luxury-car business is like,” he said. “Learning how cars were built and made to be driven led me to BMW.” When he was 7, Ford’s family moved from Tampa, Fla., to a small farm in northeast Arkansas. His father, who had been in management at a Florida textile company, began a decadeslong career working for Baxter Labs. The middle of three children, Ford graduated from Highland High School and was all set to take the traditional next step into college when something changed his path.

“I had a need to sell something,” he said. “I moved to Tifton, Ga., and started working for my uncle who was basically in the same line of business that my father was in prior to leaving Florida. I went down there thinking I was going to go to a junior college, but I started traveling three states instead, selling clothes to mom-and-pop stores in little towns throughout Florida, Alabama and Georgia.”

Paying his dues as a salesman proved to be an apt classroom for the youngster, and the road taught him as much as any college classroom ever could. He quickly learned to appreciate that what

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he was actually selling clients was a means of making a living, which helped him develop empathy and rapport.

“That experience taught me, as a very young person in my career, to treasure people, to treasure relationships,” he said. “I was calling on mom-and-pops who were basically buying things from me to survive. I understood where the connection was between the end user of a product and a person selling a product and what type of relationships are built to endure.

“Getting out there and doing it all by myself, as scared as I was, I was really able to understand how I came off to people, how people perceived me and how receptive they were. I learned how to carry myself, not in a manner of hey-I’m-here-to-sell-somethingto-you but more of let’s-have-a-conversation kind of way. I learned how to build rapport and get on the same level, a caring level, an empathetic level with the people who I was selling to.”

By the time he followed his high school sweetheart to Texas, Ford’s skills and confidence in sales had been sufficiently honed.

He landed in retail and quickly advanced through a couple of promotions before being passed over for a job he had the work qualifications for but for which he lacked the requisite college degree.

“Being somebody at that time who was pretty full of himself, I decided if they didn’t want me, I didn’t want them,” he said. “Took a little time off, a few days, then realized I needed a job badly.”

Ford accompanied a friend to a local car dealership where his companion was considering a purchase, a routine outing that would prove life-changing. As they were leaving, the preowned manager slipped Ford a business card.

“He said, ‘If you ever want to pursue or have an interest in the car business, please come see me. I noticed your interaction with my salesperson and your buddy, and you were doing a better job selling your buddy on this car than my salesperson was,’” Ford said. “That’s how I got into the car business.”

After mulling it over for a time, Ford began his career in 1991, and, following a couple of months of getting his feet under him, he started to gain momentum. Within six months, he was pro-

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moted into the finance department and, after that, into the role of new car manager and, finally, general sales manager. In the years to come, he followed opportunity to different dealerships and related roles before finally moving back to Arkansas to take his current job.

Watching him today reveals a consummate professional who ensures every client is greeted warmly, treated with respect and enjoys a world-class car-buying experience on par with the legendary autos themselves. His current role includes direct and indirect supervision of nearly 50 employees, who he meets with regularly, both individually and collectively, to maintain connectedness and communication. His interaction with customers is a study in relationship-building, something he works to refine in his sales team.

“The thing most new salespeople generally have the toughest time getting over is the feel of wanting or needing to sell something to be successful,” he said. “The old saying is you have to listen to understand versus respond, and that’s the hardest thing for new sales staff to really learn. You’re more selling an experience in yourself than you are selling a product, and that comes with the knowledge of how people react to you.

“That’s one of the reasons why all of our BMW center professionals are known as ‘client advisers’ because we’re more in tune with advising somebody versus selling somebody.”

At 56, Ford cuts the figure of a person who has honed his craft to a fine edge, yet wears it as comfortably as a favorite suit.

Accomplished in both his professional and personal life, he led the store to the company’s prestigious Center of Excellence designation in 2023, making BMW of Little Rock one of just 32 BMW stores out of 300-plus in the U.S. to be so honored, and he is on track to do it again in this year. He and his wife, Kristen, are empty nesters and will celebrate their 34th wedding anniversary this summer.

All in all, not bad for a guy who once considered such autos as BMW unattainable.

“I don’t know that any part of my career experience stands out, but what I’m most proud of is I’m the same person doing the same thing throughout my whole career,” he said. “What I’m most proud of here at the store is we have built an incredible team. This store has been on a trajectory like no other that I’ve experienced, going from just a little store in the center of Arkansas to Center of Excellence designation.

“My approach in almost any job I’ve had hasn’t changed ,from the very beginning of my sales career selling clothing to what I’m doing now. I consider myself gregarious. I have a love for people and getting to know who the true person is. I really enjoy the car business. If I can make them super happy with the experience and they get joy out of driving a new car, as cheesy as that sounds, that’s fulfilling to me.”

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Paul Holderfield

The Face of an

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ANNOINTED PLACE

or 53 years, members of the North Little Rock community have known they can visit Friendly Chapel Church of the Nazarene at the corner of Pine Street and Brother Paul Drive near Riverfront Drive when they need a hot meal and a kind word.

“It’s not Friendly Chapel because you put the name on there; it’s just a special place, an anointed place, a friendly place, and not just because we named it ‘Friendly,’ and the whole church is a welcoming committee,” said Paul Holderfield Jr., senior pastor and son of founder Paul Holderfield Sr. “I have people tell me all the time, “Man, I feel like I went to church here my whole life, and I’ve only been here two years.”

He is quick to defer credit for the church’s success, saying, “I have never met anybody who does less and gets more credit than me.” He recalled a realization he had once, after saying that to three people in one day.

“The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and said, ‘Paul, you’re telling the truth,’” he said, “‘but I want you to be OK with it because you’re the face on an anointed place.’ I just began to weep.”

Friendly Chapel was established in 1972, but its story really began during the 1957 Crisis at Central High, when Holderfield’s father was a 25-year-old screaming down integration efforts with his fellow firefighters.

An African American man who had been best friends with the older Holderfield during his upbringing in Scott just happened to pass by. Holderfield first tried to avoid him, and when the man recognized him and stretched out his hand in greeting, Holderfield stuck his hands in his back pockets. His friend’s face fell.

It was a moment that changed the older Holderfield forever, and after seeing how he had hurt his friend, he realized he had been taught a false, hateful doctrine, and he vowed never to harm another person that way again.

The younger Holderfield, who was 5 at that time, said that by supporting racial reconciliation, his father raised him and his siblings in a different way than most of their friends. Although the older Holderfield’s heart had changed by the time he made

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a commitment to Christ in 1969, the heart of America still had some trouble spots.

The younger Holderfield said his father left the church where he got saved because of the racism he saw when one of the younger Holderfield’s brother’s friends, who was Black, attended church with them.

“He felt led to start a church where there wasn’t any prejudice,” Paul Holderfield Jr. said.

Feeding the hungry was a part of the church from the very beginning, since the older Holderfield had already been feeding children at the local Boys Club — now Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Arkansas.

The older Holderfield knew what hunger felt like, his son said. He said his father had told him stories about how, during his childhood, he and his siblings sometimes had nothing to eat in the house, and his mother — the younger Holderfield’s grandmother — started saying prayers of thanks to God for feeding her children, even though they had no food.

The younger Holderfield said his father told him that about 10 times, there was a knock at the door while she was praying, and when she finished, she sent one of the children to answer it, and they found a bag of groceries.

“He said, ‘When you see that as a kid, no matter how much drinking you do and how much partying you do and how far you get away from what [your mother] believed, you never forget that, and you know that there is a God,’” the younger Holderfield said. “I think [Dad] wanted to start that soup kitchen because he knew what it was like to be hungry.”

The younger Holderfield said he has never missed a meal, so when he became senior pastor after his father died, he prayed that the people who came to eat at the Friendly Chapel felt as loved and accepted while he was there as they did around his father.

“About three or four months after Daddy was gone, one day in the soup kitchen, this guy called me over and said … ‘Have you ever been homeless?’” Holderfield said. “I kind of glanced at my clothes and said, ‘No, I’ve never been homeless.’ I said, ‘What

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would make you ask that?’ He said, ‘Sir, anybody that’d make me feel like you made me feel this hour, I figured they had to be where I had been sometime in their life.’”

Holderfield said he had no plans to become a pastor but felt called to preach around 1995, just three years before his father died in 1998. As one of Holderfield’s parishioners once told him, “Preachers preach on Sunday, but pastoring is 24/7,” and Holderfield already had a fulltime job delivering bread for Colonial Bread, which he did for about 25 years.

When his father died suddenly of a heart attack, Holderfield ran his bread route that day, and then the church board asked him to pastor. He said only God could have called him to leave a business that seemed made for him.

“Only God himself could get me off that bread truck,” he said. “As much as I loved and respected my father, he couldn’t get me off that bread truck. Only God could do that.”

He said he tries to follow the example set by his mother and father, a couple who spent their golden years in a one-bedroom apartment above the church gym, but seemed content with what they had and consumed with their service to Christ. Holderfield’s mother is still living.

He lives in the same house where he grew up in North Little Rock, and he said every morning, he and his wife, Cathy, give thanks for their family, including four children and seven grandchildren.

“Most every morning, I make the statement as I’m praying for our family, ‘I’m the richest man I’ve ever met,’ and I’ve met a lot of people with a lot of money and a lot of things,” he said.

Soon after his father passed away, Holderfield said, a parishioner gave him some insight about filling his father’s role at the church.

“He said, ‘Brother Paul, you can’t fill his shoes,’ and he said, ‘but you can walk in his footsteps,’” Holderfield said. “We’ve been trying to walk in his footsteps. We know we can’t fill his shoes, and another thing is we’re not called to fill his shoes. The Lord wants me to be the best Brother Paul Jr. I can be.”

Holderfield has a lot of stories from Friendly Chapel.

He said his friends and family pester him about writing them all down in a book someday. He said a parishioner in Mississippi told him he should write the book to his father, after which he told his wife that he had the first line of the book: “Hey, Dad, since you left.”

She told him that should be the title. When he mentioned the book during a sermon, a friend from Missouri, who was watching a stream of the service, gave him what could be the book’s first line.

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“He texted me after church and said, ‘That book that you need to write, Hey, Dad, Since You Left,’ he said, ‘Actually, Paul, your dad never left. He’s just showing up differently,’” he said, adding that he shared the story with his wife. “‘Mama, you gave me the title of the book. Now I’ve got the first line. “‘Actually, Dad never left. He’s just showing up differently.’”

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YOU CAME TO PLAY, NOW COME TO STAY

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GARY TROUTMAN President & CEO President & CEO 501-321-1700 501-321-1700 hotspringschamer.com hotspringschamer.com hotspringsmetropartnership.com hotspringsmetropartnership.com

GARY TROUTMAN

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2023

Gaylen McGee is the owner of the I-40 Auto Auction, McGee Land Developments and McGee Farms. He currently serves as primary auctioneer for the I-40 Auto Auction and has increased business revenue by four times during his tenure.

As a benefit auctioneer specialist, Gaylen has worked with many non-profit organizations over the years, including: Central Arkansas Radiation Therapy Institute (CARTI), The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), Baptist Health, American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association, American Cancer Society, and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!

He is one of the highest grossing benefit auctioneers in the State of Arkansas, setting auction revenue records over the past three years.

Gaylen says he will continue to help those in need until his last breath.

He is serving LLS Arkansas in honor of his sister-in-law, who has been diagnosed with Essential Thrombocythemia (ET) – a benign Myeloproliferative Neoplasm (MPN).

1700 N. Center Street • Lonoke 501.676.6252 JAN UA RY 2 024

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LOVING & SERVING

Hand in Hand

Following in his father’s footsteps as senior pastor at Friendly Chapel Church of the Nazarene in North Little Rock, Paul Holderfield Jr. is committed to touching people’s souls through his ministry and filling people’s bellies through the church’s soup kitchen. Established in 1972 by Holderfield’s father, Friendly Chapel has a history of working to overcome racial boundaries. Holderfield said he hopes to be a welcoming and accepting presence to everyone who visits the church. His years of compassion have garnered him recognition as an Arkansas Money & Politics Top 10.

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FRIENDLY CHAPEL Church of the Nazarene

BRO. PAUL HOLDERFIELD, JR. - SENIOR PASTOR

116 S Pine St, North Little Rock info@friendlychapel.org // (501) 371-0912 1 27

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Pansy Johnson

ADVOCATING FOR

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he term “young professionals” is a term used to describe those marking the beginning of a career, often directly following graduation or the upon completion of a postsecondary training program. It is a time of life riddled with obstacles and first-time experiences. Pansy Johnson, a passionate banking professional and advocate for other young people at the beginning of their careers, has already embarked on a promising career path and wants to help other young professionals do the same.

Johnson, who earned bachelor’s degrees in public relations and marketing from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, graduated in 2020, and when the world was eerily unpredictable, she found her footing. In June, Johnson accepted her first position with Arvest Bank as a division intern.

With a grandmother who had a long career in banking, Johnson was familiar with the industry, but at the beginning of her own career in the industry, she found her true passion.

“I was able to learn all about banking during that time and really got to dive deeper into that world. I was able to truly understand the different departments of banking, from human resources and marketing to property management, mortgage lending, commercial lending and retail banking,” Johnson said, adding that the hands-on experience allowed her to explore her interests.

During the summer, Johnson applied to and was offered a full-time role with Arvest in property management, where she would begin to work as an administrative assistant. This fulltime role came at an ideal time and brought her yet another set of skills that have helped her in her current position as a treasury-management sales specialist, where she supports an advisor in the Tulsa, Okla., and Bartlesville, Okla., areas.

In Johnson’s eyes, the last three years have flown by quickly, but the most important lessons she has learned through being a young professional can be encapsulated by one piece of solid advice: Find a mentor.

“I was taught that having a mentor early on is essential. Hav-

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YPs

By Sarah Coleman

ing someone who will advocate for you and be intentional about your professional goals is extremely helpful, as is having someone who knows your value and has confidence in your capabilities,” Johnson said.

Being a new kid on the block certainly comes with its challenges. Johnson said the most important way to overcome these barriers is through self-confidence.

“One of my mentors advised me very early in my career to always have confidence in myself, because your individual value is really only as strong as you believe it is,” Johnson said. “I’m grateful for my mentors because they’ve been so intentional with me during my journey of career growth and networking and have helped to pour into me with their expertise and their knowledge. They’ve really pushed me to grow as a professional and not shy away from challenges.”

In searching for ways to expand her skill set, Johnson prides herself in the ability to think outside of the box and has found herself encouraging other young professionals to do the same.

Through mentorship and experience, Johnson learned that many professions are watching for the longevity of business, making professional development of utmost importance.

“Existing leaders think about who will replace them down the road and who will continue the success of the company.

When you think of people who are growing in their careers, you can’t help but think about young professionals, specifically Gen Z and millennial professionals,” she said.

Johnson encourages those entering the workforce to seek out these opportunities, as well, because it has been extremely helpful for her to see people she can relate to in higher level roles. As she sees it, there are more opportunities now than ever before in organizations to create a culture of mentorship and continued development.

“People entering the workforce want to know that there will be some element of professional development and growth ahead so they can continue the legacy of success in whichever organization they are part of,” Johnson said. “I have had a wealth

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of both men and women who have truly poured into me in my career, and I have been so grateful for their wisdom and expertise,” Johnson said.

A self-professed highly ambitious person, Johnson found another passion in young professional advocacy because it has meant so much for her own success.

“I really started pouring into other young professionals and advocating for them because I was thankful to be poured into when I began my career,” Johnson said.

“I’ve been able to be in some big rooms with influential people because people advocated for me.”

One of the best opportunities Johnson found was the Arvest Next Level Leaders Program, where she learned useful career skills and advice from executive leaders, including CEO Tabi Lipscomb.

“The Arvest Next Level Leaders Program really encouraged me to keep my pace. My mentors helped me understand how your drive will push you further in your career and that active learning is one of the most important tools,” Johnson said. “As advice from our CEO, we were taught to never stop learning because there’s truly always something to be learned. Technology is continuing to evolve. Banking is evolving, so it’s so important to keep yourself up to date.”

In pursuit of furthering professional development for her peers in central Arkansas, Johnson has started her own business, PJMP Professional Development, an educational consulting firm based on the values of encouraging, educating and elevating young professionals. Through her organization, Johnson will be hosting a networking and panel event on Jan. 17 and has recently re-launched her podcast, It’s a YP Thing.

“I am aiming to continue spotlighting young professionals and to continue sharing my journey in hopes that it will help other young professionals as they embark on their own journeys,” Johnson said.

In her personal life, Johnson has always looked to her grandmother, Mary, who had a career in banking for 28 years. Johnson said she was always inspired by her grandmother’s work ethic and other attributes.

“It’s so surreal to me that I’m now working in banking because she had such a successful career in the same industry. She supports me in everything I do, in all of my visions and all of my goals. She’s always there to keep me uplifted and to challenge me to keep going,” Johnson said.

Another great skill she learned from her grandmother was the ability to serve the community well. Johnson, who is involved in several service initiatives local to the greater Little Rock area, has curated a strong desire to

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serve everyone she can. A proud active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Chi Eta Omega chapter, Johnson is also involved in the Junior League of Little Rock.

In addition to her memberships in the above organizations, Johnson served the Little Rock Regional Chamber on behalf of Arvest as part of the minority enterprise development committee in 2022.

During the same year, she was a panelist for Giving Tuesday with the Arkansas Black Philanthropy Collaborative. In 2023, Johnson volunteered for the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame, where she served on the social media committee, and served as a judge at Little Rock’s inaugural CapitalCon. “I’ve always been very involved with my community, and I love serving Little Rock. I think it’s so important to pour into the state that I grew up in,” Johnson said.

Looking forward, Johnson said she is excited to continue with her career in banking and hopes to continue to advocate for young professionals, both in banking and in professional development.

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Flags to Kerry McCoy

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Riches

By Mark Carter

erry McCoy’s story is destined for the pages of a bestone of Little Rock’s most highly visible spots, the building has seller, if not the silver screen. come to be indelibly linked with McCoy and Flag and Banner, Hers is the story of a girl from North Little Rock who draped as it almost always is in U.S. flag bunting and signage. rolled up her sleeves and bet her life savings — all $400 of it — What about that run for mayor? on a dream. The story begins with a recently graduated but out“It’s driving me nuts, just like this freaking building,” Mcof-work fashion merchandiser and ends with an e-commerce Coy said. “It’s calling to me. It’s making me crazy. I’ve called giant. McCoy described her journey as an American dream, but my preacher, and I’ve said, ‘I don’t want to be the mayor, but as matter-of-factly as one might describe a typical it wants me to be the mayor,’ and it’s driving me workday. Instead of tidbits such as, “The copier nuts. I don’t even like politics, but I am great at broke down, and such-and-such client kept callsolving problems in groups. It’s one of my favorite ing,” it was “…down at our operation in Miami, things to do.” where first-generation American seamstresses sew McCoy’s track record would suggest betting our flags,” or, “We’re probably the last flag manuagainst her at one’s own peril. She realized her facturer in the country that still hand sews.” unlikely vision of a historic building as home of That is before she adds nonchalantly that she her company, after all, and before that, her dream wants to run for mayor of Little Rock. McCoy to launch a flag business from scratch paid off said she likes Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. big. That one represented an even bigger underpersonally but thinks he’s too young to be an efdog story. fective leader. Little Rock is not meeting its poMcCoy’s flag-and-banner journey began in 1974 tential, and running for mayor “won’t leave my in Dallas, where the young graduate of fashion mind,” she said. merchandising school found herself out of work An idea has taken her in its grasp like this an- McCoy on Nov. 3, 1984, the in the middle of a recession. Through an employday President Ronald Reaother time, she added, and that was when she gan campaigned for reelec- ment agency, she found a job selling flags for a couldn’t stop thinking about an old building in tion in Little Rock. (Photo company called Betsy Ross Flag Girl. On a visit downtown Little Rock, the former Taborian Hall, provided) back home to central Arkansas, she did a little rewhich would become her base of operations. By search and discovered that “Little Rock was virgin the late 1980s, the structure had become vacant and neglected, flag territory.” but McCoy, who drove past it every day, could not take her eyes Launched out of the trunk of her car in 1975, McCoy’s little off the classic brick, three-story building. flag startup grew to become a multi-million-dollar distributor, McCoy is nothing if not resilient, and with a little help from retailer and manufacturer of flags, banners and related items. her parents and a serendipitous pitch to the former Twin City Its inventory extends way beyond Old Glory — though plenty Bank (a tale that requires its own chapter in that future book), of stars and stripes go through McCoy’s operation — to include she bought a diamond in the rough in 1991 for $20,000. flags, banners and signage of all stripes, colors and creeds, handPerched on West Ninth Street overlooking Interstate 630 in sewn and digitally printed.

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Arkansas Flag and Banner ultimately became Flagandbanner. com, thanks to an internet reach that attracted customers from across the world. The global demand for the products it offers, plus a dearth of domestic flag dealers and manufacturers, made McCoy’s company a rewarding find in the early days of the internet. Marla Johnson, considered by many the mother of the internet in central Arkansas through her trailblazing company, now known as Aristotle Unified Communications, sold McCoy in 1995 on the promise of that wild concept called the world wide web, and it was there that McCoy’s business really sowed its oats.

Dropping Arkansas from the name was simply a matter of expanding her reach. McCoy said she checked recently on a random midweek day to find 89 internet surfers on the site from all over the country and just eight from Arkansas.

Success led to other ventures and the launch of Kerry McCoy Enterprises to house them — a biannual magazine called Brave distributed to FlagandBanner.com customers; a public radio talk show and podcast called Up in Your Business with Kerry McCoy; and the Bannerisms blog, where she shares social and industry observations and more.

In a recent blog post about relationships social and professional, McCoy wrote about the challenges of overseeing businesses in Little Rock and Miami. An excerpt: “The social juxtaposition of my time in Miami and my life in Little Rock is glaring. In Miami, I feel almost alone in a crowd.

I know no one. On those days when I don’t feel like putting on my makeup or feel like ‘dropping out,’ as we used to say, it can be nice, but I don’t want to live like that all the time.

“I need my tribe. In Little Rock, I can’t go anywhere without running into an old friend or friend of a friend. I smile a lot more in Little Rock because every time I leave the house, it is a social event, even at the grocery store.”

In the summer of 2020, as COVID-19 raged and Chicken Littles bemoaned the free market’s demise, McCoy bought ourcornermarket.com, an online retailer of custom-made plaques, signs and garden decor, to “dovetail with the Flagandbanner.com brand.”

She acquired independent flag dealers in Pennsylvania and Miami, the latter of which became her manufacturing hub, where a dozen new Americans sew flags into existence “like quilts,” McCoy said.

Other ventures under the McCoy banner include the Dreamland Ballroom, the historic event space on the third and top floor of her building, and the Taborian Hall Museum. Over the decades, McCoy has worked to restore both the building and its ballroom to their former glory. A century ago, Dreamland Ballroom and the Taborian Hall represented the physical manifestations of a prosperous Black community in Little Rock along what was then a bustling Ninth Street corridor.

Flag and Banner’s handiwork can be seen around the globe.

In Little Rock, the large American flags flying outside the Dillard’s corporate headquarters and the Coca-Cola plant, as well as the giant “Joy” banner that adorns the state Capitol every

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Christmas season, represent examples of the company’s work.

Three of McCoy’s four children and her husband now work for Kerry McCoy Enterprises, and the potential future candidate has no plans to slow down. First, though, she will have to ride out a slow wave. She’s ridden them out before and plans to do so again.

“Stimulus money has run out, and patriotism is down,” she said. “We had a very flat year this year, but now we’re in an election year. I know from times past that everybody thinks if their guy doesn’t win, the world’s going to go to hell in a handbasket, so people are tight with their money. I’ll sell a lot of bunting though.”

Of course, if she decides to run for mayor, McCoy knows where she can get campaign signage at cost.

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Gaylen McGee

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he word auctioneer may bring a vivid image to mind, complete with charm, 90-to-nothing chants, a desire to speak publicly and a classic cowboy hat. In that case, Gaylen McGee, the owner of I-40 Auto Auction, was born to be an auctioneer.

McGee has been in the auction business for his entire life and satiated his first taste for the industry in his childhood, when he visited the Beebe Horse Auction. It was there that he made his first purchase, and in selling his horse the next week, he made his first commission — $42.

From being around the auction scene from an early age and his experience in the lucrative goldfish business McGee has been involved in several different arenas, all of which have proven helpful in transforming him into the great success he is.

From learning the right tools to succeed in business to knowing how to connect with people, McGee has stories that could fill an entire memoir and still leave more for exploration.

While the auction is McGee’s means for a paycheck, it has been more of a lifestyle for him than anything. While he has been involved in auto auctions since 2004 and has owned I-40 Auto Auction since 2006, McGee learned all of what he knows about phone sales and marketing from a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman, who was his trainer in the stocks and bonds business.

At 19, McGee was the new kid on the block in the business, and his trainer took him under his wing, teaching him about the obvious, sales, and even more about what is important, being genuine.

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At this time in his life, McGee began to understand valid lessons, such as smiling on the phone, and the importance of treating everyone, regardless of their title, with the utmost respect.

“My trainer taught me so much about phone sales and marketing at the time. He taught me how to speak out and get the words out and helped me curate skills to overcome any objection, while always welcoming it,” McGee said.

The most important thing he learned early on, he said, is a simple lesson: People are just people.

“It doesn’t matter to me if you’re a janitor, CEO or president. At the end of the day, everyone is a person, executive or not,” McGee said. “I talk to everyone the same, respectful way, and I hope people appreciate that.”

After making all of his money in the goldfish business, McGee set out for a career in auctioning, where he received formal training from St. Louisbased Missouri School of Auctioneering. Graduating in 2001, McGee spent 11 to 14 hour days learning the artform behind chanting audibly.

“I can get to going pretty fast, but if you haven’t been to an auction before, it may be difficult for you to hear me, and that could lead to you thinking you’ve bid $300 instead of $3,000,” (Photos provided) McGee said.

McGee also credits rhythm as the most important skill in auctioning anything off.

The second most important thing McGee learned came from his stepfather’s advice to always dress for success. This simple

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lesson has proved to be invaluable in his line of work, especially through his volunteerism in benefit auctioning. As a gifted public speaker, McGee is arguably the most well-known charity auctioneer in the state, as he has regularly donated his time through the years to live auctions at events.

“I won’t ever charge for my services at these events. I love to give back, and I love to get a little bit of laughter out of the crowd. It helps lift the sadness felt from the events we’re at,” McGee said. “Sometimes it can be very difficult because we are all there to raise money for a particular beneficiary, and all of them are heartfelt.”

While some auctioneers may prefer to be more impersonal with the crowd, this goes directly against McGee’s belief in the business. Raised on the principle of giving back to the community, McGee has been involved in several organizations throughout Arkansas and beyond.

Through working at events for high schools, churches, hospitals and associations that include the Arkansas Heart Association, McGee is grateful for the opportunity to play a role in bettering the lives of others.

“Everyone I’ve worked with has just been wonderful, and all the causes I’ve been able to help with have been great,” McGee said. “I will continue to help raise money for organizations until I fall over.”

McGee has not kept a running total but is confident that he has helped raise more money for charity than any other auctioneer in the state. McGee has, though, kept track of his personal selling record, which is 800 items in five hours. Although his job is dependent on selling items, it has never been his prerogative to only sell. According to McGee, his true passion lies in creating joy, humor and enjoyable experiences for the crowd.

“We were taught to sit up there and sell the item,” McGee said, “but I’ve never been one to just do that. I believe in associating with the crowd. To get laughs out of everybody is what makes it worthwhile to me.”

With a life calling of making people joyful, McGee prides himself and his business on creating memorable experiences for the crowd and bringing fun into the carbuying process.

“I’m different. I’m a different auctioneer than most, and I like to put on a show for everybody, and I want to see everyone laughing, rather than just having straight business all the time,” McGee said.

Ultimately, McGee’s career has brought him to very unexpected places, including sharing stages with artists such as Kenny Rogers, Amy Grant, REO Speedwagon, Bret Michaels, the Commodores and Al Green, to name a few. He has also been able to perform for past presi-

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dents and vice presidents.

While he was unable to make his dream come true of sharing a stage with the late Queen Elizabeth II of England, McGee has undoubtedly been afforded incredibly unique opportunities that he has never taken for granted.

As one of the only auto auctions in the Natural State, I-40 Auto Auction stands out from the rest under McGee’s leadership. With the public allowed to purchase from the auction, McGee does not limit sales to dealerships only and has found great joy in being able to showcase his ultimate gift: showmanship.

“I love to be able to get a laugh from the crowd and to poke fun, even in some difficult situations. I tell everyone it’s all in jest and all in good fun.

Laughter makes it all worthwhile to me,” McGee said.

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SPONSORED CONTENT

The more things change, the more they stay the same T he start of a new year is always fun for me. It is a time to measure success (or failures) from the previous year and, hopefully, to put new plans in motion to have greater success. As a business and financial consultant, my observations about the lack of planning among business owners resonates as a common challenge. Many entrepreneurs get caught up in the dayto-day operations and may neglect the importance of strategic planning and adapting to changes in the business environment.

My goal is to encourage clients to implement a more proactive approach, which can be beneficial both short and long term.

If you are reading this, you have probably read my previous articles about the importance of good planning, especially in the area of exit strategy. This time, I want to talk about the factors that might hinder the flow of value from the sale of your business to your pocket. The biggest threats to enjoying the monetary fruits of your labor are no surprise, as they are universal guarantees: death and taxes. That’s right — even when you no longer own a business, Uncle Sam would like to have a word with you. He is very interested in what you plan to do with all the money you just made.

Depending on the structure of your exit plan, you have about 18,500 different kinds of taxes you are likely to encounter. You might find that the IRS considers your business sale to be completely ordinary income, and all of it is lumped into a single tax year. This could rocket you straight to the top of the tax brackets, which you definitely will not enjoy. However, good planning might be able to prevent this. In certain situations, proceeds from a business transaction can be considered a capital gain. This can be pretty nifty if it is a long-term gain and even more so if you have any capital losses to offset against it. Not every sale has this option and it will not happen by accident. Good planning is key.

You may also have to brace yourself for a little surprise the IRS calls “depreciation recapture,” in which the assets of your business you have depreciated could factor greatly in how much money you walk away with at the end. These are just a few examples of the kinds of taxes that could impact your exit. I cannot stress enough how important it is to have a tax expert as you make plans. The tax code is complex enough, and that is before

JAN UA RY 2 024

Victor Werley

someone decides to change it — which happens a lot.

“But Victor, I already successfully sold my business and paid the taxes. I’m good now, right?”

Not even close. Now you need to watch for taxes on any gains you make on investing those assets. You might also have to pay income taxes on the money you are pulling from retirement accounts. The really big one to watch for, though, is the estate tax, which affects your assets after you die and as your assets transfer to your heirs. There is a threshold for the value of your estate which triggers this tax, and unfortunately, that number changes almost every year. In fact, as I write this, there is a change coming in a few years that would cut the threshold amount in half. Suddenly, tons of estates are going to have to pay this tax, and many people do not even know it exists. If that does not motivate you to get an advisor, I don’t know what will. Once you find one, make sure you meet with them regularly because a perfect plan will not stay that way on its own.

I hope I have not scared you. I am really excited about 2024 and all of our potential. Changes are good but not always easy. You can be as successful as you are willing to put in the work for. Just don’t try to do it alone.

Victor Werley CFP, ChFC, CDFA, CVA, MAFF, CFE, CEPA, is a financial consultant in Little Rock and the founder of Pinnacle Advisors. Werley has practiced for more than 20 years and has managed hundreds of business transitions for himself and his clients. He has spoken to numerous groups in the business and legal fields about business valuation, how to structure good business deals and many other topics. He is passionate about small businesses and helping the economy of Arkansas.

LITTLE ROCK • CABOT www.pinnacleadvisor.net | (501) 327-6277 13 4

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Congratulations Brian Marsh

for being named one of Arkansas Money & Politics’ 2024 Top Ten!

CHANGING LIVES THROUGH EDUCATION, TRAINING, AND EMPLOYMENT 7400 Scott Hamilton Drive • Suite 50 • Little Rock • AR 72209 • Tel: 501-372-5100 • Toll Free: 877-372-5151

www.goodwillar.org

TOP TEN

Brian Marsh

Good Work,

Goodwill

By Mark Carter

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(Photo provided)

T

he Goodwill brand may be one of the nation’s strongest, but many Americans think of the global nonprofit, founded in Boston 122 years ago, only when they drive by one of its collection centers or retail outlets, where donated items are resold.

These are just the most visible — and essential — parts of what Goodwill does. The revenue made from Goodwill’s retail locations supports the organization’s actual mission, which is to change lives through education, training and employment.

Workforce development is what Goodwill is about, said Brian Marsh, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Arkansas,

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and under his leadership, GIA is reaching more Arkansans who did not graduate high school and helping them attain the education and training necessary to find meaningful jobs. GIA now provides the only adult high school in the state where such individuals can earn their high school diplomas.

Marsh said 96 percent of GIA’s revenue is made from the sale of donated goods.

“It’s our lifeblood,” he added.

When donations are made to Goodwill, even when done simply out of convenience, Arkansans are helping GIA help Arkansans, Marsh said. Since signing on as GIA’s chief operating of-

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ficer in 2013, he has made it his mission to help adult Arkansans who did not graduate from high school complete their education and find meaningful work. He was named interim president and CEO in early 2017, and six months later, the interim was dropped from his title.

In 2023, the United States Census Bureau estimated that about 88 percent of the Arkansas population (3.07 million) older than 25 had earned a high school diploma. That leaves roughly 300,000 adult Arkansans who represent the GIA target demographic, Marsh said.

He bursts with pride when he talks about GIA’s latest projects.

In July, the Goodwill Training and Education Center opened the Excel Center in Springdale, where Arkansans ages 19 and older can earn a high school diploma, and in December, the Academy at Goodwill trade school opened in Little Rock.

As of July 2023, GIA had approximately 250 adult students at both schools. The Academy, located on the GIA campus in south Little Rock, is a trade school that provides jobs, skills and training, including certifications related to the state’s top industry sectors — manufacturing, information technology, logistics, construction, medical services, and customer service and hospitality. The school is licensed by the Arkansas State Board of Private Career Education.

Plus, GIA operates reentry services in 21 Arkansas communities. Those services include the Transitional Employment Opportunity Program, which offers help with life coaching and job placement after a period of incarceration. Goodwill also has 36 career service centers staffed with career navigators that offer multiple free services aimed to help with job placement or career advancement.

Marsh said he is working with state legislators to find the funding to expand GIA’s adult high school to other sites.

“The Excel Center is part of a Goodwill network across the United States,” he said. “If we can get additional funding, we’ll expand to five schools across the state.”

Marsh said areas being considered for future adult high schools are Jonesboro, Fort Smith and West Memphis-Marion.

There is room for more of what GIA offers, Marsh said, and he is working to expand private partnerships with companies such as Lexicon, Welspun and even health care providers such as Baptist Health.

“We have the ability to add classes,” he said. “We can build training that suits each company.”

Goodwill helps in other ways. Marsh led Goodwill’s efforts as one of the first nonprofits on the ground in the aftermath of the March 2023 tornado that affected Little Rock and Wynne. GIA handed out donation vouchers to those who had lost personal belongings and led the transportation of donated goods and logistics for the city of Little Rock.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, GIA worked with Baptist Health to operate an N95 mask decontamination system in sup-

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port of health care workers, Marsh said. Troy Wells, president and CEO of Baptist Health and a GIA board member, was heavily involved in the local effort to combat the shortage of N95 masks, he added.

GIA’s reentry program for those Arkansans rejoining society after incarceration helps them adjust to life on the outside and find meaningful employment. The program provides free education, training and employment placement. Marsh said the Goodwill program boasts a recidivism rate of less than 6 percent compared to the overall state average of 50 percent. Recently in Jonesboro, Goodwill graduated nine from the program.

“It is incredible. It’s having a great impact,” Marsh said. “Hearing them speak about how [the program] has changed their lives and given them new possibilities, it really recharges you.”

Marsh, a Michigan native, previously served as vice president and general manager at Envirotest in Denver, where he was responsible for the Colorado vehicle emissions program.

Before that, he was director of development and support at eyeglass-lenses manufacturer Essilor Laboratories in Dallas.

A mechanical engineer by trade, Marsh transitioned into operations early in his career. A career at Goodwill was never on his radar, he said, but working with the organization at previous jobs exposed him to its mission. Plus, Marsh already had a strong familiarity with Arkansas. His mother was born in Batesville, so he “grew up coming down to Arkansas to visit family,” and he went to college at relatively nearby Mississippi State University, where he met his wife, Dani (who also grew up vacationing with family in Arkansas).

“I had the opportunity to work with Goodwill on various projects, and I saw the good that it does,” he said. “When the opportunity came to join Goodwill Industries of Arkansas, the focus on making such a big impact on the lives of Arkansans was first and foremost. The opportunity to come back to Arkansas, a place I knew and where I have family ties, was very attractive.”

Marsh has invested in Arkansas. He is a graduate of the Little Rock Regional Chamber’s Leadership Greater Little Rock program (Class 31) and also serves on its board; is a participant in the Leadership Arkansas program through the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce; is a member of the AR Kids Read Advisory Council; is a member of the Arkansas Workforce Development Board; and serves on the boards of the Excel Center, the Southwest Little Rock Business Alliance and the Human Resources Management Association of Arkansas’ advanced manufacturing advisory board.

Marsh said he relishes the opportunity to help adults in his adopted home state in such a meaningful way.

“It’s amazing, the ability to earn more when you have a high school diploma,” he said. “The children of high school dropouts are 50 percent more likely to drop out themselves. Breaking that change is critical. What Goodwill does is change the whole trajectory of families.”

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Adam Mitchell

Banking

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By Mak Millard

t is often easier to see the threads connecting one’s life and career in hindsight. Such was the case for Adam Mitchell, president and CEO of Citizens Bank, who had not given a thought to the banking industry before getting into it.

“I started off at Acxiom out of Hendrix [College in Conway], but banking actually found me,” he said. “I was in a wedding for one of my friends, and several bankers were there. We kind of hit it off, developed a connection, and I was offered a job a few months later. I realized that I liked people and numbers, so it was a perfect fit.”

Little did Mitchell know banking ran in the family. Between his wife’s side, which had two bankers, and his own grandfather having served as president of Grant County Bank, Mitchell’s career seemed meant to be. Even his serendipitous entry into the field — through the power of good connections — is a reflection of the practices he credits with his success.

“It’s all about relationships and working with people,” he said. “I’ve always had the attributes of hard work, leading by example, perseverance, having a positive attitude and surrounding myself with talented people. You’re only as good as the people around you, so I’m always focused on trying to hire people around me that are better than me.”

Mitchell started out and spent the majority of his career at Simmons Bank, along with a few years at Pulaski Bank, as well, and joined Citizens Bank in 2018 as president and chief planning officer. It was during his stint at Pulaski Bank that he faced one of the first big challenges of his career and laid the seeds for a successful journey into executive leadership.

“I was given the opportunity to lead a team when I was 28. I really wasn’t prepared to lead this team, but I knew if I wanted to really propel myself, I had to learn how to lead,” he said. “I learned on the fly to see who’s on the team, who’s not on the team, who to rely upon, who not.”

It was an experience as humbling as it was stress-

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ful, and Mitchell learned the importance of trusting his gut instincts. Once again, his emphasis on building strong relationships proved vital, as well.

“You had all the pressure, not only personally, but your whole team was depending on you. They looked at this young guy and said, ‘Does he really know what he’s doing?’ I can tell you I was not prepared, but once I got through with that duty, I became really prepared. That one experience helped me to get to where I am today because a lot of people didn’t have that opportunity at 28,” he said.

Over the course of his career, Mitchell has also faced obstacles familiar to the banking industry as a whole, including the Great Recession, the COVID-19 pandemic and the continually rising interest rates that have defined more recent times. His is an ever changing occupation, and he relies on his experience under pressure to keep a level head rather than overreacting to the moment.

“Really, it teaches you [that] you can’t run from anything — you’ve got to jump right in and tackle it,” he said. “When you combine all those, I’m very fortunate to have been in banking through those. I think the horizon of banking is still going to be a kind of tumultuous time for people as we go through the current economic cycle and going forward, so you’ve got to take all those and learn from them.”

This penchant for careful planning and calm execution served him especially well as he transitioned to the head of the table, becoming Citizens Bank CEO in 2021. In fact, the handing off process went so smoothly that previous CEO Phil Baldwin was able to retire three months ahead of schedule.

“We didn’t want to make a big sea change overnight, so we had a very long time, about a year, where we worked together on transition [and] had a formalized transition plan, which I think went very well,” Mitchell said. “The main surprise I had is [that] one day, you go from having a certain role in the organization to, all of a sudden, the weight is on your shoulders. You’ve got all the stakeholders relying on you, the shareholders, the board, the associates, the customers, everything. It’s all on you.”

Not keen to let his new title do the talking, Mitchell made a concerted effort to develop his own relationships with each of the bank’s key associates, building trust among the Citizens Bank team even as he was still settling into the driver’s seat.

“A lot of people are watching you in this role, and you’ve got to always understand they’re watching you,” he said. “That nonverbal part of your job is very important. They’re watching every move you make.”

A self-described “typical Type A personality,” Mitchell’s new role and the heightened scrutiny that came with it played to his strengths. Still, he admits he has room to grow, and he relishes the opportunity to do so.

“I’m 49, and I feel like by the time I’m 60, I’d better be a better leader than I am today,” he said. “I’m always refining how I approach things. I use emotional intelligence a lot. I go back and look at how I fit into the day-to-day, how I reacted to certain situ-

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ations. I also look to everybody around me to make me a more effective leader because I know I can improve. I want to make sure that everybody knows where they stand, why we’re doing the things we’re doing and why we’re going where we are.”

A crucial component of Mitchell’s collaborative, adaptive leadership style is mentoring others just as much as he himself has been mentored. He learned much about staying true to one’s values, ethics and instincts from his father, former Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield CEO George Mitchell. He also works to hone his skills among peers and other industry professionals, whether through conversations or reading.

“I’ve spent a lot of time making sure I tell people that I mentor here at the bank why we’re doing it,” he said. “I try to be as adaptive as possible, because each of them has their own needs.

They’re all built differently. You can’t can’t just paint with a broad brush and expect to have a message that goes to everyone.”

The fruits of that investment, both in himself and others, has been the continued and record growth of Citizens Bank in terms of loans, deposits and earnings. The bank has also been in the process of redefining its business model since before Mitchell became CEO, prioritizing a more balanced approach that has only been possible through the commitment of each and every team member. With these changes in place, Mitchell expects an even brighter future ahead.

“Change is here to stay, and I think the banks that evolve and use technology the right way in a community bank model, are going to be the winners,” he said. “Now people are able to get deposits on their phone and go online and get money market funds nationally. It’s real time, 24/7 access to their banks, and then you throw in fintechs and banking as a service.

“It’s just a different world, but I still think every consumer and business needs a bank to support them. I think there’s still a role for community banks to be there, to have a viable place in each community. Our model, really, is we put in the technology of a bigger bank with the service of a ‘smaller bank,’ a community bank. That’s the balance we will continue to play as we move forward.”

As for his own role in the future, Mitchell is loath to talk about leaving a legacy. Instead, he hopes to leave an impact in other ways, from the interpersonal to the community level. He has been involved at various capacities with the American Heart Association and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Above all, though, he wants his presence to be felt through the care and respect of those around him.

“I’m not an ‘I’ guy, so I’m not looking to say, ‘Adam Mitchell left you with this,’” he said. “I’m not the type of guy that wants to write a book about what I’ve done or talk about what I’ve done. I just want people to say, ‘Hey, I learned from Adam, and I learned how to do things this way from him, and I became a better person because I worked with him in the team.’” I really just hope that my family, friends and co-workers can look back and say, ‘I learned how to do things the right way from Adam.’”

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Patrick Schueck

Man of

Steel

By Dwain Hebda

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exicon CEO Patrick Schueck has covered a lot of ground and met a lot of people in his career, but there is no doubt where and with whom he feels most at home — in the company’s headquarters, mixing with the men and women who work the steel that is Lexicon’s stock and trade.

“At my core, I see myself as an American iron worker,” he said.

“After I graduated college, I spent a lot of time doing iron working in the field. Did some millwright work and then came back into the office and spent a lot of time out in the shop. I still like to spend a lot of time out in the shop. I enjoy iron workers, I enjoy their mentality.

Like I like to tell everybody, you get a little rust in your blood, it’s hard to get it out.”

The sprawling headquarters facility feels like home to Schueck because in a sense that is what it is, built from the ground up by his late father, Tom, which makes the people who work there an extended family. He is quick to credit the front-line workers for the company’s leaps-and-bounds success, not only in word but in corporate deed. Among the perks Lexicon has implemented in service to employees are opening a company health and wellness clinic and rewarding long-tenured employees with recognition and a cash award.

“Here at Lexicon, we’re not a construction company. We’re a people company. We’re only as good as the people that we employ,” Schueck said. “We are in a business where knowing your trade is just as important as having a college degree or getting an associate degree. Knowing steel, knowing how steel operates, that’s the key to being whatever you want to be in this business, whether it’s a fitter, a welder out in the shop, whether it be a project manager here in the office, whether it be running a group or running a crew in the field.

“At Lexicon, it even goes a step further than that. We put people,

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quality, safety and innovation first in everything we do. That really started with [chairman emeritus] Gene Riley and my dad, who treated everybody with dignity and respect. They made everyone feel like they were pulling from the same end of the rope, no matter if they were college educated or whether they were from the trades. I truly believe in that at my core.”

Schueck identifies with the company’s employees so closely because despite being the founder’s son, he enjoyed no special treatment coming up, doing the very jobs his entry-level workers are tasked with daily.

“I started in Berkeley County, S.C., on a steel mill in 1999,” he said. “My first job was to take a crew out and pick up trash for two weeks. My second job was bushing columns with a big hammer drill. Got out there and did that in 120-degree temperatures.

“I went from Berkeley to another plant in Petersburg, Va. I did shutdown work at different steel mills throughout the South, spent a lot of time at Nucor-Yamato in grease up to my underarms, changing out grease fittings.”

The main difference between him and his colleagues was Schueck would one day be the man in charge and, therefore, in a position to make decisions with the worker in mind, which he has done.

“I’ve had to work for everything I have. That was ingrained in me from an early age,” he said. “Back when I was on the road, I learned what it took to do [steel work] seven days a week. I learned what it took to work nights for an extended period. I learned how hard it was on somebody who works for us, not only for the employee physically, but for their girlfriend, for their wife, for them to be away from their kids on Thanksgiving Day. I learned all of that because I was with them for so long. I wouldn’t change those years for anything.”

Today, having stocked the company with like-minded employees who know they are valued, Lexicon is reaping the benefits of American steel’s return to favor, not to mention the growing presence the industry has in Arkansas. Long thought to have died off amid the onslaught of cheaper foreign competition, Schueck said clients are rediscovering in droves the benefits of domestic steel and steel products.

“No. 1, it’s much more environmentally safe than what you get from overseas, period,” he said. “No. 2, the quality from the United States is so much better, it’s not even comparable to what you see coming out of China. No. 3 and more importantly, who doesn’t want something that’s American made?

“We’re incredibly excited about things. Being a steel fabricator and steel erector, among all the other things that we do, we’re very excited about having the opportunity not only to build those steel mills, but to be able to maintain those steel mills and to be able to make a living by buying those products.”

These new trends also spell good things closer to home, where Arkansas is rapidly earning a reputation as a steel center

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for the nation. Schueck said the major investments in steel mills in northeast Arkansas is already having a transformative effect on the state’s economy with more to come.

“When you look back at the lineage of why [steel] is in Arkansas, it makes perfect sense,” he said. “When you look at northeast Arkansas, you’ve got some of the best people in the country — hardworking people who grew up on farms, who know how to operate mechanical equipment and who comprise an all-around hardworking community. You’ve got the use of the Mississippi River, you’ve got two different rail lines, and you’ve got the ability to hit two different interstates.

“It just makes sense. As people would say, it’s the hallowed ground of steel, the steel mills of northeast Arkansas.

They’ve got everything they need. They’ve got cheap electricity. They’ve got great water. They’ve got a great workforce. It’s just set up perfectly for it.”

Schueck also gives state leaders high marks for helping to create a business-friendly environment that has allowed the steel industry and others to grow and thrive. Having completed projects in multiple states — and managing two acquired companies in recent years based in Louisiana and Alabama — he knows that from experience.

“Of all the states we operate in, I’d give Arkansas a very hard B right now, which is a very high grade for me,” he said. “What blows people away about this state, the companies that we work with from all around the country that come in here, wanting to do business, is when they find out they’re two phone calls away from talking to anybody in the state and getting something done. That’s so very important.

You go do work in Tennessee, you go do work in Alabama, that just doesn’t happen.”

In addition to providing for his current employees, Schueck has been a tireless promoter of trades by training and teaching young people about the high-paying and rewarding career opportunities that exist locally from working with their hands. He said even as Lexicon continues to deploy leading-edge technology and look for strategic partners via acquisitions, the key element to all future success is finding enough workers.

“Lexicon is the world’s leader in robotic fit-and-weld fabrication. We went down this path about seven years ago, and we’ve done an excellent job of harnessing our energies to promote innovation in every trade that we do,” he said.

“We’re very excited about the future. We do think the future of construction is bright. We think the reshoring of America has just started. I think we have positioned ourselves since 2020 to make sure everybody is in alignment culturally, and I think it sets us up perfectly to be able to manage any sort of acquisition that might come our way.”

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Gary Troutman

Hometown

Hero

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pa City is known as a tourist hotspot in central Arkansas, and Gary Troutman, president and CEO of the Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce and the Hot Springs Metro Partnership, hopes to showcase the city’s industry potential, as well.

Troutman was a member of the chamber’s board of directors in 2010, at which time he was general manager of the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record. He joined the chamber’s executive committee around 2013. In 2015, he became vice president of the Hot Springs market at First Security Bank.

He was set to become chairman of the chamber board in 2018 but instead became president and CEO as one of 24 finalists selected in a nation-wide search.

He said his work at First Security and the Sentinel-Record, as well as previous positions at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Farmers Insurance, helped prepare him for the leading role at the chamber.

Various other roles in the community also taught him about business and introduced him to the movers and shakers of Hot Springs.

He is a past president of the local Rotary Club, current president of Arkansas Economic Development & Chamber Executives, a board member of the National Park College Foundation, a former state director of the Southern Economic Development Council, and a board member of the local 10-county workforce development board.

He said he became involved in economic development because of “a lot of hometown pride.”

“At the time I took the job, we desperately needed broadband, so that was a passion,” he said. “A pet project for me was trying to get broadband to Hot Springs.”

The city found out the hard way that broadband and fiber usually follows the interstate, he said, and since Hot Springs was not

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the easiest place to reach by road until highway improvements eased the route from Little Rock around 2018, the city had to recruit broadband in order to compete nationally and globally.

Now that that has been accomplished, he said the chamber and metro partnership have shifted their focus to workforce development. Those efforts have garnered a grant from the Society for Human Resource Management Foundation, he added.

“This past year or so, I’d have to say the other thing I’m most proud of is our presence in the schools,” he said. “We’re doing things that we dreamed of three or four years ago and, frankly, that not many communities across the country are doing. We’re regularly meeting and teaching classes about opportunity and the things that our local students can pursue, whether that be immediately upon high school graduation or they get a two-year degree from, maybe, National Park College, our local school, our local two-year college here, or go the traditional four-year university route.”

With the “silver tsunami” of baby boomers reaching retirement age on the upswing, such workforce development efforts are of the utmost importance, he said.

The chamber and partnership have a draft day for 11th and 12th grade students at area schools, he said, and the organizations helped bring an ACT Work Ready Communities training program to Hot Springs. Troutman said he also recruited the former principal of West Memphis High School, a Hot Springs native, to join him in visiting the seven schools in Garland County to discuss job opportunities that are close to home.

“Hot Springs is known far and wide as the tourism capital of Arkansas,” he said. “We certainly embrace that, but a lot of folks don’t know that we have 40 very viable industries here.”

Those industries include Mountain Valley Spring Water, the Keith Smith Co., Alliance Rubber Co. and five aviation companies, he said.

In addition, Troutman has helped grow the chamber itself.

He said the chamber recently realized its goal of having at least 1,000 members after the COVID-19 pandemic caused a decline of about 883 members.

The chamber advocates for local businesses of all sizes by attending an annual fly-in in Washington, D.C., city board meetings, county quorum court meetings and applicable state meetings. Troutman said he works to be open and communicative with the public, chamber members and potential investors, and he publishes a weekly report that details the chamber and partnership’s weekly activities.

“Our city and our county and our chamber and our metro partnership all work very well together. That was certainly a goal of everyone in our community, and we’ve rallied to make that a priority,” he said. “That hasn’t always been the case, growing up here. I’ve seen these organizations, city and county not always flowing in the same direction, and now that we are, we’re

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being mentioned in the same breath as some of the other more successful communities not only in Arkansas, but the southeastern part of the United States.”

He said there are 7,000 chambers of commerce in the U.S., 140 of which are five-star chambers, and the Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce is the state’s only five-star chamber outside of northwest Arkansas. The metro partnership is one of only two accredited economic development organizations in the state, the other being in Pine Bluff, he added.

Being perceived as a tourist town is one challenge Hot Springs has when it comes to economic development, Troutman said. With that comes an additional challenge: Although the population of Hot Springs is only about 39,000, he said, the city could play host to a quarter of a million people on any given weekend, so potential investors could be driven off by a low population that does not reflect the city’s potential.

Finally, Hot Springs is known for rugged terrain that, though beautiful, can make it difficult to parcel land for new businesses.

Despite those challenges, he said he expects Hot Springs to flourish over the next five to 10 years and witness the same growth that has happened in Bryant, Benton, Conway, Jonesboro and west Little Rock. Recreational opportunities at Lake Hamilton, local mountain bike trails, Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort and Magic Springs can help bring in businesses and residents, he said.

Another factor that could help is the city’s recent work to secure water rights at Lake Ouachita, which will add about 23 million gallons of water a day to the city’s current level of 28 million gallons a day, he said.

“We’ve got water secured for our community for our grandkids’ grandkids,” he said. “I think that’s something we’re very proud of, and I think that’s another reason why you’re going to see the growth continue because water has become almost as important as oil and electricity as far as something that’s needed for a community to grow and flourish.”

He added that he hopes to increase the workforce in Hot Springs by drawing new residents from other parts of the state and country, and he hopes to help build a progressive community residents can take pride in. He also hopes to recruit new retail, restaurants and industry, including industries that could support the local aviation companies. Troutman said the best part of his job is championing the city where he grew up and where his parents and grandparents lived.

“I get to be the spokesperson and the cheerleader, in many regards, for my hometown, and I take that very seriously,” he said. “While I do feel the pressure, it’s a good kind of pressure, and I embrace it. I want to be the person that tells our story because I believe in our community as much or more than anyone else here.”

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ARKANSAS VISIONARY

SHERMAN TATE Walking the walk

By Dwain Hebda

A

s anyone who has ever spent any time in conversation with Sherman Tate can attest, words have never been in short supply for the pioneering businessman and community servant. Words emanate from Tate in elegant formations, buttered with a smooth Delta baritone, radiating thought and observation like the heat shimmering off the Phillips County fields of his youth.

Known throughout his career as a consummate communicator, Tate showed a remarkable ability to connect with people, from gas line drillers to Arkansas billionaires, building a vast network of relationships. Slow to rile and quick to praise, his sophisticated style of motivation galvanized teams and moved entire corporations to greater success than thought possible.

“If you assume responsibility for a position, as I was taught, you give it all you’ve got, making sure you communicate on a regular basis formally and informally with your workforce,” he said. “Here’s what we’re doing. Here’s why. Here’s when we’re going to do it. Here’s why we’re going to do it. What do you think?

“I never had to deal with the issue of employees putting me in a position that suggested I had all the answers — not at all. I emphasized that we were a team. We

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work together. I’m not out here trying to impress anybody that I know everything.

They bought that.”

Tate’s life and career is as much about substance as sound. Over the course of a remarkable life, one marked by one first after another in business and in the community, he established himself as much for walking the walk as talking the talk.

His approach crystallized dirt-farmer common sense, military discipline and the humility to leverage mentors at every opportunity, resulting in a leadership gumbo that satisfied every professional appetite in a long and prosperous career.

“If you don’t understand what being a real leader involves, you may not sink to the bottom, but it’s going to be an uphill battle,” he said. “You’ve absolutely got to have good people skills, and you’ve got to understand that none of us has all the answers.”

The only child of Rufus Tate Jr. and Annie B. (Tucker) Tate, Sherman grew up chopping cotton outside of Marvell in east Arkansas. From his father, he learned the inviolate rules of hard work and commitment to one’s word, and from his mother, an equally strident code of academic achievement and ethical behavior.

“That’s where it started,” he said. “My daddy drilled in my head all along the time that I was there that whatever you do, do it the best you can. Work hard at it.

Don’t slack off. If somebody’s paying you to do something, do the best job that you can. In fact, try to do the best job they’ve ever seen. I never forgot that.

“My mother emphasized the importance of education. Not that it wasn’t important to my dad, but my mother taught me how to read, write and do my multiplication tables before I started the first grade. We’d be watching TV in the eve-

SHERMAN TATE ON TEAMWORK

What’s important to me is to treat people the way I want to be treated, No. 1. Two, manage by example. If I want my workforce to clearly understand how important it is that we do certain things as we move along, I’ve got to demonstrate that in my leadership. I’ve always tried to do that.

Those are the things that have been and continue to be important to me.

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nings after we got through eating dinner, and she would get a magazine or a book or something, and she’d make me come over and sit down on the floor by her. She would read a sentence, and then she’d make me read it until I had it down pat — and grammar was important. You’d better not dare end a sentence with a preposition. You were in trouble, I’m telling you.”

Adhering to his parents’ direction turned Tate into a star student and standout athlete in high school, but he was not a stoic and, like many kids in small towns left to make their own fun on a Saturday night, Tate would require a refresher from his folks from time to time.

He recalled one instance in which he broke curfew, only to be met on the walk home by his father, who was sent by his mother to fetch him.

“You leave Marvell, and you go down this hill and this little gravel road, quarter of a mile at the most, to our house,” he said. “I’m hopSherman Tate has lived a storied life highlighted by a diverse career in both the public ing my mother didn’t wake and private sectors. (Photos provided) Daddy up because I knew my mom would not go to sleep until I got home. I’m walking, he relayed in a video accompanying his 2017 induction into and I hear footsteps coming toward me. Something said, ‘Boy, the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame, was relieved of his aththat’s your daddy,’ and it was. He was on fire. He was mad. He letic scholarship after a “little disagreement” with the coach. used some descriptive adjectives in telling me what he was He survived that by landing a job at a Little Rock hotel, where going to do to me as soon as I got home. I didn’t say a word, he made sufficient money to cover the increased cost of atjust, ‘Yes, sir.’ tendance with no adverse impact on his GPA. Another rash “We got to the house, walked in. He told my mother, ‘I’m decision, however, did not pan out as neatly. fixin’ to get this boy’. She called him Buddy. She said, ‘Buddy, “My graduation was prolonged a couple of years, not bego on in there, and go back to bed. I’ll handle this.’ She took cause of grades or anything, but because myself and two of me in my room, and she said, ‘Don’t ever do that again. I ain’t my fraternity brothers decided we were going to take a segonna keep your daddy off you.’ That’s all she had to say. It mester off and chill out and have some fun,” he said. “Of didn’t happen again, either. My point being, as far as I’m concourse, we didn’t tell the parents we had dropped out of cerned, the way my parents raised me and taught me was just school. We just dropped out. Well, to show you how dumb phenomenal, and I respected them.” we were, we dropped out at the height of the Vietnam War. Tate enrolled at what was then Philander Smith College in Sure enough, all three of us got this letter, ‘Greetings from Little Rock on basketball and academic scholarships but, as Uncle Sam.’ We got drafted.”

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ARKANSAS VISIONARIES

Tate served in Vietnam with the 196th Light Infantry Brigade, one of three Tates in the brigade and the only one who made it home. He insists that for the rest of their lives, he never told his parents the backstory for either of the instances during his college years, but he did not let the educational value of those experiences go to waste, either.

“The military impressed on me the importance of leading by example,” he said. “When you tell your troops or you tell your employees what you’re going to do and why, everybody understands.

That was a clear learning for me. I never forgot that.

“Also, after that, you talk about somebody serious about studying? Man, I was serious.”

After graduation, Tate had a short stint with the city of Little Rock under Mayor Charles Bussey, then joined the Arkansas Office of Personnel Management, a legislative division that deals with personnel for all state agencies.

He’d eventual join the Bureau of Legislative Research, the first of several roles where he broke the color barrier.

He left the public sector to join Arkla Gas as personnel director for the Arkansas division, where he was promoted to vice president after just two years and later served as vice president of marketing and then vice president of distribution operations. From the start, he faced the difficulty of overcoming entrenched attitudes.

“They had women. They had Blacks.

They had a couple of Hispanics. It was an integrated workforce at the gas company,” he said. “[My boss,] Sheffield Nelson, and I were talking, however, and he told me, ‘These guys are going to have to get used to you. They’re not used to having anybody Black in a decisionmaking position at the level you are.’ I didn’t fully realize what he meant and how real that was. For the first 30 days, the district managers, nobody called me by my name.”

Tate overcame these challenges,

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SHERMAN TATE ON HUMILITY

When you are sitting on the throne, you don’t have a need, nor should you make the effort, to try to impress employees that you’ve got all the answers and that when you say something, you don’t want to hear any feedback, just for people to go do it. I’ve seen what happens when you’ve got a manager or an executive who wants you to think he or she’s got all the answers. That just doesn’t work. thanks to some advice from one of his early and most influential mentors, the late Milt Honea.

“Milt Honea was one of the smartest guys I’ve ever met. He taught me how important it is to demonstrate to your workforce your willingness to do what you’re asking them to do.” Tate said. “I told my secretary to order me work uniforms, and the first stop I made was in Conway at the district office. I didn’t tell my district manager I was coming, I just showed up there one morning at 7 o’clock. Scared him to death.

“When I got him calmed down, I told him, ‘I work for you. I’m your new employee, and I’m going to be here all week.

Put me anywhere you want to put me, but I’m not working here in the office. I want to be in the field.’ He put me with a twoman construction crew, and those guys worked my rear end off, which was fine.

I learned a lot.”

Tate’s time in the field exposed him to the challenges the front-line workers faced, especially when it came to the parts they needed. That led him to visit and completely revamp the company’s warehouses, streamlining the supply chain to the field and saving millions spent on unneeded supplies in the process. More importantly, he had proofed a leadership technique he would replicate for the rest of his career.

“Two weeks after that, and this solidified my thoughts about what they really thought of me, I went down to El Dorado to do the same thing. I got there a little late,” he said. “They were already out on the job, so I drove on out, got out

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my truck. One of the guys raised up out of the hole and said, ‘Now, Tate, we go to work around here at 8 o’clock. You’ve got to get here on time! You’ve got to do better.’ They all just fell away. I said, ‘You’re right. I’m not going to let it happen again.’

That tickled them.”

Tate would go on to have similarly successful roles at Alltel and Verizon before forming his own consultancy, Tate & Associates. He also compiled a long list of community endeavors, including as the first chairman of color of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce in 1989, and through serving on numerous boards, a mere sample of which include CHI St. Vincent health system, the United Negro College Fund, the Pulaski County Facilities Board, Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue

SHERMAN TATE ON VULNERABILITY

Once a year, I’d have a division meeting in the Arkla warehouse.

We would be talking about stuff, and invariably, somebody would ask me a question, and I didn’t have a clue. I didn’t have any reservations about looking at my employees and saying, ‘I don’t know. Does anybody in here know the answer to that?’ And then I always listened to my employees.

There’s nothing wrong with saying you don’t know when you don’t know. You don’t want to blow smoke because that’ll come back to bite you.

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Left: Southern Bancorp CEO Darrin Williams, from left, Tate and Southern Bancorp board chair Dr. Glen Jones pose with recognitions of Tate’s success. Center: Tate is most notable for his work with Southern Bancorp, which grew the company into a major banking force. Right: Tate serves on numerous boards, including those of the CHI St. Vincent health system, the United Negro College Fund and the Urban League of Arkansas.

SHERMAN TATE ON CONFLICT RESOLUTION

The conversations you have, the questions you ask, when they see you listening and responding, I found people appreciate that, and that helps move things along. When I was in a situation where I couldn’t do something, I’d explain we can’t do that, and for these reasons, and I always liked to end my comments with a question. I’d say, ‘Don’t you guys think that makes sense?’ then listen to what they say. There are going to be situations and moments when you may not have a clue what the answer is or what direction you ought to be going, and there’s nothing wrong with that because we’re all human.

Let’s work together and figure this out.

Shield, and the Urban League of Arkansas.

In addition, he has served on the Philander Smith University Board of Trustees, the Arkansas State Police Commission, the Arkansas Real Estate Commission and the dean’s executive advisory board for the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

He was also a seminal figure in the formation of Southern Bancorp, a re-

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sponsibility bestowed on him by former White House chief of staff and legendary Arkansas business figure Mack McLarty.

“Before I left Arkla, there was a group of senior-level businessmen and women who were meeting and organizing Southern Bancorp,” Tate said. “Bill Clinton got elected president, and McLarty went to Washington to work for him. Before he left, he called me in his office, and he said, ‘Sherman, I can’t work on this bank

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project. You are now on the planning committee,’ so I spent some time on the development of Southern Bancorp in its early stages.”

Tate served for years on the board, and his leadership and steady guidance helped Southern Bancorp grow into a major force in the state’s banking community, serving segments of the population often overlooked by larger, for-profit institutions. As thanks for his lengthy service, the company established in 2023 the Sherman Tate Customer Service Award recognizing a Southern Bancorp employee annually who exhibits excellent service to customers and communities. Being named the inaugural recipient adds to a lifetime of awards and accomplishments even the loquacious Tate has trouble putting into words.

“I can laugh about some of the experiences that I’ve enjoyed, but having good people who trust you, who respect you, who know you respect them, that’s what makes the vehicle move,” he said.

“That’s it.”

JA N UA RY 2024

DOLLARS AND SENSE

Money Well Spent:

Financial Pointers for Business Owners

By Mak Millard

‘‘

Develop a business plan.

This is an imperative first step. Outline your business concept, target market, competition, marketing strategy, financial strategy and long-term goals.

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eople start businesses for all manner of reasons, from passionate to practical. Regardless of whether one is monetizing a hobby, making use of a skill or just striking out on their own after another career, the need to both make a profit and use it wisely connects every budding business venture.

For established companies and newbies alike, the first of the year is a great time to revamp and refresh business plans and financial strategies. While specific priorities may vary by industry, market, size and other factors, there are a few areas that most any owner should consider as they make their resolutions.

“Develop a detailed budget that outlines income, expenses and anticipated cash flow for the upcoming year,” said Pat Moon, a certified financial planner and managing principal at Meridian Investment Advisors in Little Rock. “A tempting shortcut would be to think you know your business well enough to manage your finances as you go, but projecting income and expenses for the year should be an annual planning activity.”

The budget’s place as a cornerstone of one’s business operations cannot be overstated. Taking a clear-eyed look at expected income and expenses ensures a solid start to the year at the very least, and knowing where the company ought to be at any given point can help owners set realistic benchmarks for growth and performance as the months wear on.

“A budget serves as a financial roadmap, providing a detailed plan for how a business will allocate its resources to 148

achieve its goals,” Moon said.

Though they are far from the most thrilling lines on the balance sheet, expenses such as maintenance and repairs, emergency funds, taxes, and insurance play a critical role in the well-built business budget. Business owners also need to stay agile and ready to adjust the sails in case of unexpected challenges — mitigating risk ahead of time could mean the difference between a thriving business and a bankrupt one, Moon said.

Income fluctuations and out-of-theblue expenses can happen at any time, so the prepared executive should have a decent idea of what kind of impact those obstacles can have on cash flow, revenue growth and cost control.

“It can be tempting when money is tight to put off today what might cost you tomorrow,” Moon said. “Plan for a financial buffer so you can weather unforeseen challenges.”

Besides a lack of financial forecasting, there are other mistakes that can plague the underprepared and overambitious business owner, especially when it comes to what to do with those profits once they’ve been made.

“A business may face financial challenges if it lacks liquidity or if profits are not effectively converted into cash flow,” Moon said. “If you don’t have training in the foundations of accounting, you need to involve someone in the business that does. Add an accountant to your team.”

Together with the mistake of overreliance on profits is overlooking one’s profit margins. Focusing solely on revARM ON E YA N D P OL ITIC S.COM

enue without taking the time to review expenses and look for ways to cut costs is shortsighted, Moon said. As with a budget in general, shortcuts or assumptions around cash flow can come back to bite even the most successful entrepreneur.

That is because a business with high revenue but low profit margins may struggle in the face of unexpected costs or expenses, which can make it harder to achieve long-term sustainability.

Savvy money management goes well beyond the first of the year, however, and there are several year-round ways to ensure one is maximizing the value of their resources, whether in the short or the long term. More immediate considerations include the careful management of payment terms, both with suppliers and customers, as well as the creative use of promotions and discounts to help manage inventory and provide a boost during slow seasons.

“Invest in employee training, [as well],” Moon added. “Enhance productivity and make your business more efficient. This can improve morale, help postpone the need for new hires and have an immediate positive financial impact.”

Larger projects, from keeping technology up to date to succession planning, can also be well worth the effort they take to implement. Improvements in areas such as customer relationship management systems, social media and web presence can further improve efficiency and help grow the business in the long term, Moon said. Paired with a carefully laid succession plan, investments such as these can set a founder’s business up to not just survive, but thrive well after they head off for retirement or their next big idea.

“A business owner should start thinking about their exit strategy early in the life of their business,” Moon explained.

“Having a plan from the beginning can help guide business decisions that will maximize the value of the business in the long run. Details of the strategy will evolve over time, so it’s important to regularly review and adjust your plan. StartARM O N E YA ND P O L I T I C S .COM

ing early allows for a more thoughtful and strategic approach to the transition, providing the best chance for a successful and financially rewarding exit when the time comes.”

Still, it can be hard to think so far into the future when first setting up shop, especially amid all the excitement and challenges that come with any new business venture. Rather than being daunted at the road ahead, then, the newly minted entrepreneur would do well to focus on the fundamentals and set a solid foundation for sustained success.

“Develop a business plan,” Moon urged. “This is an imperative first step.

Outline your business concept, target market, competition, marketing strategy, financial strategy and long-term goals.

You’ll need this in writing if you want financing from a lender to get started.”

Key to this plan is a deep understanding of one’s market and potential customers, he added, as well as a working knowledge of compliance and regulatory requirements. This information can help one size up the competition, keep pace with industry trends and avoid the incidental fines — or worse — caused by a haphazard legal and regulatory approach.

Perhaps one of the most prominent mistakes an entrepreneur can make is mixing business with pleasure, and Moon cited both clarity and legality as reasons to keep personal and professional finances separate. However, he also noted a few ways in which the two realms can interact positively.

“You can sometimes leverage personal assets for business needs or vice versa,” he said. “For example, if you have a personal vehicle that you use for business, you may be able to deduct some of the related expenses. Maintaining a good credit score can make it easier to secure 149

Pat Moon, certified financial planner and managing principal at Meridian Investment Advisors in Little Rock

financing or credit for your business and paying your business, bills on time can help your personal credit score.”

Business contributions to a retirement plan are generally tax deductible and allow one to build personal assets that can be used after leaving the business, he added. Paying for health care premiums as a business owner can also confer tax benefits, but Moon again stressed the importance of having a professional weigh in before making any consequential decisions.

To turn those notebook scrawls and competitor intel into an actual storefront or factory floor, it takes a team of dedicated individuals working towards the best interest of the budding business itself.

That group goes well beyond just employees and into the wide world of business services.

“Every business owner needs a team of advisors that should include legal, tax, investing, banking or other business experts,” Moon said. “Developing and investing in your team will help you avoid costly mistakes and improve your odds of success.”

In addition to help from those with billable hours, business owners should not overlook the invaluable advantages that come from fostering industry relationships. Networking with other entrepreneurs, finding a mentor, and attending conferences and events are essential, and Moon pointed out that a strong network can lead to valuable partnerships and business opportunities down the road.

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From the way your parents handled money to your plans for retirement – many factors impact the way you view your wealth. We take the time to understand who you are, your vision of your future, and what you need from your financial partner. From there, we develop solutions that are as unique as you are. We make it easy to work with us so your life is less complicated and you can enjoy what you value most.

Pat Moon Managing Principal

INVESTING FOR A RICH LIFE Realizing what you value.

JAN UA RY 2 024

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Brad Smith Senior Advisor

Marshall Moon Senior Advisor

11300 Cantrell Road, Suite 200 Little Rock, AR 72212 501-663-7055 MeridianIA.com

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SPONSORED CONTENT

FUSION

Quapaw Kitchen chef marries international dishes with tastes of Jamaican homeland

By Sarah DeClerk // Photos by Jamie Lee

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hy try one style when you can blend two? That is the philosophy of Deon Thomas, executive room chef at Saracen Casino Resort’s Quapaw Kitchen, who has been mixing and matching flavors since her childhood in Jamaica, when she discovered a love of cooking soup.

“My mom asked me one day to cook something while she left the house, and when she came back, she asked me where was the dinner, and I said it was on the stove, and she said, ‘but I only see one pot,’ so I took the beef and I turned it into soup instead of to make stew beef as we traditionally eat in Jamaica,” she said. “She was mad, but when she tasted it, the flavors were so amazing that she was like, “I cannot believe you turned dinner into a pot of soup,” and from there, I knew that was just my thing.”

Although she considered studying psychology, Thomas earned a degree in hospitality management with a major in culinary arts from the University of Technology, Jamaica and the University of the West Indies in Jamaica. Her first restaurant job was at a Jamaican-Asian fusion fine-dining restaurant in Jamaica.

“That’s where I really did a lot of experiments with the Asian flavor and pairing it with some Jamaican spices and homestyle that we cook,” she said.

Thomas joined Saracen in 2020. As executive room chef at Quapaw Kitchens, her main responsibilities are to oversee

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the daily operations of the restaurant, including managing staff, ordering and writing menus.

“Chef Deon is an artist of the kitchen,” said Manley Clark, executive chef. “Her passion ignites flavors, her skill crafts excellence and her dedication fuels our culinary journey. With a Jamaican touch that dances on every plate, she serves brilliance and cultivates a team to deliver the extraordinary, ensuring each guest experiences a taste of perfection.”

Diners can sample fusion dishes such as jerk chicken wontons and Jamaican pasta at Quapaw Kitchen, as well as Jamaican-style oxtails on Soul Food Sundays and carving-station favorites such as coffee-rubbed tenderloin and the Jamaican peppercorn trio lamb rack. Other Jamaican-inspired tastes might include escovitch snapper brown stew or lobster topped with rundown, a coconut-and-tomato-based sauce.

“We love to make rundown sauces in Jamaica,” she said. “It’s really delicious, especially when it gets seafood in it. It tops off a fish dish.”

Thomas said she enjoys creating Deon Thomas “showpieces” and would like to gain more experience in pastries. She is also an accomplished pianist and has earned six distinctions and one merit in music from the Royal Academy of Music in London.

“Fusions are way more better than just sticking to the normal order of eating,” she added. “I just don’t like cooking straight, traditional way of cooking.”

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SMALL BUSINESS

Bagel Makers Score Hole-in-one on South Main

By John Callahan JAN UA RY 2 024

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recent addition to the South Main district’s growing roster of locally owned and operated eateries, the Bagel Shop is also Little Rock’s only dedicated bagel joint that side of the airport. There’s far more to this growing business than one might initially expect, however, including its origins, which can be traced back far north to Portland, Maine.

“I grew up here in Little Rock, lived here until I was about 26,” said co-owner Myles Roberson. “Then I decided to make a jump to Boston and lived there for just under two years with a good friend who is also from Arkansas. One weekend, she said, ‘Let’s go visit Portland,’ and I really had no idea what Maine was like.

I think on the third visit, I decided to make the jump and just move up there.”

It was while working at a wine bar in Portland that Roberson met Trevor Papsadora, a Maine native. The two quickly became friends and eventually began dating. After the pair had lived together in Portland for several years, Papsadora was eager for a change in scenery. They intended to move to Colorado but made a stop in Arkansas to visit Roberson’s family when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and the pair decided to stay in the Natural State.

“Having been in the restaurant industry, I ended up as general manager of the Fold, and Trevor started serving tables,” Roberson said. “About two years ago, Trevor called me while I was at work and said, ‘Hey, I made these bagels, and they’re really good. I’m really excited for you to try them, and I want to make them again.’ It was kind of the genesis of the Bagel Shop.”

The duo’s original idea was to begin selling bagels from their home under Arkansas’ cottage food laws. They started a social media account and held a giveaway. While these were highly successful at building hype, filling their entire refrigerator with bagels to ferment overnight quickly made the pair realize that operating out of the house would not be practical. They

instead found room at Arkitchen, a shared commercial kitchen space where they worked alongside other budding businesses such as Certified Pies, a pizzeria that has also gone on to find its own brick-and-mortar location.

“There were a lot of other small businesses there, and it was really fun,” Papsadora said. “We started recipe testing in a largescale kitchen, and we’d never done bread in that capacity. There were lots of learning curves, and it was in the heatwave of last June and July, it was just insane, learning how to do it with just the two of us.”

“There were a lot of tears but a lot of triumphs too,” Roberson added. “It was quite a journey to adapt everything and scale it up without ever having done it before. Bread in particular, when you’re dealing with yeast or an active dough, there are so many factors that can throw it off.”

The pair began a pop-up store in 2022 on the same street the Bagel Shop now calls home, making and selling 350 bagels for a line of people that stretched down the block. With community support that Papsadora described as “overwhelming in the best way,” the pair continued to sell at the local farmers market every Sunday. Shortly after New Year’s 2023, the couple signed a lease on their current brick-and-mortar location at 1501 S. Main St. and opened for business last August, some 13 months after their first pop-up.

“It all feels very serendipitous,” Roberson said. “The timeline has been faster than we could have imagined. It’s crazy how everything plays out like that. Everything has fallen into place on this project, and we’ve always taken that as a sign of encouragement, that we’re doing what we should be doing because of the

Trevor Papsadora, left, and Myles Roberson opened their restaurant as a pop-up shop in 2022. (Photos provided)

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The pair’s first advice to others seeking to start their own businesses is to simply roll up their sleeves and do it. trajectory and the following that [the business] is finding.”

This is not at all to say the journey has been an easy one.

Rather, it has been a long process of trial and error with plenty of challenges along the way. Not only did the pair take on the challenge of making bagels with no mentor to teach them, Roberson and Papsadora also started a small business with no investors to speak of — just personal savings, credit cards and a bank loan.

“I think we’d have a lot more restaurants in Little Rock if there were easier entry points,” Papsadora said. “It’s such an expensive thing to start in.”

“If we weren’t able to access the capital we had through a traditional bank loan, it would have taken quite a few more years to build up a reserve to try to do it,” Roberson said. “Restaurants are their own beast. There’s so many considerations that other small businesses might not have, from the health department to working with a product that does not have a long shelf life and other unique challenges to restaurants that can be cost prohibitive.”

Several of these challenges came from working with the city.

In one case, the building came with a wheelchair ramp at the front door, so the pair designed the space to have wheelchairaccessible tables. When the final inspection for the restaurant came around, they were told that the ramp was not up to code and would have to be replaced with stairs. The contractor had to tear up the ramp, covering the restaurant in concrete dust, and install stairs, which left the building less accessible.

“I haven’t talked to anyone who has had a project come in on or under budget and on time ever, so that was a little expected, but it was also a little disheartening at times and easy to feel crestfallen when we thought we were going to be able to open,” Roberson said. “It’s tricky to time everything correctly when you’re beholden to the whims of an office in the city. The time to have changed the ramp was during construction, not when everything was done. Figuring all of those things out is really tricky, but next time, when we do it again, we’ll know it already.”

The payoff for overcoming these challenges has been an establishment that offers far more than one might initially expect, given the name. Bagels are generally perceived as a breakfast

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The Bagel Shop’s menu quickly expanded beyond bagels to include sandwiches, desserts and iced drinks.

food, and while the Bagel Shop certainly has traditional breakfast options, such as cream cheese bagels, they are far from the extent of its menu. To limit the shop to breakfast food would be to miss out on an even wider variety of lunch options, including sandwiches, soups and a range of home-made dessert options.

While the Bagel Shop has branded itself as a fast-food restaurant, that also fails to convey the care the duo puts into ensuring the quality of everything they make. With a handful of exceptions, almost every ingredient is made fresh in house, from the bagels themselves to the fried eggs. Even the meat that goes on the bagels is prepared in house.

“Our food is inspired by our love of homestyle food,” Papsadora said. “I grew up in Maine, which I’ve found since living down here is quite a different culinary style. It’s really fusing Miles’ southern with my northern and kind of meeting in the middle. Our menu is really simple and inspired by fast food but applying good ingredients and technique to it while also keeping it kind of like a deli.”

A few highlights from the menu include a tuna salad sandwich, PBJB (peanut butter, strawberry jam and banana), loaded lox and more. One of the most popular options is a turkey Caesar sandwich with Caesar mayo made from scratch with parmesan cheese and Vietnamese black pepper. The Bagel Shop also

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recently introduced its first hot sandwich, the roast beef dipper: Italian braised beef, shredded and pulled, with provolone, banana peppers and house ranch sauce, plus au jus for dipping.

“In the very beginning with all of those costs, we had to open up with a really simple menu that was just bagels and cream cheese,” Papsadora said, “but as we’re growing, we’re really starting to advance it more into a full-fledged menu. We’ll be doing our first soup this week, really trying to get more of a full-on deli vibe here as we grow. The menu is in its infancy, and it’s really about that slow but steady growth.”

All of that is without mentioning the Bagel Shop’s drink menu. Most drink options are iced, and they include Onyx Coffee from northwest Arkansas, chai from a small business in Brooklyn, New York, and house-made beverages such as lavender lemonade, although these are replaced by new creations over time.

Though the Bagel Shop is the vision and achievement of Roberson and Papsadora, it would not have been possible to

Roberson said the return to Little Rock and the success of the restaurant has been serendipitous.

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bring it to its current state of success without a dedicated team of employees.

“It’s always been a part of our business plan to pay livable wages,” Papsadora said. “We very purposefully pay a base of $15 an hour plus tips, so our staff is making respectable wages, and they really value that. In turn, we get great work from them. Before we planned anything, we talked about staff and how we’d cultivate a true team of people that are on the same level and come to work feeling respected.”

“I think a lot of time, in the service industry and in restaurants, especially here in Little Rock, a lot of people view that work as a holdover while they’re getting their college degree or before they start their career,” Roberson said. “Coming from Portland, Maine, Trevor and I got to see a really beautiful and thriving restaurant industry that people treated with a little more respect, a little more [sense that] this is my job and there is a living to be made here.”

The pair’s first advice to others seeking to start their own businesses is to simply roll up their sleeves and do it. There are countless things that entrepreneurs will not think about until they need to be done, from marketing to dealing with government regulations to managing people, but any entrepreneur has to power through them and make it work, the couple said.

Though difficult, a shared passion for food between the pair has made the journey worth it.

“A lot of people say, ‘Do what you love, and you’ll never work another day.’ Well, it’s a lot of hard work,” Roberson said. “I don’t know that I could love this industry any more than I do, but the work is definitely work.”

Another crucial piece of advice is to ask for help. While reviews from websites like Yelp and Google can bring a great deal of criticism, they can also provide support, encouragement and important feedback. Some reviews can be frustrating, as when one mentioned, “I wish they had real fried eggs.” The Bagel Shop, in fact, fries some 240 eggs a day to make its breakfast bagels, yet the review revealed a need for communication to help people understand the quality and care that make the food special.

“We’re excited to be here in Little Rock,” Roberson said. “I never imagined that I would move back. Being back has been really fun to see how Little Rock has changed in the 10 years that I was gone, both in this neighborhood and a lot of other neighborhoods. We bought a house almost three years ago over by the art museum, so it was really fun to see that open. We have really high hopes for downtown.”

“I think many of the people that are invested in downtown also live here,” Papsadora said. “Almost every business owner on the street lives in the neighborhood and really wants to see it grow. There are so many people that do live down here, and we are one of the few walkable neighborhoods in the city. It’s very exciting, and it’s a good time.”

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AGRICULTURE

On the Farm A love-hate story with new tech

By Kenneth Heard // Photos provided

A drone’s eye view of a UA soybean patch in eastern Arkansas. Drones help enhance aspects of farming. (Photos provided)

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F

armers seem to have a love-hate relationship with advances in agricultural technology that incorporate GPS, computer software and artificial intelligence into farming equipment.

Such technology helps hasten planting, weed control and land-leveling operations, but when equipment needs repairs, it is not just a procedure to replace a tire, belt or other hardware. Instead, it takes time and expense for technicians to fix the software.

“It speeds things up when it’s working,” said Jackson County farmer Isaac Haigwood, “but the equipment is expensive and when issues develop, it takes a while to get them fixed.”

Haigwood, who farms rice, beans, corn and some cotton on about 10,000 acres, said he and his father were beta testers for See & Spray — a computerized device made by John Deere that is towed behind tractors and, using cameras, can recognize weeds and spray them almost instantly. Cameras are mounted on 90- or 120-foot-long pesticide booms.

When working well, the sprayer can travel at speeds of 14 miles per hour, and it saves herbicides because farmers do not have to spray their entire fields.

The See & Spray technology is used in about five states now, said Jason Davis, a remote sensing and pesticide application extension specialist with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.

“It uses real-time information,” Davis said. “It processes images the cameras take using artificial intelligence.”

“It’s phenomenal what’s going on board now,” he added. “Obviously, there are opportunities. If you only have to spray 40 percent of your field, you save pesticides on the other 60 percent.”

Davis said the advanced technology should reduce worker fatigue by letting farmers have “less hands on the wheel” and should cut expenses for hiring more farm hands.

“The technology is moving fast,” he added. “Either you’re

Jason Davis speaks about the UA’s drone technology.

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treading water, or you’re moving ahead with software and networking.”

Haigwood said neither he nor his father plan to buy See & Spray anytime soon because the benefits do not outweigh the cost of the equipment.

“It’s going to get better,” he said of advances in the technology.

Another piece of equipment that may be cost-prohibitive to some is the integrated Harrington Seed Destructor. Patented in Australia, the destructor, which looks like a cotton combine, also uses AI to spot weeds. Equipment then pulverizes the weed and its seeds so the plant cannot produce more weeds.

The destructor costs about $100,000.

Haigwood does use drones, however, to enhance his farming.

He uses them to fly over plastic irrigation pipes in his fields to locate any leaks and other problems.

“Drones give farmers the bigger perspective,” Davis said.

“They can be used for elevation models for irrigation practices.”

Drones are also used to determine problem areas in fields where crops are not growing as well or where weeds are more prevalent, he said. They can also analyze growth patterns of various crops using infrared photography.

Richard Pickett of Wynne is a drone operator who analyzes farmers’ land by using the latest high-tech equipment on his drones. He maps elevation data by flying between 250 feet and 400 feet over a field. Pickett then downloads the information he obtains into another program that drives a tractor to make efficient levies, rather than having to flag the field for them.

“Before, driving the field was the old way to do it,” Pickett said. “Now we can do a 1,000-acre field quickly. We can collect data more efficiently. We can do 2,000 acres a day. You can’t drive across that in a day.”

He said it may take four hours to process the data he collects from his drone on a 300-acre field.

“It does take some time to analyze it, but the system can do it while I’m sleeping,” Pickett said. “The new technology makes operations more efficient, but with any new technology comes hiccups.”

Davis said many farmers are embracing the new equipment, hoping that it helps speed up and enhance production. Older farmers, though, seem to be a bit more apprehensive.

“There’s a higher adoption rate [of new technology] with the next generation of farmers,” he said. “We’re seeing less adoption in the older farmers. It’s a complex situation. It’s phenomenal what’s going on, but with [that] comes the anticipation of more needed repairs.”

Haigwood said the new options can be a drawback for some farmers.

“It is for my dad,” he said. “It is overwhelming, all the choices and information, at times. The prices are so high now, and as the demand goes up, we’ll see some prices go up.

“On the flip side,” he added, “automation and AI are blowing up in agriculture now, and it’s only going to get better.”

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POLITICS

Russellville Representative

Brings Unique Style to

STATEHOUSE

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t is a well-trod political trope to paint oneself as an antiestablishment, special-interests-averse candidate of the people, but few politicians put that ethos into action quite like state Rep. Matt Duffield of Russellville. Duffield, who completed his first term in the Arkansas legislature in 2023, checks the expected boxes, as well as a few that put him squarely in a class by himself.

“My main reason [for serving in the legislature] is I wanted to elevate the standard of living for working-class people,” he said.

“I believe as the Republican party, we need to stop talking the talk and start walking the walk when it comes to helping the working class.

“If we’re serious about helping the people climb the economic ladder, own a home, send their kids to college or trade school, then we need to do some things to give them a hand up.”

Philosophically, the conservative Duffield is about as prototypical of an Arkansas state repState Rep. Matt Duffield resentative as they come these

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days. A God-fearing populist, he is hawkish on reducing the size of government and carries a soft spot for veterans and the little guy. In addition, Duffield is a small-business owner of the family firm Duffield Gravel Co. in Russellville and his own Big River Materials, which feeds his railing against the kind of excessive taxes and regulation that impedes business growth.

He points to such elements as the things he holds in common with the electorate in his home district, the kind of people he knows best and is most dedicated to serving.

“This state is comprised of so many great people who are working-class good ol’ boys and gals, and I think we need to listen to those people because that is the heartbeat of the state. I don’t think that’s happened nearly enough,” he said. “I just feel like those people need to be represented and don’t deserve to be ignored.

“I’ll reiterate: Our party, from my view, is supposed to represent the working class, and a majority of my supporters, that’s who they are, and that’s what I am.

I am much more comfortable going to ARM ON E YA N D P OL ITIC S.COM

After being turned on to wrestling in his teen years, Duffield appeared in matches throughout the U.S. and abroad.

(Photos provided)

wrestling matches and going to ’80s rock concerts than I am at a black-tie affair or at the country club, playing golf.”

Duffield’s political views may seem interchangeable with many in the legislature — dominated as it has been in recent years by conservatives, many from similar small-town environments statewide — but his backstory is uniquely his own.

Prior to beginning his political career, Duffield spent years in the professional wrestling arena after getting turned on to it by his brothers and late father, Ronnie.

“When I was growing up, I hated wrestling,” he said. “When I was 12, we took a trip to Disney World, and there was a giant man where we were boarding the plane, and my brothers freaked out, saying, ‘That’s Captain Dick Murdock.’ Murdock was this legendary wrestler back through the ’70s and ’80s, so my dad struck up a conversation with him.

“My dad wasn’t a small man. He was 6-2, and here’s this guy towering over him and yet sounding like an astute businessman, a very intelligent guy from a business family. I thought to myself, ‘This wrestling thing has been around a ARM O N E YA ND P O L I T I C S .COM

long time. There’s got to be something more to it, or it wouldn’t be on television. I think I may be the one missing something here.’

Upon arriving home, Duffield watched a televised wrestling match, and a light clicked in his head. He enrolled in wrestling school in the city of Paris in Logan County as a teen.

“I quit a total of three times,” he said. “I found out when you hit the mat, it actually does hurt.”

By 17, Duffield promoted his first wrestling event, bringing a fight card to Briggsville, in part as a fundraiser for the Fish Valley FFA. “We drew 250 people and raised some money and had a good time,” he said. “There were politicians there buying pies at an auction for $100. Little did I know a few years later, I’d be doing the same things — selling pies and buying pies.”

In addition to promoting the event, Duffield also got in on the action, initially playing the role of the manager the crowd 1 59

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“I believe, as the Republican party, we need to stop talking the talk and start walking the walk when it comes to helping the working class.”

— Arkansas Rep. Matt Duffield loved to hate. Judging from what got thrown at him, he was great at it.

“I was the heel, the bad guy. I put the fans in a frenzy,” he said. “I remember I felt something hit my back, and a fan had thrown a 20-ounce bottle of Coke and hit me with it.”

In the ring, Duffield was Matt Riviera, a love-him-orhate-him character who switched easily from the preening heel to the life-of-the-party babyface, or good guy, as the event required. By the time he hung it up, Duffield had appeared in big market bouts in California, Las Vegas and multiple states and had twice appeared in Tokyo. More importantly, he had learned the art of promotion and how to work a crowd, skills that are as indispensable in the political arena as in the wrestling ring.

“The thing that’s helped me in politics the most is promotion, fundraising and the art of how to fill the building,” he said.

“I was fortunate to do fundraisers [while wrestling] for various folks and organizations, and the fundraising aspect has helped me tremendously in politics. I’m currently the No. 5 fundraiser in the state, and I owe a lot of that to pro wrestling.

It taught me how to market. Instead of selling tickets, now the name of the game is to get votes.

“I actually loved campaigning, to be honest, and I can say this: I’m not sure that I would have had the confidence to get out of my car, walk up to someone’s front door, and knock on it and ask them for their vote without that background.”

Duffield said he sees and feels akin to a new brand of conservative thought in Arkansas, a younger generation that bristles against being labeled or easily categorized. He himself is a good example of contradictions, a product of the technological age who favors ink-and-paper lists to digital technology and eschews the well-worn heels and babyfaces of the political arena to look deeper at root causes and fair treatment for all. His opposition to sales taxes on groceries and other essential items, as well as his next target, Arkansas’ renter laws, are good examples of his populist brand of conservatism.

“Landlord-tenant issues have been high on my list,” he said.

“My view is that system needs some work from all directions. You basically have three parties involved — landlords, tenants and property management — and what I would like to see is each of those parties held to their contractual obligations.

“If a tenant rents a property and they’re promised hot water, cold air and a decent roof over their head and they’re paying their rent, they should have that. If a tenant is not paying their rent and causing destruction to the property, the landlord should have the ability to evict that tenant very quickly.”

True to form, Duffield’s other goals on the horizon are things not usually listed on a legislator’s resume but that fit with his singularly everyman persona.

“I have a lot more in common with the working class; I’d much rather have a big cheeseburger than caviar any day of the week,” he said. “Every year, I set a 12-month gym goal. Right now, I’m at a 445-pound bench, and Lord willing, I’d like to be the state representative that can bench press 500 pounds.”

Duffield’s wrestling persona was Matt Riviera, a love-him-or-hate-him character.

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THE GREAT OUTDOORS MAKE A GREAT ECONOMIC IMPACT In our efforts to keep The Natural State true to its name, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission contributes not only to conservation but also the state’s economy.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis: - Outdoor recreation generates $4.1 billion in Arkansas.

- Outdoor recreation accounts for 43,000 jobs in Arkansas. That’s 3.3% of all employees in the state.

- Hunting, fishing and boating are among the state’s top industries.

Find your next outdoor adventure at agfc.com.

SPORTS

Thomas “Candyman” Blair

READY to Promoters say boxing event is

Carlos “El Giles” Nava

RUMBLE

the start of something big

By Dwain Hebda // Photos by Lori Sparkman

H

eading into the first big event for his company, Pinnacle Promotions, Victor Werley already sounds the part of boxing manager and fight promoter, hyping the Feb. 3 bouts he is bringing to the Maumelle Event Center in North Little Rock.

Mainly he sounds like a native son of Arkansas, who firmly believes he is not alone in his fandom of the sweet science and who is committed to leveraging that into something big in his home state.

“I have a vision to make Arkansas a boxing destination,” he said. “I don’t expect Arkansas to become Las Vegas, but I do expect to reach a point a few years down the road where we are hosting top-level championship fights at Simmons Arena in [North] Little Rock, Ark. I think that is absolutely doable. There is an immense amount of boxing talent in Arkansas, and I really do think that boxing has potential to be Arkansas’ professional sport.”

The company’s inaugural event, Pinnacle Fight Night, will be headlined by Carlos “El Giles” Nava (10-0-1), a Texas-based super lightweight who puts an undefeated professional record on the line against Little Rock native Thomas “Candyman” Blair (7-0).

Nava, who has fought professionally since 2021, has won six of his bouts by knockout. He last fought in September, when he battled Armando Ramirez Almanza to a draw after scoring a unanimous decision against Kenneth Sene in August. The fighter also holds the distinction of being the first and thus far only boxer managed by Werley

in Pinnacle Promotions’ fledgling stable.

“He’s very fast-handed,” said Nava’s trainer, Danny Smith. “He’s very quick. He’s tough, he’s intelligent, he listens very well, and he just has a knack for this.”

Smith, a Little Rock native who now lives in Conway, is also a part of Pinnacle Promotions company and, with 11 world champions under his belt, brings immediate credibility to the venture.

“I happened to meet Danny through a mutual friend, and he and I hit it off and began to discuss our mutual love for the sport and the potential that Arkansas has,” Werley said. “We just said there’s no reason that Arkansas can’t be a destination when it comes to boxing, so let’s make it happen. Danny knows boxing and I’m pretty fa-

Trainer Danny Smith, left, and promoter Victor Werley.

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miliar with the economic climate, the business climate in Arkansas, and I just felt like it was there, waiting for someone to put some energy into it to make it happen.

“Danny is an absolute legend in the boxing world. Basically, he’s a household name. Nobody knows me. I’m just a business guy, and I keep a pretty low profile.”

Boxing has always been the sport of the common man. Some of the sport’s greatest champions have risen from modest circumstances, to put it mildly, with many literally trying to fight their way out of desperation and poverty.

Arkansas’ pugilistic lineage includes multiple world champions, though most of them are known only to hardcore historical students of the sport. Ainsworthsports.com lists 19 past notables, more than half of whom competed between 1905 and 1947.

It should be noted that Tommy Morrison, arguably the most successful and well-recognized modern name on the list, was born in Gravette but spent most of his formative years in Oklahoma, where he launched his boxing career. In the modern consciousness, Arkansas’ roster is limited to only three native notables identified by the Encyclopedia of Arkansas that would register name recognition with casual boxing fans. The most obscure of the trio, John “Big John” Tate, was born in West Memphis and won the WBA world heavyweight championship in 1979.

The other two fighters, however, are household names for those even tangentially familiar with combat sports.

The first, Sonny Liston, was born to poverty and abuse in St. Francis County and was the ultimate wrecking ball, winning the world heavyweight title from Floyd Patterson in 1962 and again in 1963 before falling the next year to an upstart Cassius Clay, later known to the world as Muhammad Ali. The rematch between those two, forever shrouded in suspicion over Liston throwing the bout due to mob ties, resulted in one of the 20th century’s most iconic photographs of Ali standing over Liston, roaring at him to get up and fight.

Without question, the name most familiar to Arkansans today and one of the state’s most successful fighters

to boot, is Little Rock’s Jermain Taylor, who captured the undisputed world middleweight title over Bernard Hopkins in July 2005 and successfully defended it four times over the next two years. He also won the World Boxing Council Continental Americas middleweight title in 2003, defending it three times, and the International Boxing Federation middleweight title in 2014.

More importantly, Taylor’s success sparked the imagination of young fighters and fight fans alike from the Natural State. One of those seeds fell on the fertile business mind of Werley, founder of Pinnacle Advisors, and ultimately culminated with his starting Pinnacle Productions.

“Sports has been a part of my background and my childhood and my life for a long time,” he said. “I am an avid sports fan. I’m a native of Arkansas, and I’ve been a fan of boxing and combat sports for as long as I can remember. I have been aware for a long time that Arkansas is blessed with a large amount of boxing talent. Jermain Taylor, obviously, is a great example of that.”

Both Smith and Werley insist Arkansas is still fertile ground for young talent, but — Victor Werley a general lack of elite training, fighter management and promotion of high-level events leads many athletes out of state.

“We do have a lot of talent here, but what’s lacking is experienced teachers in the sport,” Smith said. “The talent teachers leave to go to California, New York, the bigger states to work with the bigger amateur programs that will produce better pros. The youngsters here in Arkansas are suffering because they don’t have the teachers here to guide them in the proper way.

“I hope that [Pinnacle Promotions] leads to getting the young people here to understand that people do care about this state when it comes to amateur boxing and helping these amateur boxers become really good pros and being able to get the people in this state involved and behind the guys and support them so we can continue to do multiple shows per year. I would love to do a series every other month. That would be great.”

Werley is even more to the point, saying the presence of Smith himself is a major stake in the ground both as

“I have a vision to make Arkansas a boxing destination. I don’t expect Arkansas to become Las Vegas, but I do expect to reach a point a few years down the road where we are hosting top-level championship fights at Simmons Arena.”

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SPORTS

Smith, training with his boxer, said Nava has a knack for the sport.

a key pin in the business model and toward realizing the goal of building a boxing community in Arkansas.

“You have fighters that are leaving for larger markets and greener pastures, but you also have trainers that are being brought into those larger markets, as well,” he said.

“The demand for Danny as a world-renowned trainer, I mean, pick your celebrity boxer, pick your world champion, they all want Danny. If Danny goes somewhere, the fighters are going to go there. If Danny is willing to stay [in Arkansas], and it appears he is, then the fighters will stay and it starts to grow from there.

“Danny is the secret sauce. I will be the first to admit that there is a list of people in the state of Arkansas that have the skills that I’m bringing to the table. There’s only one Danny Smith. That guy is absolutely the secret sauce.”

Smith was born in Little Rock and moved to Tennessee when he was 13. An outstanding athlete, he participated in amateur boxing and football growing up and began training professional boxers in 1996. Known for his intense conditioning programs and developing slick, fundamentally sound boxers with particularly refined defensive skills, Smith’s resume includes the likes of Fernando Vargas, Ishe Smith and Victor Ortiz.

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Recently, he stepped outside of his traditional client model — but not his approach — to take on a radically different challenge by training social media celebrityturned boxer Jake Paul, who he described as an underappreciated athlete and boxing student.

“My initial impression was I really don’t do the Hollywood boxing events. I really love the hardcore conventional style of boxing and the tradition,” Smith said, “but when I went to training camp and I actually saw him work out, I realized how serious he was.

We had a discussion, and he was telling me how he was drinking heavily, using substances, and boxing had brought about a purity of himself where he was detoxing, and this kept his mind in a great place and his body in a tremendous place of being in great condition.

“He had a lot of natural athleticism, being a former football player and wrestler. He had a competitive background. He runs a 4.5 40. He’s The Paul brothers a big guy — he’s like 6’ 1”, 215. He’s a big, big heavy puncher, has a great chin. He has desire, and he’s very consistent. He listens very well. When I took him on, it was wonderful. He did a great job.”

Despite Smith’s training pedigree and Werley’s business savvy, there remains a question of boxing being on

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the wane, supplanted by the flashier and much more high profile mixed martial arts brand of combat sports.

Although boxing enjoys a substantially longer history than MMA, the sport has also endured a laundry list of problems, including multiple sanctioning bodies watering down the product and splitting titles to high-profile negative headlines to not delivering the more aggressive action of MMA competition.

Werley said while the sport is not perfect, boxing is in a far better place than most people realize, even compared to the competition, dominated by the juggernaut Ultimate Fighting Championship league.

“From the outside looking in, boxing looks like a very crowded space, but I actually see that as a bit of an advantage,” he said. “When you compare boxing to MMA, what you’ll see is a major contrast in the amount of freedom and the amount of power that the fighters themselves have. Unfortunately, we all know of cases of boxers being taken advantage of by promoters that have their own agendas, but ultimately, there’s a large amount of freedom that boxers have to negotiate their own deals, to get their own television contracts and promotion contracts because they have multiple options.

“If you are a talented MMA fighter, you have one option: You either get on [UFC president and CEO] Dana White’s bus, or you don’t have anybody to fight. That is very limiting, it is very challenging, and it creates a silo that can make it impossible for certain talented fighters to be able to go up because there’s just not as many options. It’s not as capitalistic as boxing is.”

Werley went a step further, saying he believes the sport of boxing is poised for another golden age in its long history, using some of the same eyeball-attracting tactics that have transformed amateur sports down to the high school level, thanks to name, image and likeness.

“I do think that boxing is about to experience a resurgence as fighters are harnessing the power of social media and as boxers are becoming more educated about the options that they have,” he said. “I actually think that you’re going to see a bit of a renaissance to the days of people getting behind a Muhammad Ali, a Rocky Marciano, a George Foreman because they can identify with their stories. They know where they’re from. The kid from Brooklyn that trains in the local gym and gets a title shot, they’re going to start seeing that again because these fighters are building their brands through social media, and they have the platform to be able to do it. You look at what’s happening with celebrities that are moving into the boxing space, that is further increasing the

visibility of the sport.

“Plus, I think boxing, more so than MMA, is a sport that is palatable to a broad audience. MMA has an edge to it; I am a fan of MMA, but my wife does not want to watch an MMA fight. My wife will watch a boxing match though. There’s something about it that’s more palatable to a broader audience, and I think there’s value in that.”

As for Pinnacle Fight Night itself, Smith said fans will be treated to a night of skill and athleticism with numerous perfect records on the line.

“This actual bout will be so exciting because we will have seven undefeated guys putting their records on the line against very, very hungry up-and-coming opponents,” he said. “This is going to be very entertaining. It’s just like back in high school, where you knew that fight

“This actual bout will be so exciting because we will have seven undefeated guys putting their records on the line against very, very hungry up-and-coming opponents.”

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— Danny Smith was going to happen at 3 o’clock and it’s b een talked about since 8 o’clock in the morning, and everybody can’t wait for the bell to ring to go out there and see it.

It’s the exact same thing, and you’re going to see it across tough professional fights.”

Werley agreed, adding the additional payoff, if all goes to plan, is to lay the foundation for something even greater down the line.

“It is a slow process. It is an organic process, and you can’t manufacture it. You’ve got to support it and nurture it and let it build,” he said. “I think in a few short years, we’ll be at a place where you have a stable of current and potential world champions that are existing, living and training in Arkansas. I really think that is possible.” ************************

PINNACLE FIGHT NIGHT Feb. 3 – 6 p.m.

Maumelle Event Center 10910 Maumelle Blvd., North Little Rock For ticket information, visit eventbrite.com. ************************

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SPORTS COMMENTARY

RAZORBACK FOOTBALL: OF RELEVANCY AND NOBLE INTENT

By Mark Carter

M

any Razorback fans may not remember, but the former NCAA athlete responsible for toppling the first domino that led to what now passes for NIL was a member of the 1995 UCLA basketball team that beat the defending champion Hogs in the 1995 national title game.

Ed O’Bannon was named the ’95 NCAA tournament’s most valuable player, but that’s not why his name is significant in the annals of American sports law. O’Bannon justifiably cried foul in 2009 when seeing his exact likeness from the ’95 UCLA team used without his consent in EA Sports’ NCAA Basketball 09 video game. The game featured an unnamed UCLA player that just happened to resemble the ’95 O’Bannon to a T — same height, JAN UA RY 2 024

same weight, same bald head, same skin tone, same No. 31 jersey, same left-handed shot. A big part of the appeal to EA’s college football and basketball games of the era was drawn from users’ ability to choose their favorite teams and players. What Arkansas fan wouldn’t want to play as the Razorbacks with a running back wearing No. 5 and looking a lot like Darren McFadden, even if the name wasn’t on the back of the jersey?

The NCAA and EA were making millions off the likenesses of actual players, who had no choice over whether their likeness was used in the video games. O’Bannon didn’t care for that arrangement and agreed to be a lead plaintiff in an antitrust class action lawsuit against the NCAA, EA Sports and the Collegiate 168

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Licensing Co. The latter two defendants agreed to settle for $40 million. Up to 100,000 former college athletes whose likenesses had been featured in EA’s football and basketball video games since 2003 were eligible to receive as much as $4,000 in compensation.

The NCAA, of course, dug in its heels and lost (mostly). For its efforts, the NCAA was ordered to pay the plaintiffs roughly $46 million in attorney fees and court costs.

That domino — allowing players to be compensated for use of their (all together now) name, image or likeness — led to what passes as NIL today. Those McDonald’s sacks full of cash that used to be transferred under the table from bag man to handler, and ultimately to a recruit, are no longer necessary. Boosters or school representatives now can walk into a recruit’s home and promise a blank check if the athlete signs with their school, under the pretext of the athlete providing a service in return (wink wink). Recruits — and thanks to the transfer portal, current players — now can place themselves on the auction block for the highest bidder.

(The father of a certain former Auburn player surely must be thinking to himself, “Welcome in. What took ya’ll so long?”)

Eventually, NIL will get fixed or at least better managed, but in the absence of a willing marshal, gunslingers will freely roam the streets of Dodge. In the world of big-time college athletics, you’re either a gunslinger or you’re a cow hand. Owners of a proud but fading football brand, Arkansas fans would like to think that Hog logo can one day stand closer to the former.

Through the former One Arkansas program, Arkansas athletics wanted — and tried — to play the NIL game as it was intended, to partner athletes already on campus with opportunities to financially benefit from the use of their names, images and likenesses. From the start, though, many schools used NIL to essentially buy players. Others continued doing what they had been doing for years; they just didn’t have to do it under the table anymore. And Arkansas was left behind.

Two things happened, though, in the aftermath of the blowout loss to Missouri that closed the book on 2023’s strange clunker of a 4-8 season. The first was a gamble, the second a concession.

Lacking the means/desire/coach-in-waiting to fire Sam Pittman, and with pitchfork-carrying villagers amassing at the gates, Arkansas AD Hunter Yurachek played his wild card. Whether Bobby Petrino’s unexpected return to Fayetteville as offensive

coordinator was Yurachek’s idea, Pittman’s or even Frank Fletcher’s, bringing back one of the program’s most successful head coaches to fix a moribund offense was an instant hit.

Yes, Petrino left in “disgrace” following his firing in April 2012, the infamous motorcycle ride now etched into Arkansas lore.

But if you believe longtime northwest Arkansas sports broadcaster Mike Irwin, he was given the opportunity to stay if he would consent to certain conditions.

He didn’t, and outside of two seasons, Razorback football has languished in lower-level mediocrity since.

Petrino’s return has sparked hope into a fan base that had begun to lose faith in the well-liked Pittman.

A competent offense might have been the difference in two or three games last fall, and despite faltering (and perhaps letting go of the rope) late, the defense got better.

No longer is Yurachek looking at drastic declines in season-ticket sales, nor the Razorback Foundation the same in contributions. The Petrino hire bought the program some time and staved off widespread apathy.

What the beforementioned concession did, or will attempt to do, is buy the program time to catch up to its SEC rivals on the field. That concession was the creation of the Arkansas Edge NIL collective.

Arkansas NIL 2.0, it seems, will attempt to meet the SEC’s community standard for NIL. (If a community’s books say jaywalking is illegal but everyone jaywalks and police don’t enforce it, is jaywalking really illegal then?)

Arkansas Edge appears to be paying off. The Hogs landed some prized portal additions, players who had other options, and hauled in a high school recruiting class better than any 4-8 team should have been able to secure.

The horse is out of the barn. Most kids and their parents are going to follow the money (just as those from older generations would have). Playing for pride or the logo on the side of the helmet is a fading ideal in a world where team is increasingly spelled with five I’s.

Playing the NIL game, and playing it for real, is the only way the Hogs can get back to a point where the program itself is the main draw.

Back in 2009, Ed O’Bannon and his fellow plaintiffs did the right thing by standing up to those who were getting rich off their names, but it’s funny how drastically falling dominos can change a landscape.

Playing for pride or the logo on the side of the helmet is a fading ideal in a world where team is increasingly spelled with five I’s.

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SPORTS

MONEY MAKER State’s casinos cash in on online sports betting

By Brian Sorensen

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nline sports betting exploded in popularity across the United States following a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2018 that made the betting legal nationwide. Here in Arkansas, online wagering took off when the state’s three existing casinos debuted their online sportsbooks and smartphone apps in quick succession in 2022.

Southland Casino Hotel in West Memphis was the first to introduce its online sportsbook, doing so in March 2022. Saracen Casino Resort in Pine Bluff debuted its digital offering the folJAN UA RY 2 024

lowing May, and Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs joined the fray that September. All three offer robust websites and user-friendly apps.

Business is booming for the trio of online bookmakers. According to statistics provided by the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, the combined win for mobile sportsbooks in the third quarter of 2023 was $6.8 million, up 106 percent over the previous year’s third quarter result of $3.3 million.

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table games, and in-person and mobile sports betting — was $170.2 million in the third quarter, an increase of 8.5 percent over the same period last year. During the first nine months of 2023, the total combined win for the state’s casinos was $516.5 million, a 13 percent increase from 2022.

The numbers are similarly staggering nationwide. According to the American Gaming Association, the combined in-person and online sports betting revenues in the third quarter were $2.15 billion, up 22.8 percent over the same period last year.

Gambling on sports is big business, and here at home, Arkansas has a strong foundation on which to build its online sports betting future.

ARKANSANS’ LONG INFATUATION WITH SPORTS BETS Most of the early wagering action in Arkansas was at the track. This was especially true in Hot Springs, where interest in thoroughbred racing grew to a fever pitch. Oaklawn Park opened in Hot Springs in 1905 and became a magnet for handicappers. Casino-style games sprouted in the saloons that lined Central Avenue, and over the next few decades, gambling — legal and illegal — defined Hot Springs. People from across the nation flocked to Oaklawn, the Ohio Club, the Southern Club and the Vapors (to name a few gambling hot spots of the day) to get their gambling fix.

Horse racing was a constant target of opponents who sought to make the sport illegal. Despite the best efforts of teetotalers and other anti-gambling activists, the sport was soundly codified in 1956, the same year dog racing was authorized at Southland Park in West Memphis. However, casino gambling — which was long-tolerated by local and state officials — was out of business by the 1960s. Arkansas effectively ended one form of gambling while embracing another.

Many years passed before significant changes were made to the state’s gambling apparatus. In 2005, “electronic games of skill” were authorized at the two racetracks. Three years later, a statewide lottery was established by an amendment to the state constitution. The linchpin legislation behind today’s gambling environment was Amendment 100, which was passed by voters in 2018. This historic measure legalized traditional casino gaming at Oaklawn and Southland and set the stage for two new casinos in Jefferson and Pope counties. Saracen opened in Pine Bluff in 2019, and problems with the licensing process continue to stall a proposed project in Russellville.

MANY WAYS TO PLAY Whether placed online or in person, sports wagering in Arkansas offers a host of options, from football and basketball to more exotic sports like cricket and mixed martial arts.

Basic wagers are available, including bets on ARM O N E YA ND P O L I T I C S .COM

point spreads, money lines and total points (over or under).

Bets can be placed on full game outcomes or on the results at the end of quarters or halves. One can even wager on individual player statistics, such as the number of touchdowns a quarterback throws or the number of points scored by an individual basketball player.

Each casino’s website and app make it easy to see the potential winnings of a wager before it is placed, taking the guesswork out of gambling and making the action accessible to beginning and experienced players alike. As the growth in usage attests, Oaklawn, Saracen and Southland are providing the kind of experience Arkansas players prefer when putting their money on the line.

The rules require users of the state’s mobile betting platforms to be within Arkansas’ borders when placing bets. Technology helps establish a player’s location using Wi-Fi, cellular and GPS data. If someone is outside the state when placing a bet, his or her wager is immediately denied based on their geolocation.

SARACEN’S SPORTSBOOK TAKES THE LEAD Carlton Saffa, chief market officer for Saracen Casino, has witnessed the growth in online sports betting firsthand.

“Today, we are seeing the same kind of handle during a Monday Night Football game that we saw on an entire college football Saturday a year ago,” he said. Saracen’s total mobile sportsbook handle — or amount of money wagered — was $30 million in November, double the handle from November 2022.

To this point, Saracen has a lead on its in-state competition.

Since online sports betting started in Arkansas in early 2022, the Pine Bluff casino has handled approximately 60 percent of the total wagers placed in the state. Southland has handled 30 percent, and Oaklawn has handled 10 percent.

According to Saffa, nailing the basics before taking on more creative approaches was the key to a strong start.

Sports fans can place bets inside the Oaklawn casino or right from their phones.

(Photo provided)

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Images taken from the Bet Saracen TV ad campaign feature Arkansas radio broadcasting legend Tommy Smith, center, and former Razorback greats Pat Bradley, from left, U.S. Reed and Joe Kleine. Also pictured is a screenshot of the Oaklawn sportsbook’s home page.

“You never get a second chance to make a first impression,” he said. “Payments are the most important part of an app. You need to have great betting lines, you need to have great app functionality, and the graphic user interface has to be good — but if you can’t get your money on or off the app, it’s a non-starter.”

Saracen’s site offers Venmo, PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay and old-school automated clearing house payments.

“Short of barter and cryptocurrency, we’re taking an all-of-theabove approach to payments,” Saffa said.

Saffa said there is plenty of room to grow the online sportsbook business at Saracen.

“In Arkansas, we are still gaining hundreds of users every day,” he said. “One of the reasons is that we are the only one in the state to offer in-game betting. Microbetting, as it is called, is next-possession, next-play wagering.”

An example of microbetting can be found in the following scenario: Imagine a football team, down by two points, has the ball, fourth down and five yards to go from the opponent’s 15 yard line.

Depending on the odds provided by Saracen, the bettor could wager the kicker will make the field goal attempt or do the opposite, wagering he will miss the kick.

“That kind of instant in-game wagering is market exclusive for us,” Saffa said.

Another product being tested by Saracen allows players to sell

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open wagers they hold before the outcome is determined.

“For example, in July, you took Texas to win the national championship,” Saffa said. “The odds you got back then were much better than what you will find today, now that they are in the four-team playoff. You can post that bet on our marketplace, and someone can buy it from you for a smaller but guaranteed payout.”

Saracen promotes itself as Arkansas’s casino with commercials featuring former Razorback athletes Joe Kleine, Pat Bradley and D.J. Williams, to name a few, in heavy rotation. The Pine Bluff casino also gives a spotlight to in-state games that do not typically see wagering activity of their own.

“We take the position that we are Arkansas’ favorite sportsbook, so we need to cover everything important in Arkansas sports,” Saffa said. “The Battle of the Ravine, the big game between Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist, isn’t a game where national lines are available, so we create our own.”

SOUTHLAND KEEPS ITS SIMPLE Saracen may have the biggest online sportsbook in the state at the moment, but Southland will always have claim to the first.

Known as Betly, the online sportsbook was developed through a partnership between Southland’s owner, Delaware North, and Belgian company, Gaming1, which specializes in betting technology.

“Delaware North is very pleased with the performance of our Betly online and mobile sportsbook offerings for our Southland Casino Hotel in both Arkansas and Tennessee,” said Glen

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White, director of communications for Delaware North. Since its debut in March 2022, Southland has handled more than $115 million in online wagers.

According to White, Southland’s success is found in the simplicity of the experience it provides its customers. First-timers will likely not be intimidated by the website or smartphone app.

“It’s also a familiar and convenient extension of Southland’s on-site sports betting experience,” White said.

White shares the belief of others in the industry that gaming in Arkansas will grow by leaps and bounds and said Southland has enjoyed growth across all gambling segments, not just mobile sports wagering. This success is fueled by a recent $320 million physical expansion that includes a spacious gaming floor, new bars and restaurants, and a 20-story hotel at the West Memphis site.

“We are also continuing to enhance our Southland Lucky North Club mobile app, which allows our patrons to access offers on gaming, sports betting, dining, the hotel — whether they are at Southland or anywhere,” he said. “This allows us to continually connect with our patrons from a marketing standpoint.

OAKLAWN’S STRONG PEDIGREE

The strength in Oaklawn’s online sports betting platform is undeniable name recognition. No other gambling brand in Arkansas has the pedigree Oaklawn can claim.

There were other race tracks in Hot Springs before Oaklawn held its first meet in 1905; however, Oaklawn was the one with staying power. The track was successful despite anti-gambling sentiment in the state that halted racing between 1907 and 1916 and again between 1919 and 1934.

There were many additional challenges over the next several decades, but by the end of the 20th century, Oaklawn was gaining serious momentum. Surging profits were used to improve the track’s infrastructure and increase purse amounts, thereby establishing it as one of the premier venues in American horse racing.

In 2000, the track began offering instant racing to players.

This allowed handicappers to place wagers on previously run races, and it was an immediate hit. Electronic games of skill — machines that resembled slot machines and cardless card tables — came next.

By early 2008, Oaklawn was working on a 60,000-squarefoot expansion to the gaming center. Another major expansion started in 2013.

The Oaklawn Anywhere app launched in 2014, giving handicappers a way to place wagers from home. Live odds and a closed caption video feed from the track provided a convenient way to get in on the action. Many players attending the races in person found wagering on their phones preferable to standing in long lines at the betting windows.

A major milestone was achieved when construction of a hotel and event center began following the legalization of casino

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and sports betting in 2018. The name officially changed to Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort after the $100 million investment was completed in 2021.

The Oaklawn Sports app came onto the scene in September 2022. From its inception to October 2023, the mobile sportsbook handled nearly $36 million in wagers. Oaklawn’s onsite sportsbook has handled more than $80 million since it opened in July 2019.

“Arkansans have trusted Oaklawn as their place to play and escape for over a century, whether that be on our top-class horse racing or in our breathtaking casino and resort,” said Zack Gillham, Oaklawn’s director of sports wagering. “The goal is the same with Oaklawn’s mobile sports wagering app. Oaklawn Sports offers the largest wagering menu in the state and matches or exceeds most national brands. Add to that an easy-to-use interface and it is no surprise Arkansans enjoy using Oaklawn Sports.”

If Saracen sees itself as Arkansas-centric and Southland celebrates its simplicity, Oaklawn is a combination of the two approaches. The user interface is clean and offers all the typical wagering options (moneyline, points spread, etc.) and a multitude of prop bets, as well. Prop bets are related to outcomes other than the final score, such as scores at the end of quarters or halves and individual player statistics.

“Oaklawn Sports offers a very large menu of alternate lines, game props, and player props, almost all of which can be combined in a same game parlay, offering Arkansans an opportunity to win big,” Gillham said. “This represents one of the most popular and fastest-growing sports wagering segments. For example, on a typical NFL game, Oaklawn has over 350 wagers available.

That includes options to adjust a spread by as much as 20 points, passing yards, receptions, tackles, touchdowns and many other wagering opportunities.

“Also, a similar large array of wagers are available while the game is being played. Bettors have the option of Fast Bets, which are bets on the result of the next play, drive or series. Those are available for almost all sports including baseball, basketball, hockey, MMA and boxing, motor racing, soccer and golf. Where others might consider these specials, Oaklawn Sports just considers it a normal offering for the event. Another key separator is the user interface; Oaklawn Sports is very easy to navigate and bettors can find whatever sport, league, event, or market they are looking for without much effort and easily combine their selections into parlays with large payouts.”

For those looking for a celebrity tie-in, former Razorback David Bazzel — creator of the national Broyles and Burlsworth awards — is a spokesperson for Oaklawn Sports.

Arkansans love their sports, and with a long history of betting, they are taking advantage of new ways of wagering in droves. The state’s casinos have leveraged recent changes to federal and state rules to make gambling on sports an enjoyable experience for those who enjoy the thrill of putting their money on the line.

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DIGS OF THE DEAL

FROM VAUDEVILLE TO GHOSTS, Van Buren’s opera house has seen it all

By Kenneth Heard

The King Opera House is a 132-year-old performance theater in downtown Van Buren. (Photos provided)

T

he King Opera House, a 132-year-old performance theater in the heart of Van Buren, could have become just another vacant building with historical memories of long ago.

Instead, a nonprofit arts group stepped in, restored the majesty of the facility and turned the Crawford County seat into a destination spot by offering shows and entertainment and leasing it to organizations and even wedding parties.

“Our mission was to build a season of entertainment,” said Bill Ratcliff, the director of Van Buren nonprofit Arts on Main. “We wanted to build a place where the community could come together.”

The arts group formed in 1975 as the Center for Arts Education and held community theater plays, children’s acting seminars, musicals and other events. It changed its name to Arts on Main when it moved to 413 Main St. in Van Buren and took over operation of the theater in 2021.

The facility was built in 1891 as a brick structure that also housed the Willard Billiard Parlor and the Wallace Saloon and Restaurant. Col. Henry King bought the theater in 1898 after

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returning to Van Buren from a trip to the east coast of the U.S. While there, Ratcliff said, King saw plenty of shows and plays.

“We need to bring culture here,” King said upon buying the theater, and on Oct. 18, 1898, he oversaw the production of Faust as the opera house’s first performance. Vaudeville acts and local groups soon followed, and King’s vision of bringing culture was fulfilled.

In 1914, fire ravaged the theater, and it was remodeled as a “moving picture house” to show the silent movies that were becoming the rage of the time.

The opera house was renamed the Bob Burns Theater in the 1930s to honor a local celebrity who appeared on radio and in films. The national premiere of the film, Our Leading Citizen, that featured Burns, was held in the Van Buren theater.

In the 1960s, the Malco Theatre chain bought the building and began showing movies, but it closed in 1974, after it fell into rough shape, Ratcliff said, and sat vacant for years.

The city of Van Buren bought the opera house in 1979 and refurbished it in 1991, redoing the brick facade outside and restoring the inside. It hired a person to manage and upkeep the facility.

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“The city was diligent in the upkeep of the building,” Ratcliff said, “but anything not used will eventually begin deteriorating.”

The city wanted to showcase the theater and turn it into an entertainment venue that would draw people to the downtown. It was during a time when Arkansas cities all pushed for revitalizing downtown areas. Van Buren leaders worked with the city’s advertising and planning commission to bring more shows to Main Street.

The quaint downtown was featured in the 1988 movie Biloxi Blues and on the 1982 television mini-series The Blue and the Gray.

“The city saw an opportunity and asked our group to manage the opera house,” Ratcliff said. “They paid us to manage it. We were able to keep the funds from anything we did and any shows we put on, and they paid the utilities. It was a good deal.”

The building was purchased by the city in 1979 and refurbished in 1991.

The building was “falling in on itself,” Rumors of ghost hauntings have enhanced the reputation of the historic building.

Ratcliff said, when the arts group took it over. The group restored the walls, replicating the historic brick facade. Many of the offices that were the doctor. originally in the opera house were maintained; one office had Visitors over the years have reported seeing a man with a even served as a room for workers of the nearby railroad. top hat lurking in the theater, hearing footsteps and seeing The theater seats 315 and features a balcony with 94 seats. theater lights going on and off. Ratcliff said he’s never seen A 600-square-foot room was once the apartment for the theany ghosts, but his workers have reported weird things. ater’s movie projectionist and his family and is now used as a His assistant told him a group of performers had meeting room. just finished a show, and she was shutting down lights.

Workers installed new lights, repaired dressing rooms and She heard footsteps in the second-floor meeting room added a green room for performers to prepare for their shows. and thought the group had moved up there. She looked Despite all the changes, one thing did remain. Tales of ghosts over the balcony, Ratcliff said, and saw everyone below. haunting the opera house continue. It is a staple of many theaters, “There’s my ghost,” Ratcliff said she told him. but the King Opera House has its own unique story, and employAnother of Ratcliff’s workers said he was washing his ees have seen some odd things there. hands in a bathroom when he saw a woman wearing a Back in 1903, legend has it, the 17-year-old daughter of a local long white dress who asked, “Have you seen Henry?” doctor became infatuated with actor Charles Tolson, who was finThe man shut the water off and said he would help ishing a week-long show at the opera house. Tolson, according to her. When he turned around, she was gone. A third tale the legend, was happily married and discouraged the girl from involves another Arts on Main worker who said he saw leaving home. heavy loading-dock doors slowly open by themselves.

The doctor, though, obtained incorrect information that his Whether there is a ghost in the house or not, Ratcliff has daughter was going to the train station to run away with Tolson. capitalized on the stories, allowing ghost hunting teams to He rushed to the station some four blocks from the opera house, investigate. found Tolson and shot at him three times with a .44-caliber reIt adds to the draw of the King Opera House, which has volver. One bullet missed, and another struck Tolson’s watch. The upcoming shows with comedians, a Michael Jackson imthird shot was fatal, striking Tolson in the back. personator, plays and the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

The doctor sent away his wife and daughter before the sub“This is a state-of-the-art theater,” Ratcliff said. “It truly sequent trial was held so they could not testify. A jury acquitted is a destination stop now.”

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THE LAST WORD

REMEMBERING GOOD FOOD, FELLOWSHIP

A

By Kenneth Heard

s the Jonesboro bureau reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for nearly 20 years, I traveled much of the northeast corner of the state, working on stories.

One of the benefits of those voyages was finding quaint, offthe-beaten-path places to grab a decent meal while on the run.

Keep in mind, I’m no culinary expert, so these places weren’t four-star restaurants. If you saw my hefty self, you’d understand.

My role model in those days was the fictitious reporter, Bill Overland, who hawked Snickers bars on television advertisements as he scurried off to some breaking news story. I emulated Overland while covering a homicide trial once in Lake City, eating Snickers bars and guzzling Dr. Pepper for a week. I had a good story each day, but I probably gained 15 pounds.

That said, there were spots I discovered where the dining was great, and the proprietors maintained that Arkansas atmosphere of warm, friendly homeliness.

One such spot in the Southside community on Arkansas 69 in Independence County made fantastic ham sandwiches. For the best chicken strips, it was good eatin’ when Tosha at the Jordan’s Kwik Stop #41 on U.S. 49 at School Street in Brookland served them, and if you wanted fried egg rolls, the Exxon convenience store in Manila had the finest.

Perhaps the best reporter meals I ever ate were at Rye Grocery on Arkansas 149 between Earle and Marked Tree.

I didn’t get there often; Earle didn’t have a lot of statewide news interest. When I did go, it generally was to cover bad news — a serial rapist, a major election violation and a large fire were some of the stories for which I made the trip, so, stopping at Rye’s was a respite of sorts.

I hadn’t been to the store in a long while, and after meeting with the young Earle mayor, Jaylen Smith, for a feature story in Arkansas Money & Politics recently, I planned to return for a quick lunch.

Sadly, the store was gone. Abandoned cars now sit in front.

The gas pumps were missing. There was no signage indicating what this once was. I drove on, destined for a lunch of Snickers and Dr Pepper.

The store was a legend in its time, though.

I called state Rep. Johnny Rye, a Republican who represents District 36 in Poinsett and Mississippi counties, after learning the store was no longer there. Rye, who also served as the Poinsett County assessor for 25 years, is the son of the Johnny Rye who owned Rye Grocery.

The younger Rye spent summers and after school working there, pumping gasoline and making sandwiches.

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“The store was doing a tremendous business back then,” Rye said. “People came from all over.”

One of the draws, other than those fabulous sandwiches, was Rye’s care for people. He let people charge food if they were hungry and without cash. He gave special care to those with children, his son said.

The elder Rye moved to Poinsett County from Mississippi in 1931 and opened his grocery in 1958. The younger Rye worked there from 1968 to 1990.

“I’d go there each day after football practice in high school,” he said. “There was always plenty of work to do.”

He said business was so good that the grocery store would often make $1,000 a day during a time when it sold candy for a penny. In addition to working at the store, Rye would deliver groceries to customers as far away as Black Oak and Frenchman’s Bayou.

“We’d load up the pickup and head out,” he said. “Back then, people would buy 100 pounds of potatoes and whole sides of bacon.”

In addition to its goods, the store’s ambience was a draw. The elder Rye would talk with his customers. He was one of those people you knew well within just a few minutes. When he found out I was a reporter who covered weather and earthquakes a lot, he pulled out a scrapbook of old newspaper clippings.

The grocery store was at the epicenter of a March 24, 1979, earthquake that measured 4.9 on the seismic scale. Rye was quoted in the Detroit News as having felt the quake, a moment that he seemed quite proud of.

I once covered an earthquake seminar in Memphis, and when I headed back to Jonesboro, I made the detour to Rye’s Grocery to tell Johnny of what I had learned. I got a sandwich with an extra slab of ham. He wrapped it up and said, “Come back soon.”

Rye passed away in 2009. The store closed soon after. I didn’t realize it had been that long ago. I guess I hadn’t made my way to Earle in a while.

That day after meeting the Earle mayor, I drove on past the former Rye Grocery, skipping the fast-food joints of Marked Tree, Trumann and Jonesboro. Nowadays, it seems food is mass produced, tossed in a Styrofoam container and sold by the scores. There is little personality in a store-bought meal anymore.

Gone are the days of care. At Rye’s store, you knew you’d get a homemade meal, a good story and a warm smile before heading on your way.

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Left to Right: Dawn Hughes, MD, and Stacey Johnson, APRN

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