A LOOK INSIDE the C-SUITE

The C-Suite: That place where most of us strive to be when we launch a career. Referring to the cluster of top-level executive positions within most companies — chief executive officer (CEO), chief operating officer (COO), chief financial officer (CFO) and chief information officer (CIO) — the C-Suite entails hard work, high stress and long hours. But the rewards can be substantial.

AMP asked readers to tell us who their favorite C-Suite executives were. Their titles may not precisely reflect “CEO” or any of the others, but their roles do. This isn’t a “best of” or a “top executives” list; but it’s a way to recognize many of those business executives in Arkansas whose hard work makes The Natural State a great place to live and work.

Ashton Adcock

Merchants & Farmers Bank

Ashton Adcock is a 1981 graduate of Dumas High School; a 1985 graduate of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, where he earned a business degree in banking and finance; and a 1988 graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law, where he earned his juris doctorate degree. He practiced law in Little Rock until 1996, when he joined the staff of the bank. Adcock has served on the board of directors of Merchants & Farmers since 1991, has chaired the board since 1994 and currently holds the positions of chief executive officer and chairman of the board. The bank started in Dumas in 1909. In 2011, it opened a branch in Bryant and expanded into Benton with a downtown location in 2021.

Mark Amox

Unity Health

Mark Amox, FACHE, is president and chief executive officer for Unity Health. Headquartered in Searcy, Unity Health is a comprehensive health-care system comprising four hospitals, multiple clinics and specialists serving eight counties in central Arkansas. Amox began at Unity Health in November 2022. His primary focus is on the people, patients and communities Unity Health serves by delivering on the organizational mission to improve health and well-being through compassionate care. He has more than two decades of health care leadership and executive experience serving as COO at Regional Medical Center in San Jose, California; COO of Sunrise Children’s Hospital in Las Vegas; President/CEO of El Paso Children’s Hospital in Texas; and Administrator of Shands Children’s Hospital in Gainesville, Florida. Locally, Amox served for eight years as Administrator of Pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Curtis Barnett

Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield

Curtis Barnett serves as president and chief executive officer for Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which serves more than 2 million members nationwide.

As president and CEO, Barnett is leading Arkansas Blue Cross’ efforts to help transform health care, striving to make it a more affordable and compassionate system. Prior to his election as president and CEO in 2017, Barnett served as senior vice president of internal operations for Arkansas Blue Cross and as president and CEO of its wholly owned subsidiary company, USAble Corporation.

On the national front, Barnett serves on the board of directors for the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and the National Institute for Healthcare Management (NIHCM). He leads as chairman of the Board of Managers for Blue Health Intelligence, a health care data analytics and solutions company, and as co-chair of the Roundtable on Innovations in Mental and Behavioral Health for the Health Evolution.