Arkansas Money & Politics October 2022

A HANDSHAKE

As a rm built on relationships, our handshake matters. It means a warm greeting, the privilege of doing business together and knowing you can count on us. A handshake between two brothers, Witt and Jack Stephens, provided the foundation for a family-owned legacy that Jack’s son Warren upholds today. Under Warren’s leadership, Stephens continues to grow as one of America’s largest privately held independent nancial services rms, with of ces throughout the United States and in Europe. Our performance builds relationships with our clients, many of whom have become old friends. It’s why shaking hands with us means just a little bit more.

111 Center Street Little Rock, AR 72201 (800) 643-9691

FEATURES OCTOBER 2022

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Pandemic accelerating technological advances in legal profession.

THE BIG DAM BRIDGE 100 Since 2006, Little Rock cycling tour has drawn enthusiasts from around the world.

DJ DIARIES Inside the studio with two of Arkansas’ most eclectic radio hosts.

By AMP Staff

Glass technician, pharmacist, wakeboarder, family man and top professional By Angela Forsyth

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FEEDBACK

AMP’S 40 IN THEIR FORTIES 2022

“Happy to see this! I think this is a group that is often forgotten!”

Christine Gronwold

LONG-TIME KATV MORNING NEWS ANCHOR JOINS DELTA SOLAR “I could not be happier for this guy! Chris Kane is one of the sharpest and kindest men I’ve ever worked alongside. I was lucky to have him as a co-anchor and friend, who is now much more like a family member. When you spend that much time together at 4 in the morning for over a decade it’s hard not to become a real anchor for each other. It’s what Chris, Melinda and I did. We shared so many laughs, so many heartbreaks, so many trips, went through weddings and funerals and raising children together, lived through hours and hours on air during breaking news and weather, suffered through some major bloopers that we hope never resurface and saw dozens of coworkers come and go over the year. But we stayed and woke up at 2:30 a.m. every morning because we believed in what we were doing – but even more so, because we got to do it together. The time was right for us to give up that 2:30 a.m. alarm and live a more normal life with our kids and spouses. Chris will be so successful in this new industry. If you or your company wants to find out more about going solar, he is who you need to talk to. Delta Solar is sure lucky to have him on their team!”

Alyson

THE TIME”

Garland & Greenwood CPAs and Advisors, PLLC, a Little Rock-based accounting firm, has recently created a new Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) firm dedicated to financial planning and wealth management.

On Sept. 23, Sidney Moncrief held his 30 for 30: Shadow, a CEO group workshop, as an end to his Kindness in Action week – which brings attention to acts of kindness, the importance of awareness and focuses on the positive things that happen every

and all of which, according to Moncrief, is in conjunction with student leadership teams.

Media super star and local celebrity David Bazzel photographed by Kellie McAnulty.

AN ELITE CLASS

Arkansas is known to lead in industries such as agriculture and manufacturing. But those aren’t the state’s only strengths. Whether it’s law, media or any other industry, Arkansas is home to some hardworking people who have a significant impact in our state.

We’ll give you an update on the legal industry in Arkansas, highlighting our 2022 class of Legal Elite and our list of the largest law firms in the state. We will also take a look at the ins and outs of the legal profession through the lens of Denton & Zachary.

Media is vastly important in the state, too, something we here at AMP know well. While we take care of digital and print news, there are so many other aspects of this industry worth highlighting – from radio royalty at 103.7 The Buzz and other iconic DJs to well-known TV personalities such as Craig O’Neill – there is so much to cover in this industry.

We are also applauding our annual list of Top Professionals, who all do such excellent work. Professionals like Brett Russell from Russell Cheverolet and Aaron Grimes with Capitol Glass (and several other businesses) and so many others who have made such great contributions to their respective fields.

Diversity is something that should always be celebrated and acknowledged, so this month, we are taking a look at Diversity in the Workplace with a list of some of the most diverse and inclusive companies in the state. We will also be looking at how places like Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield, USAble and Thaden School have set the bar high for diversity, equity and inclusion in the Arkansas workforce.

Gentlemen: If you’ve ever been getting ready for a work event and stared at your closet for more than 10 minutes wondering what you should be wearing, we have good news for you. This month, we have created the perfect guide to follow when deciding what to wear and when to wear it. Tux or suit, we know just what you should wear for any formal occasion.

However, it’s not all work and no play. The very first FORMAT Festival in Bentonville just came to a close, and whether or not you were able to attend, we will be walking you through the place where all the magic happened – and explaining how a music festival of such a high magnitude made its way to the Arkansas Ozarks.

As always, there is so much to be celebrated in our great state, and the people that live in it. We have some of the greatest professionals, best environments and a lot more worth noting, and you can always count on AMP to shine a spotlight on the individuals, businesses and events that make Arkansas so special.

Hit me up with your comments or suggestions, and share your story ideas with me, at HBaker@ARMoneyandPolitics.com.

GLORY DAYS

MEDIA CONTINUES TO CHANGE THROUGH THE DECADES, BUT THE PEOPLE STAY THE SAME

By Steve “Sully” Sullivan, sports director at KATV News in Little Rock

Iamthe son of Irish immigrants, born and raised in Framingham, Massachusetts.

Many wonder how I ended up in Ar kansas. It’s a good story.

My best friend had a part-time job, working at New Hampshire’s Seabrook Greyhound Park. He presented me with an opportunity a then 17-year-old Steve Sullivan couldn’t turn down: a chance for part ownership of a racing dog. I went all in (about $400), and we pur chased, “Keentwister.” It turned out to be a life-changing move.

I subsequently had to find a college with a Radio-TV program close to a dog track. Arkansas State University’s outstanding communications program was just an hour northwest of South land Greyhound Park.

There was no campus visit. So, in August of 1978, I arrived in Jonesboro. I felt like an alien landing in a foreign land.

Forty-four years later, I’m still here. Arkansas has been my land of opportunity.

You have heard the saying, “Just get a foot in the door.” It was a radio job that paid $800 a month. I made more than one trip to the pawn shop. Money could have been a bigger issue if I wasn’t chasing a dream.

Later, at KHBS in Fort Smith, I learned the value of good men tors. I regret not properly thanking Bill Guffey and Ken Rank for taking an interest in me.

Radio led to TV, and in 1985, I found myself at KARK in Little Rock.

It was the heyday of what I affectionately call the “Ron Bur gundy days” of TV. Local news was rolling, and people had only three options for their information: KARK, KATV and KTHV. The anchors were local celebrities. Those were the glory years for local television, which like many businesses, has gotten younger and cheaper – which is not a good thing.

Technology has also changed business in a big way. Some

times I wonder how we managed to put on a sportscast 30 years ago, without computers and the internet. The reality now is that people get much of their sports news from Twitter.

I mentioned “younger and cheaper.” News stations that once flew helicopters are now in the drone business. I can’t imag ine doing our high school football show, “Friday Night Touch downs,” with a drone. Backpacks have replaced TV live trucks. The pandemic has also changed the business. Zoom is now a favorite tool of all TV stations.

Another big change as of late: Major media companies own almost all stations. I often remind myself that I’m employee No. 52356.

The best thing about TV is the people. There is a passion for TV that doesn’t exist in many professions. I saw it 30 years ago in my coworkers at KHBS and KARK, and I see it now with the people I work with at KATV. I’ve worked with so many talented people.

My advice for those considering a career in TV is: if you don’t love it, don’t pursue it.

Television is a crazy, but very rewarding, profession.

POWER PLANTS: HOW ARKANSAS LEADS RESEARCH OF PLANT-BASED CANCER TREATMENTS

Treatments for cancer and the search for cures are a multibilliondollar industry, directed by the nation’s leading researchers and funded both federally and privately. The mission is critical. In 2022, an estimated 609,360 people will die of cancer in the United States. Breast cancer is an especially de structive disease – the second leading cause of death among women. According to the Arkansas Department of Health, 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer. Whether you know a family member or friend with the disease, or you’ve battled it yourself, chances are that you have per sonally been affected by breast cancer.

Research is taking a variety of ap proaches to cancer prevention, treatment and cures. At the Arkansas Biosciences Institute (ABI) at A-State, one ARA Acad emy researcher, Dr. Fabricio Medina-Boli var, and his team have found very promising results in novel organic compounds that have a particularly positive effect on cancer treatments.

“My research focuses on producing and discovering com pounds from plants with applications in human health,” ex plained Dr. Medina-Bolivar, professor of plant metabolic engi neering at A-State. Medina-Bolivar uses a system called “hairy roots” in which the plant roots have been “immortalized” to grow as roots forever. These roots are the factories to make diverse classes of compounds called stilbenoids that certain plants produce in nature.

How do these stilbenoid compounds relate to the treatment of cancer? Chemotherapy drugs cause a variety of unpleasant side effects, and Medina-Bolivar is researching the use of pre nylated stilbenoids as adjuvants (substances that enhance effi cacy) for FDA-approved chemotherapies. The goal is to reduce the drug dose without compromising its activity in inducing cancer cell death. Ultimately, this will translate into reduced side effects from chemotherapy treatments. “We’ve found that certain prenylated stilbenoids from peanuts are showing this

adjuvant effect, particularly in triple-negative breast cancer cells. We are currently evaluating the signaling pathways activated by prenylated stilbenoids that induce cell death in cancer cells,” said Medina-Bolivar.

Producing stilbenoids in significant quantity is a challenge. Plants only produce these compounds as a mechanism for de fense (such as when the plant is attacked by a fungus). Through his research, Medina-Bolivar has increased the production of pre nylated stilbenoids by more than 50,000 times. This has resulted in several patents around bioproduction technologies. The pro cess is scalable, and he hopes to implement the hairy-root-based bioproduction technology at the industrial level.

Medina-Bolivar credits much of the success of his research to ABI, where he was among the first group of scientists to estab lish a lab when the facility opened in 2004. “Over the years, ABI has been instrumental in the growth of my research by providing seed-type grant funding, core facilities and facilitating collabora tions with other institutions,” said Medina-Bolivar, whose work will someday unearth preventive therapies for cancer, cardiovas cular disorders and other aging-associated diseases.

Dr. Fabricio Medina-Bolivar, Arkansas State University

LIKE A ‘STEROID SHOT’

PANDEMIC ACCELERATING TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES IN LEGAL PROFESSION

By Becky Gillette

There is no question that the pandemic has been very disruptive to the legal profession, with COVID illnesses and precautions that delayed court proceed ings, leading to a backlog in the system. But while some attorneys suffered (and continue to suffer) significant negative effects, lawyers in many practice areas actually experienced positive impacts, according to Joe F. Kolb, president of the Arkansas Bar Association. Kolb is the principal member of the Little Rock law firm, j. k o l b.

“The impact of the pandemic was not uniform across all practice,” Kolb ex plained. “Our laws and our legal system are intended to promote certainty in our everyday lives and business transactions.

“The pandemic introduced an unprec edented amount of uncertainty, almost overnight. So many people and busi nesses naturally turned to lawyers and our laws and legal system to help provide more certainty in an uncertain time. That meant the workload of some lawyers grew exponentially.”

Lawyers in the employment law practice area are a good example. When the pandemic hit, employers im mediately sought advice on navigating the legal side of the pandemic health and economic issues.

When will things get back to normal? Kolb said in the past 10 years, even be fore the pandemic, there were signifi cant changes taking place in the profes sion, brought on primarily by advances in technology.

“The pandemic was like a steroid shot,” Kolb said. “It accelerated the pace of change exponentially. Some see that as a good thing; others disagree. But, I think we all pretty much agree the changes are here to stay. And there’s still more to come.

“Lawyers will embrace many of the changes that came out of the pandemic – especially those that helped them to serve their clients better. And they’ll con tinue to look for and adopt other changes that will help them live up to their pledge to advance the cause of justice.”

Kolb, who practices in the areas of bankruptcy, business and corporate law, said lawyers are problem-solvers. Give them a challenge, and they’ll rise to the occasion. He said trial lawyers are work ing together – and with judges – to priori tize cases and narrow the issues for trial. They’re using technology to help them do more in a day, cut down on travel and keep costs down.

“And they’re working longer hours, to ensure they’re ready for trial when their cases are set, because there are more cas es set for trial at the same time – mean ing there’s less flexibility in the system to allow for short extensions or continu ances,” Kolb explained.

“Bottom line: Lawyers know it’s in ev eryone’s interest to resolve cases as quick ly as possible. So, everyone is doing what they can to make sure the system is work ing efficiently, and the backlog is resolved

as quickly as possible.”

line: Lawyers

With the advent of vaccines and the liberalization of recommendations re lated to in-person meetings, lawyers are transitioning from using videoconfer ence technology out of necessity, as they did at the height of the pandemic, to using it when it makes the most sense. Some conversations with clients are just better had in person. Some are more cost-effective for both lawyers and clients if they’re virtual. “So, lawyers are using both formats,” he said.

The trend towards law firm mergers has continued. Kolb said law firms are always working to make sure they’re op erating efficiently, so that clients receive the legal representation they need at a reasonable cost, and their attorneys are appropriately compensated for the ser vices they provide.

“There can be efficiencies in merging firms,” Kolb noted. “And when those effi ciencies become apparent, firms merge.”

On a different note, security breaches have become an increasing problem for all types of businesses. Kolb said if an at torney doesn’t take reasonable steps to ensure a client’s information is protected from a security breach, it could be ex tremely harmful to the client’s case, and the attorney could be reprimanded or even have his or her license to practice law taken away. So, it’s extremely impor tant that law firms keep up with and in vest in the latest security technology to

protect their clients’ data.

Law firms are always looking for hires who have the particular skills needed to serve their clients and who also fit in with the people and culture of the firm. Kolb said finding that perfect fit is hard, even more so nowadays because technology and other advances have made it possible to practice law in so many ways that were not possible before.

“Many firms are struggling with de fining their own culture and what they expect from new hires,” Kolb said. “That, I think, is resulting in more miss matches and greater turnover, which is never good for a firm. As a result, many firms are starting to be more intentional about their recruitment and retention efforts.”

“Bottom

know it’s in everyone’s interest to resolve cases as quickly as possible.”

Joe F. Kolb

By Becky Gillette

LAW SCHOOLS SEEING MORE NORMALCY AS PANDEMIC WANES S

tudent networking for passing rig orous classes and having personal interaction with professors has long been a key part of the culture of law school. COVID made that more difficult, and Zoom classes have their drawbacks. However, as students have entered the fall session at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) William A. Bowen School of Law, things are looking more normal, said Dean Terri M. Beiner.

“COVID isn’t impacting us too much at the law school,” Beiner said. “Our students are very happy to be back to gether where they can build rapport and camaraderie.

“We have had no superspreader events at the law school. We are treat ing it like any other illness. Because of the pandemic, we have a lot of Zoomenabled classrooms. It is still up to the discretion of the professors to allow someone with COVID or any other illness to sit in remotely. Most of our classes are taped, so students can watch classes later if they are sick.”

Noteworthy trends Beiner sees as a re sult of the pandemic are more flexibility to work remotely and more casual attire at the law office.

“Working at home and wearing sweat pants has translated to offices being a little more casual with dress and the working environment,” Beiner noted.

“Everyone became more comfortable. It is easy to keep a suit on the back of the door, and pop into it when you need it.”

Currently, about half of law school students are female, and half are male. But, the higher up you get in the law firm hierarchy, the fewer women you see.

“Only about 23% of equity partners end up being women,” Beiner said. “More women drop out of big firm practice as time goes on, and don’t make it to partnerships. Women complain of not having adequate mentor ing, not being offered the same opportunities and having more family obligations. Law firms are just not very accommodating to caregiving obligations that fall more on women.”

Women of color drop out at even high er rates than white women. But, Beiner said progress is being seen. A possible good side effect of COVID will be more flexibility, helping women with work-life balance that will allow them to stay in larger, more prestigious law firms longer.

Beiner also sees a fair number of their graduates going to work in-house for cli ents. That can be more economical for businesses, even if they might still need some outside counsel with expertise in other areas.

An interesting new offering at the Bowen School of Law is a Master of Studies in Law degree, targeted towards

students who are not interested in prac ticing law.

“This allows people who are going to be encountering law in their jobs to learn more about the law or enhance their career prospects down the road,” Beiner explained. “There are legal is sues that arise in professions such as human resources, where HR personnel encounter employment discrimination,

because it can be hard to nail down what you really want to do if you don’t know what options are out there,” she said. “Trend-wise, coming out of COVID, we are seeing more students look for employ ers who offer flexible work environments with remote working options. Right now, the market is pretty open. There are lots of people who are looking to hire, which is great for our students.”

Snyder said there is a good amount of accountability for attorneys working remotely. Remote work has benefits and drawbacks.

employment law and compliance areas such health care or other government compliance work. Or, a business owner might want to know how business con tracts work. It allows you to sit in and be part of regular law school classes in ar eas helpful to your career.”

Law school graduates have a lot of different choices about employers, which can include private firms, state or federal agencies, businesses and non profit organizations, said Diana Snyder, assistant dean for career services at the Bowen School of Law.

“We try to help them find a variety of clerkship experiences during law school

“You can miss out on mentorship op portunities for younger lawyers when you work remotely,” Snyder noted. “With law, there is a certain amount of mentor ship and on-the-job training, the need to have someone just down the hall to answer questions. There are probably few opportunities to work completely re motely. Most jobs have an in-office com ponent. Most of what you are seeing is a hybrid, with employees trying to find the proper balance.”

The current job market for recent law school grads in Arkansas is healthy. Sny der said at 10 months after graduation, the vast majority are either employed or pursuing another degree.

Noteworthy trends Beiner sees as a result of the pandemic are more flexibility to work remotely and more casual attire at the law office.

Photos courtesy of University of Arkansas at Little Rock, William H. Bowen School of Law

“Obviously, we are working as hard as we can to get these students employed somewhere they are happy,” she said.

Terri Dill Chadick, director of career services at the University of Arkansas Fay etteville School of Law, also reports good hiring rates for recent graduates. For the class of 2021, 90% of the school’s graduates were either employed or pursuing another graduate degree after 10 months. About 60% stay within the state.

“We do have some new players in the market; some out-of-state firms that have attorneys based in Arkansas like DLA Piper, Gordon & Rees, Hall Booth Smith and Mayer LLP,” Chadick said. “We are seeing some of these bigger firms moving in, which may put some pressure on the salaries.

“We’re also seeing a high demand for entry-level tax attorneys in Arkansas. A lot of firms are asking about students who might go on to get the LLM tax degree. We’re seeing more hiring for prosecutors and public defenders. There was some funding through state legislation that pro moted additional positions for both offices. Every year, we have students who have decided to pursue public service, and the public defender jobs are exactly what they want to do. It is their passion.”

On the downside of things, burnout can be an issue, or ending up in a firm that isn’t the right fit. Two things Chadick recom mends are talking to people employed at the firm and being observant of the work

place. Do the firm’s lawyers seem very stressed? What time do they leave work? Are they sending work emails in the mid dle of the night?

“The practice of law typically involves managing and trying to solve other peo ple’s problems. Clients are often anxious, and that contributes to highly stressed work situations,” Chadick explained. “Practicing law is difficult. It is challeng ing. I think if you are observant, you can get an idea of what the practice at a firm or organization would be like and if it provides a way to have rewarding worklife balance.”

She encourages students to determine what their financial situation will look like after graduation, including what their student loan payments will be, to know what they need as far as income for the first job. Some legal aid organizations and other nonprofits might offer loan re payment benefits and options, such as income-based repayment plans, and Pub lic Service Loan Forgiveness programs should be considered as well.

“Each student is going to have a per sonal list of factors that go into the deci sion about which opportunities to pursue,” Chadick said. “We work with students to identify their own priorities and find work that suits them. For example, when people are interested in diversity – and that in cludes not just women and minority grad uates – we help them identify employers that promote diversity.”

Terri Chadick

“We’re seeing more hiring for prosecutors and public defenders. There was some funding through state legislation that promoted additional positions for both offices.”

Photos courtesy of University of Arkansas at Little Rock, William H. Bowen School of Law

We’re thrilled that WLJ’s own Adrienne Baker and Erika Gee are included among this year’s Legal Elite – the 100 go-to lawyers in Arkansas.

For more than 120 years, our firm has earned the trust of clients in the courtroom and in the boardroom. Thank you, AMP readers, for recognizing our commitment to excellence in our legal practice and in the community.

Congratulations to all the honorees.

JENNINGS

Entergy Arkansas proudly congratulates Amber Davis on being named to the AMP 2022 Legal Elite. Since joining our team in 2021 as Senior Counsel, she has exemplified what it means to be a true community leader. Thank you, Amber, and congratulations.

Congratulations, Amber Davis. Strong leadership powers Arkansas.

LITTLE ROCK ROGERS wlj.com SINCE 1900 WRIGHT

We're dedicated to raising the bar in our profession - just like you.

Crisp Law Firm

Hugh Crisp has been a trial lawyer for 38 years, but he still feels like he’s never worked a day in his life. Being a trial lawyer fulfills both a passion and a lifelong dream for Crisp.

“Things worked out perfectly for me,” he says.

From the firm’s office in downtown Little Rock, Crisp’s work includes an emphasis on medical malpractice and catastrophic in juries. These are some of the most difficult cases imaginable, navi gating both the scales of justice and carrying a level of empathy and responsibility for his clients, many of whom and their families are dealing with some of the most traumatic events they’ll ever face.

Instances of medical malpractice are when a patient is harmed by the negligence, acts or omissions by a medical care provider.

Wrongful death in a medical malpractice case is a death caused by the negligent acts or omissions of medical care providers. Recent studies show that one of the leading causes of death in the United States is medical errors, accounting for 251,000 deaths annually.

“At the Crisp Law Firm, we have a personal relationship with each individual we represent and are committed to devoting the time and resources necessary to achieve the very best results for our clients,” he says.

Such a deep-hearted commitment to the client brings about peace of mind, in addition to his many distinguishing honors that identify him as one of the best in the legal profession. Crisp is rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell, the highest rating for an attorney practicing in the United States. He has been honored by numerous publications in Arkansas and around the South for his work in malpractice, as well as peer-reviewed associations such as being a Mid-South Super Lawyers honoree for many years, and Best Lawyers in America.

The accolades and accomplishments go on and on for Crisp, all of which are rewarding. But at the end of the day, it hasn’t moved the needle on the most important things in his mind — his clients, and helping them find justice.

Arkansas Money & Politics needed a good lawyer — our readers came through. They gave us a lot more than one. We present the 2022 Legal Elite as chosen by AMP readers — 50 or so go-to attorneys representing the spectrum of specialties in Arkansas.

VANESSA CASH ADAMS ARlaw Partners

ADRIENNE BAKER

Wright, Lindsey & Jennings, LLP

Adrienne Baker is the chief operating officer for Wright Lindsey Jen nings and a partner in the firm. Her practice centers on commercial litigation, focusing on banking and lending issues, complex business disputes, credi tors’ rights and collections and contract issues. Baker has been named a Rising Star by “Mid-South Super Lawyers” sev eral times, and she recently completed her ninth year as a member of the board of directors of the American Red Cross Serving Greater Arkansas, including a term as Chairman of the Board. She is also a graduate of Leadership Greater Lit tle Rock, Class XXXI, and the Arkansas Business Executive Leadership Academy.

JAMES BARGAR

The Bargar Law Firm, P.A.

KATHERINE BLACKMON CARROLL

Law Offices of Katherine E. Blackmon

Katherine Blackmon Carroll is the owner and managing attor ney of the Law Of fices of Katherine E. Blackmon, a traumainformed family law firm, with an empha sis on helping clients navigate difficult times with empathy and expertise. Car roll earned her bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University and her juris doctorate from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Af ter Carroll passed the bar exam and re ceived her license to practice, she began renting a one-room office in the Centre Place building in downtown Little Rock in 1997. The firm’s goals are to walk cli ents through difficult domestic situations and to provide representation tailored for each individual client. Blackmon’s firm serves the unique needs of each cli ent and works toward fair resolutions

while vigorously protecting its clients’ rights and needs. Under her leadership, Carroll’s team continues to fight aggres sively for clients and, just as frequently, talks clients through the emotions that go hand-in-hand with experiencing a di vorce or custody matter.

WILL BOND McMath Woods, P.A.

Will Bond is a partner at McMath Woods P.A. His practice is concen trated on represent ing individuals on a contingency fee basis in any type of per sonal injury, wrongful death or insurance dispute, including car wrecks, 18-wheeler wrecks and medical negligence cases. Bond graduated from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1995 after receiving his undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt. He has previous ly served as an Arkansas state representa tive and state senator.

BRIAN BROWN Laser Law Firm

Little Rock native Brian Brown graduated cum laude from South western at Memphis (now Rhodes College) in 1984, where he was elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa. Af ter passing the CPA exam, he entered the University of Arkansas School of Law at Little Rock, graduating in 1988. He then joined the Laser Law Firm and became a partner in 2000. Brown is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as all state and federal courts in Arkansas. He is a member of the Pulaski County, Arkansas and American Bar As sociations. His practice focuses on legal research, motion practice and appel late law, and he has taught a number of continuing legal education seminars on insurance-related legal issues.

BRANDON CRAWFORD Brandon Crawford, Attorney at Law

HUGH E. CRISP Crisp Law Firm

At his Little Rock prac tice, Hugh E. Crisp ex clusively handles per sonal injury litigation, with an emphasis on medical malpractice and catastrophic inju ries in the Mid-South. Crisp is rated AV Preeminent by Martin dale-Hubbell, the highest rating for an attorney practicing in the United States. He has been selected by his peers as a Mid-South Super Lawyers honoree for the past 10 years, and is a fellow in Litiga tion Counsel of America.

SKIP DAVIDSON Davidson Law Firm

ANDY L. CALDWELL

Caldwell Law Firm, P.A.

Andy L. Caldwell is the principal attorney at the Caldwell Law Firm, P.A. His primary focus and area of practice is workers’ compensation. Caldwell has lectured to Fortune 500 com panies, insurance carriers and members of the bar on the topics of workers’ com pensation, Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and legal ethics. He is a mem ber of the Arkansas Bar Association and the Pulaski County Bar Association. He is also a member of the Arkansas Trial Law yers Association as well as the American Association for Justice, the Association for Trial Lawyers. Caldwell was admitted to practice in 1999 in all Arkansas state and federal courts. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville, in 1999, and his bachelor’s degree in political science from Henderson State University in 1995.

Skip Davidson is an Arkansas native from Lake Village, where he grew up on a farm and worked in the con struction industry be fore attending college. He established David son Law Firm in 1973 as a full-service firm with an emphasis on business transac tions and business litigation. Today, the firm has expanded to four locations, serv ing hundreds of clients all around the state. Davidson fully embraces the motto “work hard, play hard.” He believes be ing a successful attorney means more than working hard from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. five days a week. When he is not in the office, he can almost always be found at working hard at Davidson Ranch, his 300-head cattle farm.

AMBER DAVIS Entergy

Amber Davis grew up on a goat farm in Grapevine, Arkansas, where she lived with her grandparents. In 2005, she graduated magna cum laude from Hendrix College with a

Bachelor of Arts in history. For the next few years, she worked as a reporter for “The Daily Record” in Little Rock. Da vis graduated from law school in 2011, ranked first in her class. She also earned the highest score on the July 2011 bar exam. Immediately after passing the bar, she became an associate at Quattlebaum, Grooms & Tull, PLLC, where she handled cases in a wide variety of areas, including complex litigation, torts, products liabil ity and employment. In 2018, Davis be came associate general counsel at Heifer International, a nonprofit organization that seeks to end hunger and poverty while caring for the Earth. While work ing there, she handled general litigation, employment and contract matters. Miss ing the world of litigation, Davis came to Entergy in September 2021, where she is senior counsel. When she is not working, Davis enjoys creative writing, practicing yoga and playing with her dog, Cookie.

JOE DENTON

Denton & Zachary, PLLC

Joe Denton is an Ar kansas native and at torney, practicing law in the public interest to represent Arkansans against large corpora tions, government and other entities. He takes pride in standing with the little guy. Den ton fights for his clients in court every week, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a trial lawyer with more courtroom experi ence. Denton has represented numerous clients through settlement, administra tive hearings and before a jury, and is passionate about trying cases. He studied law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, William H. Bowen School of Law, and lives in Central Arkansas with his wife, Kelli, and son, Hays.

PAM EPPERSON

Epperson Panasiuk Law

There isn’t much that Pamela Epperson isn’t ready to tackle head-on for her clients. Epper son practices state and federal defense work, along with personal injury and Social Secu

BEAU BRITTON

Schnipper, Britton & Stobaugh

ARKIE BYRD Mays, Byrd & Associates, P.A.

CRAIG COOK Law Offices of Craig L. Cook

rity Disability cases. Currently the owner and sole practicer of her firm, Epperson has worked alongside some of the state’s best lawyers, where she developed strong approaches for the courtroom. Guiding her clients through their rights every step of the way and representing them with a firm presence is all part of Epperson’s mission to go the extra mile.

KAREY GARDNER Mallard Gardner

TIM GAUGER Arkansas BlueCross BlueShield

ERIKA ROSS GEE

Wright, Lindsey & Jennings, LLP

Erika Gee is the prima ry drafter of Respon sible Growth Arkan sas’s ballot initiative to authorize adult use cannabis, which will be voted on in Novem ber 2022. She has been representing cannabis businesses since December of 2016 in a broad variety of matters, including regulatory and legis lative lobbying, compliance counsel and general counsel for licensed dispensa ries, cultivation facilities, processors, li censed hemp growers and processor and ancillary businesses. Gee leads a multi disciplinary team of attorneys at Wright Lindsey Jennings who provide represen tation in tax matters, mergers and acqui sitions, capital raises, employment law and other issues affecting the industry. She has been recognized as the “Lawyer of the Year” for Government Relations in the 2023 edition of Best Lawyers in Amer ica© and is a sought-after speaker on the legal and regulatory aspects of cannabis in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and the surrounding region.

GARY GREEN

Law Offices of Gary

Green

KAYCE GREEN Law Offices of Gary Green

Quattlebaum,

Quattlebaum, Grooms & Tull PLLC in 2014. His practice primarily focuses on real estate, agriculture, commercial finance and environmental compliance. He is recognized in the 2023 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch in the areas of Banking and Finance Law, Environmental Law, Natural Resources Law and Real Estate Law. Hampton is licensed to practice in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and the United States Court of Federal Claims.

CHARLES HARRISON

McMath Woods, P.A.

Attorney Charles Har rison has been with McMath Woods in Little Rock for over 20 years. He is a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of Amer ica, Pulaski County Bar Association, Arkansas Bar Associa tion Alternate Dispute Resolution Sec tion and American Bar Association. He earned his J.D. from the University of Ar kansas School of Law in 1979.

HALEY

HEATH

Fuqua Campbell, P.A.

AARON D. HELLER OMG Law Firm

JOSH HURST

Hurst Law Group

JUSTIN HURST Hurst Law Group

JONATHAN D. JONES

Jonathan D. Jones, Attorney at Law, P.A.

Jonathan Jones runs a boutique law firm in Hot Springs focusing on divorce, child cus tody and other fam ily law matters. He has also worked in civil liti gation, personal injury litigation and property and real estate law with a focus on wills and trusts. Jones graduated from Hendrix College in 1998

with a degree in political science, and from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law in 2001.

WILL JONES

Pulaski County Prosecutor

KEITH KANNETT Law Offices of Craig

L. Cook

TAYLOR

KING Taylor King Law

SAMUEL E. LEDBETTER

McMath Woods, P.A.

Samuel E. Ledbetter is an attorney at McMath Woods. Ledbetter spe cializes in Environ mental Law, including litigation in state and federal courts and ap pearing before state and federal regulatory agencies. He also focuses on representation of individuals, businesses, state and local government and environmental groups in a variety of matters including toxic tort cases, pollution-related property damage cases, cost recovery actions and administrative permitting and enforcement actions. Ledbetter earned his B.A. from Hendrix College and University of Colorado in 1979, and his J.D. from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in1983.

GABRIEL MALLARD Mallard Gardner

TAYLOR MARTIN T.D. Martin Law

CLARK W. MASON Clark Mason Attorneys

DUSTIN MCDANIEL McDaniel Wolff, PLLC

Dustin McDaniel is an attorney and found ing partner in the firm of McDaniel Wolff, PLLC. He was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 2004, serving from 2005-2007. In 2006, McDaniel was elect ed as Arkansas’s 55th Attorney General. At the time, he was the youngest Attor ney General in the United States. In 2010,

R. SETH HAMPTON

Grooms & Tull, PLLC R. Seth Hampton joined

he was reelected. He is a graduate of the Walton College of Business at the Univer sity of Arkansas, where he was Interfra ternity Council President and a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity.

QUINCY MCKINNEY

McKinney & McKinney

MICHAEL S. MOORE

Friday, Eldredge & Clark, LLP

MIKE MUNNERLYN

Mike Munnerlyn, P.A.

Lonoke native Mike Munnerlyn graduated cum laude from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1991, with an undergradu ate degree in account ing. He received his law degree in 1994 from the University of Ar kansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law, and earned a Master of Law degree in taxation (LL.M.) from the University of Florida College of Law. Munnerlyn practices statewide, primar ily in the areas of Estate Planning, Taxa tion, Business Planning, Probate and Trust Administration.

RICHARD L. MAYS, SR. Mays, Byrd & Associates, P.A.

TIFFANY MAYS O’GUINN Mays, Byrd & Associates, P.A.

JASON OWENS

Jason Owens Law Firm

W. LANCE OWENS

OMG Law Firm

DALTON PERSON

Jones, Jackson, Moll, McGinnis & Stocks, PLC

CARRIE QURAISHI

Quraishi Law Firm

MIKE RAINWATER

Rainwater, Holt & Sexton

LANDON T. SANDERS

The Sanders Firm, PLLC

BOB SEXTON

Rainwater, Holt & Sexton

Laser Law Firm

Pine Bluff native Kevin Staten has been an at torney for over 35 years, has tried over 400 jury trials and is considered one of the finest de fense attorneys in the state of Arkansas. He is a member of the Pulaski County, Ar kansas and American Bar Associations, and the Defense Counsel Bar of Arkan sas. He specializes in personal injury de fense cases and other matters concerning insurance defense. Staten graduated in 1984 with a juris doctorate from the Uni versity of Arkansas at Fayetteville, and has been in practice with the Laser Law Firm since 1985.

ASHLEY STEPPS

Rippy, Stepps & Associates

TAYLOR A. STOCKEMER Friday, Eldredge & Clark, LLP

CHAD TRAMMELL

Trammell-Piazza Law Firm

MARCUS VADEN

Marcus Vaden Law

VINCE WARD

McDaniel

Wolff, PLLC

Vince Ward is manag ing partner and coleads tax and corporate law practice at McDan iel Wolff, PLLC. Ward’s practice focuses on a wide range of taxa tion and business law matters involving a diverse group of in dustries, regularly providing counsel to multi-state retailers, manufacturers, lo gistics companies, commercial real estate developers, regulated lenders and many others. A native of Fayetteville, Ward moved to Little Rock after obtaining his Master of Law in Taxation from Southern Methodist University.

BRAD J. WILLIAMS Bennett & Williams

RUFUS WOLFF McDaniel Wolff, PLLC

Rufus Wolff is a found ing partner and coleads tax and corporate law practice at McDan iel Wolff, PLLC. His practice focuses on a wide range of taxation and business law mat ters, regularly counseling private individ uals, emerging technology companies, real estate developers, oil and gas com panies, securities firms and many other types of entrepreneurs whose needs re quire a creative yet practical approach to their complex legal matters. He is also a Certified Public Accountant (inactive), and has served as an adjunct professor of law at the William H. Bowen School of Law in Little Rock, teaching Corporate Income Taxation from 1989 to 1996. He has been actively involved in the PEO in dustry since 1987, representing numerous PEOs throughout the country.

PLLC

Practicing law in the public interest, Justin Zachary has helped the people of Arkansas go up against some of the largest corporations in the world. His passion for helping those in need is what inspired him to pursue a ca reer as a trial lawyer. Zachary earned his degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, William H. Bowen School of Law, where he set himself apart from his peers with his service to the community and ability to effectively present complex legal arguments in a simple way. Super Lawyers magazine recognized Zachary as a rising star, awarded to only 2.5% of lawyers practicing within the state. The National Trial Lawyers Association also named him one of the Top 40 under 40 trial lawyers. When Zachary is not in the courtroom or working on a case, you can find him with his wife, Heather, and three children, Grace, Shepard and Cecelia.

JESSICA MIDDLETON Stephens

KEVIN J. STATEN

JUSTIN ZACHARY Denton & Zachary,

LARGEST ARKANSAS LAW FIRMS

FIRM NAME

NUMBER OF ARKANSAS ATTORNEYS

LOCATIONS

Friday Eldredge & Clark 90 Little Rock, Rogers

Mitchell Williams Selig Gates & Woodyard 87

Little Rock; Rogers; Jonesboro; Austin, Texas

Wright Lindsey Jennings 85 Little Rock, Rogers

Kutak Rock 56 Little Rock, Rogers, Fayetteville (based in Omaha)

Rainwater Holton & Sexton 33

Little Rock, Fayetteville, Hot Springs, Bryant, Conway, Memphis

Quattlebaum Grooms & Tull 32 Little Rock, Springdale

Rose Law Firm 31 Little Rock, Fayetteville

Barber Law Firm 29 Little Rock, Bentonville

Gill Ragon Owen 26 Little Rock

Cross Gunter Witherspoon & Galchus 24 Little Rock, Fayetteville

The Wilson Law Group 23

Taylor King Law 22

Little Rock; Fayetteville; Memphis, Nashville and Knoxville, Tenn.; Jackson, Miss.

Little Rock, Springdale, Arkadelphia, Jonesboro, Fort Smith, Conway, Texarkana (Texas side)

Hilburn & Harper 15 North Little Rock

Matthew Campbell Rhoads McClure & Thompson 15 Rogers

PPGMR Law 15 Little Rock

Taylor Law Partners 14 Fayetteville

Conner & Winters 13 Fayetteville (based in Oklahoma City)

Roberts Law Firm 12 Little Rock

Munson Rowlett Moore Boone 12 Little Rock

Caddell Reynolds Law Firm 12

Fort Smith, Fayetteville, Rogers, Jonesboro, North Little Rock, Little Rock

Waddell Cole & Jones 10 Jonesboro

Carney Bates & Pulliam 10 Little Rock

The Brad Hendricks Law Firm 9

Little Rock, Conway, Fayetteville, Texarkana, Jonesboro, Fort Smith

Womack Phelps Puryear Mayfield & McNeil 8 Jonesboro

Ramsay Bridgforth Robinson and Raley 8 Pine Bluff

Joe Denton and Justin Zachary

RAISING THE BAR: Denton & Zachary

By Mak Millard

For Joe Denton and Justin Zachary, the idea to start a law firm came about – as most good ideas do – over lunch. Both attended law school in Little Rock, and Denton – who had been practicing solo since 2013 – met Zachary through a mutual friend. Zachary, a Memphis native, had been practicing with a larger firm for a few years and was ready to strike out on his own – though, as he puts it, “I had no idea how to do that. I didn’t know if I needed $5 or $500,000.”

Originally, Zachary only asked Denton to lunch to get advice on starting his own practice. That first meeting turned into three, and while Denton says he “coaxed” Zachary into building a practice together, Zachary describes it as more of a gut feel ing: “It just clicked,” he said.

Denton & Zachary, PLLC, opened its doors in 2017, and around that same time, the firm’s third associate, Andrew Norwood, graduated from law school and joined the team.

The firm has offices in Conway, Little Rock and Memphis. Though primarily based in Arkansas, Denton & Zachary has extended its reach in the past few years and currently has cases in New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and Missouri. “With the way our state is – being around this transportation hub and the interstates going through – you get the opportunity to meet a lot of people,” Zachary explained. “It’s almost taken more of a regional feel.”

Both attorneys describe the past five years as a rewarding and, at times, hectic adventure.

“Professionally, it’s probably been the best choice that I’ve made in my career so far,” Denton said.

The firm primarily deals with personal injury and public interest cases. As far as day-to-day operations go, Zachary said, “Most of our time is spent preparing to go to court. I tell clients that we don’t win the case at trial – we win the case by preparing for trial. If we’re waiting to win it at trial, we’ve probably already lost.”

The decision to go into personal injury law was a natural extension of the attor neys’ passion for helping others.

“Joe and I could have gone and worked at an hourly firm, working for corpora tions,” Zachary noted, “but that just wasn’t as personally fulfilling for us. A lot of

Both attorneys describe the past five years as a rewarding and, at times, hectic adventure.

Joe Denton and Justin Zachary

times, we’re the little guys going against the big guys, and those are the people who really need the help. You have just as much access to the courtroom as anybody.”

With only three attorneys, a couple of full-time staff members and one or two law clerks on rotation at any given time, Denton describes the team as “a very lean out fit.” Being a smaller firm has its advantages and disadvantages, but Denton adds that it allows for a more intimate, one-on-one style of practice that better complements the attorneys’ personalities and benefits their clients.

“The size of our firm, our leanness and our ability to pivot quickly, are all strategic advantages when working on an injury case,” he said. “I would say the biggest dis tinguishing factor is the personal touch.”

Despite its size, Denton & Zachary isn’t afraid to punch above its weight. Some times, that means taking on insurance companies and big corporations. Other times, Denton, Zachary and Norwood have found themselves facing the likes of the Arkan sas State Police and the Arkansas Department of Transportation.

“We do not have an army behind us,” Zachary said. “A lot of times, it does have that ‘David and Goliath’ feel. We’re usually going up against corporations that have practically unlimited resources. But when they talk about the scales being balanced, and everyone being equal in the eyes of the law – that’s real life. It’s true.”

In a case spearheaded by Norwood against the Arkansas State Police, the firm was able to secure a settlement agreement for plaintiff Janice Nicole Harper. Harper was the victim of a “PIT maneuver,” or precision immobilization technique during an attempted traffic stop, which caused her to crash. As a result of this case, the state police updated their Use of Force policy and instituted an objective standard for the use of PIT maneuvers.

“Not only were we able to get legal remedy for our client,” Zachary said, “we were able to be a part of policy change. It’s probably one of the proudest things that we’ve been a part of. You always feel like you make a difference, but to actually be able to see it on paper, in writing – I was very blessed to be a part of it.”

More recently, the firm has been involved in a case that has made its way up to the Arkansas Supreme Court. In a suit filed on behalf of a group of taxpayers, Denton & Zach ary challenged the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) over its allocation of funding for highway projects through Amendment 91. The goal of the suit is to make sure those funds go towards projects across the state instead of being concentrated in Little Rock.

Zachary explained the case simply, though he did ad mit that the “legal nerd” in him was excited to dig into the weeds of constitutional provisions and interpretations. When it comes to the suit’s argument, he said, “It was clear: The funding should be for these four-lane highways across the state to connect rural and unconnected areas. The question was, why is so much money being spent on 10 miles in Little Rock?”

“It is profound to think that two ordinary citizens can have such a direct impact on public policy in the state of Arkansas,” Denton added.

“It’s not just us as attorneys, but the people who are brave enough as plaintiffs to come forward, stand up and put their name on something to make sure these things don’t happen

Andrew Norwood

again. Most people won’t have the opportunity to directly engage their government beyond suffrage and jury service. We’re very fortunate to be in a position where we get to do that every day.”

The pair admit that the magnitude of their work can put a strain on their worklife balance, but at the same time, it is that incredible level of trust from their clients that motivates them to work harder. “That’s not something we take lightly around here,” Zachary said, “but sometimes, that’s the most pressure-filled part.”

When it comes to their work outside of the courtroom, Denton and Zachary are involved in improving access to justice on multiple fronts. On one hand, that means presenting an image of lawyers that goes against the stereotypes and informs people of their legal options.

“If you get hurt and can’t work, you don’t have the funds to pay a lawyer. You have more important things to worry about. What the law provides, and what Joe and I do a lot, is a contingent fee,” Zachary explained. “That way, you can get competent legal representation for nothing out of your pocket. Not only does that promote access to the courts, it promotes accountability.”

On the importance of informing people of their rights, Denton added, “It’s one of our responsibilities as lawyers to promote confidence in the justice system, and knowledge is power. To the extent that we’re able to communicate to folks that this is not some pipe dream that’s available to the select few who are able to afford it, but that it’s available to everyone – I think it raises all ships.”

Another key aspect of ensuring continued access to justice is training the next generation of legal professionals. Both Denton and Zachary stress how important mentorship was early on in their careers.

“There are probably more people than we could name that have gone out of their way to help us,” Denton said. “Not because it would do them any good, but because it was the right thing to do.”

“Joe and I aren’t going to be practicing forever,” Zachary added. “I would hope that whether it’s in the next five, 10 or 20 years, I will have been able to pass on some of this knowledge that I’ve gained – through people helping me or mistakes I’ve made – to where there is another Joe and another Justin. That way, people in the state can keep getting quality representation after Joe and I are gone.”

Norwood’s role in the firm’s future exemplifies the “call and the mission” of being an attorney, according to Denton. “We were very fortunate for him to come on with us when he did,” he said. “I think that guy’s ceiling is basically unlimited. I expect big things from him in the next couple of decades.”

Denton added that their goal, whether through Denton & Zachary or otherwise, is to encourage other lawyers to take the same risk. The challenge he raises to other lawyers considering the jump into solo practice?

“Go back to your hometown,” he said, “set up shop where all the lawyers are retir ing, and make sure there’s access to justice in your community.”

Denton and Zachary are clear that the work of bringing justice to people and communities is a collaborative one, whether that’s through education, mentorship or the teamwork that all three attorneys put in for each case. Denton’s belief – that a rising tide raises all ships – also applies to the network of lawyers across the state working in “the problem-solving business,” as Zachary puts it.

“We’re certainly not the only people who are out here doing this,” Denton noted. “There are hundreds of people practicing law in the state of Arkansas who won’t be recognized but are out there being the hero for someone. I hope the takeaway from this is that we’re just representative of a broader group of folks that are out there car rying this banner.”

“We do not have an army behind us. A lot of times, it does have that ‘David and Goliath’ feel. We’re usually going up against corporations that have practically unlimited resources.”

DJ Diaries: Hot Rod Tom WoodTodd Scott &

By Carl Kozlowski

Tune in to the Searcy-based classic rock radio sta tion Cool 104.7 Arkansas KFI-FM any time, day or night, and you’ll hear the voice of its primary DJ, Hot Rod Todd Scott, sharing the same “Holy Cow!” tone of excitement as legendary Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray. He bursts with enthusiasm, whether serving as host of the station’s “Burgers, Pies & Fries Rock and Roll Triv ia” contest during his weekday 6 a.m. - 10 a.m. morning show, in pre-taped segments announcing the weather or promoting the never-ending array of Central Arkansas community and entertainment events.

Lower on the dial, at KLRG 94.5FM in Little Rock, local legend Tom Wood is one of several DJs who helped create the 13-station network Arkansas Rocks. The team uses decades of experience to run shows free from corporate in terference and forms an eclectic deep-cuts playlist that has prov en popular with classic rock aficionados. Together, the two DJs are prime examples of how veteran voices have formed lasting bonds with listeners amid an ever-changing media landscape. For both men, radio has been a lifelong passion.

Scott fell in love with radio while listening to the KMOX sta tion during his formative years in St. Louis. He grew up listening over his mother’s “old tube radio” as he ate breakfast each day, and relied on the station’s timed segments to keep himself on schedule.

“We didn’t need a clock, because we knew exactly what time each seg ment aired,” Scott recalled. “When the morning march played, it was time to brush my teeth and by the time the news sounder hit at 7 a.m., I had bet ter be out the door to catch the school bus. On the bus, the kids all chipped in to buy a used car stereo and some speakers, which some of the older boys installed. The driver was nice enough to put in some earplugs and let us rock out with the radio full blast.”

But it was while watching the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, about the shenanigans at a fictional radio station, that Scott found his real inspiration in the show’s wild deejay, Dr. Johnny Fever. From that fifth-grade moment on, Scott knew what he would be when he grew up, and started creating his own shows

Todd Scott

Tom Wood

“

at home. He used matching phonographs, belonging to himself and his brother, to play Beatles records, and would record his show complete with ad-libbed commercials on a handheld cas sette player.

Two months after Scott moved to Arkansas for college, he walked into a radio station in downtown Searcy and asked for a job. He scored one immediately, starting out doing the after noon drive show. Since then, he’s hosted shows on stations in Little Rock, Blytheville, Heber Springs, Batesville and beyond, gleaning valuable insights from the older DJs with whom he worked.

“The folks that had influence were guys I usually worked with. Even as a really young guy, there might be a guy there who worked in radio since the early ‘30s,” Scott said. “I just sat with them at the station or in coffee shops, absorbing all that these guys told me. I hung out at the radio station every waking hour, even when I was off the clock. Unfortunately, they have passed on, and left me as ‘the old guy’ now.”

While he’s been up and down the radio dial since 1985, Scott earned his 15 minutes of fame for an entirely different kind of on-air experience. Amid the tornadoes that devastated Beebe and surrounding communities in 1999, Scott (then on KABKFM 97.7) found himself chasing the storms for live coverage and wound up being the top reporter of any stripe covering the tragedies.

Scott was trapped in Beebe for three days and nights after the city went into lockdown to foil looters. Meeting with everyone from homeowners, whose property was destroyed, to city coun cil members and officials from FEMA, Scott had to be inventive to stay on the air.

“I was the only media in town since many radio and TV sta tions were knocked off the air,” he recalled. “I managed to do my reporting using a cellphone, going out to my van to charge it because there was no electricity in town. Residents were listen ing through their car radios or battery-powered ones, and CNN and other networks were monitoring my station and feeding it

across the phone lines to the studio and across America. I didn’t think of the significance of it at the time.”

Scott joined KFLI when it hit the airwaves 20 years ago, and has seen the industry devolve from highly diverse playlists, to a blander and more limited array of songs under the direction of corporate radio and faceless consultants in big cities. He takes immense pride in Cool 104.7 maintaining its own flavor, reflect ing the Arkansas audience by playing acts like Black Oak Arkan sas, rather than trying to sound like thousands of other stations nationwide.

The frequent live remote broadcasts Scott performs through out Central Arkansas are his favorite part of the job, and the opportunities to meet people at various events have increased in the past two years, since fellow radio veteran Bob Connell bought the station. The biggest challenge Scott faces is the same one that countless stations face – people listening to online ra dio stations or music playlists on their phones. But Scott also has to deal with the addition of multitasking that many DJs have learned to deal with, as station staff sizes have shrunk since the 1980s.

“I’m on from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. every day, and am here until 2, and there’s always something different to handle each day,” Scott explained. “35 years ago, I just came and played records and maybe read the news. Now, I’m doing lots of things around here, because in between commercial breaks I might have to run down the hall and record a commercial or do an interview.

“A lot of us take the job home with us too, doing a little home broadcasting like the weather report, and the weekend stuff is mostly voice-tracked in advance. It’s not like it was 35 years ago when you were live and had different people in here around the clock. But radio is my job and it’s also my number one hobby. It’s great combining my passion with a paycheck!”

I hung out at the radio station every waking hour, even when I was off the clock.

Meanwhile, it’s perfectly fitting for Tom Wood that one of his favorite things to do at Arkansas Rocks is host the “Magical Mys tery Tour” on Friday nights. The one-hour show, from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., finds him spinning a mix of the Beatles’ biggest hits and deep album tracks, while sharing sur prising facts and stories about the band that fascinate listeners.

The show also brings him full circle to growing up in the 1960s and hearing DJs bring The Bea tles to the airwaves in his subur ban Chicago home.

“It was listening to WLS-AM 890 in Chicago that made me first take interest in radio,” recalled Wood, who hosts the 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. shift on the network. “The Beatles explosion was going on in those years and I loved the music and thought that the DJs just had this way of making the music even more special to me.

“After I went to college at Southern Illinois University, I won a contest on a local radio station in Carbondale. I went in to pick up my prize – it was the first time I’d ever seen a radio station–and I just fell in love with it. I thought it was the most exciting thing I’d ever seen; it was like seeing Oz. I changed my major that day from journalism to broadcasting and have loved it ever since.”

Arkansas Rocks is the third station that Wood, 69, has helped launch in the state. He was work ing at a station in Peoria, Illinois, when the owner bought the Little Rock radio station that would eventually become KMJX-FM 105.1, Magic 105. He asked Wood to come down and help start the rock powerhouse in 1979. Taking a leap of faith with his wife, Wood made the move, and teamed with Gordon Heiges and Dick Booth to pick the format and hire staff.

“When we started off, we weren’t classic rock because there weren’t any classic rock stations,” he explained. “We were rock – old stuff and new stuff – but as the years went by, we slowly began to lose interest in the new music, focused on the classics, and slowly morphed into a full classic rock station. A big part of our format was the personalities, and Tommy Smith was the number one morning show in the market.”

But after nearly three decades of deejaying for the station, Wood parted ways with Magic 105 in 2008. Its current owners, iHeart Radio, changed the station’s format to country music and moved Wood to a new station built around him, called TOMFM. That station lasted for a couple of years, before Wood be came public affairs director for iHeart’s Little Rock stations. Then, in 2018, he was invited to be part of the team that launched Arkansas Rocks.

The idea of launching a station that would be independently

owned ran counter to the prevailing industry trends, in which corporations dominate the Arkansas landscape. Wood notes that iHeart Radio owns five stations, Cumulus has seven and The Signal owns three in the state. The idea of being locally owned was “just so important to the product,” opening the doors to unique programming.

Aside from “Magical Mystery Tour,” the network is also home to the latest incarnation of “Beaker Street,” Clyde Clif ford’s innovative mix of music, commentary and spacey sounds that has bounced around the Little Rock dial since its inception in 1967 on KAAY-AM 1890. Its historic status as the first under ground music program broadcast regularly on a commercial AM radio station in the Central US makes it another key part of the vibe.

The network’s array of locations is made clear at the top of every hour, when FCC requirements make Arkansas Rocks play a list of its call letters statewide. For Wood, the most challenging part of helping run the network is keeping track of the technical facilities for 13 stations.

“You’ve constantly got a weather situation in Mountain Home

“or an internet connection lost in Malvern. Not a day goes by without some kind of alert on my phone,” said Wood, who’s been married 46 years and has two sons, including Los Angeles Times pop music critic Mikael Wood.

Ultimately, Wood considers the greatest reward in working with Arkansas Rocks to be in the feedback the team receives. The DJs all make their station email addresses public in the hopes of hearing from listeners about their opinions, which are filled with fan notes. Seeing that response gives Wood true joy, that he carries both on-air and off.

“I’d love someone from New York or LA who’s visiting Lit tle Rock to hear us and go, ‘Wow, this is so much like the ‘70s and ‘80s were – when guys played music they want to play and played requests, talking to listeners, and it’s so much more or ganic,” Wood said.

“This station is so much more like what Central Arkansas feels like. I’ve been here long enough that I can feel the vibe. I know what’s important to people and what music has lasted the test of time. And we’ve got no one telling us not to play it – so play it! Spin it!”

I changed my major that day from journalism to broadcasting and have loved it ever since.”

ARKANSAS TELEVISION STATIONS

CALL NAME PRIMARY NETWORKCITY OF LICENSE DIGITAL NETWORK(S) OWNERSHIPCH.

KAFT Fayetteville 13 PBS Create, PBS Kids, World Arkansas Educational Television Network

KAIT Jonesboro 8 ABC NBC, CW Gray Television

KARK Little Rock 4 NBC Laff, Grit, Antenna TV Nexstar Media Group

KARZ Little Rock 42 MyNet Bounce, Ion Nexstar Media Group

KASN Pine Bluff 38 CW Nexstar Media Group

KATV Little Rock 7 ABC Comet, Charge!, TBD Network Sinclair Broadcast Group

KEMV Mountain View 6 PBS Create, PBS Kids, World Arkansas Educational Television Network

KETG Arkadelphia 9 PBS Create, PBS Kids, World (satellite of KETS) Arkansas Educational Television Network

KETS Little Rock 2 PBS Create, PBS Kids, World Arkansas Educational Television Network

KETZ El Dorado 12 PBS Create, PBS Kids, World (satellite of KETS) Arkansas Educational Television Network

KFSM Fort Smith 5 CBS True Crime Network, Antenna TV, Quest Tegna Inc.

KFTA Fort Smith 24 Fox NBC, Court TV Mystery, Bounce, MyNet Nexstar Media Group

KHBS Fort Smith 40 ABC CW Hearst Television (Hearst Communications)

KHOG Fayetteville 29 ABC CW, MeTV Hearst Television (Hearst Communications)

KJNB Jonesboro 39 Fox CBS, MeTV/MyNet Waypoint Media, LLC

KKAP Little Rock 36 Daystar Community Television Educators

KLRT Little Rock 16 Fox Court TV Mystery Mission Broadcasting

KMYA Camden 49 MeTV Soul of the South, H&I, Start TV LR Telecasting, LLC

KNWA Rogers 51 NBC Fox, Laff, Grit Nexstar Media Group

KTEJ Jonesboro 19 PBS Create, PBS Kids, World Arkansas Educational Television Network

KTHV Little Rock 11 CBS Court TV, True Crime Network, Quest, Circle Tegna Inc.

KTVE El Dorado 10 NBC Fox, Laff, Court TV Mystery Mission Broadcasting; Nexstar Media Group

KVTH Hot Springs 26 VTN VTN Victory Television Network, Inc.

KVTJ Jonesboro 48 VTN Victory Television Network, Inc.

KVTN Pine Bluff 25 VTN Victory Television Network, Inc.

KWBM Harrison 31 Independent Daystar

KWOG Springdale 57 Daystar Daystar

KXNW Eureka Springs 34 MyNet Nexstar Media Group

ARKANSAS RADIO STATIONS

OWNER SPRING 2021 %CHANNEL CALL NAMESTATION

FORMAT

CITY OF LICENSE

KIPR-FM Urban 92.3 Power 92 Jams Pine Bluff Cumulus Media 9.9

KKPT-FM Classic Rock 94.1 The Point Little Rock Signal Media 7.1

KLAL-FM CHR 107.7 Alice 107.7 Wrightsville Cumulus Media 6.2

KOKY-FM Urban AC 102.1 Little Rock’s Adult Choice Sherwood The Last Bastion Station Trust As Trust 6.2

KSSN-FM Country 96.5 KSSN96 Little Rock iHeartMedia 6

KMJX-FM Country 105.1 105.1 The Wolf Conway iHeartMedia 5.4

KUAR-FM News/Talk 89.1 NPR Little Rock UA System Board of Trustees 5

KURB-FM AC 98.5 AC Little Rock Cumulus Media 4.5

KABZ-FM All Sports 103.7 The Buzz Little Rock Signal Media 4

KARN-FM News/Talk 102.9 KARN News Radio Sheridan Cumulus Media 3.3

KDJE-FM Rock 101.5 The Edge Jacksonville iHeartMedia 3.3

KPZK-FM Inspirational 102.5 Praise Radio Cabot The Last Bastion Station Trust As Trust 3.1

KHKN-FM Rhythmic CHR 94.9 Hot 94.9 - All the Hits Maumelle iHeartMedia 1.4

KLRE-FM Classical 90.5 Classical Music News Little Rock UA System Board of Trustees 0.9

KLAZ-FM Hot AC 105.9 Arkansas’ Hit Music Station Hot Springs US Stations 0.5

KAAY-AM Religious 1090 1090am KAAY Little Rock Cumulus Media 0.2

KBZU-FM Sports 106.7 The Buzz Benton Signal Media 0.2

KLRC-FM Christian 90.9 The Positive Difference Talequah, OK John Brown University 9.4

KKIX-FM Country 103.9 Northwest Arkansas’ Country Fayetteville iHeartMedia 8.8

KIGL-FM Classic Rock 93.3 The Eagle Seligman, MO iHeartMedia 6.1

KAMO-FM Classic Country 94.3 Nash Icon Rogers Cumulus Media 5.8

KEZA-FM AC 107.9 Magic 107.9 Fayetteville iHeartMedia 5

KMCK-FM CHR 105.7 Power 105.7 Prarie Grove Cumulus Media 5

KMXF-FM CHR 101.9 Hot 101.9 Lowell iHeartMedia 4.7

KUAF-FM News/Talk 91.3 NPR 91.3 Fayetteville UA System Board of Trustees 4.4

KBVA-FM Nostalgia 106.5 Lite 106.5 Bella Vista Hog Radio Inc. 3.6

KXNA-FM Alternative 104.9 New Rock 1049 Springdale Elizabeth Marquis 2.8

KFAY-AM News/Talk 1030 NEWS TALK 1030 Fayetteville Cumulus Media 2.5

KKEG-FM Rock 98.3 The Keg 98.3 Bentonville Cumulus Media 2.2

KQSM-FM All Sports 92.1 921 The Ticket Fayetteville Cumulus Media 1.9

KXRD-FM Country 96.7 Red Dirt Country Fayetteville Rox Radio Group 1.9

KRMW-FM Alternative 94.9 Radio Jon Deek Cedarville Cumulus Media 1.4

KFMD - FM Hot AC 101.5 Star 1015 Greenland Rox Radio Group 1.1

KPBI - AM Country 1250 Family Talk Radio Fayetteville KTV Media LLC 0.3

KAKS-FM All Sports 99.5 Hit That Line Goshen Rox Radio Group N/A

SOURCE: NEILSEN

From L to R: David Bazzel, Justin Moore, Roger Scott and RJ Hawk

SMOOTH TRANSITION

A visit with Morning Mayhem: The crew talks Tommy, Justin and keeping local radio relevant

By AMP Staff

Arkansas’s premier sports radio station didn’t miss a beat earlier this year when the leg endary Tommy Smith retired. Smith was the voice of 103.7 The Buzz and led the venerable KABZ-FM morning show, “The Show with No Name,” consis tently rated among the top radio shows in the state.

But the beat goes on in Smith’s absence. The Buzz brought in Arkansas’ own Justin Moore, the country music superstar, celebrity Razorback fan and former frequent guest, to fill the open spot. Smith’s cohorts on “The Show with No Name” — David Bazzel, the former Razorback star turned media en trepreneur; local radio legend Roger Scott; and transplanted Texan RJ Hawk, a possible future state representative — tran sitioned to Moore without a hiccup.

The morning show now is called “Morning Mayhem,” and while the vibe is different — no one could replace “The Out law” Tommy Smith — it continues to infuse passion and hu mor into topics ranging from the Hogs and sports to music and pop culture.

Moore, meanwhile, continues to record and tour, and his appearances on the show can reflect his hectic schedule. AMP was able to catch up with the three holdovers from The Out law era, who shared thoughts on the transition, how The Buzz stays relevant and some of their favorites from the sporting and recording worlds.

How’s the transition been from Tommy to Justin?

BAZZEL: It’s been good. It’s a different kind of show with out Tommy. Justin brings a completely different dynamic. He’s obviously younger, super successful, national – but it’s hard to replace Tommy, who is a legend, one of the greats. The show’s more like barbershop radio now — organic topics, pop culture. And we still talk sports. There’s still a heavy Razorback flavor.

Justin’s a natural. Even better than we thought he would be. He’s very passionate, and he knows his stuff. The audience loves him, too.

SCOTT: How do you replace a legend? You can’t and don’t try. What you hope to do is have as little shock to the system as possible. Unbeknownst to me, Justin had reached out to Da vid about possibly coming aboard. I immediately knew we had hit a home run. What I didn’t know was that it was gonna be a walk-off grand slam! JM is a talented singer and entertainer, we all know. And a more-than-passionate Razorback fan and sports enthusiast. But his humor and quick wit is outstanding and fits right in. It all epitomizes and solidifies “Morning Mayhem.”

HAWK: I think the transition has been really smooth. We re ally didn’t have to create a whole new show. Me, Baz and Roger had been working together for 10-plus years and knew each other’s tendencies. Honestly, I think the biggest thing has been just making sure we put on the most compelling show each day,

because we wanted to make sure it was an easy transition for Tommy’s longtime listeners.

Justin has been awesome. I think most people think that be cause of his line of work, that’s all he knows. When in reality, he is extremely knowledgeable in almost all sports, especially Ra zorback sports. For me, I’ve enjoyed having one of my longtime friends and another younger person on the show.

In today’s digital, downloadable podcast world, how has old-school radio managed to stay relevant?

BAZZEL: It’s being local, that’s the major thing. It’s personal ity-driven. You have to have the likability, have that connection. You need to be funny, passionate and have energy each day, put ting out good content and just being likable.

SCOTT: Central Arkansas radio has kind of come full circle. At least, where I’m concerned. From the clean and wholesome, if you will, comedy and entertainment of the “Ray and Ram” show, Craig and Bob Robbins to the adult-themed radio of Smith that really got to the point of being on the cutting edge, to being edgy or being possibly over the edge. At least, that’s what the consul tants, said and BOOOOM! We are off the air!

Then the very wise and savvy Mr. Phillip Jonsson comes to the rescue and matches Tommy with clean-cut, all-American matinee idol good looks David Bazzel, and for the next 17 years, they maintain no less than a top two rating in Central Arkansas. Staying away from the raunch and focusing on sports and fun, and it’s come full circle. I’m blessed to be a part.

HAWK: I think people like to hear the lives of each one of us, and they feel a personal connection. When people have the op portunity to interact with us through text, phone calls or even social media, it gives people an interaction that you can’t get from a podcast. By the way, you can listen to “Morning Mayhem” anytime, wherever you get your podcasts.

Describe your journey to radio.

BAZZEL: As a former Razorback, I was invited up to do local radio with Bob Robbins, and then Tommy invited me on as a guest. Then, I transitioned over to The Buzz and Randy Rainwa ter. I don’t know, one thing just led to another.

Radio was not on my radar. I did some TV with Wally Hall and wrote a fitness column for the Democrat-Gazette. Then, I showed up on the radio.

SCOTT: I’ve liked listening to the radio for as long as I can remember. The music or countdown to the week’s No. 1 song was fantastic, of course. But for me, it was the people talking. It was all AM radio back then. From the fella that gave the school lunch menu and Leo Castleberry at KBHS-AM in Hot Springs, Ray Lincoln and Craig O’Neill in junior high and high school. And driving all night listening to Art Bell and George Noory. Loved it.

I started listening to Tommy Smith in the mid-to-late ‘80s when told about Magic 105 and the fun there. It was music, sure. But then it transitioned to talk (at least his morning show), and I was hooked with the fun and humor the show had go ing on. I was introduced to him by the same guy who told me about him, and we had mutual interests in humor and in notso-decent activities.

I was appearing on a national radio program as a “caller” for a number of years. Tommy had heard of me and invited me to do the same on his show. It was the early ’90s, and I was hooked! I worked with and for him for half a dozen years. Some as a free lancer for three years (which means he gave me food coupons and concert tickets), and then I was getting a W-2. I’ve been on the radio one way or another ever since.

HAWK: I went to UCA to be on either TV or radio. In 2008, the economy was in the tank, and I couldn’t find a full-time job. After working brief stints at KDXE-AM in Sherwood as well as KHPQ-FM in Clinton, I finally landed a full-time job with The Buzz as an assistant to the promotions director and producer of “The Sunday Buzz” with Bill Vickery.

What bands/artists did each of you listen to growing up, and what sports teams did you/do you follow?

BAZZEL: I’m all over the place, but the ’70s are my favorite era. The ‘60s too, but especially the ’70s and early ’80s. Gospel is what I listened to growing up. I didn’t listen to secular music ’til college.

Cowboys for football; Braves and Red Sox for baseball. And

as a kid in Florida, Florida State was growing at the time.

SCOTT: Elvis…“Promise Land.” Oh, and the Barry Manilow American Bandstand theme song. I can’t sit still!

I’m the fifth of six kids, and music was a part of my growing up. From my mom and dad with all the big band and crooners to my siblings listening to Motown, pop, what is now classic coun try and classic rock, disco and the start of rap.

The Razorbacks, the Dallas Cowboys, Cardinals baseball.

HAWK: My go-to song is either “The Chair” by George Strait or “Changes” by Tupac.

I’m a George Strait fan to the core. Outside of that, it was Ken ny Chesney or 2Pac.

I’m a Dallas Cowboys fan and a Texas Rangers fan.

Favorite Razorback memory…

BAZZEL: For me, my game against Bo Jackson [in the 1984 Liberty Bowl]. I know I beat that to death. But really, being a Ra zorback team captain has been my highest achievement.

SCOTT: Too many Razorback memories to mention. The ’78

Orange Bowl sticks out. I remember all my family watching that. Including my mama. That’s how I knew it was a big game!

Beating LSU or Texas any time.

HAWK: My Razorback moments are fairly new because I didn’t really keep up with them until I moved to Arkansas in 2004. The moment that sticks out to me, though, was the Joe Adams punt return against Tennessee.

What’s your favorite part of the show? Favorite memory? And which part is the most challenging?

BAZZEL: For me, it’s the organic topics, food or movies. I don’t have a least favorite, but I don’t like getting up at 4, 4:30 a.m. I usually don’t go to sleep ’til midnight.

The biggest obstacle is creating interesting content for 20 hours a week. That’s the challenge.

Favorite memory…I’ve had so many. Just being with the guys, knowing we have a large listenership. I had hundreds of people come up to me in Arlington and say they listen to the show and even quote things we say on it. That’s a really big honor to have someone locked in like that.

SCOTT: I enjoy each hour of the show. And during certain times of year, certain guests in the sports world hang out.

The biggest obstacle is not resetting my alarm clock after a three day holiday! YIKES!

Lots of memories, for sure. But my favorite has to be Friday, Feb. 12, 2010, at 10:05 a.m.

David Bazzel calls me and asks me if I’d be interested in being a part of the show, and could I start the following Monday. For the next 10 minutes, I didn’t understand another word. It was all like Charlie Brown’s teacher talking. I must’ve blacked out.

HAWK: My favorite part is when all four of us are together and we’re cutting up and giving each other a hard time. My least favorite is waking up at 3:30 a.m. to come to work.

STAYING SHARP: There’s Never a Dull Moment with Local News Veteran Craig O’Neill

By Carl Kozlowski | Photos by DeWaine Duncan

For the past 50 years, Craig O’Neill has drawn plenty of attention as a key figure in Little Rock’s broadcasting world – first, as the king of morning radio, and now, as lead anchor of KTHV Channel 11’s 10 p.m. news. But in his private life, O’Neill’s quietly working on a new hobby that he believes has made him a better citizen.

O’Neill takes a 48-minute walk every day through the streets of Little Rock’s Heights neighborhood, exercising his mind even more than his body. While he jokes that he looks like he’s “mum bling to [him]self” while ambulating, O’Neill is actually memo rizing an array of eclectic information and facts, from the U.S. Constitution to every winner of the Kentucky Derby for the past 100 years. The idea was borne from the need to exercise inven tively amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It started with Time magazine, and a poet they featured about a year and a half ago,” O’Neill explained. “Because of COVID, she didn’t go to health clubs, so she walked every day at the same time, and she realized she had an opportunity to improve her memory by walking. Every time she walked, she memorized po etry and recited it, and I thought, ‘How brilliant!’ So, I started doing it, in the late winter and early spring of 2021.”

He’s also learned to recite St Crispin’s Day speech from Shake speare’s Henry V, which he has loved since seeing the legendary actor, Sir Laurence Olivier, perform it in the classic film version. The Gettysburg Address, every member of President Biden’s cabinet and the name, party and district of every member of the

Arkansas State Legislature have all been mastered by O’Neill as well, using a precise technique.

“I have a notebook I take with me that has whatever I want to learn in it,” O’Neill explained. “I’ll look at it and do it incremen tally. Right now, I’m on the Preamble and the first 7 articles of the Constitution. Every time I go walking, I start with the first thing I memorized and work my way back. People think I’m mumbling and talking to myself, but no, I’m repeating all of these things. I try to alternate between governmental structures, basic citizen ship things and literature.”

When quizzed on the fly to name the 1925 Kentucky Derby winner, O’Neill correctly answers, “Flying Ebony.” A quick query about 1972 yields the instant response, “Riva Ridge.” But while learning the list of equestrian champions is just for fun, O’Neill believes his knowledge of the state legislature has been transformative.

“The reason it’s made me a better citizen is because, America right now, runs on anger. This country runs on outrage, with the way that commentators and networks now flourish, making mon ey and prospering by making people outraged, pointing fingers and blame,” O’Neill explained. “If you memorize these names, even those you disagree with philosophically, and you know where they’re from, you know where their home office is and you know them by name, it becomes a game. This congressman thinks dif ferently than I do, so why does he do it and what’s his story, where does he come from and why are we on opposite sides?

“Suddenly, I realize I’m becoming a better citizen. I no lon ger have to think in terms of Democrat and Republican, blue or red,” he continued.

“I think in terms of politics. When you take your car to the mechanic, they don’t open the hood and start blaming. They analyze what’s wrong with the engine and fix it. Politics is the machinery of government. We only take a look at the engine and what needs to be fixed to make it a better running engine. To me, ‘memorizing the engine’ is the first step.”

Reading great literature is also a passion for O’Neill, who classifies himself as a “reborn reader” after many lackadaisical years. He credits a 2014 “Entertainment Weekly” list of the 100 greatest novels ever written for inspiring him to dive in, and he’s worked his way down the list in the years since, from 100 to his latest tome, the No. 27 pick, Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man.” He’s also spread his love of letters to Central Arkansas children, be coming as a regular surprise guest in classrooms – an endeavor he hopes will inspire both children and the adults who watch his newscast.

“I read a wonderful essay from Cherese West-Scantlebury of the Rockefeller Foundation, in which she pointed out that only 40% of Arkansas students are reading on grade level. She called it ‘deplorable.’ Then, she challenged all of us when she wrote, ‘If only 40% of Arkansas’ children had shoes, we’d have ware houses full of shoes within a week.’

“I certainly use THV11 and my status as a TV anchor to heighten the impact of visiting schools,” he added. “The formu la is simple. First, show up at a school with a TV camera. Sec ond, have fun with them. Third, read a book. Fourth, discuss the book. And fifth, show the video on the news to reinforce the joy

that comes from reading.”

O’Neill has been joyous throughout his life, starting as a boy named Randy Hankins in Lit tle Rock, with dreams of following in the foot steps of Johnny Carson. “I wanted the Tonight Show more than anything!” he recalled. While in college at Arkansas State University, O’Neill worked at Jonesboro radio station, KBTM, until he graduated and was hired by KARN in Little Rock as an ad salesman – a job he hated, but endured for 2 1/2 years.

Desperate to get back on the air, O’Neill bid ed his time by deejaying parties. A man named Ken Dennis spotted him “having a ball” while deejaying a benefit party for UA Little Rock. Dennis soon changed O’Neill life by hiring him to host the morning show at KLAZ, which was in Little Rock before its cur rent home in Hot Springs. After three years there, O’Neill broke big in 1981 as the star of pop station KKYK’s morning show, and after a decade there, he took the reins at KURB 98.5, from 1991 to 2000.

O’Neill attained wild popularity during those two decades, thanks to his non-stop, wacky sense of humor that was inspired by legendary comedians such as Steve Martin and Robin Wil liams. That wit was best highlighted in his legendary and notori ous prank phone calls. Thinking back on hundreds of them, one in particular stands out as his favorite.

“My own personal favorite was a call to the highway sign company in Little Rock,” O’Neill recalled. “I loved it because it was almost as if it had been rehearsed,” he noted, breaking the prank down via email.

O’NEILL (as a “Highway Department rep.”): “We need a special sign put up at Beaver Lake. The dam up there doubles as a bridge that leads to state parks. Trouble is, in the summer, with temps in the ’90s, people are walkin’ across that thing and burnin’ the bottoms of their feet – and we need a sign tellin’ ‘em not to do it.”

GUY AT SIGN COMPANY: “Sure, we can make any sign you want. Whatcha want it to say?”

O’NEILL: “HOT DAM.”

“The highway guy chuckled and said, ‘That’s pretty funny …. When do you need it?’”

O’Neill made a major career pivot in 2000, when he jumped into television as the sports anchor for KTHV11. His passion for

“It’s not tough being serious, and in truth, I love wearing my Michael Blake suits with Air Jordans and delivering the news. I hate violent crime. I love talking politics, not in a manipulative way, but one that is celebratory almost.”

the Hogs had led to him doing the PA at home Razorback games and loving it. Since his radio ratings had declined to the point he wanted to try something new, O’Neill approached the sta tion’s general manager and asked to make the switch. His first day on-air was Jan. 1, 2000, covering the Cotton Bowl, as Ar kansas beat Texas.

After eight illustrious years covering all things sports, O’Neill shifted into the lead anchor seat on the station’s evening news, a move that was inspired by his desire to cover “politics, edu cation, the economy and all things Arkansas.” Now 72, O’Neill labels himself “semi-retired” and only anchors the 10 p.m. news, with a planned final date of Jan. 1, 2024. He presently maintains a relaxed work schedule, where he arrives at the station at 7 p.m. and answers station-related emails and learns the night’s script, before the newscast’s end sets him free at 10:30.

O’Neill’s post-broadcasting plans include creating a pod cast and writing, endeavors that will keep him close to Jane, his beloved artist wife of 51 years, in their home filled with her paintings and sculptures. The couple enjoy visiting with their two grandchildren, and their own two children, Thomas, 47, and Abby, 46. He’s getting a head start on his podcast plans by hosting a lighthearted Facebook Live show called, “The Craig O’Neill Variant,” on his home page.

“I’ve just started, in the last five weeks, a new hobby with the ‘Variant,’ which is a 15-minute Facebook Live visit every week day, beginning at 10:30 in the morning. Another name for the show could be ‘Winging It,’’ he joked. “It’s from the kitchen ta ble, hardly any format – I’m just yapping for 15 minutes, and it’s just so much fun.”

But, what does Jane think of his memorization hobby?

“If you want the ‘Jane eyeroll,’ you’ll see it if I start talking about the memorization projects,” O’Neill said with a laugh. “Oh, and as much as I fight it, I talk about it way too much.”

Feeling the same joy for life and media that he had as a child, O’Neill is ready for new ventures. But he gives one last shout-out to KTHV, his home for over 20 years.

“It’s not tough being serious, and in truth, I love wearing my Michael Blake suits with Air Jordans and delivering the news,” he said cheerfully. “I hate violent crime. I love talking politics, not in a manipulative way, but one that is celebratory almost.

But most of all, I love the daily habit of ending the 10 p.m. news with ‘Arkansan of the Day,’ the stories of Arkansans giving themselves unconditionally. I am finding that anchoring allows me, and the rest of us at THV, to set the tone for what happens in our world.”

You don’t have to be a CEO, baby, to be in our show. The executives are great, but Arkansas Money & Politics readers recognize that it takes everyone — small business owners, marketers, nurses, real estate agents and more to make Arkansas work. We asked readers to help us recognize some of the professionals in Arkansas who stand out in their fields.

DAVID ADAMS

President, HP Engineering Inc. JIM

ADAMS

President, GAR-BRO Manufacturing Co.

JAJUAN ARCHER

Founder/President, Women’s Own Worth (WOW)

KENT ARNOLD

Vice President, Signature Bank of Arkansas

Executive Broker, Portfolio Sotheby’s International Realty Kent Arnold is based out of Northwest Arkansas and works at Signature Bank of Arkansas as vice president. He also has over 18 years of experi ence as a licensed real estate broker with a CCIM Designation (Certified Commercial Investment Mem ber). Using the knowledge he learned over his career along with his CCIM training, he launched Kent Consulting LLC, which focuses on helping individuals who need real estate advice, both commercial and residential. Arnold’s specialty is not in one type of real estate, but making rela tionships with clients that go far beyond one transaction. He has closed over 500 real estate transactions, including multifamily projects, shopping centers, restau rants and hotels, along with leasing over 500,000-SF of retail space.

JORDON BABCOCK

CEO, Springwoods Behavioral Health Jordon Babcock is the chief executive officer of Springwoods Behav ioral Health in Fayette ville. He has a broad business and clinical background, including creating an IT consulting company, hold ing a real estate license, working as direct care staff and executive leadership in the behavioral healthcare setting. Babcock joined Springwoods in October 2018 and served in various executive positions at Universal Health Services before that. He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychol ogy with a minor in human development from Rockford University in Illinois, and an Executive Master of Business Adminis

TOP PROFESSIONALS

ROCHELLE BARTHOLOMEW President/CEO,

CHRIS BATES

Calark Inc.

CEO, The Computer Hut LLC

DAVID BAZZEL

Entrepreneur/Radio Host, 103.7 The Buzz

One of the most influ ential names in Arkan sas, former Razorback linebacker David Ba zzel wears many hats.

He created the Broyles Award and the Touch down Club, which brings to Little Rock big names from all over the country, year after year. Bazzel is also responsible for the “Battle for the Boot,” and the Tusk Fund. He can usually be found on TV during Razorback football season as a pre-game host and commentator or behind the mic at his full-time job at Central Arkansas’ 103.7 KABZ-FM.

CHRIS BEATY CEO, Telecomp

BOBBY BENTLEY

General Manager, Gregg Orr Toyota Bobby Bentley has served as the general manager for Greg Orr Toyota in Hot Springs for over ten years. Ac cording to Bentley, the dealership’s current goal is to raise the standards in the busi ness’s area and to maintain the highest possible level of service to its customers. “Those who choose us as a dealer will see the difference in a business who cares and stops at nothing to meet and endorse the highest level of customer service one can.”

BRANDI BETTIS

Account Executive, ABI Insurance

Brandi Bettis is an ac count executive at ABI Insurance (ABI) in Hot Springs. She is a li censed insurance agent with 15 years experience in the insurance indus try. Arkansas ABI is one of the largest and oldest locally-owned independent insur

ance agencies in the state, serving Hot Springs and surrounding areas for more than 100 years.

CHARLES BLAKE

Vice Principal, Think Rubix AMANDA BLEDSOE, DC

CEO, Bledsoe Chiropractic

When Amanda Bledsoe was 14, she was diag nosed with major sco liosis of the spine. At the time, it was recom mended that she visit a chiropractor, but Bled soe didn’t end up seeing one until she was 18. After experiencing firsthand how pow erful chiropractic care was, coupled with the fact that she always wanted to work in health care, chiropractic became the per fect career path for her. “I missed out on critical years of chiropractic care between 14 and 18 years old; I want to help others who were afraid like I was, to experience just how amazing chiropractic care can be.” Bledsoe attended the Cleveland Chi ropractic College in Kansas City. One of her ultimate goals for patients is to make chiropractic care not just effective for all, but affordable. When she isn’t helping patients of all ages lead happier, healthier lives, she enjoys spending time with her two children, Audrey and Hunter. She en joys all that Conway has to offer and is an active part of her community, including being a part of a local business network ing group and a member of United Way. She also finds ways to support many local organizations like Bethlehem House and Deliver Hope. Bledsoe’s family recently moved their home to Little Rock to be closer to their Pleasant Valley church fam ily, and they are proud of the clinic’s recent expansion into Maumelle.

PAUL BRADLEY

Director of Analytics, Butler/Till

Paul Bradley is the di rector of Analytics for Butler/Till advertising services. Prior to join ing Butler/Till, Bradley served as the director of marketing and com munications for Conway Regional Health

tration from Northern Illinois University.

Programs:

inpatient program treats patients in an intensive therapeutic structure, providing medical and psychiatric and 24 hour nursing care for patients experiencing critical symptoms. It offers a comprehensive treatm stabilizing acute psychiatric and any additive disease problems in patients of all ages.

crisis will find a safe and structured environment that offers compassion and hope. A multi team including physicians, nurses, therapists and others work together to develop an individualized treatment special emphasis placed on medication management, as well as individual, group and family therapy.

Ed Adolescent Program serves ages 12 17 Adolescent Program serves ages 12 17 Program serves ages 18+ Center for Women ages 18+

Evening Treatment Programs:

Thank Youfor honoring Dr Rahman and Dr Boydstun

as AY ’s Best Healthcare Professionals!

Hospitalization (PHP) This program is appropriate for patients who have mild to moderate mental or disorders who require coordinated, intensive, comprehensive, and multi-disciplinary treatment. PHP is for patients who are able to maintain themselves in the community and those who present no immediate themselves or others.

Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) This program is frequently (but not always) a step down level of care for have been in the Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP). IOP is appropriate for patients who are at a lower do not require more intensi

Springwoods Behavioral Health offers a number of specialized behavioral health treatment programs for all patient types. Among these are programs for adolescents, adults and women. In each treatment program, a multidisciplinary team of professionals—in cluding psychiatrists, nurses, social workers and therapists—develop an individualized treatment plan for each patient based on their particular needs and strengths.

Partial Hospitalization (PHP) This evening program, adolescent patients will work through issues in group peers facing similar issues. Patients work in depth with the treatment team, including a psychiatrist and change negative behaviors into positive ones. Hours are 4:00 pm to 8:30 pm with dinner included and is offered five days a week for adolescent’s group therapy.

Paths: Medication rogram for opiate dependence and Medication Management

Services and Amenities

Cost, confidential 24 by licensed or masters level clinicians

Medical assessments for all patients within the first 24 hours of admission site pharmacy with access to pharmacist 24 hours a day

Recreational therapy assessment for every patient, with treatment plan developed to promote physical activity Nourishment area available to patients 24 hours a day Dietary specialists assess each patient’s nutritional needs Family-style dining room to promote social interaction in a comfortable environment -of-the-art gymnasium with shock-absorbent flooring and sound reduction panels Support group services for the community Educational seminars and mental health screenings

Dr Rahman

HEATHER BABER-ROE

HeatherBaber-Roe has made a name for herself in Central Arkansas’ culinary scene, and much to the delight of diners, she and husband Craig Roe keep coming back for seconds, thirds and fourths.

The popularity of Baber-Roe’s projects can’t be overstated. Baja Grill serves Mexi-Cali fare at two popular locations in Benton and the Heights, while Valhalla :: Kitchen + Bar is a must-visit for pizza and brunch – and a friendly bit of axe throwing upstairs at Valkyrie.

Baber-Roe knows how vital her team has been in supporting

each of these ventures. Without them, creating must-visit res taurants and incredible atmospheres wouldn’t be possible. That spirit of collaboration will continue in the couple’s latest concept, RŌBER.

Call it a victory lap or just another winning idea from the talented mind of BaberRoe. Either way, RŌBER is set to be one of the most highlyanticipated restaurant open ings of the year. It’s an excit ing departure from the more casual styles of Baja Grill and Valhalla, but the food and drinks will stay true to the restaurateur’s reputation for delicious flavors and fresh ingredients.

Located next to Baber-Roe’s other businesses at The Pal ace in Benton, RŌBER will be the latest addition to the newly-

christened South Street Entertainment District. The restaurant will offer an open-view charcuterie bar, an eclectic lounge fac ing South Street and an intimate 54-seat dining room featuring a beautiful fire table.

In addition to the artfully crafted dinner menu, BaberRoe has cut no corners when it comes to the drink selection. Premium wines, classic and signature cocktails and whis key flights can all be enjoyed alongside tastefully prepared charcuterie featuring meats cut by an authentic Italian slicing machine.

Whether it’s a cocktail hour with friends or a high-end dinner experience, RŌBER is sure to become another Central Arkansas staple thanks to Baber-Roe and her team.

System. He was named the 2020 Young Business Leader of the Year by the Con way Area Chamber of Commerce. Before Conway Regional, Bradley was the Conway market leader for Edafio Technology Part ners, a leading Arkansas IT management provider and technology consulting firm.

DANIEL BRYANT

Owner, H.A.M./Hill Station/Big Whiskey’s/Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken/Whole Hog NLR/The Fountain

BRITTANY BUTLER

Agent, McGhee Insurance AgencyConway

KEITH CALDARERA

General Manager, McLarty Automotive Group

DANIEL CATE

Pharmacist/Owner, Market Place Pharmacy

JASON CHACKO, CFP®, CRPS®

Financial Advisor, The Chacko Group|Morgan Stanley Wealth Management

WILLIAM CHILDS

Director of Lending Operations, Simmons Bank William Childs’ road to director of lending op erations, and banking in general, is unique. He started his career as a process engineer in manufacturing, where he learned lean six sigma and how to work with line leaders and supervisors to improve processes. In 2017, he joined Simmons Bank as a performance im provement specialist to help IT improve processes as new technology was imple mented. Childs soon moved from IT into loan operations and after a year of work ing on projects to streamline loan fund ing and data collection, was tapped to be director of loan administration in 2018. In 2019, Childs was promoted to director of lending operations which encompasses Simmons’ commercial loan origination and loan servicing departments.

BECKY CRANFORD

Owner, The Bug Man Inc.

CHUCK CRAWFORD Master Electrician, It’s Electric LLC

TOP PROFESSIONALS

ADORA CURRY

Director of Advancement, Thaden School

DENNIS “DJ” CURTIS JR., CLU®, CRPC™

The Curtis Team - Stifel DJ Curtis is senior vice president/investments and branch manager with Stifel, and cofounder of The Curtis Team. He began his in vestment career in 2006 and joined Stifel in 2011. In his role, Cur tis provides comprehensive, consultative investment planning, risk management strategies and wealth management ser vices to affluent families and institutions. He assists private business owners with in-depth pre-transaction planning and key decisions regarding multi-genera tional wealth, and takes an active role in facilitating family meetings and discus sions around family governance, and the education and preparation of the next generation as future stewards of their fam ily’s wealth. Curtis was named to Forbes’ 2022 Best-in-State Wealth Advisors list and to Forbes’ 2022 Top Next-Gen Wealth Advisors list. He is also a member of the prestigious Stifel Chairman’s Council. He earned a B.S.B.A. from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Curtis resides in Little Rock, has a passion to serve the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foun dation) and volunteers his time to the Boys and Girls Club of America.

NEELAKANTA DADI, MD Hematologist/Oncologist, Conway Regional

Dr. Neelakanta Dadi is a highly experienced hematologist-oncologist with the Conway Re gional Multispecialty Clinic. Dadi received his Internal Medicine resi dency training at the University of Utah and completed his Hematology/Oncol ogy fellowship at the Fiest Weiller Cancer Center at Louisiana State University.

EVANS DIETZ

Owner, D&D Sun Control

Evans Dietz is the own er of D&D Sun Control in North Little Rock. He graduated from Catho lic High School in 1984 with a tennis scholar ship to Centenary Col lege of Louisiana, where he received his bachelor’s degree in business finance. Di etz has no doubt about what sets his busi ness apart from other contractors: “My people. Period.” He says that every em ployee at D&D Sun Control has a get-thejob-done mentality, and that includes tak ing pride in the process as much as in the final product. “We will not be outworked,” Dietz said. “We will solve any problem and we will have fun doing it.”

JIM ENGELHORN

Store Manager/Board of Directors, Sissy’s Log Cabin

Jim Engelhorn was born and raised in Bloomington, Illinois, where he started in the jewelry business at age 15. He is a graduate of the University of Il linois. After a lengthy career in manage ment and consulting, Engelhorn moved to Little Rock in 2017. He was general man ager of another local jeweler before go ing to work for Sissy’s Log Cabin and has been helping the company enjoy record growth the last several years. Engelhorn has 37 years of experience in the jewelry business in sales and sales management. He is a Diamonds Graduate and multiple certificate holder from The Gemological Institute of America.

BENJAMIN ENGLISH

Co-Owner & Co-Founder, OZK Insurance

Hot Springs native Ben jamin English now lives in Bentonville and is a proud alumnus of the University of Arkansas, where he received two degrees in business administration and finance. He and another partner founded OZK insurance in 2018, and the two have

The Law Offices of Katherine Blackmon is honored to be recognized for their dedication to their clients. With an emphasis on a team approach, Katherine Blackmon Carroll and Jalen Toms are trauma-informed attorneys focused on providing empathy and support to the people who trust them with their family law matters, while also bringing zealous advocacy and strong litigation skills to the courtroom. The firm is grateful for this honor and will continue its commitment to providing the highest level of representation to Arkansans facing family law challenges.

been able to build a highly successful team in just a few short years. In 2021, OZK was ranked 16th in the country out of 45,000 insurance agencies for growth by Progres sive insurance. English is passionate when it comes to being a small business owner and enjoys philanthropic efforts with OZK Outreach, a passion project geared toward the needs of the local community.

BIFFY FLETCHER Vice President -

Food, Blue Ocean Innovative Solutions

BEVERLY FOSTER, DC

Owner, Chiropractic Health & Rehabilitation

JOHN FREYALDENHOVEN

Owner/Operator, Freyaldenhoven Heating and Cooling

DON GOOCH

Regional Director of Community Bank Presidents, Arvest Bank

Don Gooch of Hot Springs serves as the re gional director of com munity bank presidents for Arvest Bank. Now in his 20th year with Arvest, Gooch was for merly southwest Arkansas community bank president. In his current position, he serves as a resource and leader for com munity bank presidents in Arvest’s four community banks located in Conway, northeast Arkansas, Saline county and southwest Arkansas.

DUSTY GRAHAM, AIA Partner, Core Architects

BENJAMIN GREGORY, AIA Project Architect, WER Architects/Plan ners

AARON GRIMES

Co-owner/Manager, Capitol Glass Company

Pharmacist, CHI St. Vincent Infirmary Market/Social Media Director, Shiloh Marina on Greers Ferry Lake

Aaron Grimes spent his high school sum mers working at the family business, Capi tol Glass Company. But while attending col lege at the University

TOP PROFESSIONALS

of Central Arkansas, he focused his time on wakeboarding and other watersports. He competed in wakeboard competi tions throughout most of the 2000s and was sponsored by Hyperlite Wakeboards. Once he graduated from UCA, Grimes helped his father get involved in the boat ing industry to open S&G Extreme Ma rine, and he opened his own skate shop with locations in Little Rock and Kansas City. The recession of 2008 resulted in the closing of both skate shops and Grimes re turned to the family business. In the years that followed, Grimes attended pharmacy school at UAMS, worked full time at CHI St. Vincent as a pharmacist and now bal ances his time between Capitol Glass Company, the hospital and helping his fa ther when he can.

LAURA J. HANLON

Certified Public Accountant, Laura J. Hanlon CPA PLLC

ERIK HARDIN,

LAC

Acupuncturist, Ozark Integrative Medicine

BILLY HARTNEDY

Vice President/National Sales/ Auctioneer, Blackmon Auctions Inc. Billy Hartnedy started with Blackmon Auc tions back in 1991. He is typically the one marketing the auctions and can be found at al most every auction as well. His specialties are the construction/ oilfield and transportation industries. Hartnedy believes that “this business is about people.”

RJ HAWK

Candidate for Arkansas State Representative Realtor, Clark & Co. Realty Radio Host/103.7 The Buzz Bryant City Council man RJ Hawk is run ning for election to the Arkansas House of Rep resentatives to represent District 81. Originally from Athens, Texas, R.J. Hawk has called Arkansas home for the last 18 years. He is one of the Top 30 Real

tors in the South Central Arkansas Real tors Association and has helped families all over Central Arkansas with the buying and selling of their homes. For the past 14 years, Hawk could be heard on 103.7 KABZ-FM The Buzz weekday mornings from 6-10 a.m. with David Bazzel, Roger Scott and, most recently, Justin Moore.

TYLER HENDERSON

Regional Sales Director, American Concrete Concepts Inc.

Tyler Henderson began his career with ACCI in 2018. Prior to the pol ished concrete and coat ing industry, Henderson owned and operated his own farming operation in England, Arkansas. His projects have varied from big name retail, industrial manufacturing and food plants to multi million dollar fulfillment centers all over the country. Henderson’s experience in cludes polished concrete and coating in stallation, project management, estimat ing and contract negotiation.

BRYAN HOWE

Co-founder/Manager, Altimize DAWN

HUGHES, MD

Maternal-Fetal Medicine Physician Through medicine, Dr. Dawn Hughes is able to combine her passions for science and service. No two mothers and ba bies are the same, espe cially when it comes to high-risk pregnancies, so Hughes creates individual care plans for her patients. She guides parents and parents-to-be through some of the scariest times of their lives, and she cherishes those relationships. Hughes describes her circle of friends as “wild and eclectic,” and her spare time is spent reading, traveling, cooking and spending time with her two children.

Congratulations Paul Bradley

DIRECTOR OF ANALYTICS at

Paul was nominated as one of AMP’s Top 100 Professionals in Arkansas in 2022 by readers of AMP Magazine.

Medicine

Neelakanta Dadi, MD Hematology-Oncologist

Conway Regional Multispeciality Clinic

Dawn Hughes, MD Maternal-Fetal

Specialist Conway Regional Maternal-Fetal Medicine Center of Arkansas

ConwayRegional.org

LADONNA HUMPHREY

Executive Director, Oasis of Northwest Arkansas

LaDonna Humphrey is the executive director of Oasis of Northwest Arkansas, an 18-month transitional living pro gram for women in recovery and their children. Oasis is a 501(c)(3) non profit organization that provides food, cloth ing, shelter, educational and employment opportunities, while walking alongside women who are ready to reconstruct their lives. Humphrey is also an author and ad vocate for missing persons. Notable works include “The Girl I Never Knew: The Me lissa Witt Story.”

MISTY HUNT

Chief of Staff, Office of the First Lady

With over 20 years of ex perience in government service and fundraising, Misty Hunt currently serves as the Chief of Staff to First Lady of Ar kansas, Susan Hutchin son. In her role, Misty is tasked with im plementing the First Lady’s agenda for her initiative and special projects, responsible for communications and policy research and managing her schedule. Hunt began her career in public service in 1997 where she worked for U.S. Senator Tim Hutchin son in Washington, D.C. She then worked for the USTelecom: The Broadband As sociation in the Government Affairs De partment, assisting with policy and fund raising for the USTA PAC. In 2006, Hunt returned to her hometown of Fort Smith and continued her career in government service and nonprofit fundraising. In 2015, she joined Governor Asa Hutchinson’s Ad ministration. Most recently, she is proud est to be working with the First Lady to launch a national social media campaign “Shine Hope” raising public awareness for all child abuse victims and survivors across the United States.

JANET JONES

Founder, The Janet Jones Company

STEPHANIE

JONES

Associate Merchant - Beauty, Walmart

TOP PROFESSIONALS

BRAM KEAHEY

Principal Architect, Taggart Architects

ROBERT KLEIN

Co-founder/Realtor, The Property Group

ANDREW KING

Certified Payroll Professional, Complete Payroll Services

GREG KIRTMAN

VP of Operations, Datamax Arkansas SCOTT KNOX Co-owner, ATVWorks

PAUL KROGER, JR.

Financial Advisor, Northwestern Mutual

STEPHEN LAFRANCE, JR.

Vice Chairman, Good Day Farm

An Arkansas native, born and raised in Pine Bluff, Stephen LaFrance learned from a young age the power of per sistence and hard work from his father. His fa ther, born in New Orleans and grew up in humble beginnings in Monroe, Louisiana, was able through perseverance to start the successful USA Drug Pharmacy chain. LaFrance says being raised by and work ing alongside his father taught him so much, and he’s able to honor him through the business practices at Good Day Farm, a medical cannabis dispensary. When he’s not working, LaFrance enjoys golfing, traveling or trying out new and unique restaurants. He says he is blessed to share these passions with friends, his amazing wife and his talented daughter.

TAMEKA LEE

Director of Communications, Central Arkansas Library System (CALS)

STACI MEDLOCK

Realtor, RE/MAX Elite

Staci Medlock is con sistently one of the topperforming real estate agents in the Central Arkansas area, carrying more than 15 years of experience under her belt. A native of the area, she caters to a wide range of clients across the region, including Little Rock, North Little Rock, Sherwood, Maumelle, Jacksonville, Cabot, Searcy and Beebe. While Medlock’s abili ties as a Realtor are across-the-board, she has extensive experience in new construc tion, custom home building and working with first-time homebuyers.

CINDY MINOR

Owner, Small World Big Fun

BRITTANY

MARSH,

PHARMD Pharmacist, Cornerstone Pharmacy

JAMIE MCAFEE

Club Manager, Pine Bluff Country Club

DANIEL MCELDERRY

President/CEO, Mac Mechanical Co.

ALEX MCINTOSH

Principal, MAC Valuation Group

Cindy Minor is the owner of Small World Big Fun, a travel agency creating customized vacations for families, and an Authorized Dis ney Vacation Planner, specializing in customized Disney vaca tions. Minor established Small World Big Fun with a singular purpose – creating fabulous family experiences. That means a personal travel itinerary that fits your family. She’s described as a modern-day Mouseketeer, serving as a Disney ambas sador for families that want to take the stress out of planning a Disney vacation. She planned trips for family and friends for years prior to becoming an indepen dent contractor for another travel agency. After more than a decade of vacation plan ning experience, she took a leap of faith and started Small World Big Fun in Little Rock. Her best travel advice is to have a plan, but leave room for the magic that happens in unexpected times and places.

JUSTIN MOORE

Country Music Artist

Radio Host, 103.7 The Buzz Country music singer/ songwriter Justin Moore joined Little Rock radio station 103.7 KABZ-FM

The Buzz morning show following the retirement of long-time radio per sonality, Tommy Smith, in 2021. The coun try music singer is originally from Poyen, a small town located southwest of Little Rock, in Grant County. Moore is an inter national, multi-platinum recording artist who recently opened for George Strait at the Simmons Bank Arena.

RYAN MYERS

Chief Operating Officer, Myers Supply Inc.

LAUREN NORRIS

Director of Marketing, Conway Regional Health System

Lauren Norris currently serves as the director of marketing for Con way Regional Health System, where she has worked since 2019. She originally joined Con way Regional as a creative specialist and worked as a contract graphic designer for Insight out of Tempe, Arizona, before that. Norris graduated from Arkansas Tech University in Russellville with a bachelor’s degree in graphic design and a minor in business, and earned her Master of Busi ness Administration degree from the Uni versity of Arkansas at Little Rock.

DOUG ODOM

President/CEO, Professional Computer Services Inc. (PCSI)

FEATHER PARRISH Operations Coordinator, Elder Independence Home Care

HOYT PLUNKETT

President, Jackpot Interactive LLC

MIMI SAN PEDRO

Chief Strategy Officer, The Venture Center

MEREDITH POLAND

Executive Officer, HBA of Greater Little Rock

TOP PROFESSIONALS

APRIL POLLARD, CFP®, CPRCTM

Financial Advisor, Edward Jones

CHRIS PUCKETT

Owner, Puckett Auto Group LLC

Chris Puckett, owner of Puckett Auto Group, was born and raised in North Little Rock. After graduating high school, Puckett decided to serve his country and join the Air Force. Seventeen years and 14 tours overseas later, he retired to spend more time with his family. After being a finance manager at a few dealerships, Puckett knew it was meant for him to open his own dealership. Puckett Auto Group in Greenbrier is truly a family-operated busi ness. They believe customer service and a quality product is key to having a success ful business.

ZAC QUALLS

Property Manager, Haag Brown Commercial Real Estate

CARRIE RUSSOM QURAISHI, JD, CAPP

Principal, Quraishi Law Firm & Wealth Management

JAMES QUICK

President, SimpliFi Managed Services

MATTHEW T. REYNOLDS, PA-C Physician Assistant, Arkansas Dermatology

HEATHER BABER-ROE

Co-owner, Baja Grill and Valhalla Kitchen + Bar

Heather Baber-Roe grew up in Caddo Gap, where her grandparents and parents both owned restaurants. At 21, she moved to Little Rock and worked for various Jerry Barakat establishments over the next 11 years, including helping launch Ar thur’s Prime Steakhouse. After that long stretch, Baber-Roe transitioned into retail, owning a boutique clothing shop and en joying life outside the food industry. Then she met Craig Roe, owner of Baja Grill, a popular restaurant specializing in Califor nia-style tacos and burritos. The restau rant originated in Benton as a food truck and moved into a brick-and-mortar with

a prime location in Little Rock’s Heights neighborhood in 2014. Baber-Roe came on board with the restaurant in 2016. Baja Grill now has a second location, returning to its Benton roots with new downtown digs, in a restored building with the res taurateurs’ other popular eatery, Valhalla Restaurant & Axe Throwing.

ROB ROEDEL

Director of Communications, Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation

REESE ROWLAND, FAIA

Principal Architect, Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects

BRETT RUSSELL

Dealer, Russell Chevrolet

Brett Russell runs the show at Russell Chev rolet in Sherwood –one of the 200 largest Chevy dealers in the United States. He took over from his father, Bob Russell, who carried on the family business from his dad, John Russell, who had launched the dealership in 1963. After John’s retirement, Bob took over the Chev rolet dealership, and his brother, Rick, as sumed control of the Honda dealership. The third generation of Russells runs the family dealerships today.

DAN SAWYER

Senior Director of Accounts & New Business, GWL Advertising Inc.

Dan Sawyer is the se nior director of Ac counts & Business De velopment for GWL Advertising. With more than 25 years in the ad vertising and marketing world, Sawyer brought his wealth of expe rience and strategic thinking to GWL in mid-2020, and has helped to add industry diversity to the firm’s client base and at tract companies with national footprints. Sawyer, a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, played professional hockey and worked for the New Jersey Devils NHL franchise before coming to Arkansas to flourish in the world of entertainment and festival marketing, and eventually making his mark in the advertising indus try. He is also the president of ProFusion

Marketing, a consulting firm that special izes in corporate sponsorships.

DUSHUN L. SCARBROUGH, SR.

Executive Director, Arkansas Martin Luther King Jr. Commission

DuShun Scarbrough has a positive attitude and is a team player. He likes empowering communities with dif ferent ideas. He grew up in a gang-ridden area of Little Rock, but says he was able to overcome by not becoming a statistic but becoming a productive product of his en vironment. The Arkansas Martin Luther King Jr. Commission serves all people, Scarbrough emphasizes, because Dr. King was for all and invited all to be a part of his work regardless of race, creed, color or religion. He earned a Master of Coun selor Education degree from Florida A&M University; a Master of Business Adminis tration from Webster University in Orlan do; a Juris Doctorate Law from Western Michigan University School of Law and his undergraduate bachelor’s degree in psychology from Philander Smith College in Little Rock.

ROGER SCOTT

Radio Host, 103.7 The Buzz Hot Springs native Rog er Scott is best known as one of the morning ra dio hosts on 103.7 KABZFM The Buzz out of Little Rock. Scott gradu ated from Hot Springs High School in 1982. In addition to being a local media personality, Scott regularly lends his talents to support good causes such as Carelink’s annual Cupcakes for Goodness Sake event, benefiting the Cen tral Arkansas Area Agency on Aging and the Arkansas Urology Foundation.

BRYAN SHAW

CEO/Principal, Cushman & Wakefield|Sage Partners

TOP PROFESSIONALS

GENE SLOAN, MD, FACS

Plastic Surgeon, Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

Dr. Gene Sloan is a board-certified plastic surgeon, currently spe cializing in cosmetic surgery in Little Rock. After studying at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Sloan attended the University of Arkansas for Medical Sci ences. He also studied or worked at vari ous schools and locations across the globe – from the University of Missouri at Co lumbia, to Nottingham, England and Mi ami, Florida. Sloan began private practice in Little Rock in 1993, with a small shared office on the St. Vincent Infirmary cam pus and two part-time employees. Over the years his practice grew, and in 1998, he opened his present Aesthetic Plastic Surgery office in the Pavilion Centre on Cantrell Road in Little Rock, with the goal of creating a state-of-the-art facility de voted exclusively to providing the finest in cosmetic surgery services.

JEFF SMITH

President, Smith Family Cares/Smith Family Funeral Homes

JEREMY SPARKS

Director, Arvest Bank Colonel, Air National Guard

WENDY SPARKS

Director of Marketing and Finance at Reynolds Performance Hall, University of Central Arkansas

Wendy Sparks has worked in the market ing, public relations and performing arts in dustry for over 25 years. A native of east Texas, Sparks relocated to Ar kansas 13 years ago and was the director for The Center for the Arts in Russellville before moving to Reynolds Performance Hall in 2018. In her current role, she is responsible for marketing all Reynolds Performance Hall season shows, as well as managing all financial requirements for events and the facility. Reynolds Perfor mance Hall is part of the Public Appear ances Department – a division of the UCA

College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Since starting in the arts indus try in 1993, Sparks’ goal has been to share her enthusiasm and appreciation for the arts in her community – especially with children. Through her efforts to bring topname entertainment and educational op portunities to the community and school children from around the state, she has been able to spread the joy and benefits of the arts to thousands of theatergoers throughout her career.

PATRICK SWOPE

President/CEO, Legacy National Bank

MAURICE TAYLOR

Principal Instructor/Owner/Broker, Vivid Real Estate

DALANEY THOMAS

Senior Account Executive, CJRW

BRUCE TRIMBLE

Director of Business Development, The BridgeWay

FORD TROTTER

President, Trotter Auto Group

Ford Trotter is the Presi dent of Trotter Auto Group in Pine Bluff. His father and grandfa ther were also success ful businessmen, and although they had very different management styles, he says he learned a lot from them both. Before join ing the family business, Trotter was in the pre-law program at Westminster College and wanted to be a lawyer. In his sopho more year, he read an article about how many law students were graduating with their law degree and not finding a job because there were too many lawyers. So Trotter changed his major to business and decided to go into the family business.

MATT TROUP, FACHE

President/CEO, Conway Regional Health System

Matt Troup has more than 20 years of execu tive leadership experi ence in the health care industry, serving in vari ous administrative roles in hospitals in Texas, Oklahoma and Florida. Troup moved to

Arkansas in 2014 as vice president of an cillary and support services at CHI St. Vincent, and was named President and CEO of Conway Regional Health System within one year. He says that Jesus Christ is his inspiration and that the integration of his work and faith is fundamental. His wife, Melissa, is also a key source of inspi ration and support.

SARAH TRUE

President/CEO, Cabot Chamber of Com merce

KIRK VANSANDT

Chief Lending Officer/Market President DeWitt, Farmers & Merchants Bank

Kirk Vansandt is a longtime employee of Farmers & Merchants Bank. He currently serves as the chief agri culture lending officer for the organization, as well as the Market President in the De Witt area. Prior to being named CLO in 2019, Vansandt worked as the senior vice president, eastern market president and

TOP PROFESSIONALS

loan officer. A native of Dewitt, Vansandt graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Vansandt and his wife, Holly, reside in St. Charles. He is active in the local community as a mem ber of the DeWitt Rotary Club and a board member for Acres of Help Inc.

PHIL WATSON Director of Engineering Design, Bern hard

KEITH WEEKS

Vice President, Gary Houston Electric Co.

GREGORY WHORTON, MD

CHI St. Vincent - Hot Springs

JEFF WISENER, DDS

Dentist, Wisener Cooper and Fergus

MANDY WOLFF

Chief Administrative Officer, Arkansas Myriad

DORIS JONES WRIGHT

City Director, Ward 6 City of Little Rock

Doris Jones Wright is the City Director for Ward 6 in Little Rock. A native of Lake Village, Wright received a Bachelor of Science degree in psy chology and sociology from the University of Arkansas at Monti cello in 1981. She has also received a Certi fied Public Manager designation from UA Little Rock. Wright was first elected to the Little Rock Board of Directors in Novem ber 2006. She was reelected in November 2010, 2014 and 2018. Wright served as the first female African American vice-mayor of the City of Little Rock from 2012-2014. She is a past president of the John Barrow Neighborhood Association. A longtime advocate for the John Barrow area, she has been involved in the Parkview Arts & Sci ence Magnet High School Parent Teacher Student Association.

AMP 2022 TOP PROFESSIONAL: Aaron Grimes

By Angela Forsyth

I“If you’re not failing, you’re not getting better” – inspiring words from an entrepreneur who spent the majority of his col lege years literally falling down and getting back up.

Aaron Grimes, a self-proclaimed hyperactive only child, com peted in extreme watersports before settling into the business world. The high-risk, high-reward lifestyle early on informed the way he would later approach his career – with full force and high energy, trying new things, over and over again, until he finds what works.

Grimes wears many hats. He is the co-owner and manager of his family’s business – Capitol Glass Company, Inc. – which is the number one independent, and longest-running auto glass shop in Little Rock. In addition to that full-time job, he’s also a pharmacist for CHI St. Vincent Infirmary. And he’s the social media director for another one of his family’s businesses, Shiloh Marina on Greers Ferry Lake.

He comes from a line of Grimes men who are equally en ergetic and adventurous. His father, who co-manages Capitol Glass, participated in rodeos growing up and his grandfather, who helped open the shop, survived a torpedoed ship in the war. In other words, it’s integrated in his DNA that Aaron Grimes should be, in his own words, “one of those people who just have a million things going on.”

From the time he was a young boy, Grimes can remember regularly visiting his father and grandfather at Capitol Glass. Once he was older, he worked his summers there, making deliv eries and helping with installations. But by the time he reached

college, his individual pursuits took him in a different direction. Grimes had been an avid athlete throughout his childhood. For ever in constant motion, he was involved in baseball, football, track and cross-country. On the weekends, his family would take the boat out, and he would indulge in his love for waterskiing and wakeboarding.

When Grimes arrived at the University of Central Arkansas, his love for watersports became more than a hobby. Since he was no longer playing four different sports, he focused his at tention on wakeboarding and seriously competed from 2000 to 2004. He trained for hours, five or six days a week, practicing tricks on a trampoline and then trying them on water. He trav eled to competitions all over the southern part of the country, from Texas to Florida and everywhere in between – all of this while simultaneously working toward attaining a college degree in marketing.

During these highly competitive years, Grimes earned a sponsorship with Hyperlite Wakeboards, a growing company in a relatively new sport and, therefore, new business industry. Once he graduated from UCA, Grimes helped his father enter the boating industry by partnering with one of his sponsors to open S&G Extreme Marine. He worked alongside his father and their partner for a while, until Grimes became restless, and looked for an opportunity to set out on his own. That was when he opened his own skate shop in downtown Little Rock in 2006. Shortly after, he added another location in Kansas City, and an eBay store.

Photo by David Yerby

Things were going well. Grimes was selling a good amount of skateboarding and snowboarding limited-edition items. Then, the recession of 2008 hit.

Business between his retail stores and the eBay site dropped by 70% overnight, and Grimes decided not to ride it out. Instead, he sold everything off and went back to work full-time at Capitol Glass. The glass industry had slowed down as well, but at least the shop was solid from having built up its business over nearly 60 years. He worked for the family business until he began to feel that fa miliar itch again. Business had continued to be slow throughout the recession and for a few years after. It was too slow for Grimes, who had been used to a fast er-paced environment.

That’s when he threw himself into pharmacy school. This might seem like an odd choice for some one who enjoys a fast-paced life, but pharmacy school tapped into a mental craving Grimes had carried for a long time. Science was one of his favorite subjects in school, especially chemistry, and this seemed like a financially safe backup career option.

“If it gets so bad that I can’t have a job in health care, then we’re all in trouble,” Grimes figured. Once he graduated from pharmacy school, he worked at CHI St. Vincent Infirmary full-time for five years before coming home again to Capitol Glass.

Today, Grimes balances his full-time position at Capitol Glass with his part-time work at CHI. He’s never been a traditional pharmacist who stands be hind a counter serving customers. He mostly mixes sterile medication that requires compounding – such as chemo and narcotics.

“I’m a very OCD person,” Grimes explained. “You kind of have to have that about you to make sterile products in large volume.”

Grimes fills in at the hospital a few times a month when pre scription stock is low. He enjoys locking himself up in a sterile lab, spending hours creating one large batch of a standard anti biotic, or all day making 100 or 200 narcotics that require mul tiple carefully measured ingredients. For him, the job is some what of a break.

“It may be a long day, maybe six or eight hours in a sterile room by myself with headphones on, just focusing on one task.”

Like Father, Like Son, Like Grandfather

As co-owner of the family business, Grimes is following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. His grandfather, Jack Grimes, was one of the original founders of Capitol Glass in 1950. He helped start the business after returning home as a World War II veteran. He had joined the war as a 17-year-old and

was aboard a ship that was torpedoed in the Indian Ocean. Of the 900 men aboard, Jack Grimes was one of the 300 survivors. As soon as he came back from war, he opened the shop with two partners. He’s now retired from the glass business but has re mained active. Just four years ago, he remarried, at the age of 92.

Aaron’s father, Glenn Grimes, grew up in the glass business and started working there full time in 1972. His son expects he’ll still be working there into his 80s. “He doesn’t slow down. He’s the most hy peractive person, so I just try to keep up with him,” his son said. When he was younger, Glenn Grimes competed in ro deo. Now 68 years old, he still runs bucks, snow skis, snow mobiles, water skis, rides road bikes and works out regularly. He was the one who first took his son out on the water at just 8 days old, introducing him to a future in extreme watersports.

Passed down through gen erations, this family approach to life – work hard, play hard, never stop – has shaped Aaron Grimes entirely. The disci pline and ambition he honed through competing in college served him later in business. Every trick he landed in competi tion came from hundreds of previously failed attempts. “[In ex treme watersports], you fail way more than you succeed,” he ex plained. “You have to do it over and over until you can do it well; I’m talking hundreds of tries of going out every day trying the same trick, and two years later, you might hit it for the first time. Then you go through a period where you can land it maybe 25% of the time and then 50%. Once you get it to 90% of the time, you have to add onto it or put in something harder; so, you’re never at a point – even if you’re at a paid professional level – where you’re not failing more than you’re succeeding.”

Leading Capitol Glass into the Future

This mentality of pushing himself and taking risks has rolled over to his business approach as well. Grimes likes to be constantly moving and trying new things. These days, his main career focus is to improve the glass shop’s technological capabilities.

Photo by Jamison Mosley

The glass industry has changed quite a bit over the years. In the past, most cars had flat glass windows with not much vari ation in shape or size. A car would come into the shop and a worker would match the car to an existing window pattern. The corresponding pattern would then be used to cut a new window out of a flat sheet of glass.

Over time, however, car windshields have taken on more of a curved shape, and become more unique with variations from different makes and models. In the last decade, automobiles have come out with systems for lane departure, auto braking, adaptive cruise and other technology that come pre-installed behind the rearview mirrors. According to Grimes, when a windshield is removed and put back in, it’s impossible to get the window placed exactly as it was originally, without using com puter calibration. Windshields must be recalibrated to factory settings in order for all the special features to work.

Grimes explains that fully recalibrating a car requires new computer technology that is both a financial investment and a time investment – investments that few shops are willing to make. “There’s that aspect of the business, where you have to get onboard and start doing it or you’re not going to be in business moving forward over the next 15 or 20 years, because in another few years, everything on the road is going to have all of those features,” he noted.

The call to modernize Capitol Glass is one of the reasons Grimes came back to the family business. The cost of changing out windshields has greatly increased due to the sophistication of the work, which means nowadays, most customers are going through insurance to pay for their new windshields. Dealing with insurance adds a whole other type of complication to the business, and is another area Grimes is working on mainstream ing. Since 1950, until about four years ago, Capitol Glass had only needed one customer service employee on site. Two more offices were added to facilitate the drastic increase of paperwork involved in insurance billing.

Grimes is looking to completely revamp Capitol Glass. He wants to add another calibration station so they can work on multiple cars at once. He sees opportunities in the industry for providing calibration services to other glass shops that out source the work because they can’t provide that service. He’s also hoping to update the website and possible app technology to en able appointments to be made online. The future seems bright. Capitol Glass has taken on Enterprise as a client. They take care of all the Enterprise rental cars in Central Arkansas. They work on several other fleets, including those belonging to police, post al service and private businesses.

Balancing it All

Grimes admits he’s the type of person who could get lost hy

perfocusing on one thing if he were to let himself, so he’s very intentional about compartmentalizing his time. He wakes up at 4:45 each morning and is out of bed by 5 a.m. That early time is used for working out, reading the news and catching up on personal things. Once he’s at work – whether that’s at Capitol Glass or the hospital – he’s fully immersed in the job. By 5 p.m., Grimes is on his way home to his wife and kids. He’s been mar ried to his wife, Kala, for 10 years. They share an 8-month-old daughter named Aspen, a 3-year-old son named Ryder and an almost 16-year-old daughter named Mackenzie, from Grimes’ earlier marriage.

“There’s a time and place for everything, and once you leave that spot, you’ve just got to put it down and do something else and come back to it tomorrow,” Grimes said. “That’s the only way for me to make at least some time for everything, every day. Once the sun hits, that activity is done until the next day. I can only do so much today.”

Grimes admits he’s intentional about keeping variety in his life so that he doesn’t burn out. He makes sure to mix things and enjoy life. On the weekends, you might find him skateboarding, waterskiing or teaching his own children to wakeboard.

Passed down through generations, this family approach to life – work hard, play hard, never stop – has shaped Aaron Grimes entirely.

Photo by Aaron Grimes

THE BEAUTY OF DIVERSITY IS UNDENIABLE

Our Diversity & Inclusion Council and Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) continue to pave the way for diversity, equity, and inclusion at USAble Life. Our ERGs serve as a valuable resource for employees by providing activities, information, and awareness, promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and resources and tools that help us to better serve our customers — proving that the beauty of diversity is undeniable.

Learn more about us at USAbleLife.com

WORKPLACE in theDIVERSIT Y

It’s our differences that make us unique, and this uniqueness makes us stronger. This month, Arkansas Money & Politics is recognizing those companies that have em braced diversity in their workplace. This diversity takes many forms, from skin color to sexual orientation, but also includes the disabled, veterans and more.

AMP readers nominated companies across Arkansas who have taken up the mantle of diversity in their workplaces and strive to make their workplace a more inclusive one. These don’t represent all the companies in Arkansas who make diversity a priority, but just a sam pling from our readers.

MEGA COMPANY (1,000-PLUS EMPLOYEES)

Arkansas AARP

Arkansas AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that empowers people to choose how they live as they age. This means empowering all Arkansans, regardless of race and ethnicity, and acknowledging the challenges that each aging Arkansan faces. Arkansas AARP also works closely with diverse community proj ects through awarding grants.

Arkansas BlueCross BlueShield

Founded in 1948, Arkansas BlueCross and BlueShield, an independent licensee of the BlueCross and BlueShield Association, is the largest health insurer in Arkansas. Arkansas BlueCross and its family of affili ated companies have more than 3,200 employees. For more than 70 years, Arkansas BlueCross has been trusted by Arkansans for affordable, reliable insurance plans. With over 1,000 employees, Arkansas BlueCross and BlueShield works to create and main tain an environment where all employees feel welcome, valued and can thrive through monthly employee-led councils.

Arvest Bank

Headquartered in Bentonville, Arvest Bank has grown since the 1960s into one of the larg est banking branches in Arkansas and its neighboring states. Arvest’s mission is to help people find financial solutions for life, and that means all people. Arvest is committed to fostering an environment of diverse thoughts and ideas where everyone feels included, respected and heard.

Acxiom

Founded in Conway in 1969, Acxiom is one of the world’s best mar keting agencies, with a knack for data-driven, personalized and intelligent solutions to deliver better experiences for people ev erywhere. Acxiom takes diversity, equity and inclusion seriously, with over 40 external and internal DEI events every year and with quarterly surveys sent to employees to measure their progress.

FIS Global

Since 1968, FIS Global has been pushing the limits and strengths of financial technology from Wall Street to Silicon Valley. The folks at FIS make sure that everyone is able to access banking and payment information while developing cutting edge and innovative technol ogy. There are more than 65,000 people at FIS, each representing a unique combination of age, gender, ability, race, language, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, beliefs, thinking styles, educa tion, work & life experiences. FIS Global is committed to empower ing every individual with the ability to plug into technology, manage their finances and better their quality of life.

Tyson Foods

Tyson Foods is a modern, multi-national, proteinfocused food company pro ducing approximately 20% of the beef, pork and chicken in the United States in addition to a portfolio of foods under the Tyson®, Jimmy Dean®, Hillshire Farm®, BallPark®, Wright®, Aidell’s® and State Fair® brands. Ty son Foods celebrates the diversity of team members, whether that’s diversity in race, ethnicity or religion, or many more. Ty son’s unique chaplaincy programs span a diversity of faiths, and provide a listening ear for Tyson employees.

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock is the only health sciences university in the state of Arkansas. UAMS is the state’s largest public employer with more than 10,000 employees in 73 of Arkansas’ 75 counties. In their com mitment to diversity, UAMS has created a plethora of diversity committees and student groups that span races, ethnicities, gen ders and beliefs. UAMS also holds diverse and immerse cultural opportunities, such as International Fest.

Winrock International

Winrock is a nonprofit or ganization that implements a portfolio of more than 100 agriculture, environment and social development projects in over 40 countries. Winrock combines technical expertise with entrepreneurial innovation to improve lives around the globe. Winrock International’s commitment to diversity consists of a plan to recruit, hire, retain, and develop a workforce with diverse perspectives and initiatives

LARGE COMPANY (251 to 1,000 EMPLOYEES)

Arkansas Heart Hospital

Arkansas Heart Hospital has pro vided over a decade of leadership in heart treatment technologies, with recognition as a leading pro vider of quality heart care. The hospital is a nationally recog nized and award-winning hospital dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease. AHH patients have access to advanced technology and surgical techniques in a hospital specially designed for their treatment and recovery. Diversity, equity and inclusion are integral to Arkansas Heart Hospital’s mission to provide care in a welcoming environment and create an inclusive work environment where differences are valued, allowing individuals to achieve and contribute to their fullest potential. This commitment to diversity, equity and inclu sion is woven into the fabric of Arkansas Heart Hospital.

Arkansas State Parks

Arkansas State Parks enhance the quality of life through exceptional outdoor experi ences, connections to Arkansas heritage and sound resource management. The goal of Arkansas State Parks is for Arkansans to ex perience excellent hospitality and to form a personal connection to the parks. Arkansas State Parks is committed to diversity by hon oring tradition while seeking innovation and inclusion, aiming for experiences to be treasured by all Arkansans and relevant for generations to come.

Southern Bancorp

Thirty years ago, some of rural America’s most underserved and distressed communities gained an economic development partner when visionaries such as Bill Clinton, Rob Walton, Mack McLarty, the Winthrop Rocke feller Foundation and others formed the Southern Development Bank Corporation, today known as Southern Bancorp. Southern Bancorp is devoted to ensuring that all Arkansans are able to have economic opportunity. One of Southern Bancorp’s found ing pillars was to have a focus on building wealth in communi ties of color, and the organization has maintained and grown that commitment ever since.

United Cerebral Palsy of Arkansas

United Cerebral Palsy of Arkansas is a nonprofit organization based in Little Rock, and was incorporated in 1957 for parents of children with cerebral palsy and other physical disabilities who could not find assistance. UCP of Arkansas was founded with the acute awareness of the inequality that differences can cause when not enough people establish pathways for equity. Since its inception, UCP Arkan sas has been committed to diversity and ensuring that all Ar kansans live fulfilling lives.

USAble Life

USAble believes in making a meaningful difference in the lives of their customers and employees. They know they are only as strong as their team mates — a wonderfully diverse group. USAble celebrates that di versity and the value it brings to their organization. They want all employees to have a seat at the table to create an inclusive work place for all. USAble is making extensive strides in their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts by establishing an Inclusion Coun cil — co-chaired by Jim Casey, CEO — that is cross-functional, cross-location, cross- generational and multicultural.

MEDIUM COMPANY (51 to 250 EMPLOYEES)

Arkansas Myriad, Inc.

Arkansas Myriad Incor porated opened for busi ness in 2003 performing specialty process and util ity piping work specifically for the Industrial Market. Based out of Fayetteville, Arkansas, the family-owned business gained a positive reputation locally, which has grown the company nationally. Arkansas Myriad Inc. grew from the bottom up, thanks to a diverse community. Arkan sas Myriad, Inc. is dedicated to diversity and inclusion in their community and in the office, for the betterment of the company and all Arkansans.

Apptegy

Apptegy is a revolutionary company that helps de sign digital programs for schools. Apptegy has boomed in success since its inception and continues to work for the good of all schools. Apptegy is commit ted to diversity, equity and inclusion by serving a diverse com munity of teachers of students, and by ensuring that all Arkansas students have the digital tools and experience needed to make a difference.

Thaden School

Thaden school is named in honor of Iris Louise McPhetridge Thaden (1905-1979). Born and raised in Bentonville, she was a proud Arkansan and one of the great est aviators of her time. Her childhood home (McPhetridge House), which originally stood on West Central Avenue in downtown Bentonville, was saved from de molition in 2017 and now serves as the Thaden School Office of Admissions. Since its founding in 2017, Thaden School has ad vanced its mission to foster the civil exchange of ideas in the cen ter of the country. By inviting and engaging many perspectives, Thaden School enlarges their students’ capacity for understand ing and prepares them for responsible citizenship and leader ship in a pluralistic and multicultural republic.

Aromatique

Aromatique, The Cre ator of Decorative Fra grance®, is situated in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains be tween the sparkling waters of Greers Ferry Lake and the Little Red River. It is born from a single inspired idea of Aromatique’s founder, Patti Upton. In its purest form, Patti’s vision was com bining the senses of sight and smell to make great fragrances beautiful. Aromatique has turned houses into homes through their divine scents for years. This means that everyone is a neigh bor for Aromatique. And the best neighborhoods care for and help their neighbors. Aromatique is committed to making sure that all Arkansans can feel more at home and included.

Abilities Unlimited

Abilities Unlimited Inc. (AUI) is a center-based program that serves per sons with developmental disabilities. The nonprofit organiza tion was established in 1961 in Hot Springs to train and seek em ployment opportunities for those we serve. Abilities Unlimited is acutely aware that inequality can hinder one’s quality of life. That’s why they’re committed to ensuring that every Arkansan, regardless of race, ethnicity, belief or ability, is able to make the most of life and live out their dreams.

RPM Group

The RPM Group is a full-service Arkansasbased real estate firm that provides expertise in commercial and in vestment real estate, property management, residential rentals and residential sales. Founded in 1955 by Arkansas Business Hall of Fame Inductee, Billy F. Rector, and partners, Byron Morse and Fe Phillips, Rec tor Phillips Morse, Inc. recently celebrated its 60th year in busi ness by updating the name of the firm to recognize substantial growth and a much larger operating footprint. RPM Group has their roots in community, and knows first hand that diverse per spectives strengthen one’s foundation. That’s why RPM Group is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion in the community and in the cubicle.

CALS

The Central Arkan sas Library System provides resources and services to help residents reach their full potential, and to inspire discovery, learning and cultural expression. CALS is recognized as a lead ing community institution improving literacy, the exchange of ideas, workforce development and social engagement. Among the Central Arkansas Library System’s core values is a commit ment to respecting different perspectives and providing access to information and services to all. To that end, the CALS Board of Trustees has signed the Urban Libraries Council’s Statement on Race and Social Equity. This statement serves as a baseline upon which libraries can build policies and actions that make their communities more inclusive and just. CALS believes that libraries are trusted, venerable and enduring institutions, central to their communities and an essential participant in the move ment for racial and social equity.

Signature Bank of Arkansas

Signature Bank of Arkansas was estab lished in 2005 by a team of well-respect ed and experienced local bankers who had the dream of building a bank where deci sions were made locally and in the best interests of not only the bank but customers and team members as well. In recent years, Signature Bank of Arkansas has spearheaded initiatives to diver sify staff, boards and partnerships in order to better grow their knowledge and equipment for the region.

SMALL COMPANIES (LESS THAN 50 EMPLOYEES)

Nelson Intelligence Solutions, LLC

Nelson Intelligence Solu tions, LLC was formed as a Service Disabled Vet eran Owned Business in 2016, with offices located in Stafford, Virginia, and Little Rock. As a defense, information and intel ligence firm, with an emphasis on federal government oppor tunities in support of the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community and state and local government. Nelson Intelligence Solutions knows first hand the inequality that can be caused by exclusivity. It’s for this reason that Nelson Intelligence Solutions strives to serve the community to the fullest, and to create a bet ter America for tomorrow.

City Year Little Rock

City Year Little Rock works alongside teachers and commu nity partners to support students across the city through a com mitment to improving education.

City Year Little Rock is deter mined to building an anti-racist organization and environment through equity checks, job role reviews and by working with partners to expand their under standing.

James A. Rogers Excavating, Inc.

Fast, efficient and hon est, James A. Rogers Excavating, Inc. has be come a reputable and well-known service pro vider since its creation in 1962. Their teams are up for every job, managing projects with the skill and experience their clients have come to

expect. James A. Rogers Excavating, Inc. is dedicated to diver sity and inclusion, and has worked closely with the community and diverse initiatives. The folks at James A. Rogers Excavating break ground, move mountains, make new paths on site and in the office.

United Systems of Arkansas

United Systems of Ar kansas delivers more than 30 years expe rience to meet their clients’ printing and mailing goals. At Unit ed System of Arkan sas, you’ll find a team that supplies Certified Mail® solutions for customers seeking rapid mail processing, document im aging and custom inserting. With expertise in Certified Mail® processing and a patented system for protecting private data, United Systems of Arkansas is the 100% solution™ for Certified Mail® services. The folks at United Systems know that “united” means everyone. That’s why at United Systems, you’ll find a team of folks dedicated to a diverse and inclusive environment.

The Design Group

The Design Group is more than a mere creative bou tique. It is a full-service, multicultural communica tions firm, with expertise in segmented and experien tial marketing. The Design Group is home to the design ers and architects behind communication platforms that bridge the gap between brands and the nation’s ever growing ethnic-consumer segments. Led by Myron Jackson, The Design Group is committed to marketing communications that are authentic and culturally relevant, as well as intellectu ally and emotionally engaging. The Design Group has raised the bar with its lifestyle and life-stage consumer segmentation approach. Every day, it validates the idea that being African American is more than skin color. It’s about a mindset, one that evolves as you penetrate deeper and deeper within the subsets that exist within the African American consumer segment. The Design Group was founded in September 2007 with the sole purpose of filling a marketplace void: to tell the stories of people of color in an authentic way. At the heart of The Design Group, you’ll find a team of talented individuals dedicated to giving a voice to Arkansans of color.

The Venture Center

The Venture Center focuses on education, collaboration and acceleration within the startup ecosystem. To fuel innovation, we partner with entrepreneurs, corporations, universities, gov ernment agencies, non-profits, venture funds, service provid ers, program alumni and other organizations in the communi ty. The Venture Center knows that the cornerstone of any successful venture is education. That’s why they’ve committed to a deeper understanding and education of diversity, equity and inclusion for the betterment of all Arkansans.

Beyond Sports Lab

The Beyond Sports Lab is the first minority-owned indoor baseball facility in Arkansas. The folks at Beyond Sports Lab have committed themselves to reviving minority baseball to give kids a fun, safe extracur ricular activity. Beyond Sports Lab has been pivotal in giving minority baseball in Arkan sas a shot in the arm, spurring more game opportunities, team growth and tournaments.

Sierra Group Roofing & Solar

Sierra Group & Associ ates Construction is an award-winning roofing contractor special izing in commercial, multi-family apart ments and residential roof replacement and storm restoration. In seven years, the folks at Sierra Group & Associates have built themselves into leaders in their field. A Latino owned company, Sierra Group & Associ ates Construction know that while they focus on the roof, the foundation of every good house is diverse and inclusive. It is the conviction of owner Marcos U. Sierra that integrity starts from the owner to the new hired employee. This is what has made Sierra Group & Associates Construction one of the fastest-grow ing companies in northeast Arkansas.

TAKING THE INITIATIVE

By Holly Shaw

ErnestHemingway once wrote: “We are all appren tices in a craft where no one ever becomes a mas ter.” Such continual learning describes Arkansas BlueCross BlueShield, Thaden School and USAble Life Insurance – three organizations that, like more and more, have been embracing the seemingly unwieldy principles of diversity, eq uity and inclusion (DEI).

While tempting to assume initiatives involving these concepts might just be the latest buzzwords in work or education, they actu ally result in a professional genuineness that’s refreshing. These prin ciples, integrated into institution-wide policies, promote services that are employee-centered, and by extension, customer-centered.

To help illustrate what DEI initiatives involve, AMP sought in sights from experts at these three institutions who are leading by example.

Arkansas BlueCross BlueShield

Stephanie Floyd, Director of Inclusion, Chief Diversity Officer and Chair of InBLUEsion Steering Committee of Arkansas BlueCross and BlueShield, said the company’s relationship with DEI began long before DEI had even been a designated initiative.

“ABCBS has a long-standing reputation as a good corporate citi zen. I believe this is because we always strive to do the right thing for all of our citizens, and that begins with doing the right thing for all of our employees.”

Extolling ABCBS’s being supportive of its employees from the top-down as a defining feature, she noted Inclusion was but a natural outgrowth of that support. Their employees complementarily have a terrific track record of engagement.

“We’ve always been inclusive – because that’s how we work. Over the years, we’ve gotten awards for not just being a great place to work

but a great place for women to work. That tells you about how we are,” Floyd shared. In fact, as she points out, the company is demo graphically over 70% women.

“I’d had conversations over the years with Curtis Barnett, our CEO, about the diversity in our company,” she continued. “I have researched about why diversity is important to organizations – for morale and employee engagement. Over the years our employee en gagement surveys, for instance, showed how diversity makes a dif ference – as far as women in leadership, minorities – people being recognized for their specific talents, experience in collaborating, be ing on various teams. This information makes better business deci sions that coincide with and support the needs of the communities we serve, as well as our internal employees.”

Before 2021, for example, from such surveys, leaders in the com pany learned from their African American employees the value of observing Martin Luther King Day as a company holiday – the only federal holiday, Floyd observes, that honors an individual for all he stood for in our country.

“To me, this speaks volumes to the value our company places on all people, as we all know Dr. King lived and died for the civil rights of all people,” Floyd said.

Max Greenwood, Vice President of Government and Media Re lations at ABCBS, reiterates this idea of a professional environment based on listening.

“Stephanie has spoken a lot about how she, and we as a company, listen. That’s really an extension of what we do with our customers, members and our providers. We are constantly reaching out to both our customers and the providers in the state to make sure that we are listening to their concerns, their needs, their problems. So what Stephanie and this initiative has done is basically taking that exter nal practice that we’ve had for many, many years and, she has super

charged it internally throughout our company, which impacts every one we touch,” Greenwood said.

“To implement [the formal DEI Initiative], in January 2021, we partnered with a third-party vendor whose expertise is diversity, eq uity and inclusion. They organized a number of forums and focus groups. About 40% of our employees participated in both. The ven dor made recommendations. And by June, we quickly went to work on them, fully launched it, and were expanding the initiative. Our methods were communication and education, because the two are its keystones.”

Some important findings came from their employee resource groups (or ERGs – a primary feature of DEI initiatives) were concepts or ideas that occurred around the importance of certain holidays to particular ERGs. ERGs, as per Great Place to Work, are “voluntary, employee-led groups whose aim is to foster a diverse, inclusive work place aligned with the organizations they serve.”

“We gave them opportunities to share and made it safe for them to share their stories around Juneteenth, Pride Month, Hispanic Heritage Month and so on.” These particular groups’ communicat ing the meaning of these holidays, has followed with education in Arkansas BlueCross.

They also emphasized the importance of education through cours es which simulate unconscious bias and develop awareness among employees. Employees are able to develop vocabulary around biases which allow them to help one another and reduce unconscious bias’s negative effects. These trainings are essential and ongoing to an ef fective DEI environment in which all feel truly welcomed and safe.

When citing a challenge that comes with undertaking ABCBS’s title of the initiative, called ImBLUEsion, Floyd observed her com pany is approaching its 75th year in business.

“As the state’s largest and longest-serving health care insurer, we have deep roots in the history of Arkansas and with its people,” she explained. “Our state’s conservative values must always be consid ered as we make policy decisions in all areas of our business.” Floyd and other leaders consider their needs holistically, based on continu ous research regarding best practices: “Our organization from the bottom up or the top down – if you will – has changed demographi cally. It’s a natural kind of a progression, as much as it is intentional.”

When she considers what originally drew her to the health in surance company, Floyd reflected, “Our slogan was ‘We care about people, Arkansas People.” When I think about that, I think about that how the faces, races, abilities, faiths, lifestyles and virtually ev ery facet of existence for Arkansas people have changed. Inclusion becomes our culture.”

Thaden School

(Some actual names of minors have been changed for their protection.)

Another institution that has set these Diversity, Equity, Inclu sion – and Justice – principles deep in its founding tenets is Thaden School in Bentonville, which was recently named the No. 1 private high school in Arkansas by Niche.com.

The desire for a school like Thaden was first made clear from community feedback. Dr. Lisa Herschbach, Executive Director of Community Relations and history faculty member, sat down to

Arkansas Blue Cross employees participate in the Northwest Arkansas Pride Walk

Photo Courtesy of Arkansas BlueCross BlueShield

“We’ve always been inclusive – because that’s how we work.

Over the years, we’ve gotten awards for not just being a great place to work but a great place for women to work.”

share some of the thinking behind the Thaden School. “A feasi bility study in 2015 conducted by the Walton Foundation helped to gauge the level of interest in introducing an independent school. Unlike Little Rock, where you have a number of indepen dent schools, here there really was only one secular independent school option, and that is in Fayetteville.”

Thaden was then founded in 2017 and now serves grades 6-12. The school seeks diversity of all types, crossing ethnic, cultural, political and socioeconomic boundaries. Having expanded grad ually from 50 students in 2017 to 304 today, as the Thaden website reports, 33% of students are of color and 80% of families receive need-based, indexed, income-based tuition. Over 1 in 5 faculty are people of color, as well.

“Our approach hasn’t just been a matter of ticking off boxes or

meeting quotas,” Herschbach clarified. “Rather our mission itself as sumes that we’re a school educating young people for the future to function in a pluralistic and multicultural society. We see the value of a Thaden education as being inextricably tied to the diversity of our community. Thaden equips young people to navigate, understand, and contribute to that world.”

Herschbach explained the school’s structure impacts students’ worldviews in numerous ways.

One feature involves economic access. Herschbach explained, “We have a sliding scale for tuition, in which 80% of families partici pate. Our classrooms are small, and we aspire to achieve parity and balance in the perspectives and viewpoints around the table, as well as in the curriculum. That’s the educational promise that we’ve made to our students.”

But the heterogeneity does not end there. The architectural de sign of the school, class lengths, breaks between classes, and intersec

Photos by Michael Drager

“Our mission itself assumes that we’re a school educating young people for the future to function in a pluralistic and multicultural society.”

tions among class disciplines all are fashioned with opportunities for meaningful conversations among both faculty and students.

“Our daily schedule also has what I like to call ‘ventilation,’” she continued. “For example, we have a full hour for lunch, eat family style, and have ten minutes between classes – so students are not just running from class to class. We recognize our daily schedule needs to include open time for students and teachers to come together; it is necessary to fully leverage the value that we’ve been able to attract.”

The campus includes ample room for such interactions, with nearly 150,000 square feet of building space, and includes many open areas – both indoors and out – for the school community to gather and interact formally and informally. As Herschbach said, “You can build a diverse community, but if you don’t also pair that with plenty of time and space for people to actually interact with one another, the value of that diversity is arguably much diminished.”

Thaden teachers foster these ideals with learning models and cur ricula which present multiple voices, perspectives and approaches to understanding topics. In Herschbach’s case, in teaching history, she introduces varying narratives around, for instance, “manifest des tiny” and how that idea presents only one interpretation of Western expansion in American history.

“We’re learning about all the excitement, beauty, symmetry and purity that European colonists saw in this concept of mani fest destiny,” she said. “But we’re also learning about what that meant on the ground when it came to Indian Removal, and what that looked and felt like for the sovereign tribes who lived on the territorial lands. If you review our course catalog, you’ll see that it is interdisciplinary, multimodal, and responsive to the representa tion of diverse voices and experiences.”

Another defining feature of their curriculum involves interdisciplinary study, to develop under standing how, say, a reading of historical fiction can augment the understanding of history.

To help further illustrate this DEIJ in action at Thaden School, Herschbach suggested inviting a student to gain her perspective. Mattie Smith, a junior, reflected on her experience. She has been elected to represent her peers on the 11th-grade stu dent council – an honor that reflects her being wellequipped to represent her peers with regard to DEI concerns.

“I have been going to Thaden since 7th grade and have had a lot of first-hand experience with the DEIJ (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice) ef forts within the school,” she explained. “I identify as a woman of color (with South Asian descent) – a big part of who I am. Being a woman has pushed me to think a step ahead, but being of color has molded me into thinking a certain way. When consider ing who I am at Thaden I think of: being a varsity student-athlete, a minority, a woman, someone who always tries to make everyone feel included.”

Smith identified one of the school’s virtues as the support she feels from faculty in her being a student-athlete, which is striking compared to the lack of sensitivity she remembers experiencing at public school. That no one is excluded from playing sports or is cut Smith considers a DEIJ success. However, she does not always observe a true sense of justice when it comes to addressing student feedback. If a white student raises a concern to the administration it seems to be taken seriously, even if from prior years; whereas current concerns by students of color seem heard with no clear response. In this regard, the leadership does not yet truly seem invested in feed back from students and could improve in better listening and taking appropriate action.

Expanding further on discomfort in being a person of color in mi nority, Smith explained what she’s been able to do about it at Thaden.

“When thinking about something that used to be worse and is now getting better, I think about the diversity,” she said. “When first attending Thaden in 7th grade, I felt like an outsider because of my skin color and the fact I didn’t see too many people who looked like me. This was very hard because I came from a very diverse public school in Fayetteville. I know I never want anyone else to feel that. To help, two Thaden seniors (Nadia and Jackson) and I are starting the ‘Student of Color Affinity Group’ to help others who may be strug gling with this, feel more comfortable, and know they are not alone.

When I was younger I wish I could have had this group to go to, and find comfort in knowing I wasn’t the only one.”

“Last year, two other students started a Latinx affinity group, but, after they graduated, it has died down,” she said. “By starting up SOCAS, we hope future affinity groups gain momentum for even more people to feel this inclusion. I am also attending SDLC (Student Diversity Leadership Conference) this year, a big conference with different types of people, in which you get to talk about personal experiences and problems. Thaden has saved at least three spots from which students get selected. I think this op portunity in itself is huge on diversity and experience.”

Being such a unique school comes with its own hurdles.

“This kind of work is always ongoing,” admitted Herschbach. “A very real challenge was managing the COVID pandemic. Our inten tionally created community, which celebrates and insists upon many perspectives, was facing a public health crisis. Finding agreement was hard in determining the right steps to safety while also build ing consensus and trust. Whereas Gov. Hutchinson could direct dis trict schools, Thaden had freedom to decide for themselves, but this hasn’t always been easy. “We were such a new school – that hadn’t yet graduated our first senior class – that developing a sense of com munity amid that crisis proved more challenging still.”

With such challenges, along with others, Thaden ultimately turns to their mission to mediate those concerns via their long-term goals for the school.

“We are accountable to both our funders and our creditors and aim to show that not just our student body reflects the level of diver sity to which we aspire,” Herschbach said. “It’s our teachers, our staff, anybody who’s part of our community.”

Moreover, Herschbach ties the demographics of Bentonville’s larger community in with some of the obstacles inherent in reaching Thaden’s ideals. “It has been challenging at times to retain people. The themes of belonging and inclusion, as observed in Crystal Bridg es, the Momentary, TheatreSquared, are constantly sounded in very intentional ways one might take for granted if coming from a very heterogeneous metropolis like Boston or Los Angeles.”

Thaden exists within a community in transition, from being pretty rural and agricultural and not very diverse or with pockets of diversi ty to its moving into having greater heterogeneity. Herschbach notes the Spanish-speaking population that thrives in Springdale which has emerged from economic opportunities with the protein industry and the relocating of many Marshallese people to the United States

as contributing to Bentonville’s adjustment to new diversity. It is so important to have these cultures “be seen and valued in a reciprocal new sort of culture by the wider community.” Thaden is responding to that call.

USAble Life

Rich Macy, President and CEO-Elect for USAble Life, also pro vides candid insight into the DEI initiative with respect to the needs of communities within his company.

“The practices that USAable has embraced in the past few years are moving us forward from an inclusion perspective. For instance, we have embraced a flexible work environment and only require a handful of roles to be in the office. As we know, underrepresented groups are better able to participate in the workforce when there is flexibility in work locations, hours and not being forced to conform to the historical expectations of in-office work. Our embracing a work-from-anywhere approach has made us much stronger – and national.”

In elaborating on how a remote work environment can help with principles of diversity, equity and inclusion, Macy observed how Zoom reduces the instances of microaggressions in the workplace.

As explained in the Harvard Business Review, these microaggres sions “are statements or actions that feel hostile or offensive to some aspect of our identity – and can target many aspects of who we are. They can be related to someone’s race, gender, sexuality, parental sta tus, socioeconomic background, mental health or any other aspect of our identity. Most often, microaggressions are aimed at traditionally marginalized identity groups.”

A specific example of a microaggression, as Macy explained, is the term “grandfathering.” Awareness about the offensiveness of this term emerged from their ERGs. Its historical meaning pertains to early voting rights for African American men after the 15th Amend ment’s ratification to the Constitution. But the term was actually em ployed to disenfranchise new voters, limiting voting rights to only those slaves whose grandfathers had had the right to vote (which of course were almost none). Using “grandfathering” in other con texts can thus be interpreted as deeply offensive and contrary to the

Photos by Michael Drager

often benign intention around, for instance, bringing “grandfathering” in new persons into insurance policies based on parental or rela tional connection.

Often these sorts of comments, that start with generalities such as “these people…,” are curtailed in the more formal video meetings. Macy further noted that reducing the number of microaggressions enables the groups tar geted in such remarks to better engage in the work and expend less energy tolerating them. Not surprisingly, therefore, Macy explains that DEI needs to be a multipronged effort that not only enables work in a distributed environment but also continues to educate, train and reduce microaggressions regardless.

A “work-from-anywhere approach” also allows people with disabilities to accommodate their work environment at locations where they’re most comfortable and effective and can be assessed solely on their work contributions. As Macy noted, that flexibility also allows employees with childcare needs to more easily handle them by eliminating commuting time. It’s an equitable solution for diverse populations.

Another facet of USAble’s DEI initiatives regards ERGs. Macy added, “Our inclusion efforts, primarily through our Employee Re source Groups, have raised the level of dialogue among our diverse groups to improve understanding of differences. For instance, we had a particularly good session on neurodiversity and how neuro diverse individuals have a variety of ways they like to be referred to and spoken to.”

Macy explains the result of the ERGS and other DEI conver sations have actually helped the organization adopt a more bal anced approach to lesser discussed political differences. Citing the often politicized interpretations of COVID precautions as an example, he stated the importance of people with varying view points in being able to have respectful, meaningful discussions about these differences.

A challenge toward making strides in these areas, Macy actually referenced himself: “I personally think that ‘discomfort’ has been the greatest challenge. It is not easy – for anyone, especially managers –to be comfortable having conversations about race, gender, LGBTQ+ and disability issues. There has always been caution in having con versations on these issues. Overcoming the discomfort in talking to one another will take time but is very much necessary.”

As progress at USAble Life, Macy points to their improving em ployee engagement survey results. Macy explained, “Our Black/Af rican-American engagement scores from our 2018 annual employee survey showed that we had work to do with that specific community.

This survey was the impetus to the start of our formal Inclusion Pro gram as a company scorecard item and led us to hiring an external consultant and forming our ERGs. Another critical step we took was to expand all our policy language on harassment/discrimination be expanded from the more historical dimension (age, gender, race and religion) to include national origin, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, and veteran’s status.”

USAble’s success in DEI efforts has been due to honest commu nication. “Communication is the essential component, as is clearly communicating why we are focused on inclusion. This is followed by training and knowledge expansion that takes many different forms including forums led by our ERGs on specific issues or training for managers on how to better manage a diverse workforce in our now normal virtual working world.”

Macy further emphasized the ongoing nature of effective inclu sion. He reported, “I don’t think you can stop at creating and achiev ing an inclusive environment that strives to eliminate biased pro cesses, microaggressions, and personal preconceptions. That is the essential first step. But the second step is making sure you provide the support mechanisms that enable everyone to comfortably be them selves so that they can more fully participate at work as themselves.”

Part of an effective strategy for implementing DEI tenets is to con nect to an organization’s already existing defining values.

“There are two aspects to our connection strategy,” said Macy. The first is connecting to our value of Being a Great Teammate. Our In clusion efforts make each of us a better teammate through broader understanding, respect, and appreciation of differences. The other aspect is that all companies are faced with resource challenges. Re moving barriers enables individuals to participate more fully which boosts our productivity. We saw this when we went fully remote at the beginning of the pandemic. An unexpected, but very logical, ben efit that we experienced was the 15% of employees that already were fully remote were much, much more engaged because now they were on a level field with everyone else. Through our Inclusion efforts, we are experiencing additional engagement of all employees, which def initely contributes to our long-term success.”

We have embraced a flexible work environment and only require a handful of roles to be in the office. As we know, underrepresented groups are better able to participate in the workforce when there is flexibility in work location.

DEGRAY LAKE RESORT STATE PARK

DEGRAY

Executive Q&A

Joshua Cook

Joshua Cook has spent over 20 years in media and public relations, tackling growing markets and feeling the pulse of industries across the state. His current role is Director of Public Relations for Ghidotti Communi cations, an Arkansas-based public relations and content marketing agency.

AMP: Tell us more about you.

COOK: I grew up in Eastern Kentucky and have lived/worked in New York City, Tokyo and Austin, along with brief stints hiking along the Appalachian Trail and backpacking around the world. I recently celebrated four years since moving to Little Rock, my wife’s hometown. In many ways, it’s been more like coming home than anywhere else I’ve traveled. My wife and I also have three incredible little boys, ages 8 and under, who keep us very much on our toes.

AMP: How did you get into public relations work?

COOK: I began my career in the newsroom. I moved to New York a week after graduating from college, for an en try-level position with CBS Network Radio News, in 2000.

After 15 months, I advanced to become the youngest fulltime newswriter on staff producing and editing national and international breaking news for a weekly audience of 26 million listeners. In all, I spent 10 years with CBS News, but came to a point where I realized I wasn’t continually growing my skill set. I also wanted to return to the South to explore other opportunities, but I wanted to be thought ful about that transition. Integrity and professionalism are priorities in both my personal and professional life, and I wanted to be sure that any future opportunity aligned with those values.

My first role in public relations was at The University of Texas at Austin, in the Office of the Vice President of Stu dent Affairs. It was a whirlwind transition, but another for

By Katie Zakrzewski

mer journalist recognized my experience and potential in the field and immediately brought me on board. Even with my newsroom experience, there was a lot more to learn about working in public relations, and I like to think of my experience at the university as my very practical master’s degree in the field. After that, I transitioned to a Director of Public Relations role with a geopolitical analysis and forecasting firm in Austin that had global media reach, but, with a growing family, decided to look more closely at Little Rock. An out-of-the-blue call to get advice about public relations opportunities in the market turned into an interview and invitation to join the Ghidotti team here in Arkansas.

AMP: What is unique about the PR and marketing industry in Arkansas?

COOK: Excellent work stands out and sets you apart. That’s especially true about the communications field here in Ar kansas. The state has several growing markets, but savvy leaders can still keep their pulse on what’s happening across industries and across the region. That’s where reputations matter. Those of us in the communications field have a re sponsibility to consistently deliver quality results with integ rity and professionalism if we wish to continue growing. Ar kansas also offers opportunities for a mix of both traditional and more modern communications strategies to best serve the state’s diverse businesses. That also makes it a great place to work and expand the field.

AMP: What are some challenges you face in the public relations and marketing industry?

COOK: This is certainly an evolving field. In many orga nizations, the lines between public relations and market ing have significantly blurred over the past few decades, thanks in large part to the transition to online/digital com munications and advertising. It is important that commu nicators continue to focus on their strengths, as they adopt new tactics or skills and implement new strategies. One of the strengths of public relations has always been storytell ing and – as much change as we experience with technol ogy, new platforms and how consumers engage with infor

mation – nothing communicates value better than a good story. As professionals, we must never lose sight of that. We also must continually adapt to changes impacting the news media industry. Arkansans have benefitted from a strong and diverse local media landscape, but that indus try overall faces challenges with consolidation and compe tition for ad revenue. We always need to explore new ways to work with one another to serve our clients and commu nities better while also expanding services. The growing value of content marketing services is a good example of that. A good story goes a long way.

AMP: What is a piece of advice that you wish you could go back in time and tell yourself about the marketing and public relations industry?

COOK: I was fortunate to receive some good advice from other journalists who made the transition to public rela tions and marketing before me, and I have since been for tunate to share that advice with others interested in mak ing the same transition: Your newsroom and storytelling skills are incredibly valuable, and they will set you apart, but they’re only one piece of the job. You will have a lot to learn in this field, and that never goes away. That’s part of what I love about it. Public relations and marketing offer so much room to learn and grow, and eventually begin to shape how the industry as a whole moves forward, regard less of where you are.

AMP: What is one thing you’ve learned throughout your career?

COOK: One of the things I’ve learned throughout my ca reer is the importance of surrounding yourself with good people and good leaders who share your values. I’ve cer tainly been blessed throughout my career to work with people I respect more and more each day. That includes both my communications colleagues and my clients. I real ize this applies to all fields, but it really cannot be under stated. My respect for those I work with and alongside mo tivates me to work harder to deliver results for them each and every day. I recognized that from the beginning of my career, observing different leadership styles in the news room, and it remains an underlying truth today.

Executive Q&A

Mary Bogie

Mary Bogie is the Senior Brand Manager with GWL Advertising, Inc. Over the last 13 years, Bogie’s experience as a copywriter has allowed her the op portunity to inject humor and feminist flair into her day-to-day work. Originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma Bogie attended University of Arkansas in Fayette ville, where she earned her degree in marketing. Bogie considers her sister as her biggest role model, loves rescuing pups, and her favorite sport is brunch.

AMP: How did you get into copywriting?

BOGIE: I wish I could say it was something really cool and glamorous, but, believe it or not, I did not grow up with “Mad Men” posters all over my room. I was actually stuck doing temp work at an ad agency in Houston after Hur ricane Ike. Originally, the plan was for me to work my way into the accounts department, but a position opened up in the creative department, and I immediately fell in love with copywriting. Fast forward, and I’ve been at GWL Ad vertising for over a decade and have grown that passion – building brands and bringing concepts to life – into a ca reer that I love.

By Katie Zakrzewski

AMP: What is unique about the copywriting industry? Is there anything unique to the industry in Arkansas?

BOGIE: Copywriting, in general, can be such an ambigu ous term. We do so much more than write. That’s how my position evolved from copywriter to brand manager — we make sure that all visuals and messaging stay on brand and consistent across all mediums. We’re hands-on from conception to completion. It’s the entire creative process wrapped into one title.

AMP: What are some challenges you face in the advertising in dustry as a copywriter?

BOGIE: Advertising as a whole is still a very male-domi nated industry, which has its own obstacles women have been pushing back on for years (I’m looking at you, Don Draper). Because of this, I’m even more proud to work for a company run by two very talented women. However, even before GWL transitioned from a male- to female-owned business, our work has always spoken for itself, and we’ve been able to consistently hang our hat on having one of the strongest creative departments in the region. While difficult, it’s also imperative for people to under stand the importance and value of advertising, especially in a dicey economy. We’ve had to prove over and over again that advertising does work and is beyond lucrative. That is usually the first thing that clients want to cut out of their budgets, but maintaining the momentum of brand aware ness that’s been built is invaluable: People cannot forget your name, your message. Advertising is not simply the ic ing on the cake; it’s a main ingredient.

AMP: What is a piece of advice that you wish you could go back in time and tell yourself about the copywriting industry?

BOGIE: When it comes to concepting and brainstorming, there are no bad ideas. Some of my worst input has led to our best concepts. Don’t overthink it. Speak up, and don’t

be afraid to push the envelope.

AMP: Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?

BOGIE: Working in an industry that can, at times, have a negative stigma, I love being able to show people that GWL is different. No matter how cliché it sounds, we really do care about giving back. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for nonprofit work. It’s important to me to help people (and animals) that need it. We do pro-bono work for nonprofit organizations year-round, and it’s one of the many things that makes this agency great.

AMP: Reflecting back on your career so far, do you have any thoughts about how far you’ve come?

BOGIE: I’m very excited, and proud, of how my career has evolved and flourished. Growing up, I constantly got in trouble for being the class clown, suggesting what I thought were much better ideas, completely disregarding instructions – generally, your basic smartass. Fast-forward 30 years, and there’s days I wake up and just write jokes. It’s a dream come true. (In your face, Miss Jones.)

All jokes aside, I’m proud of my career and the company I work for, and I’m grateful to be able to say that I really do love what I do.

“Advertising is not simply the icing on the cake; it’s a main ingredient.”

By John Callahan

Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation’s Annual Outdoor Hall of Fame Banquet

Arkansasis well-deserving of its title of The Natural State. Yet, were it not for the efforts of dedicated Arkansans who want to protect and conserve the state’s natural beauty, it would not have remained that way. Human intervention has done a great deal of damage to habitats and wilderness, but human intervention is also what is allowing the wil derness to bounce back. Where once the elk were driven entirely from the state and the black bears nearly all killed, reintroduction programs and careful protection have seen these populations return to levels where responsible hunting is possible. As the amount of conserved land has increased, so has the public’s access to that land.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) stands at the forefront of those conservation efforts, and every year, the AGFC Foundation honors those who have worked to do the same, at the Foundation’s Hall of Fame Banquet. This year’s banquet, held on Aug. 27, was a rousing success. The main event was, of course, the induction of five new conservationists into the Hall of Fame, as well as the presentation of a Legacy Award – but the banquet was also a record-breaking fundraiser with a fruitful auction, the proceeds of which go towards supporting the year-round work of the Founda tion. Though the average turnout for the banquet is about 1,500 at tendants, this year was packed to the gills, at around 1,700.

Following introductions by em cees Steve “Wildman” Wilson and Trey Reid, and a welcome from the two co-chairs of the event, Randy and Amber Milligan, videos were shown to honor each of the new in ductees, interviewing them about their story and achievements.

First was Duane Hada, a great fly-fisher and internationally known artist – primarily a water color painter – who has long done incredible work in capturing the beauty of his native Ozark Moun

Photos courtesy of ADPHT

tains. Growing up in the Ozarks, Hada explained in his video, “Hunting and fishing were just part of my livelihood. We had ac cess to all kinds of woods and wa ters.” His family also had a bicycle and horse, which he could use to go far beyond their property and down to the Buffalo River. “The creeks and streams are just what made me who I am,” he said.

Combined with his love of art, it was only natural that he be came one of the state’s finest wild life painters. In 1987, the AGFC commissioned Hada to create a trout stamp, which got his name out and jump-started his follow ing. In 1998, he got a very differ ent opportunity – to be the coach of the first U.S. youth team for an international fly fishing tour nament held in Wales. Hada’s team won silver out of a lineup of 18 countries. In 2014, he joined Cross Trail Outfitters, where he continues to help children expe rience the outdoors and tries to shape them into future conservationists.

“When I guide on smallmouth streams, I’m fishing on waters I fished as a kid, so that takes me back. That’s why I’m so passionate about it, I want to see this preserved,” Hada explained. “I want to take my grand sons and granddaughters and wade the same stretches and catch fish and know that it’s still in good health and quality.”

Bob Butler and Jeff Lawrence were both leading figures and organizers at Arkansas Ducks Unlimited, with Butler currently serving as Arkansas Senior Regional director. Both started out as young outdoorsmen, with fishing and squirrel hunting, before graduating to duck and deer. Law rence got involved with Ducks Unlimited in high school, selling tickets to DU events in North Little Rock. Butler first became involved after col lege by running the silent auction at a DU banquet. Both rose through the ranks and have seen great changes come to Ducks Unlimited, such as a program that began in 1984 called, “Matching Aid to Restore State’s Habitat,” or the MARSH program.

Over the years, those early investments by Ducks Unlimited have blossomed into a strong and enduring partnership with the AGFC. “In fact, we’ve got some huge projects going on right now,” said Lawrence in his video with Butler, “in I think three different WMAs (Wildlife Man agement Areas) in the state. Since that initial project in ‘84, I think we’ve conserved 360,000 acres, just in Arkansas.”

“The work that Ducks Unlimited does impacts entire ecosystems,

Human intervention has done a great deal of damage to habitats and wilderness, but human intervention is also what is allowing the wilderness to bounce back.

Duane Hada

Bob Butler

Jeff Lawrence

J.D. Simpson III

Brad Wimberly

from a bug to a tadpole to a songbird, all the way up to whitetail deer and beyond,” said Butler. “So even if someone doesn’t hunt, they benefit. If they like to go out to bird watch, they benefit.”

Brad Wimberly, a native of Louisiana, vividly remembers childhood experienc es of hunting frogs at night in the swamp with his father. He made a trip to Arkansas, where he fell in love with the Mulberry Riv er and the Ozark National Forest. He pur chased, restored and expanded the iconic Turner Bend Store, preserving it as a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts.

To help protect his beloved Mulberry River, Wimberly organized a cleanup day. “I was hoping to get maybe a dozen peo ple. I would say there were 80 people who showed up.” This was the beginning of the Mulberry River Society, which to this day works to keep the area clean and accessible by building landings on the Mulberry River and at Indian Creek. Throughout his conservation career, the AGFC has been there to assist.

Lastly was J.D. Simpson III, winner of the 2022 Legacy Award. A former AGFF board member, and current trustee of the Ar kansas chapter of The Nature Conservancy, Simpson has made great contributions of time and treasure throughout his lifetime to support conservation efforts. A native of Little Rock, he spent much of his free time in his youth at a family camp called the “Tuf-Nut Hunting Club,” where he still spends time with his prized black labs.

“I knew some of the [AGFC] directors,” said Simpson. “I knew they did good work, so I gave them a little money every year. If we didn’t have a good Game and Fish, we’d be a burned-out state.”

The Banquet also celebrated 40 years of the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation’s work in supporting and augmenting the work of the AGFC. For example, the Foundation was instru mental in the passing of Amendment 75, which created a 0.125% sales tax that has provided millions of dollars in funding to the AGFC. Through events like the Hall of Fame Banquet, it secures yet more funding and helps to put that money to good use on na ture centers, shooting complexes and programs to educate new generations of Arkansans on our great outdoors.

Another award, the new Steve Smith Spirit of Giving Award, was presented to Bennie Westphal in recognition of his years of support and willingness to be leader in the AGFF’s new “Leaving a Legacy” program. This was followed by a speech from Austin Booth, director of the AGFC. He listed a few of the AGFC’s ac complishments over the past year, made possible by the support of the Foundation, including stocking over 12.5 million fish and

adding over 1,000 acres to WMAs. Booth also discussed some of the Commission’s major plans going forward, called “Natu ral State Tomorrow,” such as creating a private lands division, a recreational shooting division, improving transparency and ac countability within the commission and adding 5,000 acres to the WMAs.

“So that’s The Natural State, tomorrow,” Booth said. “And the reason we’re doing it is because we have many challenges. We’re losing habitat at an unprecedented rate. Our agency in frastructure and business processes are often behind the times. And there is waning participation in the outdoors by Arkan sans.” The work of the AGFC, and the assistance provided by the Foundation, are more important now than they have ever been.

And the requested support was not long in arriving. Between donations, a raffle and a silent auction, a record amount of mon ey was raised at nearly $600,000. The auction included every thing, from a knife set to a $7500 Sissy’s Log Cabin gift card to a duck hunting blind and even entire boats, like an XPRESS HD 16DBX Boat with motor and trailer included. Fun experiences were also up for action, such as a stay at Rusty’s Roost Cabin at Fat Possum Hollow, a chance to join AGFC biologists on a black bear den visit to see how they collect data on the state’s black bears, a Halls Quail Preserve hunt in Damascus, and even a 5-day hunting trip in New Zealand.

In all ways – from honoring conservationists to raising funds to a delicious meal of catfish and chicken – this year’s Hall of Fame Banquet was a success. Most importantly, it has ensured that the following year will be another successful one for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and by extension, all Ar kansans who love the outdoors.

LUCKY DUCKS:

Atthe 112th annual meeting of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) this September, the Arkan sas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) was awarded the prestigious Ernest Thompson Seton Award for its campaign to promote and preserve The Natural State’s waterfowl hunting areas.

The award, given at the association’s annual banquet, recognizes the efforts of a state agency to raise public awareness of scientific wildlife management. Judges evaluate agencies based on the quality and effectiveness of their public promotion efforts, the breadth of public interest and new information in the science of wildlife man agement. The Game and Fish Commission checked all of these box es with “flying” colors with their presentation on the state’s flooded timber forests and waterfowl hunting.

The annual AFWA meeting is a “who’s who” of fish and wildlife management, bringing together more than 700 leaders from agen cies and conservation groups from all over the United States, Can ada and Mexico. Needless to say, AGFC was up against tough com petition across the continent. Attendees are key decision-makers in the field of fish and wildlife, including directors, assistant directors, program managers and others involved in fisheries, wildlife habitat, law enforcement, legal affairs, industry and public affairs.

The AGFC’s award-winning submission was titled “Public Out reach to Conserve Arkansas’s Flooded Timber Legacy,” and begins with poetic and poignant description of the state as “one of the only places in the world where hunters can experience the thrill of mal lards dropping and weaving through mature forests on land owned and managed by the state for public use.” Duck hunting, as a corner stone of Arkansas culture, is a key feature of the commission’s report on the preservation of flooded timber forestlands. AGFC under stands the importance of threading together the needs of humans and wildlife, in order to better protect the wild places that keep The Natural State true to its name.

The report minces no words as it highlights the threats facing Ar kansas’s waterfowl hunting havens: Increased and repeated flooding before the trees become dormant is damaging the forests that winter ing mallards depend on for shelter and food. To combat this existen tial threat to the so-called greentree reservoirs – one of Arkansas’s most important wild areas – AGFC has created a multifaceted, ongo ing public outreach campaign, and this standout effort was the focus of the agency’s award application.

AGFC also successfully emphasized the wide-ranging repercus sions of its work. Since Stuttgart is known as “the duck hunting capi tal of the world,” AGFC’s work in creating a “paradigm shift” is just the beginning of decades of on-the-ground research and work that will affect generations of hunters and visitors to the state. According to the presentation, “the changing landscape of waterfowl manage ment in The Natural State has the potential to affect Arkansas’s out doors legacy on a national level.”

The campaign itself began in 2017 and has consisted of various education and communication efforts. The goal of the commission is to not only inform hunters of the problem, but “to ask for under standing, patience and support of the actions that will be required to ensure Arkansas maintains this rich heritage for which it is known.”

The first step in the yearslong pro cess was a simple booklet mailed out to anyone who purchased an Arkansas Duck Stamp from 2012 to 2017. This mailer, built to communicate scien tific research about the reservoirs to the duck-loving public, was just the beginning of the agency’s efforts. From there, the commission started in on a series of public meetings, newslet ters and social media posts that would engage hunters and stakeholders in meaningful conversations as well as keep them up to date on AGFC’s efforts to preserve and manage the lands.

As with any effort of this magnitude – and with the future of waterfowl habitats and hunting ranges on the line – AGFC offi cials have had to make tough calls in order to do what’s best for the conservation of the state’s natural resources. One of those hard decisions came from AGFC Director Austin Booth, who, just a few months into his role at the top of the agency, called for a change in water management for George H. Dunklin Bayou Meto Wildlife Management Area.

Described by the agency as “the crown jewel of public land duck hunting” and “a bucket-list destination for waterfowlers through out the country,” time was of the essence when it came to taking action and preventing a deadening event similar to what occurred at Henry Gray Hurricane Lake in 2018. The AGFC’s commitment to not just reacting, but acting in the face of these threats ensures the best outcomes for these areas and the wildlife that inhabit them.

With this decision came the need to shift the agency’s commu nication approach. AGFC adapted swiftly and made itself even more open to discussion and input from those most affected by the change. Press conferences were coupled with “open-house” style meetings, where the public was invited to sit down and talk one-onone with biologists, administrators and the commissioners them selves. People are at the heart of any conservation effort, and AGFC made sure that those people felt listened to and informed.

According to the agency’s report, this leg of the campaign was a massive success: “Not only was this effort successful in spreading the continued message of conservation and actions that needed to be taken, but it created much buzz in social media from those who attended, promoting the AGFC’s message for the agency through grassroots communication.”

This was only one facet of the agency’s plans. Another crucial front in the battle for the greentree reservoirs revolved around partnerships with other organizations. AGFC biologists spread the word about conditions in flooded timber areas by appearing on programs like the “Ducks Unlimited,” “Bear Grease” and “Blood Origins” podcasts. The commission also poured energy into print ed publications, putting out scientific pieces and feature articles to draw atten tion to the areas of concern. From digital to print, from public meetings to calling on legislators, the Game and Fish Com mission has made and continues to make outreach and action its driving force. Of course, this campaign and the conservation of the state’s most precious areas is an ongoing struggle, and the agency acknowledged as much in its re port to the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies. The work will continue “well into the next decade,” the agency said, and “it may be multiple decades before the effects of the restoration work reach the point that hunters once again see the mallards flock to the timber like they have seen during the last 40 years.”

As restoration and conservation work continues throughout the state’s wetland habitats, AGFC never fails to make communication and public engagement a priority.

“It is our responsibility,” the report continued, “not only to make these tough calls for the benefit of the habitat, but also to keep the people whose lives are entrenched in the silt of our flooded tim ber waterfowl-hunting heritage informed about the progress and results of our efforts.”

Both the people and the wildlife of Arkansas are lucky to have such a dedicated agency exemplifying the best in conservation and ensuring the legacy of the state and its resources. Scientific communication requires a researcher’s eye and a public speak er’s acuity, and AGFC takes to it – pun intended – like a duck to water. The recognition of AFWA and the Ernest Thompson Se ton Award come as no surprise to anyone who has worked in or alongside the commission. Committed, passionate people make up the heart of AGFC, to the benefit of hunters and naturelovers across the country and around the world. Thanks to the agency’s ongoing efforts to inform, educate and serve the people of Arkansas and its visitors, The Natural State will stay natural for decades to come.

The Rise of SHADRACHS

Northeast Arkansas Coffee Franchise is a Hot Commodity

By Kenneth Heard

Ittook a major leap of faith for Larry Billing to leave the West Coast, where he taught high school, and open a coffee store in northeast Arkansas in 2004.

But, Billing, who had no business experience starting out, has seen his Shadrachs Coffee franchise become a successful ven ture. He has six shops in Jonesboro, one in Paragould and plans to open four more across Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee.

The name of the business, after all, comes from a Bible story of faith, in the book of Daniel.

In the story, Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego refused to worship a golden idol created by Babylon king, Nebu chadnezzar. The king threw the three men in a furnace for their refusal to bow to the idol, but then saw them walking among the blaze unharmed because of their faith. Nebuchadnezzar, reads Dan iel 6, brought the three out and claimed that the God of Israel be worshipped in stead of his idol.

“We’ve infused faith in this business,” Billing said.

Billing, 48, who grew up near Sacra mento, had planned to be a high school math teacher. He moved to Horseshoe Bend, Arkansas, with his family after completing high school in Elk Grove, California, and attended Harding Uni versity in Searcy. He graduated in 1997 and taught two years at a West Memphis junior high before returning to Califor nia to teach at his home school district.

Billing met his wife in Medford, Or egon, and, because she didn’t want to move four hours to California, Billing moved to Oregon instead. The couple married in 2002.

It was tough finding a teaching job in Oregon, Billing said. He did substitute teaching, but there were no full-time jobs available in Medford.

“My childhood friend had just started his own coffee busi ness in California, and we decided to make the jump into the coffee world,” Billing said.

In 2004, Billing and his wife moved to Jonesboro to open

Shadrachs. His sister and family lived in the Craighead County town, and he was familiar with the area.

“If in 2002 you told me I would move 2,000 miles and be sell ing coffee in Jonesboro, I’d have thought you were crazy,” he said. “I had no intention of owning a business.”

The first five years were “painful,” Billing admitted. He said he had no business experience, but felt led by God to continue selling coffee.

His wife began teaching in Jones boro schools which, he said, “was a good thing.”

“We lived off of her work,” he said. “At that time, coffee was a hobby. If I wasn’t making anything, it was a just a hobby.”

Billing worked long hours, going to his store on East Nettleton Avenue next to a Sonic Drive-In from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. There were long days, long weeks, and at times, he wondered what he was doing. But, his faith helped him through.

In 2007, he and Risa were expecting their first child.

“It was a make-or-break season,” Bill ing said of that year. “I said if we can’t make this work in six months, I’ll go back to teaching.”

He slowly began seeing success. Shadrachs Coffee opened a second shop on Southwest Drive in western Jones boro in 2010, and in 2016, Billing opened his third shop on Red Wolf Drive, a ma jor thoroughfare in the city.

Three years later, Billing opened a shop on Caraway Road, near its inter section with Interstate 555, and one in Paragould. In 2020, he refurbished the basement of a downtown Jonesboro building on Union and Washington avenues – across from the Craighead County Courthouse – and opened a walk-in coffee store.

The downtown shop may be his crowning achievement. The three-story building formerly housed a farming operation, an architect’s office and a lawyer. The basement was used for stor ing old furniture and desks and was used by the building’s ten

Larry Billing

ants as a storm shelter. Because of the dust, cob webs, spiders and its dank, dark recesses, some thought it was safer to brave the storm rather than go to the basement.

Architects designed the basement and visitors are now treated to a cheery atmo sphere with a mosaic tiled floor, featuring the Shadrachs logo. Tables line one wall and are frequented by downtown businesspeople and students,” Billing said.

The shop opened in March 2021. Then, the second COVID wave hit, causing confusion and concern.

“We had multiple employees in a confined area,” Billing said. “With the first incident [of an employee infected by the virus], we had to quarantine for 10 days.

Billing said he had to shut down four times between all his locations in town because of the virus. He was one of the first business owners to close his doors because of the pandemic and because of city recommendations.

“We had to reconfigure our shops then,” he said. “You can’t make a small shop bigger. We dealt with a lot of stresses.”

While many restaurants in the state went out of business because of the pandemic, Shadrachs Coffee ended up thriving overall. All but the downtown shop were drive-thru businesses, so the required social distancing mandates were easily met.

“It was a challenge,” Billing said. “When it was reasonable to be open, we followed guidelines. You don’t want to cheat. You want to do it right. That’s all you can do.

“When the next [variant] came, I thought, ‘What? This again?’”

The company survived, and now, Billing has 125 employees at his various shops.

He plans to open one in Oxford, Mississippi, by the end of the year and another on Prince Street in Conway. He also intends to put in a Shadrachs Coffee in Lakeland, Tennessee, a suburb of Memphis.

Billing said he also wants to help his employees if they even tually want to manage a Shadrachs Coffee shop.

“We want to give people a chance,” he said. “We want to give them an opportunity that they may not have had.”

One of the attractions for customers is that Billing roasts his own coffee beans. Called “green beans,” the beans arrive in 150 pound sacks and are roasted in 25 and 50 pound roasters at the East Nettleton shop. It takes between 10 and 16 minutes to roast the beans, and he has about 15 different types of roasting flavors.

“There’s so much science to coffee,” Billing noted.

Only a small percentage of coffee shops roast their own beans, he said. A unique aspect of Shadrachs, Billing explained, is that they create their own flavor profile and roast beans darker than most shops.

In addition to coffees, Shadrachs offers fruit smoothies, pas tries, milkshakes, Red Bull-infused iced drinks, muffins and other breakfast foods.

The most popular drink is the White Mocha, but the down town Jonesboro shop manager, Kelli Vining, says she sells a lot of the White Snickers drink.

Vining, like Billing, taught school before getting into the coffee business. She was raised in North Carolina and taught English in Memphis schools before moving to Jonesboro and becoming the manager of the East Nettleton shop five years ago.

Faith plays a big part in her life, too. Vining encourages cus tomers to send prayer requests to their business website and,

while not really touting “religion” to her customers, she does present an atmosphere of kindness and love.

“Our customers are like family,” she said. “We try to be kind; we don’t have many angry customers.”

Vining and other managers are urged to help employees learn about conflict resolution when dealing with customers.

“We deal with people of all [walks of] life,” she said. “You don’t know what they’re going through. We want to help them.”

“Faith is a big thing for us,” Vining added. “We have the abil ity to talk to people about our faith if they want to hear it.”

Since the COVID pandemic abated some, customers have returned to the downtown location. Vining said a group of four Jonesboro high school students hold 6:30 a.m. bible study ses sions there weekly before going to school. Others flock in for lunch, sitting at the row of tables inside, or at the tables set up outside on Union Avenue.

“I hate coffee, but there are so many other options,” said Ashlyne Carner, a Craighead County Treasurer’s office depu ty clerk who frequents the shop. Her office is less than half a block away.

She prefers the iced chai with caramel drizzle that Shadrachs makes.

“They know how to do it,” she said. “I get a Shadrachs gift card every birthday, and I spend it quickly. I used to go to the one on Southwest Drive when I worked there. They knew my order every time I came in.”

When he first opened his shops, Billing said he was worried about the number of customers he’d see daily. In the summer months, he may have gone two or three hours before someone bought a drink.

He was also first concerned about going up against Star bucks, the coffee empire, which has a shop in Jonesboro.

“I thought, ‘Oh, no, Starbucks would hurt me,’” Billing said. “But instead, it brought awareness to coffee. The coffee culture was still new then. I think they helped us.”

Now, he said, people “drink coffee all year round.”

Looking back, Billing still finds it hard to believe he left his teaching job to grind coffee beans. He is humble, maintain ing that he has little business sense and credits those around him for “filling in the gaps” and making Shadrachs Coffee successful.

“There’s always going to be fine-tuning franchise develop ments,” he said. “There’s always going to be the next level of growth.

“Am I content where I am? “Yes. But do I want to open more stores? Yes.

“This has been exciting. Patience has been a theme through the years. Our growth strategies probably do not follow con ventional wisdom. Whenever faith is involved, the word ‘con ventional’ goes out the door.”

“Patience has been a theme through the years. Our growth strategies probably do not follow conventional wisdom.”

FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS MUSIC, ART AND TECHNOLOGY:

THE BUSINESS OF MUSIC FESTIVALS

By Sarah Coleman

Athen Brandon Entry Gate (Photo by Roger Ho/ FORMAT Festival)

Last spring, C3 Presents – a concert promotion, event production and artist management company out of Austin, Texas (that happens to be responsible for several well-established festivals such as Austin City Limits, Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo) – announced the firstever FORMAT Festival would be hosted in Arkansas this fall.

The inaugural event took place from Sept. 23-25 on private property located along Sug ar Creek Airstrip in Bentonville. While it can be difficult to picture what a first-ever festi val will look like, the festival came together seamlessly, with international, national, state and local talent showcased in all of the areas that FORMAT brought together.

Elizabeth Edelman – one of FORMAT Festival’s producers, and the founder and producer for TRIAD IC, a creative house and cultural engine with locations in New York City, London and Vienna – explained how the festival has actually been a work in progress for much longer than the public was initially aware.

“When I started TRIADIC, with Mafalda Millies and Roya Sachs, there were gaps, in this area, be tween art, music and technology. So we wanted to partner with C3 Presents to create an equal stage that supported the original vision of the company,” Edelman said.

“When you go to Coachella or ACL, you’re starting to see more art installations, but we felt there was still a large opportunity to create a space and an opportunity to merge all of these things – music, art and technology – together in one space.”

Edelman and her team were only recently introduced to Northwest Arkansas, specifical ly Bentonville – which is known for being the birthplace of major global retailer, Walmart, and claims to be mountain biking capital of the world.

“We had a huge interest in the Ozarks, and we went as a team to check it out,” Edelman recalled. “Not only did we fall in love with the sights and sounds, but we wanted to be part of what was happening there, and to help build upon it organically.”

FORMAT Festival was built to be an im mersive artistic experience, one that is unlike any other in the country.

“Pretty much all of our stages are commis sioned art stages and were built specifically for FORMAT. The concept of the commis sions was for the art to live on in NWA, and for the community to be able to enjoy the beauti

The

Cube (Photo by Grant Hodgeon/ FORMAT Festival)

ful work 10-20 years down the line.”

The lineup of the festival included many popular and up coming names of both visual and musical artists, from bands such as The Flaming Lips and The War on Drugs to Phoenix, Jungle, Thundercat, Elle King and Rüfüs De Sol, to groups such as Honey Collective and their opening act, BAANG – both of which have strong ties to NWA.

The setup also placed well-known local artists such as Kat Wilson next to internationally respected names like Nick Cave. With the work of TRIADIC and C3 Presents, local and interna tional talent were showcased all together, making for a unique range of names and performances.

“A big goal of FORMAT was to be able to give a voice to some of the younger and up-and-coming artists, and we blended this line. We gave them an opportunity to perform and show their art,” Edelman said.

According to Edelman, this original concept started almost four years ago, back in 2018.

“We found this site about two years ago, and we started reach ing out to artists and musicians around a year later. The fact is that this has been a long time coming, and it has allowed us to be con siderate about being able to work on this,” Edelman explained.

“The whole process was really exciting – we worked with the C3 booking team, and we watched what was happening. We were able to bring some eclectic people together through an eclectic lineup.”

FORMAT Festival allowed guests to hear the smooth tunes

of Herbie Hancock and the bluesy notes from Elle King and in the same weekend, sing along to dream pop powerhouses like Beach House and The Flaming Lips.

“There were different genres of music from different times. We had jazz musicians, new musicians and incredible DJs from all over the world,” Edelman said. “The dream for us was that people might come to the festival because of the bigger names, but leave the festival being totally obsessed with the work of newer musicians. We wanted to fuel curiosity and exploration of new art.”

The attendee experience remained on the forefront of plan ning FORMAT Festival, according to Edelman.

“I wanted people to be blown away by what they were just able to experience. I am looking forward to collaborating with locals to build this festival, and I’m really proud of all of the sur prise elements that happened over the weekend,” Edelman said.

“One of the things we are most proud of is that it feels very local. We have a huge market – the Bizarre Bazaar – for guests to walk through and engage with little activities and very cool things made locally.”

About 10,000 people attended the inaugural festival, ac cording to FORMAT, and according to Edelman, the intention is to keep the festival pretty small in comparison to others of its kind, which can stretch into the 100,000 range in number of attendees.

“I think that we will grow the festival every year, but in the right way for the community. We want attendees to have space to

Aerial (Photo by Charles Reagan/ FORMAT Festival)

enjoy the site, experience and everything FORMAT offers,” Edelman said. “We are excited about where it will grow. We want to keep engaging the commu nity; we want to commission great pieces and con tinue with a great collaborative effort.”

INTERNATIONAL SENSATIONS

The “Drag Me To The Disco” art installation at FORMAT featured a barn transformed into the perfect disco location. The barn was decked out in pages from Maurizio Cattelan’s TOILET PAPER, a picture-heavy magazine based in Milan, Italy. Artist Stefania Biliato explained how the vision of Cattelan and Pier paolo Ferrari were brought to light in this installation.

“TOILETPAPER magazine loves any opportunity to do some thing different, and FORMAT is a first-time event, a first edition and first everything,” Biliato said.

All of the photos plastered on the walls of “Drag me to the Disco” featured real objects. Archivio Personale, the set depart ment of TOILETPAPER magazine, helped with the project as well.

“It is so cool that we get to be part of something new, not just for ourselves, but for everybody,” Biliato said, explaining that this part of the world and this part of the country is very new for TOILETPAPER magazine. “This is not a typical city for us, but it has been a beautiful adventure, with beautiful nature and a really pretty location. It’s been great to share cool ideas here.”

TOILETPAPER magazine is known for its photographs of real objects, those of which have been translated into a collec tion that goes beyond home design to a beauty line that covers every corner of the body, called TOILETPAPER Beauty. The

TOILETPAPER brand also has a pajama line that, according to Biliato, is perfect for endless naps and even makes for great dancing attire.

As a tribute to the first-ever FORMAT festival, TOILETPA PER magazine recently announced a special 15% discount on pajamas on its website.

“We hope that people who visited Drag Me to The Disco felt the free creativity of the art and were able to think about it,” Bili ato added. “The photos are for everybody, and are meant to be an inspiration to anyone who sees it.”

Musicians like Seun Kuti – who is from Lagos, Nigeria – also appeared at FORMAT Festival, bringing Afrobeats to the stage. Kuti is known for being the son of legendary Afrobeat godfather, Fela Kuti.

For Kuti, performing at FORMAT was not only a new experi ence, but also his first time performing in the area.

“I mainly have done shows on the West Coast and East Coast in the United States, but I haven’t done a lot of shows in this part of the country,” Kuti remarked. “It is really cool how art, technol ogy and music are combined in this.”

Kuti said one of the most exciting things for him was getting to work in collaboration with artists such as [Nick] Cave.

“My goal in music is to be able to bring people together in very divisive times, expand views and stress humanity,” Kuti said. “There is so much impact we can have on each other through art and in bringing issues to light through art, for the people who can’t express themselves.”

Kuti also explained that everywhere he goes – and he has trav eled to a lot of places – he tries to experience the culture through the people in the cities he is in. “I go to a lot of places, and I tend to see very little of the areas I’m in, but I do see a lot of people.”

Disko Cowboy (Photo by Ismael Quintanilla III / FORMAT Festival)

Bizarre Bazaar (Photo by Pooneh Ghana/ FORMAT Festival)

Afrobeats as a genre has become increasingly popular over the years, and Kuti was able to share this with the FORMAT Fes tival crowd on the second day of the festival.

NATIONAL NAMES

Disko Cowboy/Vinyl Ranch made an appearance at this year’s festival, performing in “Drag Me to The Disco.”

While FORMAT Festival prides itself on blending the lines between music, art and technology, Disko Cowboy/Vinyl Ranch is a converging concept in its own right. Vinyl Ranch, the brand connected to Disko Cowboy, is largely responsible for redefin ing the urban cowboy culture movement – which converges streetwear, country music and disco. Disko Cowboy – also known as David “Dave” Wrangler– has made a name for him self in performing and producing events, and collaborating with global brands such as Wrangler, Tom Ford, Chanel, CMA Fest, Sundance Film Fest, the Super Bowl and more, according to the Disko Cowboy website.

“It’s always a cool experience to be invited to perform at a first-time festival, and this festival has been pretty cool in all ways, visually and collaboratively,” Wrangler said.

Originally from Houston, Texas, FORMAT Festival was Wrangler’s first time bringing Disko Cowboy to NWA. Though, as he lived in nearby Tulsa, Oklahoma, for a period of time, this was not Wrangler’s first rodeo in the area.

“I really love the area. I love the venue of this; it’s a great place to hang out, and I love being a part of anything that is geared toward the guest experience,” Wrangler said.

Vinyl Ranch started in 2007, and according to Wrangler, came out of a really niche idea.

“I was kind of the first cowboy DJ to mix club music with coun try music, and this all really started when country music wasn’t widely enjoyed by a broad range of people,” Wrangler said. “I really leaned into the modern country and cool vibes, and Vinyl Ranch is about a lifestyle – a culture of the two, converging.”

Disko Cowboy is known for a lot of things, but performing at festivals has especially shaped what he does.

“I don’t have any records or any singles, and I’m not like a lot of other DJs, so having opportunities like [performing at FOR MAT] is something that is really cool, and something I am very grateful for,” he said.

For Disko Cowboy, “Drag Me to The Disco,” was a perfect venue for his performance.

Nick Cave Soundsuits (Photo byPooneh Ghana / FORMAT Festival)

“Not only did we fall in love with the sights and sounds, but we wanted to be part of what was happening there, and to help build upon it organically.”

Herbie Hancock & UAPB Drumline

(Photo by Ismael Quintanilla III/ FORMAT Festival)

Nick Cave Soundsuits (Photo by Charles Reagan / FORMAT Festival)

“The space really shaped what I played, and I think it fit the vibe of Disko Cowboy/Vinyl Ranch very well,” Wrangler said.

As a frequent festival performing act, Disko Cowboy will find himself at another C3 Presents festival later this year – Austin City Limits – where he will perform both weekends.

“I loved getting to see Phoenix perform live, watching the drone shows and seeing some of my favorite groups all in one place,” he added.

IN THE LOCAL LIMELIGHT

Locally, NWA has become a hub for the arts, and a home to many artists of different rankings – visual and musical.

Honey Collective, a band that has merged raw jazz, funk and hip-hop, opened the festival. Now, the group is based in Brook lyn, New York, but the group is no stranger to NWA. Aricka

Lewis, the group’s vocal talent, grew up in Fayetteville. Jordan Strickland, who plays keys and guitar, is from Rogers and Walter Ferguson, who plays drums, is also from Fayetteville. Matt Mag erkurth, who plays cello and bass for the group, is the only nonNWA native, but is familiar with the area as he grew up nearby in Kansas City, by way of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“Being back in NWA has been great, and getting to come back for a festival like this is incredible,” Lewis said. “By opening the festival, we really were able to set the scene for the weekend.”

“Seeing our idols in the same space has been insane. We’re right next to Robert Glasper’s trailer, and Thundercat will per form on the same stage,” Strickland said. “I don’t know how many times we’ve been creating music and thought, ‘What would Robert Glasper do if he was writing this?’ It’s incredible to be in the same space as these great artists.”

The group opened the festival on the “North of OZ” stage, one of the two full-size stages at the venue.

“It was our first time playing on such a big stage, and it’s a huge stage, in NWA,” Ferguson said. “We’re always going to have a really special place in our heart for NWA. The emphasis on the technological side of music making is something that is not often omnipresent in the NWA music community. So, I love see ing all of the things that the other musicians have that are com bined. It’s a great time.”

As the group has long been part of the music scene in NWA, Strickland said he expected a festival like FORMAT would one day be in NWA. “It just makes sense that with all of the art and the music and all the talent in NWA, that FORMAT would take

“My goal has always been to bring more light to projects like FORMAT while also uplifting local artists and creatives.”

New Breed Brass Band (Photo byCharles Reagan / FORMAT Festival)

place here,” he said.

“The art experience as a whole is really ex citing. There’s Doug Inkin work and Nick Cave work, and I’ve always loved the idea of art and sculpture mixed in with music,” Magerkurth said.

BAANG, a NWA rapper, has been seen in a multitude of ways around the NWA music scene, opening for artists such as Big Boi and per forming at Bentonville Film Fest. At FORMAT Festival, BAANG had the opportunity to open for Honey Collective, which he called a one-ofa-kind opportunity. As part of the local music scene, BAANG advises other musicians and artists to keep finetuning their craft.

“Whether you’re playing in front of a crowd of 10 people or 10,000 people, just play your best, because someone out there needs to hear what you’re performing about,” he said.

Nick Cave is a well-known visual artist responsible for a unique blending of fashion and sculpture into “soundsuits,” which are objects that have combined the two artistic disci plines together. While several of the performing artists noted their excitement of his involvement in FORMAT Festival, Cave was also able to get involved in the Arkansas community in a different way.

The drumline for the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff band and Jlin (a Chicago composer) partnered with Cave to march with specially made soundsuits, following the festivalgoers of FORMAT on the final day of the festival, which created a visual and musical experience for guests to enjoy.

Kat Wilson, a Fayetteville-based photographer, said being in the same space as notable artists was incredibly exciting.

“I was really excited to see my name on a poster with Nick Cave and The Flaming Lips,” she said. “I wanted my selfie booth to be very Arkansas kitsch, which is why I added the camo and antlers to this selfie throne.”

Wilson has long-been a photographer in the area, but around 2014 – when the popularity of selfies continued to rise – she decided to evolve with the times, creating a unique photo experience.

“I still set the stage, and I still take care of the lighting, but I wanted to be able to do more outside of behind the camera, and now I’m getting to bring the selfie throne to a music festival,” Wilson said.

The Bizarre Bazaar, which stood directly next to Wilson’s Self ie Throne, housed several local curators and creators, including Onyx Coffee Lab, Little Rock’s La Rosa Antigua and NWA Girl Gang, to name a few.

La Rosa Antigua, which is run by Maximiliano Dominguez, was present at the festival for all three days, and by the end of day one, the thrift and screen-printing booth had sold out half of its inventory.

“My team and I originally brought about 450 unique pieces from the Little Rock store to Bentonville. By the end of the day Friday, we had sold half of our inventory and actually had to be innovative and arrange a drop-off of more inventory from our store,” Dominguez said.

For Dominguez, this festival was not just a great way to get the word out about his store, but also to be able to experience a music festival for the first time.

“This is actually my first time at a music festival. The most exciting thing about getting to be here is just being able to attend and be uplifted by a festival that was developed in Arkansas,” he said, adding that seeing the support for small businesses was incredibly encouraging. “My goal has always been to bring more light to projects like FORMAT while also uplifting local artists and creatives.”

NWA Girl Gang (NWAGG) is a nonprofit organization that focuses on serving marginalized communities. Rachel Fox, the founder and executive director of NWAGG, explained that the nonprofit is involved in several aspects of the community – in cluding hosting the NWAGG Market, which showcases local woman-owned businesses and brands.

The NWAGG booth featured handmade earrings, buttons, stickers and other merchandise. Harlow and Sage Company contributed polymer clay earrings and The Sacred Cocoon was also at the booth for tarot readings.

From the standpoint of many artists involved in the festival, FORMAT has had an impact on not only NWA creatives, artists and musicians, but also on national and international creatives, artists and musicians. And with the success of the first year of the festival, there is little doubt that the festival will only con tinue to improve over time.

Fatboy Slim performs at Drag Me To The Disco (Photo by Roger Ho / FORMAT Festival)

Tuxedo Time SUIT UP

By Ryan Parker

Whether it’s your old pal from high school’s second wedding or your new pal from accounts payable’s Christmas party or even (Heaven forbid) your great aunt Melba’s funeral – it helps to know how to dress for the occasion. And un less you’re Timothée Chalamet, for men, the choice ultimately comes down to a tuxedo or a suit. So, what exactly is the difference?

The biggest difference between a tuxedo and a suit is the presence of satin. Tuxedos have satin details such as satin-faced lapels, satin buttons and/or a satin sidestripe down the pant leg. Suits typically do not have any of these features.They are both suits, but they will, and should, look quite different because the two aren’t meant to be worn to the same types of events and venues.

Of course, a “black-tie” affair should always be attended in a tuxedo. If the invitation doesn’t specify black tie, then it’s presumed to be black tie optional, and a suit will work just fine. So, suit up or black-tie – you make the call. Either way, let’s take a look at some of your most conventional options.

The Tuxedo

Sometimes it’s the best choice. If this is the last time, or perhaps the first time, you are planning to wear this type of get-up, it makes sense. If we don’t have to, we don’t want to invest, I get it. However, I will say that if you’re the ambitious type and five of your closest friends you’re having dinner with are political figures, entertainers and/or c-level executives, then you need to consider owning at least one tuxedo.

When it comes to choosing a tux, how do you know if you’ve made the right decision? I always lean on the side of, “It’s better for me to be overdressed, than underdressed.” I do have to say, I’m guilty of sporting the tux to an event that wasn’t actually listed as black tie. Sometimes, to be the best dressed man in the room, you have to step it up. I prefer to be the one wearing what will be remembered over what is required. On one hand, the best advice is to always over dress. On the other hand, never be the most underdressed. Either way, I would never show up to a black tie event dressed in any thing other than a gorgeous tuxedo – with the special tuxedo shirt and the black onyx button links – the whole nine. Not even my best suit can replace a classic tuxedo for a black-tie event.

I do own tuxedos and actually enjoy wearing them. Granted, I only own two or three, whereas when it comes to non-tuxedo suits, I have more than I’m willing to admit. (I did donate a few recently.) But, that’s

where a solid suit or tux becomes a great investment: You’ll wear this for the rest of your life. You might even be buried in your finest, which, if we want to adhere to always dressing our best, is something to consider. Don’t wait on a tuxedo sale. The same tux edos that are required for a black tie can also be donned elsewhere – or maybe you’re simply a baller and wear your tux to all events.

Regardless, once you’ve committed to wearing the tux, it’s important to know the proper way to wear it. I do not wear a cuff in my pant if it’s a straight leg and the hem has no break. Ultimately, you can decide on the pant length and styling as it fits your current comfort level and lifestyle, of course.

If, like me, you’re going with no cuff and no break in your slacks, then you must consider choice in socks and of course, the shoes. The pants in seam length will be a call you need to make with your buddies or a girlfriend: This comes and goes with fashion trends. Remember, not too long ago, MJ wore “high waters” and one shiny glove. The other MJ wore high-tops, which became Jordans, with his suits and tuxedos. Many men are still going short on the inseam. Either way, choose your level of comfort, and own it.

So, if we’re talking tuxedo, and we are doing traditional black and white, then it has to be paired with a black shoe with a great shine: Chukka boots, Derby, monk straps, Oxfords, even a pair of Air Jordans, if you’re of the sporty persuasion. That’s not re ally my space jam, but I know it looks good for some –I just can’t pull it off.

If you’re donning a black slack paired with wingtips and no break in your slacks, a great pair of socks is important. Think bold colors, stripes, prints, or if you aren’t planning on upping your sock game and even losing the socks altogether, you better have an attractive set of ankles under there.

Alternatively, If you own a great pair of black slacks (and I don’t mean khakis), you could get away with wearing those with a tuxedo jacket. Remember, the tuxedo pant has a strip of satin material running down the outside of both legs. Now, the regular slacks can work if you’re in a dimly-lit room for the evening, but if you’re outside, sun shining and you’re taking pictures, you’ll really want a tuxedo pant and jacket to match. Overall, stick with the classics: A one-button jacket with a nice satin lapel to match the stripe down the pant legs, and a black bow tie. (If you don’t know how to tie it, then YouTube can help you learn.)

The Suit

Tux or suit, I recommend getting fitted by a professional. This will ensure the garment is designed to fit you perfectly, and can even grow with you. Tailored suits can be let out or taken in as weight fluctuates. I have been a competitive bodybuilding champion with off-season weights over 200 pounds to weights that were closer to 170, so during competition sea son, there’s a big differ ence between suit sizes. I sometimes need my jack ets adjusted for room or my slacks to have more room in the waist.

Having your suit de signed to fit your size is important, and that’s where the magic happens. Suit jackets are available in one, two and three-but ton designs, with single or dual jacket vents in the back. Spending time in front of a mirror with two and threebutton jackets may be required to decide what you prefer. I can help with the basics, but ultimately, you must own whatever you choose. Once you’ve committed to a style and a great suit, pro fessionally tailored and pressed, it will make you feel like you can accomplish anything.

From my high school weight of around 130 to deciding I want ed muscles and adding 70 pounds to my frame, it’s taken time to find out what fits and what doesn’t in the suit department. I started early in my 20s and began shopping with a local mens wear store and, man, did I really enjoy the service and support they provided.

In the beginning, when I first realized I needed better quality clothes, I would invest a few hundred for a tie, a few hundred for a shirt and a few thousand for a great handmade suit – and it made me feel incredibly stylish. Yes, these were investments, and you may want to discuss any potential for clothing deductions with your tax preparer for anything that can be considered a write-off.

Even when it comes to a beautiful, custom-designed Ital ian fabric suit or shirt from designers like Ermenegildo Zegna, Canali, Brioni, Armani – if it isn’t your size, the suit will not look exactly right on your frame. We know the saying “fits like a glove” and even an inexpensive suit that is a good fit and has been professionally pressed will look far better than a high-end designer suit in the wrong size.

Don’t be sloppy. And remember to have your suits measured and fitted with shoes that will be worn with the suit and a shirt that will accompany it. All these pieces work synergistically to give you that dapper gentleman look.

Remember, a great tuxedo can be worn over and over, so choose a good quality material from a re spected brand. And while it’s always a sure bet to stick with traditional white and black for jacket and slacks, there are certainly some wild colors if you want to venture outside of your comfort zone.

And The Rest

Now, once all of the major details are ironed out, you must consider: Are you a belt or suspenders guy? If you’ve never tried suspenders, it may be time, as this can add a bit of so phistication and style. Consider starting with a simple pair of black suspenders. Check your waist band for the buttons for suspenders. If not equipped, you will need the fasteners that pinch your waist band. Don’t worry: Only two types of fasten ers. Either button holes and your slacks have suspender but tons built inside the waistline, or if there aren’t buttons then

you’ll just use the pinch fasteners that come with the suspenders.

A cummerbund is a broad, waist sash, usually pleated, and often worn with a single-breasted din ner jacket or tuxedo. The cummerbund was ad opted by British military officers in colonial India as an alternative to the waistcoat, and later spread to civilian use.

Now let’s talk about the pocket square, or you may refer to it (like my Papaw) as a handkerchief. These small pieces of material aren’t actually func tional in the sense of the black-and-white films, where the gentleman pulls his handkerchief from his pocket to hand to the damsel to wipe her eye. Today’s dapper gents can use a bold silk pocket square to make the whole ensemble really pop.

One popular theory often espoused is that King Richard II of England was the first person to wear a handkerchief as a fashion accessory while on the throne, between 1377 to 1399. You can play with the pocket square in many different ways – solids or stripes, patterns, prints, polka dots. The fabric can be silk, cotton, even linen. Either way, it’s best to choose a pocket square that is similar to the colors of your tie (or your shirt if you’re going without a tie) but never use an identical pocket square to tie pattern. They should not match.

A bold, multi-color pattern will add flair to your suits and ties, so you really should invest in a few very nice silk pocket squares, and thank me later when you get tons of compliments.

Overall, the key takeaway is: get fitted. A pro fessional seamstress or tailor can help you know your sizes for shirts, slacks, jackets and more. Remember, a great tuxedo can be worn over and over, so choose a good quality material from a respected brand. And while it’s always a sure bet to stick with traditional white and black for jacket and slacks, there are certainly some wild colors if you want to venture outside of your comfort zone. But unless you host your own game show, in my opinion, tradition al B&W is best. Don’t forget to find a reliable dry cleaner ser vice as well, as the pressing of the suit is crucial and can make all the difference.

Tux or suit – how good you will look is all about size, color and the fit – and hopefully with these tips, you can find the style that works for you and own it with confidence.

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Oncethe Big Dam Bridge over Murray Lock and Dam was opened in 2006, connecting the Little Rock and North Little Rock river fronts, the cycling community in Central Arkansas knew it had a unique opportunity on its hands.

Bruce Dunn, race director for the Big Dam Bridge 100 Cycling Tour, said as soon as then-Gov. Mike Huckabee cut the ribbon, “the cyclists took off.” They haven’t looked back since.

“They had such a great time that they decided there was a demand for this ride in the future,” Dunn said. “One hundred local riders all chipped in and became our founding group, who got free rides for life. Of those 100, 36 are still riding with us in 2022. This helped seed money to start.”

The founders formed the Big Dam Bridge Foundation, and with the help of Fred Phillips’ DLT Events in Arkadelphia, began growing the event by leaps and bounds. With a temporary hiccup for COVID in 2020, the ride has grown from a 5K and bike ride on the Arkansas River Trail that first year, into a massive event, both family-friendly and competitive.

Before the pandemic hit, it attracted as many as 3,500 riders from all over Arkansas, the nation, even the globe. The BDB 100 has grown into one of the largest events of its kind in the country and is popular with out-of-state cycling clubs supported by local, regional and national sponsors.

This year’s event, which took place in September, included more than 2,900 riders.

“We hit 2,911 this year,” said Jana Cohen, who handles communications for the event. “That’s 500 more than last year but still not up to pre-pandem ic levels just yet.”

Race officials expect to get there. Cohen said the race grew by about 10% to 15% a year from 2006 to 2019, allowing officials to slowly make changes to the route, finish line, expo and related events. The BDB 100 includes a 15-

By AMP Staff | Photos By Lindsey Castrellon

mile, family-friendly ride as well as 26-mile, 50-mile, 75-mile and 105-mile rides for more experienced cyclists. All courses cross the Big Dam Bridge and the Broadway Bridge downtown and finish in Riverfront Park.

The 26-miler incudes the BDB-Broadway loop and extends to Two Rivers Park in west Little Rock. The 50-mile route stretches

“This is one of the largest cycling events in the country, and Central Arkansas is proud to be part of it,” he said. “The cycling community definitely supports the event, as over one-third of our riders are from Arkansas. Each year, we have dozens of local sponsors who are enthusiastic cyclists or just people who under stand the impact a successful cycling event has on a community.”

out west, to the Roland-Pinnacle Mountain area; the 75-miler loops around Lake Maumelle; and the 105-mile ride reaches as far as Wye Mountain and traverses much of the Ouachita Moun tain wilderness in western Pulaski and Perry counties.

Stacy Tierny of Little Rock is the past president and current treasurer for the Bicycle Advocacy of Central Arkansas, a local riding advocacy group. She’s participated in each BDB 100 since 2013 and has taken on each of the ride’s four courses.

Tierny knows how important events like the BDB 100 can be for a community.

“The ride is so well-organized, and it’s amazing to see so many people in our city,” she said. “These people come from all over the country. Three thousand people rode this year, and I would be confident in saying the majority traveled from outside of Little Rock and spent money in our stores, our restaurants and our hotels.”

Dunn said Central Arkansas has embraced the event. Though the region may sit in the shadow of Northwest Arkansas’ cycling reputation, built mostly off world-class mountain biking, it re mains a cycling destination in its own right.

Dunn said the Arkansas River Trail is a great setting for the event and “serves as a wonderful example of different munici palities working together to have a seamless experience while viewing the gorgeous scenery of the mountains, rivers and city views along the trail.”

The cities of Little Rock and North Little Rock, as well as Pu laski County, maintain sections of the trail. Dunn believes the shared commitment of local municipalities and corporate spon sors has helped the sport continue to grow in the region. Arvest Bank was the 2022 presenting sponsor, and the event’s sponsor ship roster is filled with other big-name Arkansas companies.

“Fortunately, some of our early riders were also people with businesses and business connections in the Little Rock area,” he said. “That has been very helpful from a sponsorship standpoint. We continue to be good caretakers of those relationships by mak ing sure our sponsors see our ride as a good value, and that their organization supports health and fitness in our community.”

The BDB rides outgrew their original starting point and now begin on the north side of the river, where more room affords the ability to use corrals for the starts. The “Finale Fest” finish

The BDB 100 has grown into one of the largest events of its kind in the country and is popular with out-of-state cycling clubs supported by local, regional and national sponsors.

line was moved from Argenta, or downtown North Little Rock, for the same reason.

The courses themselves were chosen for their natural beau ty, accessibility and safety for riders where traffic is concerned, Dunn noted.

“Crossing the Big Dam Bridge is the most important part of the course, and it fans out from there.”

The nonprofit Big Dam Bridge Foundation uses race pro ceeds to promote cycling, walking and running on the Big Dam Bridge and throughout the Arkansas River Trail. But it provides other benefits as well.

“The foundation is a steward of the money we raise each year, bringing programming and brick-and-mortar projects to our area,” Dunn said. “We built permanent restrooms on the Little Rock side of the bridge, and recently, a new plaza opened on the North Little Rock side. This wouldn’t be possible without the money we raise from the Big Dam Bridge 100.”

The BDB 100 checks several boxes. It provides local riders

with a unique and potentially challenging outdoor recreation opportunity; it attracts thousands of visitors to the state, who, as Tierny noted, spend money at hotels and restaurants; and it showcases the beauty of The Natural State.

“I think it’s also important for our city leadership to see how many people are willing to spend money in our community when they are given the opportunity to enjoy an event or our trails,” Tierny said.

If These Walls Could Talk: BARTON COLISEUM

By Katie Zakrzewski

Onthe Arkansas State Fairgrounds in Little Rock stands a building as iconic as its Roman namesake. The Barton Coliseum was a trendsetter for Natural State entertainment venues. The Barton Coliseum walked so that the Simmons Bank Arena and Walmart AMP could run.

Since its inception, the Barton Coliseum has seen many varied and historical events. From monster trucks to music, from rodeos to basket ball, it has been the center of Little Rock’s enter tainment culture for seven decades.

Barton Coliseum was built in 1952 as an entertainment venue for the Central Arkansas area. At the time, the Coliseum was Arkansas’s largest public building, containing over 6,750 permanent seats, with 3,000 portable floor seats.

The Coliseum was dedicated and named after Thom as Harry Barton, a colonel, philanthropist and, most no tably, a pioneer oilman who oversaw Lion Oil Company.

Originally from Texas, Barton dropped out of Texas A & M College when funds became limited and entered the U.S. Army. In 1906, he moved to Arkansas, where he was assigned the rank of captain in the Arkansas National Guard. With the arrival of World War I, Barton began to assist in organizing and training cavalry regiments. He re mained in the Army Reserve for 16 years, until 1936.

Days after oil was discovered in El Dorado, Arkan sas, in January of 1901, Barton organized the Natural Gas Company before becoming the principal stockholder of the Lion Oil Refining Company. When the company was on the brink of collapse, Barton took over the company and turned it around with incredible success. His reputa tion as a successful oilman spread.

Around the same time, the Arkansas Livestock Show

T.H. Barton

Association was struggling to find a new location for the Arkansas State Fair. The Fair had been held at various locations throughout the state since 1868, and the Great Depression had taken its toll on the annual pastime. The Arkansas Livestock Show Association saw the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: They could promote diversified agricultural and ani mal development in Arkansas if given the right plat form, and Arkansans could have a stable and reliable state fair.

The Association asked Barton to be their leader, and Barton accepted. Barton held the position from 1937 until 1959 – just a year before his death – spending over 20 years working in tandem with the Arkansas Livestock Show Association and the Ar kansas State Fair.

A huge blow was dealt to Barton and the Association when, dur ing the 1941 state fair, a a fire destroyed the large rodeo stadium and cattle barn on the fairgrounds, which were in North Little Rock at that time, where the Sherman Park Recreation Center is today.

But when one door closes, another one opens, and the rodeo fire of 1941 was no exception.

“Originally referred to as the rodeo arena and then as the rodeo coliseum, the structure that would rise at the center of the new state fairgrounds was an echo of the old rodeo stadium that was lost to fire at the North Little Rock fair location in 1941,” explained Callie Wil liams, education and outreach coordinator for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.

“The rodeo was an early major draw for crowds at the fair, and the ticket sales helped to underpin the livestock shows. However, the early rodeos and livestock shows were constantly plagued by rain and general bad weather. Creating a space that could be shielded from the elements was seen as a desperate need for the growing fair grounds,” Williams said.

“Also, the memory of a disastrous rain in 1938, that almost de stroyed the fair’s future before it had a chance to get off the ground, was surely a factor in the decision to build what would become Bar ton Coliseum,” she added.

In the late 1940s, the state legislature and other investors desig nated money to build six new structures – two cattle barns, two dairy cow barns, a pig barn and the rodeo venue. Cement shortages led to some final construction delays, but Arkansans were already in awe of the structure, which echoed Little Rock’s existing War Memorial Stadium on Fair Park.

Heavy rain in 1949 reinforced the importance of continuing the construction of the Coliseum. A roof structure was placed under the guidance of the Baldwin Construction Company, which was the parent firm of today’s better-known Baldwin and Shell. Several con struction accidents delayed completion, but finally, in the early 1950s, the Barton Coliseum was completed.

The fully aluminum clad roof (using only Arkansas aluminum) was completed just days before the 1950 state fair, making the Coli seum the largest aluminum-roofed building in the U.S.

At the 1950 state fair rodeo, Gov. Sid McMath noted during a speech that, “We’re going to complete this big structure.” While the Coliseum itself was finished, the location still needed an exterior, paved concourse behind the stands, the outside walls and all of the amenities, such as restrooms and air conditioning. Plans to complete the exterior brick and tile walls were laid in 1951. The State Livestock Association voted to name the building in honor of Barton, for his

Noted by local newspapers as being “the finest arena in the south,” with only four arenas in the nation being larger – those in New York, Chicago, St. Louis and San Francisco.

years of hard work in leading and promoting the Association and the annual state fair and livestock show.

When the Barton Coliseum was formally dedicated in 1952, it was noted by local newspapers as being “the finest arena in the South,” with only four arenas in the nation being larger – those in New York, Chicago, St. Louis and San Francisco.

“The final cost in 1952 was set at just over $750,000 with an ad ditional $500,000 noted as being needed to finish out the building will all the necessary amenities. By 1953, it was noted in local newspa per reports that Col. Barton had again invested his own money and installed flooring for the arena, that would allow basketball games to be played in the building,” Williams said.

Barton Coliseum would soon become an iconic lo cation for Arkansas sports – serving as the home court for the University of Arkan sas at Little Rock Trojans basketball team, the defunct Arkansas GlacierCats of the Western Professional Hockey League, and the defunct Arkansas Impact of the Premier Basketball League. Barton Coliseum also hosted several Sun Belt Conference men’s bas ketball tournaments.

After nearly a decade of consistent use by rodeos, basketball teams, local and state animal shows and various other events, the Barton Coliseum began hosting headliner concerts throughout the year.

“When you look at the list of concerts held there, realize that

all the acts listed from the 1950s and 1960s were state fair acts. But through the 1970s and 1980s — definitely Barton’s glory days — the pace quickened, and the popularity of the acts increased,” said Ar kansas Money and Politics contributor Kelley Bass. “Many of us who’ve lived in Little Rock most of our lives have come to realize the fact our hometown sits at the confluence of In terstates 30 and 40 has its benefits (other than super heavy 18-wheeler traffic).”

In November of 1963, the first largescale concert was held at the Coliseim, featuring the Sam and Dave Review and Dance. The African American R&B duo wrote the song “Soul Man,” which would go on to be a popular single for The Blues Brothers. Barton Coliseum, in all its glory, became the happening place for music throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

The Barton Coliseum hosted performances that didn’t rely on the state fair, including Jimmy Buffett, KISS, Loretta Lynn, Black Sab bath, Tina Turner, The Monkees, Bon Jovi, AC/DC, Elton John, Van Halen, Aerosmith, ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Journey, George Strait, The Eagles and many others.

famous Arkansas rock groupie known to frequent Barton

“One

Barton Coliseum, in all its glory, became the happening place for music throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Coliseum was ‘Sweet Sweet Connie,’ or Connie Hamzy Parente, of Little Rock. Her adventures as a groupie during the 1970s were fea tured in the song ‘We’re an American Band’ by Grand Funk Railroad, who played Barton Coliseum in 1973 and 1975,” said Williams. “The song was written in July of 1973, and features the line, ‘Last night in Little Rock, put me in a haze / Sweet, sweet Connie doin’ her act / She had the whole show, and that’s a natural fact’ in reference to their show in Little Rock in February of 1973. She was later profiled in Cos mopolitan in 1974, after the song rose to No. 1 on the U.S. charts.”

Eventually, one musical tragedy, in particular, would lead to an interesting historical exhibit about Barton Coliseum at the Old State House Museum.

On Oct. 20, 1977, Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines and Cassie Gaines, members of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd, were killed in a plane crash in Mississippi. They were on their way to Baton Rouge to perform at Louisiana State University, before traveling to Little Rock for a concert at Barton Coliseum on Oct. 23. Lynyrd Skynyrd had played before at Barton Coliseum to a sell-out crowd. The concert was canceled, and many who had purchased tickets returned them for a refund. A 2019 search through Barton Coliseum for historical items revealed a stash of original tickets from the canceled concert. Those tickets went on to be part of the Old State House Museum’s “Play It Loud: Concerts at Barton Coliseum” exhibit.

Bass noted that 63 Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Famers and 37 Country Music Hall of Famers played at Barton. Only three artists who played there were in both halls of fame: The Everly Brothers, John Cash and Elvis Presley. More than 1,700 bands have performed on the Barton stage in its nearly 60-year history.

“In 1999, with the opening of the larger Alltel Arena (now known as the Simmons Bank Arena), many concerts and sporting events were moved to the newer and larger arena across the river in North Little Rock,” Williams said. “By 2012, Barton Coliseum had been the venue for over 525 major concerts, from bands ranging from country western to rap, to R&B, to soul, to heavy metal, to beach rock.”

The Coliseum’s influence is undeniable, as Ralph S. Wilcox, na tional register and survey coordinator for the Arkansas Historic Pres ervation Program, said: “The Arkansas State Fairgrounds Historic District has played an important part in the entertainment and rec reational history of Little Rock and the surrounding area. Since the completion of the Barton Coliseum, it has been the premiere concert venue in Little Rock, hosting hundreds of concerts and other events.”

The Barton Coliseum was added to the National Register of His toric Places in the spring of 2022. And while not as busy as the Sim mons Bank Arena when it comes to hosting shows these days, the Barton Coliseum still hosts knife and gun shoes, flower shows, circus performers and robotics competitions.

THE HAIL MARY

By Kenneth Heard

Whenit comes to following a favorite professional foot ball team, I’m a stranger in a strange land.

I live in Arkansas – a hotbed of support for the Dallas Cowboys, but because of a single play that hap pened nearly half a century ago, I can’t stand “America’s Team.” It’s a grudge I carried from childhood through middle ages and even now into my later years.

It involved one of the nicest players in football against my beloved Minne sota Vikings, and it created a religious name for the play, and similar plays that followed, in the decades since.

I grew up in a small college town in northern Minnesota and became a Vikings fan when I first learned about football. The team actu ally held summer camp at Bemidji State University, where my father taught, and my friends and I would go to the college sta dium to watch the team. This was years ago, remember, when football players were accessible, and not prima donnas with pos ses and security agents keeping the fans away.

We’d climb over a fence that separated our grade school playground from the stadium, and watch as Joe Kapp and Mick Tingelhoff and Roy Winston practiced and became our heroes.

So, the team was a family of sorts – making what happened on Dec. 28, 1975, that much worse.

Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach, the clean-cut Navy graduate who never cursed, caused cussing aplenty that day. With 24 seconds remaining in a playoff game between the Cow boys and Vikings, Staubach heaved a 50-yard pass to Drew Pearson who, depending on who you rooted for, either pushed Vikings defender Nate Wright in a blatant pass interference penalty, or made a miraculous catch and scampered in for the winning score, 17-14. Staubach later told reporters that he prayed during that play and threw what he called a “Hail Mary” pass.

“Hail Mary?” I thought after it happened. “More like hell, Roger.”

Because of my support of the Vikings, I chose to believe the Vikes’ Wright was wronged in that game. Dallas went on to Su per Bowl X, losing to Pittsburgh, and giving me only a slight sense of revenge.

Now, nearly 47 years later, the pain is still there. And because I live within an eye poke of one of the points on the Cowboy’s blue star logo, I hear about the team constantly from fans. I used

to work in an office in which the building superintendent was related by marriage to Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones’ wife. The superintendent built a shrine to the Cowboys with photographs, game tickets and field passes in a prominent place in the build ing. I suggested it may be more appropriate to move the display to the building’s bathroom. He suggested it may be more appro priate for me to find a new office.

The Cowboys are everywhere here. The team takes prece dence on the sports pages of the state’s newspaper. On Sundays in the fall, when I would leave church, I’d turn on the car radio and be treated to Cowboy game broadcasts. I felt like turning around, heading back to the chapel and begging forgiveness for the sinful thoughts that suddenly popped in my head.

Such is the nature of sports mania. “Fan,” you know, is a de rivative of “fanatic.” You follow a team, and it becomes a vital part of your life. The Vikings win – I’m happy. They lose – I lose. As an obsessive sports fan, I take losses, especially those like that 1975 Dallas game, very personally. My first heartache didn’t oc cur over some girl dumping me, but instead when Kansas City beat Minnesota in Super Bowl IV in 1970.

Granted, historically, Dallas is a better team than Minnesota. The Vikings went to four Super Bowls and lost them all. Dallas has won five championships. But, that doesn’t matter.

Sports stay with you. My ill feelings continue toward a team, hinging on that single pass play that happened so long ago.

As this year’s NFL season is underway, I notice that the Vi kings will host Dallas in a game in Minneapolis on Nov. 20. May be, just maybe, a Vikings win will help ease some of the animos ity I’ve carried for so long.

Left to Right: Dawn Hughes, MD, and Stacey Johnson, APRN

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