LeAnn Dilbeck

marketing and communication skills early on for her company, Dilbeck Marketing Firm.

Dilbeck said, “In the years that I had Dilbeck Marketing Firm, I had the privilege of serving customers in tourism, healthcare, banking, aviation, and hospitality. I have not only watched each of those sectors grow but Mena overall has grown in diversity. Our area has seen an influx of new residents over the last few years who are discovering what many of us, who are natives, have always known. I truly believe Mena is perfectly poised with all of the right leadership in place, and resources identified, to explode economically.”

Those leadership possibilities include careers for women.

Dilbeck is also a board member of CASA of the Ouachita Region (Court Appointed Special Advocates); has served numerous terms on the Mena Polk County Chamber of Commerce, serving as president in 2022; a member of the Arkansas Regional Coalition of the Ouachitas; and The Crossing.

Her past community involvement includes serving on the Mena Depot Commission, Mena Lioness Club, consulting for the Mena Advertising/Promotion Commission, Mena Regional Health System Foundation, and Arkansas Community Colleges (ACC).

LeAnn Dilbeck, who was recently named Senior Vice-President for Union Bankshares, Inc. began her 25-plus year career at Union Bank, followed by several other ventures in between.

Dilbeck is a graduate of Henderson State University with a degree in marketing and a minor in communications. She utilized her

Dilbeck said, “I do believe job opportunities have certainly expanded for women. Technology itself has opened the door wide open and job opportunities are not based solely on your location. For a short time after we sold The Pulse, I worked for a New York based non-profit organization. We were all located across the country and would meet virtually weekly and then travel to service areas around the globe when needed. Living in this area is certainly no longer a limitation, if you don’t allow it to be.”

She was honored as the B.P.O.E. 2007 Citizen of the Year, 2006 AHA Diamond Award, 2015 RMCC/ACC Alumnus of the Year, and is a 2019 graduate of the ACC Leadership Institute. She was most recently the Vice-Chancellor for External Affairs at the University of Arkansas Rich Mountain.

She and her husband, David, previously owned and operated The Polk County Pulse before selling to Bunyard Media Group in 2015.

Despite Mena’s small-town atmosphere, and all of Polk County for that matter, Dilbeck has managed to find prospects where she was told the opportunity didn’t exist.

“My advice is to ‘Think outside of the box.’ I was told that I would never be able to do anything with a marketing degree in Mena, Arkansas and nothing has been further from the truth. At the time I finished college, no one was providing professional marketing service which screamed opportunity. When I had my first child, I wanted to stay home but needed a full-time income. I left a promising job at Union Bank to stay home and was able to do consulting work regionally – and that was at the very early days of the internet (showing my age). I was able to earn a good income, control my schedule, and be completely available to my family just like a “stay at home” mom. I was able to have the best of both worlds. I may have been a bit sleep deprived but it was important to me so it was completely worth it. David has always been my greatest cheerleader and supported me with all of my ‘out of the box’ ideas.”

The Dilbecks have two children. Their son Dustin and daughter Lexi.

“First and foremost, I consider my greatest accomplishment in life to be my two amazing children. They are intrinsically good people who love God and have a deep desire to serve to make the world a better place.”

Acorn E.A.S.T. students putting skills to task

Submitted by Tammy L. Young

Acorn High School E.A.S.T. students; Braylan Bohlman, Noah Holland, Elijah Badger and Luis Basilio have started a project that goes back to our “reduce, reuse, recycle” roots. Badger originally had the idea of fixing some things that were in need of repair and began searching around and found some electronic devices that were in need of minor or major repair.

Soon, Bohlman, Holland and Basilio got on board with the project and have all put their skills to the tasks at hand. Thus far, they have repaired an Alienware computer that was disposed of and an Oculus Virtual Reality headset, both of which were in need of repair.

Currently, the students are looking for other electronic devices to repair and repurpose. If you have any computers/game consoles or electronics to be disposed of and can donate, contact Scott Bohlman, Acorn High School E.A.S.T. Instructor.

The mission of E.A.S.T. Initia -