Ridge. He grew up in nearby Summerfield, Louisiana, and played college ball in Ruston at Louisiana Tech. In the south Arkansas community, he has been active with Rotary International, the South Arkansas Regional Airport Commission, the El Dorado Economic Development Board, the Arkansas State Police Commission and two local chambers of commerce, on top of being named Time magazine’s national Dealer of the Year for 2014.
| Les Smith
Arkansas Colleges of Health Education
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es Smith is the senior vice president and chief of staff at the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education in Fort Smith, a role he has had since March 2024. He joined ACHE in 2019 as chief business strategy officer, bringing more than 20 years of experience from Arvest Bank, where he advanced from teller to executive vice president and loan manager. In addition to his role at ACHE, Smith is a member of the board of directors for Mercy Health Fort Smith Communities. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in finance from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and a graduate banking and finance degree from Louisiana State University.
| William Tedford Jr.
Stephens Group Asset Management
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illiam Tedford Jr., the chairman of Stephens Group Asset Management, works with clients and their portfolios and also oversees marketing and research for the firm. Tedford has been in the investment business since 1965. Prior to the establishment of SGAM, he had a 51-year career at Stephens. From 1996 to 2017, he was executive vice president, director of fixed income strategy and chairman of the asset allocation and advisory committee of Stephens Capital Management. From 1982 to 1995, Tedford was manager of the equity division of Stephens. In 1989, Tedford served as chairman of the board of governors of the National Association of Securities Dealers, the self-regulatory arm of the securities industry and the predecessor of what is today known as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. In addition, he served on the board of directors at Nasdaq. A Little Rock native, Tedford has been married to his wife, Pat, for 63 years.
| Wayne Smith Oaklawn
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native of Narragansett, Rhode Island, and a graduate of Northeastern University in Boston, Wayne Smith began his career in public accounting and finance before moving on to corporate accounting at ITT Sheraton, where he focused on hospitality. Smith served in senior management positions at MGM Mirage, MGM Grand Las Vegas, MGM Grand Detroit and Caesars Entertainment, as well as Empire City Racing and Gaming in New York and Penn National in Illinois, where he brought more than 28 years of successful and diverse gaming industry experience. In 2017, Smith was named the general manager of Oaklawn Hot Springs and is only the sixth person to hold that title in Oaklawn’s 115-year history. For more than two decades, Smith has been an active volunteer at multiple community and charitable organizations. He has served as a board member of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. He serves as a commissioner at the Hot Springs Advertising & Promotion Commission and is an executive board member of Fifty for the Future, for which he served as president in 2020. His dedication to the growth and betterment of the Hot Springs community has also led him to sit on several local advisory committees.
| Sarah Thomas The Venture Center
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arah Thomas is program manager for strategic partnerships and programs at the Venture Center in Little Rock. She is also a yoga instructor at Sage Health and a district leader for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. She previously served as community outreach specialist and emergency preparedness coordinator for Community Health Centers of Arkansas. She received a Master of Public Health from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock and received diabetes training from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta.
| Jeff Teague
| Lenore Trammell
Citizens Bank
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eff Teague has been CEO of Citizens Bank since June, but his connection to the company goes back a lot further than that. In 2021, he was named chairman and CEO of Citizens Bancshares, the holding company for Citizens Bank of Batesville. The bank was founded by the grandfather of his wife, Sarah, more than 70 years ago. Before taking the reins, he owned Teague Auto Group, which included Teague Chevrolet, Teague Toyota and Teague Ford, all in El Dorado. He entered the car business in 1981, when he and his father bought a Chevrolet-Oldsmobile dealership in Walnut JAN UA RY 2 02 5
Big River Steel
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enore Trammell joined Osceola’s Big River Steel in 2014 as chief compliance officer and general counsel, and chief administrative officer was added to her titles in 2019. She also serves on Big River Steel’s executive committee and is the executive sponsor of the employee resource group, NextGen. Her career in steel manufacturing began in sales and pricing for Rouge Steel. Trammell is president of the Greater Memphis Chapter of the International Association of Women.
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