Our Little Rock Office Has Moved! RMP is excited to announce that our Little Rock Office has moved to the Simmons Bank building located off of Chenal Parkway. This move allows us more room to grow our footprint in Little Rock in order to meet our clients’ and future clients’ demands for quality legal services. Our new address is:
17901 Chenal Parkway, Suite 200 Little Rock, AR 72223
501-954-9000
info@rmp.law rmp.law
Joseph D. Reece
Lee Moore Neal Pendergraft
Hugh Crisp has been a trial lawyer for 39 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 injuries. These are some of the most difficult cases imaginable, due to having to learn the medicine for each case and applying the law to the circumstances to each case.
Instances of medical malpractice are when a patient is harmed by the negligent acts or admissions of 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 field of medical malpractice. 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 as one of the best lawyers in the field of medical malpractice, as well as peer-reviewed associations such as being a Mid-South Super Lawyers honoree for many years, and as well as 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.
Employers are choosing to help employees save for education through after-tax direct deposits into their Arkansas Brighter Future 529 account.
So little by little, with each paycheck, employees can build their education savings. Best of all, offering this innovative benefit requires no
added costs, systems or contracts. Bottom line: it’s a win-win for you and your employees.
Look into adding the Arkansas Brighter Future 529 Plan to your benefits package today. It is a great way to show current and potential employees you support their dreams.
FEATURES
MADAME BARRISTER
October 2025
PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER
Heather Baker | hbaker@armoneyandpolitics.com
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
| The Digs of the Deal
| The Last Word
Jamie Jones Walsworth of Little Rock’s prestigious Friday firm may not see the wild drama typical of the 1980s hit TV show L.A. Law, but she stays busy.
U.S. courtrooms have operated in much the same manner for centuries, but the industry has been forced to play catch-up when it comes to technology.
Female professionals have long warned of the glass ceiling, but the broken rung may have an even bigger impact on women’s careers.
A study published in August indicated that college graduates between ages 23 and 27 are being hit with an average unemployment rate of 4.59 percent.
Lawyers may have inspired a tongue-in-cheek quote from Shakespeare, but where would we be with them? This month, we recognize some of the state’s best.
Once again, we asked readers to share their preferred professionals across a host of industries, and they delivered. Here are 100 of ‘em.
The Central Arkansas Library System’s Main Library in downtown Little Rock was reimagined, renovated and reopened in October.
For nonprofits, turning a philanthropic feeling into functional fundraising takes more than good intentions, though it is a good place to start.
They say nothing is certain but death and taxes, but perhaps there is a close third: Wherever there are Republicans, tax cuts will be on the agenda.
Retired Army Col. Marcus Jones is a man with a plan — a plan to help the Democratic Party of Arkansas grow its political foothold in a very red state.
Dwain Hebda | dwain@armoneyandpolitics.com
SENIOR EDITOR
Mark Carter | mcarter@armoneyandpolitics.com
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Mak Millard | mmillard@armoneyandpolitics.com
EDITORIAL COORDINATOR
Darlene Hebda | darlene@armoneyandpolitics.com
COPY EDITOR
Sarah DeClerk | sdeclerk@armoneyandpolitics.com
STAFF WRITERS
Doug Crise | dcrise@armoneyandpolitics.com
Alex Hardgrave | ahardgrave@armoneyandpolitics.com
Kassi Bissel, Mary LeSieur, Lori Sparkman, Lisa Van Hook, DeWaine Duncan, Dr. Donald Norwood, Ryan Parker 8
There is an old adage when it comes to volunteering: Do it once, and you’re hooked. This very idea lies at the heart of how nonprofits operate in Arkansas.
Arkansas organizations are adjusting to the Trump Administration’s more measured hand when it comes to federal funding for nonprofits.
The athletics directors at the state’s Division 1 colleges not located in Fayetteville are weighing the benefits of opting in to the new revenue sharing.
Jessica Everson | jeverson@armoneyandpolitics.com
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CONTRIBUTORS
AMP magazine is published monthly, Volume VIII, Issue 6 AMP magazine (ISSN 2162-7754) is published monthly by AY Media Group, 910 W. Second St., Suite 200, Little Rock, AR 72201. Periodicals postage paid at Little Rock, AR, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to AMP, 910 W. Second St., Suite 200, Little Rock, AR 72201. Subscription Inquiries: Subscription rate is $28 for one year (12 issues). Single issues are available upon request for $10. For subscriptions, inquiries or address changes, call 501-244-9700. The contents of AMP are copyrighted, and material contained herein may not be copied or reproduced in any manner without the written permission of the publisher. Articles in AMP should not be considered specific advice, as individual circumstances vary. Products and services advertised in the magazine are not necessarily endorsed by AMP. Please recycle this magazine.
SINCE 1900, WE’VE BELIEVED IN
moving forward.
Since 1900, WLJ has followed one simple rule to stay on the Wright side of history – always move forward.
From our roots as a railroad litigation firm – which helped lay the tracks for a modern nation – to our leadership in the technologies and industries of tomorrow, our pioneering spirit is enduring.
We’ve helped Arkansas advance and grow for 125 years, with unwavering commitment to professionalism and advocacy. And we've built a vibrant, forward-thinking culture that has been recognized as a "Best Place to Work" for eight consecutive years.
We are dedicated to progress in our communities, too, annually supporting more than 120 organizations statewide through our volunteerism and philanthropy. We're honored to help guide their growth, protect their purpose and advocate for their mission.
We believe in building a stronger Arkansas for the next 125 years.
We hope you believe, too.
FINGL SS KELLI ON THE COVER
When Kelli Finglass lands in Little Rock for her much-anticipated Oct. 21 appearance at the Little Rock Touchdown Club, it will be a homecoming in more ways than one.
The story starts on Page 14.
Photo provided by the Dallas Cowboys.
TAMMIE DAVIS
Simmons Bank
CORRECTIONS
In the September issue of AMP, the bios or headshots of several members of “Women in Banking” and “Achievers in Their Forties” were listed incorrectly. The correct versions are listed below:
2025 WOMEN IN BANKING ACHIEVERS IN THEIR FORTIES
Senior Vice President for Community Strategy and Performance
Tammie Davis currently serves as senior vice president for community strategy and performance, overseeing comprehensive strategies for the community banking division that optimize sales, service and operational excellence across the business line. A member of Arkansas nonprofit Fifty for the Future, Davis served as the 2024 Heart Ball chair for the American Heart Association. She also served on St. Jude’s leadership team for the Justin Moore Golf Classic from 2021 to 2022, as co-chair for Ronald McDonald House’s Chocolate Fantasy Ball in 2010 and as a past board member for Baptist Health Long Term Care Hospital. She is a graduate of Leadership Greater Little Rock and has served in a variety of leadership roles for the Rotary Club of Little Rock. Davis has a Bachelor of Science in accounting from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
MEGAN ELLER
Chief Experience Officer
Farmers Bank & Trust
Megan Eller is chief experience officer at Farmers Bank & Trust, where she leads initiatives to enhance customer service and support across the bank’s footprint. She began her career at Farmers 17 years ago as a part-time teller while attending Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in finance. Over the years, Eller advanced through positions in retail banking, including branch manager, branch administrator and branch administration manager, before being named to the executive team. She was part of the inaugural branch administration team created in 2018, a pivotal step in strengthening support for Farmers’ retail staff.
SARAH MYERS
Agricultural Loan Officer II
Farmers Bank & Trust
David Alexander
Chief Risk & Strategy Officer
Farmers Bank & Trust
David Alexander is chief risk and strategy officer at Farmers Bank & Trust, where he helps guide the bank’s long-term growth while ensuring its strength and stability by providing leadership that balances innovation with sound governance. He oversees enterprise risk management, internal audit and compliance, as well as the bank’s information security program. Since joining the bank in 2015, Alexander has strengthened internal controls, developed its enterprise risk framework, and advised executive leadership on decisions shaping the bank’s future. Previously, he worked in public accounting as a senior auditor at Frost. He is a certified public accountant and a graduate of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Colorado.
Lyndsey Dumas Gilbert
Vice President of Education
Arkansas Hospital Association
Sarah Myers is an agricultural loan officer at Farmers Bank & Trust, where she helps farmers and ranchers access the resources they need to succeed. With more than 16 years of lending experience and a degree in agricultural business from Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, she brings both financial expertise and firsthand agricultural knowledge to her role. As the co-owner of a poultry and cattle farm in Nashville, Arkansas, with her husband, Mark, Myers has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities in today’s market — insight that allows her to better serve her lending clients. She also shares her passion for agriculture with her daughters, Claire and Avery, who are active in rodeo, while she and Mark team rope together. She serves her community as a member of the Rotary Club and as a board member for the Howard County Children’s Center and Howard County Farm Bureau.
BRANDI RAY
Commercial Loan Officer, AVP
Farmers Bank & Trust
Brandi Ray is a commercial loan officer at Farmers Bank & Trust, where she brings more than 20 years of banking experience to her clients and community. She began her career as a teller before advancing through roles as loan assistant, retail lender and retail loan officer, gaining a well-rounded perspective on customer needs. Ray is an active leader beyond the bank as well. She completed the Hot Spring County Leadership Forum, served on the Arkansas Bankers Association Board of Directors and chaired the ABA’s Group 3.
Lyndsey Dumas Gilbert has dedicated 21 years to the Arkansas Hospital Association, serving the past 11 years as vice president of education. As a member of AHA’s senior leadership team, she is responsible for planning, coordinating and delivering educational programs, both in-person and virtually, to the association’s 105 member hospitals and health care organizations. She also serves as the primary administrator for the association’s membership engagement management system, which facilitates communication and connection with member hospital employees. In addition, she oversees AHA’s emergency preparedness initiatives, collaborating closely with the Arkansas Department of Health and various federal and state partners to support readiness efforts. She has both a bachelor’s degree and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.
Kelly Phillips Shareholder Bell & Co.
Kelly Phillips is a shareholder and leader of the tax department at Bell & Co., a top-500 accounting firm headquartered in North Little Rock. Since joining the firm in 2009, she has become known for her technical expertise, client-focused approach and commitment to developing staff. Phillips plays a key role in driving the firm’s growth and is recognized as one of the first of the next generation of shareholders shaping Bell & Co.’s future. Her leadership emphasizes collaboration, client service and innovation, ensuring the firm continues its more than 40-year tradition of delivering trusted accounting and advisory services across Arkansas and beyond.
By Mark Carter
COACHING SEARCHES AND ELVIS SIGHTINGS
It only took two days following the dismissal of Sam Pittman as head Hog for the rumors to reach the stratosphere — only this time, the rumor in question was not about Jon Gruden.
A regular on a popular Razorback message board posted Sept. 30 that someone he knows who is “very close to the program,” told him Nick Saban was flown to Fayetteville Saturday night following the Notre Dame debacle to speak with university officials.
Perhaps Saban was invited to consult and advise. Lord knows we seem to need both consultation and advice on the Hill when it comes to setting up the football program for success in this new age. What better brain to pick than Saban’s?
Then again, insiders don’t stay insiders by leaking information.
to ?
The next two months are going to be entertaining, if nothing else, as Bobby Petrino auditions for his final act as a Power 4 head coach and Hog fans speculate, track planes and monitor the color of ties.
Man, I love coaching searches. Just as Christmas tends to fill the hearts of man with kindness — for a little while anyway — coaching searches fill the minds of fans with inside sources and unrealistic expectations. Of course, these days, Hog fans’ expectations have understandably been lowered.
The poster in question was merely reporting what he’d been told, and it is certainly within the realm of possibility that Saban accepted the invitation — but not likely within the realm of plausibility. It is way more likely that our poster was taking advantage of coaching-search season and having some fun at readers’ expense.
The same thread went on to “report” that Saban was flown in on Rob Walton’s plane. Again, is it possible? Sure. Perhaps an invitation was offered, and Saban accepted. After all, he had to fly home anyway following ESPN’s College GameDay at Penn State. And maybe he had a Vrbo property on Beaver Lake to check in on. Why then not detour to northwest Arkansas for a quick visit? Never hurts to listen, right?
PUBLISHER’S LETTER
IOne thing is clear this time around though. Unlike the last coaching search six years ago, the program is not at an historic low. It was absolutely time to let Pittman go, maybe even past time, but no one could argue that Sam did not leave the program in better shape than he found it. He pulled the program out of the ditch.
Granted, there was nowhere to go but up, but we could’ve spun our wheels in that ditch for another year or two, and we didn’t.
We’ve pulled a Calipari out of our collective hat — or rather, John Tyson’s hat. Maybe we’ll shock the world again and drop a Gruden (endorsed by Brett Favre for our job, no less) — or even a Saban? — on the college football world. In a weird way, would that not be so Arkansas?
I’ll settle for a Petrino (depending on the results of the audition) or, better yet, a Sumrall. Maybe a Lashlee, Dillingham or Mullen, anyone?
This time around, there are some good options. But if CBP really didn’t come to paint, and we’ll know soon enough, then our man is already in place and this fall’s search — and all the Elvis sightings that surely will accompany it — is pure gravy.
By Heather Baker
ROLLING INTO FALL WITH THE DCC
’m excited for fall — I’ve already got my Christmas decorations up — for cooler temperatures and for the strings of holidays about to unfold. I’m also excited for this October issue. As you can see from our cover, we’ve got Kelli Finglass, the executive director of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, featured this month.
The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are so much more than a complementary piece of the Cowboys home-game experience — they are an American institution. Editor-inchief Dwain Hebda sat down with Kelli to learn just how hard a job she holds and get a behind-the-scenes look at her operation.
This month’s issue also includes packages devoted to the legal industry, nonprofits and our annual look at the state’s top professionals.
Inside, you’ll find the “Legal Elite,” the best lawyers in the state as voted by Arkansas Money & Politics readers, as well as a look at women in the field and legal trends; some of the state’s most successful nonprofits and how they make a buck go a long way; and our list of “Top 100 Professionals,” again, as voted by readers.
We’ll also look at equal opportunities for female professionals, five essential skills for today’s professionals and more.
Plus, we’ll preview John Calipari’s upcoming second season on the Hill.
There is lots to digest amid all the Halloween candy. As always, thanks for reading. Hit me up with story ideas at hbaker@ armoneyandpolitics.com.
Heather Baker (Photo by Jason Burt)
Investing in People The Strongest Foundation a Company Can Build
By Kassi Bissell
After spending my career in human resources, I have learned that benefits are never a “onesize-fits-all” solution. People are motivated by different things at different stages of their lives and careers, and what feels meaningful to one employee may not register for another.
That’s why HR leaders must constantly ask themselves: Does our benefits package truly serve all of our people? Beyond the standard health and retirement plans, are we offering programs that reflect who we are as a company and what matters most to our teams?
In today’s environment, it’s no longer enough to simply check the boxes. If we want to attract, retain and inspire top talent, we have to think outside the box. We have to go beyond the traditional and create benefits that not only provide security but also instill pride, recognition, advancement and a sense of belonging. The most effective programs are those that are immersed in the company’s culture — celebrated openly, talked about often and designed to support the needs of the workforce.
When I joined Lexicon as vice president of human resources earlier this year, I was struck immediately by how deeply this company cares for its people. Employee benefits aren’t tucked away in a handbook but are instead visible in everyday conversations and in the pride employees take in their work. They’re part of the company’s DNA, shaping a culture where people feel genuinely valued for the long haul.
That commitment shows up in many ways, from comprehensive health and retirement plans to Lexicon University, which helps employees grow their skills and advance their careers and to Strong as Steel: Building Mental Might, our initiative supporting mental health and well-being. These are investments in people, and they demonstrate our desire for people to build lasting careers here, not just show up for a job.
One of the clearest examples of this philosophy is our 20-year recognition program. Since 2002 — when company founder Tom Schueck began this program — we’ve honored employees who reach two decades of service with a special celebration and a $10,000
all-taxes-paid bonus. It’s a benefit as distinctive as it is meaningful, and it speaks to the loyalty that defines Lexicon.
Kassi Bissell
This month, we will celebrate 13 more team members who have reached that milestone and share their stories of perseverance, teamwork and dedication. Over the years, this program has provided millions of dollars in recognition to those who have made Lexicon their professional home, and it has become a cornerstone of our overall benefits package.
What stands out to me most, though, is not just the dollar amount or the ceremony itself. It is the way employees light up when they talk about what it means to be recognized in such a personal way. It reinforces that longevity matters, that their work matters and that they matter. At a time when companies across industries struggle with retention and engagement, I believe Lexicon offers an example worth sharing — take care of your people, and they will take care of you.
As I continue my journey here, I am grateful to walk into a culture where this is already the standard, where leadership has long understood that competitive benefits and heartfelt recognition are more than perks; they are necessities for building a strong, loyal workforce. My role is to continue that legacy, listen to our employees and find even more ways to support them both personally and professionally.
The steel we build lasts for generations, and so does the impact of investing in people. That is what drew me to Lexicon and what makes me proud every day to call it home.
Kassi Bissell is the vice president of human resources at Lexicon, a Little Rock-based steel manufacturer.
Breathing Easier in the Fight Against Lung Cancer
By Dr. Donald Norwood
It’s fall, and respiratory illnesses are circulating, so you attribute your nagging cough to the common cold — or perhaps, you think, it’s allergies from the abundance of leaves on the ground.
But despite taking over-the-counter medicines, the cough continues to linger and, concerningly, worsens. Alas, life is busy, so you decide to push through and wait to discuss the issue with your primary-care physician at your next wellness check.
The coughing persists, soon becoming so disruptive at home and work that you are forced to seek medical care. Following a litany of scans and tests, doctors say four words that will change your life: “You have lung cancer.” It’s a diagnosis that the American Cancer Society estimates more than 2,600 Arkansans will hear by the end of 2025. Sometimes referred to as the “silent killer,” the ACS notes, “More people die of lung cancer than colon, breast and prostate cancers combined.” That’s because the disease can often go undetected since symptoms frequently don’t appear until the cancer is advanced, when treatment options are less likely to be curative. Arkansas is particularly affected by lung cancer. Today, the American Lung Association states that our rate of new cases — 68.2 per 10,0000 people — is significantly higher than the national average of 53.6.
Lancet Public Health states, “Lung cancer screening [with low-dose CT scans] is a key strategy in reducing lung-cancer mortality through early diagnosis and effective treatment.”
In fact, research shows that the five-year survival rate for lung cancer jumps to nearly 65 percent if diagnosed in a localized stage. The American Lung Association reiterates: “If everyone considered high risk for lung cancer were screened, about 25,000 lives would be saved” across the U.S. every year. Current or former smokers ages 50 to 80 with a smoking history of 20 pack years and in generally good health with no history or signs or symptoms of lung cancer should talk to their health care providers about receiving a low-dose CT scan.
Dr. Donald Norwood
There’s no sugarcoating it. The statistics about lung cancer are alarming, but amid the data, there’s a reason to feel hopeful about saving more lives from the disease in our state. Year after year, we are seeing an increase in lung cancer survivability. We can attribute these continued strides to a trio of factors: tobacco cessation, early detection through greater utilization of lowdose CT scans and advances in treatment.
According to the ACS, more than 80 percent of lung cancers — and the same percentage of all lung cancer deaths — are caused by smoking, with patients’ risk rising with the quantity and duration of use. While researchers continue to study the long-term health effects of vaping, Advances in Respiratory Medicine found that, “There is evidence to suggest that e-cigarette use may [also] increase the risk of cancer.” The good news is that today, perhaps more than ever, people are quitting smoking or not starting at all. With the decline in tobacco use, the lung cancer mortality rate has subsequently dropped.
In addition to tobacco cessation, The online journal The
Recent advances in treatment have further accelerated declines in lung cancer mortality rates, including for early-stage tumors and more advanced Stage 4 disease that has metastasized.
The ACS found the death rate has decreased by nearly 5 percent in men and 4 percent in women between 2013 and 2022 alone. That’s why expanding eligible patients’ access to clinical trials — like we’re doing right here at CARTI — is vital. As Translational Lung Cancer Research affirms, advances “hold the potential to enhance lung cancer prognosis significantly.”
In its latest annual report, the American Lung Association stated that the five-year survival rate for lung cancer in Arkansas is 22.6 percent, well below the national average. However, over the past five years, our rate improved by 15 percent. Although this progress should be celebrated, we can’t breathe easy just yet. October is Healthy Lung Month — an opportunity to recommit to spreading awareness about the value of risk reduction and early detection in the fight against lung cancer.
With increased tobacco cessation interventions, greater access to low-dose CT scans and continued investments in clinical research, I believe there is real hope in the fight against lung cancer. In October and year-round, I encourage those interested in checking their eligibility or that of a loved one for a low-dose CT scan to visit screening.carti.com.
Dr. Donald Norwood is the medical director of imaging services and a fellowship-trained diagnostic radiologist at CARTI, a not-for-profit multidisciplinary cancer care provider with 18 locations across the state and Arkansas’s first cancer-focused surgery center.
DEPLOYING AI: Lessons From Our Journey
By Lisa Van Hook
Artificial intelligence has become a defining force across industries, including ours. Our company, The Communications Group, is a multimillion-dollar, full-service marketing, public relations and advertising company headquartered in Little Rock with a client roster of recognized global, North American, regional and local brands.
As a professional services agency, the question was never whether to use artificial intelligence, but how to deploy it responsibly and effectively. The challenge for us lies in balancing innovation with ethics, speed with accuracy and efficiency with human judgment.
Recently, we explored this balance firsthand. The process has provided key takeaways that we believe are valuable for leaders considering how AI fits within their own operations.
Like many organizations, ComGroup’s first encounters with AI were ad hoc. Individual team members experimented with generative text tools, language models and data-enhanced workflows. Some used AI to draft early concepts, while others applied it to research and analysis. This grassroots adoption quickly revealed both the potential and the risks: Productivity gains were real, but questions about accuracy, intellectual property and ethics loomed large.
We recognized the need for consistency, so we moved from informal use to increased internal discussion. From these discussions, we created a more deliberate organizational strategy, which included research into how AI was evolving across our client sectors, the regulatory and legal questions at play, and the ethical guardrails we considered essential. That process led us to articulate our pledge for responsible AI use, a framework that guides our teams today. We added our AI pledge to our website, but fully expect to revisit and revise as AI continues to evolve in the coming months and years.
One of the most important lessons we learned is that adopting AI is not simply a technical decision; it is a values decision. For our agency and clients, reputation is built on trust, credibility, deep expertise, ethical behavior and exceptional outcomes. If any of our AI use undermined those values, no productivity gain would be worth the trade-off.
To address that, we established guiding principles that anchor ComGroup’s AI usage:
AI is an aid, not a replacement. In our company, the expertise of our team members remains central to our work. AI complements but does not substitute for our judgment and skill.
Verification is mandatory. Every AI-generated output must be cross-checked and validated.
Alignment with client interests is nonnegotiable. We only use AI when it improves outcomes for our clients and stakeholders.
When applied thoughtfully, AI has accelerated and improved core elements of our work.
•Content development: Drafting content, outlines and reports is faster. We use AI tools to transcribe audio recordings and to summarize meeting notes. We spend less time starting from scratch and more time refining strategy and messaging.
•Research and monitoring: AI tools help us scan large volumes of information quickly, spot trends, review large volumes of industry-specific data and identify risks. We still have to apply our own analysis, but ultimately, this strengthens our situational awareness on client projects.
•Process efficiency: From internal documentation to project management, AI tools have helped us streamline repetitive tasks, freeing us to focus on higher-value strategy.
Our adoption process was not without challenges. Several lessons stand out for us:
•Training builds confidence: Our staff needed more than technical know-how; they needed clarity on ethics and strategy. Ongoing education and professional development have been critical.
•Balance speed with rigor: While AI accelerates some work, shortcuts can compromise quality, even on lower-level repetitive tasks. Verification and oversight processes remain nonnegotiable.
•Adaptation is ongoing: AI evolves rapidly. We continue to revisit our policies, tools and practices to stay relevant and responsible.
In our experience, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to AI integration. The real question is not just what AI can do but how it can strengthen your organization’s mission and relationships. By focusing on values, oversight and continuous learning, leaders can unlock the efficiencies of AI without losing sight of what matters most — and without losing the human touch.
Artificial intelligence is reshaping how we operate and deliver value. For our company, the opportunity lies in weaving AI into our workflows without sacrificing the qualities our clients and partners value most — integrity, expertise, creativity and results.
The lesson we carry forward is clear: AI succeeds for us at The Communications Group not when it replaces human intelligence but when it strengthens it. Our AI journey continues, and it is exciting. It’s been one of trial, learning, recalibration and then more learning but through it, we’ve built frameworks that reflect our core values and support our clients’ and our company’s growth.
You can see more of our conversation around our AI pledge on our website, comgroup.com, and on our social media channels. Drop us a line on LinkedIn about lessons you’ve learned along your AI journey.
Lisa Van Hook is president of The Communications Group, a full-service marketing, public relations and advertising firm based in Little Rock.
Lisa Van Hook
COMMUNITY CHOICE CHECKING
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders director set to dazzle LRTDC America’s
By Dwain Hebda | Photos provided by DCC
hen Kelli Finglass lands in Little Rock for her much-anticipated Oct. 21 appearance at the Little Rock Touchdown Club, it will be a homecoming in more ways than one. Besides being in the thick of Dallas Cowboys fan country, the longtime director of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders spent a good deal of time in the state growing up — her grandmother was from Little Rock and is buried in Cabot, and family reunions were held in the Natural State, in addition to regular pilgrimages to Stuttgart for
Not that Finglass feels out of place much. When you’re part of one of the most iconic dance and entertainment franchises in the world for four decades and have a hit Netflix series on your hands chronicling the current squad and its leadership, fame precedes you, and everyplace you hang your hat is home.
Sweetheart
From Lindale, Texas, Finglass enrolled at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, from which she auditioned for and made the first of five DCC squads. A natural showstopper, she so epitomized the DCC ethic that she is still the only woman to have made her fifth year without being required to audition. Following her retirement and armed with an international marketing degree from the University of North Texas, she was set to join UPS when she was hired by Arkansan and new Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones as an assistant director to the DCC in 1989. She took a brief detour to the sales and promotions department before being promoted to director of the cheerleaders in 1991 at age 27.
Since then, she has preserved the quality of the team’s reputation while pushing it relentlessly forward. Employing a savvy entrepreneurial sense while keeping out opportunists, exploitation and controversy, her time at the helm has grown DCC into a cultural phenomenon unequaled since its humble founding in the early 1960s. Merchandise, public service and enshrinement of a DCC uniform in the Smithsonian all came on her watch, along with hundreds of television and stage appearances and epic live performances, including with legendary rock band Queen and the iconic Dolly Parton.
Finglass and the squad have also been the centerpiece of reality television for nearly 20 years, starting with CMT’s
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team, for which she served as executive producer and which aired from 2006 to 2021. Netflix’s America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders followed in 2024. Because of the series, Variety declared Finglass one of its “Most Powerful Wom-
en on Reality TV.” The show is currently in production for its third season.
Arkansas Money & Politics sat down with Finglass to learn of life in the hottest spotlight in sports entertainment.
Q: For little girls growing up in Lindale, Texas, during your era, what did you aspire to be?
A: You know, growing up in east Texas, everything was about Friday-night football. The culture starts early with getting to go to pep rallies that highlight the football team. In Lindale in particular, our marching band was highly, highly acclaimed. I knew I wanted to be in the band, and I wanted to be a twirler. I liked their costumes, I liked music, and I really wanted to someday be the drum major. Fortunately for me, it all came true and laid the groundwork for the career I have right now.
I went to TCU as a dance major, and then, at the end of that year, I tried out for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, and when I made cheerleader is when I kind of pressed pause on college. When I did that, my dance appetite was completely fulfilled with being a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader.
Q: Anyone who saw the Netflix series America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys saw what a culture shock it was when Jerry Jones bought the team. What was that like from the inside?
Finglass struts her stuff in the old Texas Stadium.
“I was told I was picked for my smile.” A flamboyant performer, Finglass was also a leader of her DCC squads in the mid- to late 1980s before joining the Cowboys front office and the Jones family’s inner circle.
A: There were cheerleaders at the time that walked out when Jerry bought the team because they’d heard of all these changes he was making. I’d just retired, I was finished with the Cowboys, and they walked out of Valley Ranch over to my apartment to voice their concerns about it. I’m like, “Well, has anybody talked to Jerry? I mean, where are y’all getting this information?”
When Jerry bought the team, I don’t think he realized he was also going to be managing probably the world’s largest
ambassadors of dance. I don’t think he realized the visibility of it all, so I called the offices and spoke with his assistant to ask for a meeting and [to] discuss why these cheerleaders walked off and that I thought they needed to communicate with him to know what’s going on. Jerry had that meeting, and I wasn’t there, but he spoke with them, and they all came back the next day. The rest is history.
Q: Suzanne Mitchell, who was director while you were on the team, is credited
with setting the mold of the modern Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. What did you learn from her?
A: I had a great relationship with Suzanne. She was the right director for me. She carried a big stick in the entire Dallas Cowboys organization. Besides being our director, she was [former president and general manager] Tex Schramm’s right-hand woman, so she had a lot of power. She led our group with great discipline, perhaps intimidation a little bit. She was a natural leader and my style of
leader. Anybody who didn’t want to conform and play by the team rules would not have fared well with Suzanne, but I did, and I thrived under her. She was also the right person because when the cheerleaders really exploded in the 1970s, Hollywood and Playboy and everything in between was coming for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, and they needed a strong protector-style director.
Q: Back then, they didn’t necessarily use terms like “creating a brand,” but that is, in fact, what the star and DCC represent. Was that something that really came to be during your time as director?
A: No, that started under Suzanne’s leadership. We were definitely a culture of tradition and pride and honor, almost like the military. It was very natural for me when I became in charge to say, “We’re going to do this over this, and we’re not going to do this.” I’m not a big fan of the word “brand.” I bought into the legacy and the responsibility of it.
Q: You have a degree in marketing. How did you apply business sense to the DCC?
A: Jerry wanted the cheerleaders to at least pay for themselves, not be a cost center. I’ll never forget my first meeting with the department heads. I had my yellow legal pad where I’d written out this list of things that in my heart and my head I thought the cheerleaders could do to help generate a profit while also staying consistent with who they were. For example, many of the cheerleaders are great dance teachers, so we started dance camps. The cheerleaders are beautiful models. There’s modeling agencies all over Dallas. Why don’t our girls model at corporate appearances? I took what I thought we already did well and tried to build business models while staying aligned with who the cheerleaders were without overcommercializing it.
With Jerry, if you had an idea, he wanted to try it. It was fun. I’m an idea person, and I got to explore all of my ideas.
Q: Let’s say for the next tryout, you receive an audition video from your younger self. What would your assessment be of this former drum major from Lindale, Texas? Would you have put her on the squad?
A: As a technical dancer, 1984 Kelli compared to the 2025 dancers, I would’ve probably scored, let’s give me a B-minus. Discipline, field projection, showmanship — I would’ve given me an A. I had showmanship, and I was told I was picked for my smile. That came easy to me, the confidence on a football field.
I had a genuineness, thinking back. I wish I could find my original application, which had about 10 essay questions. I probably sent in a 23-page document, so I, as director, would’ve seen me as being an overachiever, someone who would’ve been a good teammate and a good leader on the field.
Also, while I did not initially have the same technical skills that they have today, I got better every year. Our choreographer was a very skilled teacher, and I absolutely became a better dancer because of her. In terms of my style, I was front and center by the end of my career because of projection and power. I was a very clean, powerful dancer. I could do the high kicks with a big smile.
I think I’m probably more of a cheerleader’s cheerleader now and a motivator and a developer. I like seeing them reach their potential. I like to find the good in people. It’s very rare that I give up on a cheerleader.
Finglass has
also spent considerable time and energy strengthening the connection between current cheerleaders and the vast DCC alumni.
Q: You hold the unique distinction of not having to audition for your final season. What did that mean to you?
A: Everyone auditioned in May, and my fifth year, I was right on the cusp of graduating college and taking that first job. I remember being on the phone with Suzanne, and I wasn’t sure I was going to try out for a fifth year, and she told me, “You don’t need to try out. You have nothing more to prove to me. You can have a spot on the squad without auditioning.” It took the pressure off, so I took my fifth year, and I’m glad I did because it was a great final chapter for me. We’ve never done it since, so that was a big honor, especially coming from her, for sure.
Q: Is there something special in the DCC culture about reaching fifth year?
A: Well, it used to be very rare. When I became a fifth-year cheerleader, I can only think of one other girl who’d done it, so it was very unique. I made a big deal of it later. We had a gold necklace made. It was our original logo with a yellow rose. I started giving that after I became director, and when we had a cheerleader that went for five years, I gave her a fifthyear charm. I guess it became one more milestone if somebody could get their fifth-year charm and be in that special group. It’s more common now — I had two five-year cheerleaders last year, and I have five this year — but it’s still an incredibly long commitment. The average is three years.
Q: Talk about the challenges of transitioning from team member to director.
A: It was very natural for me. People had looked to me as a group leader and a team captain and almost Suzanne’s assistant on the team, so I started off strong. In fact, I was pretty ruthless. I was very strict and very stern and very unbendable. I’ve evolved somewhat. Some things are still very black and white for me, but I’ve learned through the years. I think I’m probably more of a cheerleader’s cheerleader now and a motivator and a developer. I like seeing them reach their potential. I like to find the good in people. It’s very rare that I give up on a cheerleader. Even if she’s made a mistake, I try to help correct that. I started with a much more stern, intolerant style, and I guess that’s because that was Suzanne’s style, and that’s just all I knew.
Q: America’s Sweethearts, especially the second season, delves into some really vulnerable moments that show a human side to its cast — including you — that reality TV generally does not capture.
A: The TV show actually helped me because even I was learning things about the girls. Oh my God, I have one cheerleader who takes collect calls from her father who’s incarcerated. I have another cheerleader who just lost her father. I have another cheerleader who’s battling a medical condition that affects her confidence. There were so many backstories of the cheerleaders and their families, and I just see them more holistically than I used to. It’s been a journey.
Q: What has kept the DCC so far ahead of not just other pro football franchises but pro sports all the way around?
A: Well, I think we had the right idea at the right time in the ‘70s. I give that credit to Tex Schramm and Dee Brock, the original director, and Texie Waterman, the original choreographer, and then eventually Suzanne. They made a conscious decision to have beautiful women in a star-spangled costume that no one had seen on the sidelines of the NFL in
Finglass with former cheerleader and current DCC head choreographer Judy Trammell.
the glamor of Dallas, Texas. We were winning Super Bowls in the ‘70s. Dallas was the biggest show on TV. There was just something exceptionally glamorous about being associated with Dallas, and we’ve stayed true to a glamorous line of exceptional dancers.
Sometimes I think people try to be different, and then you’re just not identifiable. The cheerleaders, they’re recognizable all over the world. We have not changed the uniform; we’ve enhanced it. I’ve added crystals and designer buckles and Lucchese boots, but we’ve stayed true to what worked.
We’ve stayed aggressive with our TV real estate. We’ve stayed aggressive with our media appearances. I like the cheerleaders to perform with legendarycaliber entertainers. I’m a big Queen fan, and I’d just seen the movie Bohemian Rhapsody and got ultraobsessed. Queen was touring, and I made the call and pushed, and when we got to perform with them, I mean, magic happened. The crowd went crazy.
I’ve tried to be very selective with
who we’ve performed with and aligned with. It’s the promoter in me. Now, because of the TV show, we have big, big names calling us, wanting us to do things with them. There’s one in particular that I can’t reveal right now, but we have very, very famous artists that want to have a performance or an appearance or this or that. You know, you’ve got to keep moving forward. Otherwise, we very easily, in the ‘80s when we started losing football games, could have just faded into history.
Q: The performance with Dolly Parton wearing a tricked-out Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders uniform had to be an alltimer, not to mention the ultimate childhood fantasy of many a middle-aged man.
A: Oh my God, I give her all the credit for that. We talked to her stylist, and I was sending him fabrics and notions, thinking she would do something Cowboysesque. We didn’t know until she walked out on that stage that she literally was in a DCC uniform that they had modified, but just barely. She rocked that uniform.
Q: With everything that’s going on, your schedule must be insane, yet you’ve said you have no immediate plans to call it a career. When all is said and done, what sustains you through everything you have in your career and your personal life?
A: Faith has kept me grounded. I love the word “righteous.” I think that’s a great guide word. I used to go out in my backyard with a cup of coffee, and I’d listen to a devotional, and I’d listen to Proverbs and just have kind of quiet time under my tree. These days, I’m trying to potty train a dog, unfortunately, and she’s just blown that whole formula to hell, but it’s still very important to me.
I do think, when you’re in a position that I’m in where I’m affecting other people’s lives, that it’s important that you have principles and show love. You care about people. You care about their spirit. You understand forgiveness. You understand mistakes. You try to inspire people. If I come to work rattled, which I can, and I do, it’s just not the best place for me to start, so I try to start my day off with quietness and with God.
Season 3 of Netflix’s America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders is on the way.
Jamie Jones Walsworth
For Friday firm partner, drama rare but problem-solving constant LR Law
By Mark Carter | Photo by Lori Sparkman
Whether Jamie Jones Walsworth chose law or it chose her, the Arkansas legal community is better off for the choice.
A Rogers native, Walsworth joined Little Rock’s venerable Friday, Eldredge & Clark firm after earning the highest score on the Arkansas bar exam in 2003. A partner in the firm’s litigation practice group and a member of its management committee, she was elected president of the Arkansas Bar Association earlier this year. Her curriculum vitae reads like a table of contents and might require a thumb drive to share.
Though she graduated magna cum laude from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville in 2000 with an undergraduate degree in psychology, her path always led to law. The legal profession, she said, gave her a chance to combine two passions — critical thinking and service. After earning her Juris Doctor in 2003 from the University of Kansas, where she was managing editor of Kansas Law Review and a member of Order of the Coif, an honor society for American law school graduates, she was quickly snatched up by the Friday firm.
Walsworth said she was ready to return home and begin honing her craft in courtrooms.
“Law gave me the chance to combine critical thinking with service. Litigation fit me because it’s dynamic and keeps you on your toes,” she said. “After law school, I went into litigation because I enjoy solving tough problems. When I first started practicing, I thought litigation would be all courtroom drama — but pretty quickly, I learned it’s really about preparation,
patience and people skills. The drama is rare, but relationships and problem-solving are constant, and that’s what hooked me. It is not about being the smartest person in the room but about being the hardest worker and most prepared.”
Satisfaction comes from becoming a specialist in a specific subject matter and then breaking it down for a jury, she added.
“Ultimately, a trial is a problem that we are asking the jury to solve, and as the attorney, I have to be able to break down the problem so that the jury comes to the solution favorable to my client’s position,” she said. “That is fun to do, and I actually enjoy the time it takes to learn the case and prepare for the trial.”
For Walsworth, it was litigation or bust.
“I did not consider any other specialties. In fact, when I was hired by the Friday firm, I called to make sure I was hired for litigation,” she said. “Buddy Sutton, the managing partner at the time, assured me that no one wanted me doing math — to my great relief.”
The inclination to community service set her up for success in the legal field, she said. After all, that hefty CV reveals numerous national awards, service on multiple national professional associations, inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America, and local volunteerism from Junior League of Little Rock to the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts in Little Rock.
Walsworth said community leadership taught her to listen, build consensus and lead with empathy — skills that directly translate into guiding clients through complex litigation.
“What is probably most important about my background
is that I learned early on the importance of community,” Walsworth said. “I was not raised with a lot of opportunities, but I was raised in a community which awarded hard work with opportunities and invested in me for whatever reason. Service and connections to your community is my most important lesson growing up and the backbone of my background.”
Launching her practice back home in Arkansas was an easy choice. Few places embody community as much as the Natural State, where perfect strangers can meet and, within minutes, find connections. Little Rock, a city of more than 200,000 anchoring a metro of roughly 750,000, has been called the biggest small town in America because of all those connections.
“This is home,” Walsworth said. “One thing I love about practicing here is that it feels like a small town even in the big cases. You know the lawyers, the judges, the clients. You’re really part of a community, and that makes the work meaningful. Coming back to Arkansas to invest in the community that believed in me was important.”
Balancing those legal scales with the human element represents the most challenging aspect of what she does, Walsworth said. Each case involves real people — businesses, families and individuals — and the stakes are often very high, she added.
Law, after all, is a service profession. Most of the time, those who hire a lawyer are not doing so as the result of good news.
counselors simply trying to find the best solution for all parties.
“Most people think of lawyers as adversarial, but in reality, a lot of our work is collaborative,” Walsworth said. “Even in litigation, much of what we do is negotiating, problem-solving and finding common ground. I’ve had cases where we were fierce advocates in court all day, then had dinner with opposing counsel that evening. At the end of the day, it is about respect and professionalism, not personal battles.
“What we do for a living is challenging — intellectually, time consuming — and civility and connections matter greatly,” she said.
Most of Walsworth’s work looks nothing like what consumers see depicted on the screen, silver or otherwise. LR law, it turns out, looks a lot different than L.A. Law
“It’s not nearly as dramatic as TV. Investigations are mostly careful, detailed work — digging through records, interviewing witnesses and connecting the dots. It’s really like putting together a massive jigsaw puzzle with a thousand missing pieces.
— Jamie Jones Walsworth Friday, Eldredge & Clark
“Keeping that perspective while managing the demands of the work is always a challenge,” she said. “Sometimes it’s just about being the person in your client’s corner, reminding them that someone is fighting for them and that they’re not alone. We’re there when people face some of their toughest moments, whether that’s a business crisis, a family dispute or a nonprofit trying to serve the community. All lawyers have had clients say, ‘I just need someone in my corner,’ and that’s what we do as lawyers — we stand with clients when they face something they can’t handle alone.”
Serving as an advocate for their clients is just one component to an attorney’s job. Lawyers also serve to protect the rule of law, and democratic, functional societies cannot operate without it.
“The rule of law establishes the norms of behavior for government and its citizens,” Walsworth said. “Lawyers, no matter what type of law they practice, play an important role of ensuring the process works. This is pivotal in protecting democracy for all Americans.”
Despite the pop-culture image of TV and movie lawyers battling it out in a courtroom with lives on the line, the stigma is overblown, she said. Drama, of course, is inherent to the industry on the criminal side, but otherwise, the drama often involves
“It’s not nearly as dramatic as TV,” she said. “Investigations are mostly careful, detailed work — digging through records, interviewing witnesses and connecting the dots. It’s really like putting together a massive jigsaw puzzle with a thousand missing pieces. The big dramatic reveals you see on TV are rare, but when the picture finally comes together, it’s incredibly satisfying.”
Walsworth does not have a “private investigator Friday” like Perry Mason’s Paul Drake at her disposal, but she gave credit to her in-house team of colleagues and experts.
“It’s very much a team effort,” she said. There is a reason why famous movie stars do not often portray tax or probate attorneys, after all. The legal “action,” the climactic battle scene, when it is there to be had, usually takes place in the courtroom — but is there an art to litigation? Can it be effectively learned?
“Litigation is about strategy, and a good strategist is both artist and scientist,” Walsworth said. “Litigation strategy can be learned, but the love for litigation is one that you either have or don’t have.”
These days, lawyers must adapt with changing times more quickly than ever before. The legal industry has evolved in many ways since Walsworth began practicing in 2003.
She cited three main aspects of the industry that have changed over her 20-plus years on the job: risk assessments, which changed civil litigation and resulted in settlements being more common than trials; advances in technology, which have revolutionized the practice of law; and, of course, COVID-19, which changed how everyone communicates, she said.
“Artificial intelligence, in particular, will have very real consequences to how we analyze and assess cases,” Walsworth said. “Lawyers will have to keep up with the technology and become good, prompt engineers.”
Will Bond
MCMATH WOODS
Whether he is standing in front of a Pulaski county judge or advocating for the Natural State, Will Bond is an individual with a passion for helping others through his work.
The medical malpractice lawyer of McMath Woods in Little Rock, former Arkansas state senator, former member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, former chairman of the Democratic Party of Arkansas and father of three got his start in the field of law after attending Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. With an original dream of being a baseball player, Bond retired a collegiate career after one season with the Commodores and was drawn to the legal field.
“I decided to go there because of the reputation of the school and because … I wanted to play college baseball,” Bond said. “I made the team and was a walk-on. … I was on the team for a year and traveled and played a little bit.”
After graduating with a degree in political science in 1992, Bond enrolled at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and began law school.
LEGAL ELITE
By Mary LeSieur
“Folks want to talk to their lawyer frequently, so I had to streamline the practice a little bit more. I got more focused on personal injury … insurance disputes and civil litigation,” Bond said.
“When I went to the legislature, I think I’d been practicing law for about eight years. That was helpful entering the legislature because I was familiar with different areas of the law [and] how legislative acts actually affected people, so that was very helpful.”
“I always had in the back of my mind that I would go to law school … so that kind of turned into a political science degree,” Bond said. “I wanted to be a trial lawyer — somebody who went to court.”
After graduating law school in 1995, Bond spent his first two years at Friday, Eldredge & Clark in Little Rock, where he learned the basics of his trade yet still felt a calling for something different. Like any strong-willed individual might, he decided to open his own firm and became a partner at Bond & O’Brien.
“I wanted to have a broader practice to get into court more quickly,” Bond said. “[I] moved to Jacksonville and set up a practice with my longtime childhood friend Pat O’Brien. … We did a little bit of everything. I did a lot of divorce, custody, and I started doing personal injury cases there. I had an interest in helping folks who were injured, and my practice began to move more in that direction.”
Around the same time Bond launched Bond & O’Brien, which soon morphed into Bond & Chamberlain, he decided to run for his mother’s seat as a state representative for his hometown. Bond won the seat, but he said the move narrowed what he could do legally due to the time commitment.
His stint in politics was not short lived, and only three years later, he was elected chair of the Democratic Party of Arkansas in 2011. He served there until 2013. Like clockwork, Bond was once again headed for the statehouse four years later, becoming a member of the Arkansas Senate representing the 32nd district.
“It made me a better trial lawyer,” Bond said. “That was very helpful to me getting ready to be in court even more as my career went on.”
During his service to the 32nd District, Bond & Chamberlain merged with McMath Woods in 2010. The McMath Woods law firm offers a wide and varied scope of experienced lawyers covering everything from personal injury to environmental law.
“They really focus on trying to help people and then doing good work — professional work for our clients,” Bond said. “One thing that we try to do is never sort of take our eye off the ball. We’re trying to win for our clients in every case and do the best job we can for them every time.”
Bond said lawyers rarely meet perfection, and although they strive for it, another aspect of being a lawyer is humility.
“You’re going to have days that aren’t perfect,” Bond said. “You’re going to make some mistakes. You’re not always going to be perfect, so you have to be able to know to laugh at yourself, not take yourself too seriously, but always know that every day we come to the office, we’re trying to do our best in a very professional manner for each one of our clients.”
When Bond is not conquering the legislature, advocating for his clients or reading over his upcoming court appearances, he lives a simple life.
Bond and his wife, Gabriel, have recently declared themselves “empty nesters” and enjoy visiting their children at their universities. Bond says he still keeps up with baseball and politics.
The multifaceted lawyer wears many hats: a dad, a former politician, a partner and a voice for Arkansans. Through his dedication to his clients and his state, Bond’s service heart does not go unnoticed.
LADY JUSTICE
When Will Jones was elected prosecuting attorney for the 6th Judicial District Office in 2023, he had big changes in mind to help the office run more efficiently, from implementing new technological tools to strengthening ties with law enforcement and other entities serving victims of crime.
Understanding how hard such changes can be, especially in the largest judicial district in the state of Arkansas, he sought to create a leadership team as resolute toward internal improvement as they were tenacious in the courtroom. As it turned out, in four out of the five roles on that team, the best man for the job was a woman.
“You know, Nick Saban used to say quite regularly that you’ve got to get the right people on the bus and then get the right people in the right seat on the bus,” he said. “We put people in positions based on what we saw and their leadership, and once we got them and some division chiefs underneath them in the right positions, our office has taken off.”
the trendline began to nose upward in the 1970s until the number of women enrolled in and graduating from U.S. law schools surpassed men for the first time in 2016.
a majority of full-time law school faculty members (49.2 percent at the start of last academic year).
The news is not all rosy, since women are still in the distinct minority when it comes to attaining partner (28 percent) and equity partner (22 percent). Positions of firm leadership fare even worse in the case of women as managing partners (12 percent), governance committee members (28 percent) and practice group leaders (27 percent).
While Jones was quick to point out that every one of the four women was promoted on merit alone, collectively, they paint a vivid picture of the fundamental shift happening in the legal world when it comes to women at all levels — and not just in central Arkansas.
The catalyst for that sea change has been a long time coming but, once set in motion, has moved with surprising speed. After generations in the minority,
According to the American Bar Association’s 2024 Women in the Legal Profession, women have held that majority every year since, including last year, when they represented more than 56 percent of students in ABA-approved law schools
That advantage has carried over into multiple areas of the legal profession. The ABA reported women became the majority of general lawyers in the federal government in 2020 (51.5 percent); the majority of law firm associates in 2023 (50.3 percent) and, this year, were predicted to represent
However, other positions have improved steadily. Zippia’s curated statistics reveal that among the nearly 10,000 prosecutors in the U.S., 45 percent are women, as are about 40 percent of the roughly 4,000 assistant prosecutors. For Jones, however, the proof is in the performance. Through his leadership team’s efforts, the office has enjoyed streamlined field operations, stronger connections in the community and an accelerated clearing of case backlogs, progress he said validates his team’s abilities over their gender. At the same time, he acknowledged it was a welcome bonus to have women in leadership roles to inspire the next generation to similar achievement.
“These four women, who I appreciate so much, were promoted into these leadership positions, which allowed them to grow and blossom and use their creativity and all their talents and their voice in the way the office works,” he said. “Once we did that, we haven’t looked back.”
Casey Beard, from left, Kelly Ward, Victoria Wadley and Melissa Brown at the office of prosecuting attorney Will Jones are working to better the lives of Arkansans in and outside the courtroom.
(Photo by Jane Colclasure)
Prosecuting attorney’s office benefits from women in leadership
KELLY WARD
Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney
Kelly Ward is a true product of her environment. The youngest of her siblings, she was always driven to outperform, which, with a professional educator for a mother, often meant excelling in the classroom. Her desire to stand out stoked a natural competitive streak that would occasionally get the best of her.
“I remember when I was probably 3 or 4, Mom had started teaching me to read and do math,” she said. “We had done all this addition, and then she tried to teach me subtraction, and I didn’t understand it. I got every single problem wrong, and she marked it with a red pen. I was so upset. I remember ripping it up and throwing it down and just kind of throwing a fit.”
Ward’s father, an investigator for an insurance company, also played into her future career. He coached her in softball, a sport in which she would, in customary overachiever fashion, play every position. Even today, she easily draws a parallel between excellence on the field and in the rough-and-tumble courtroom.
“My dad always said, ‘You can play whatever position on the field you want to play, and you can be the best you want to be at that position. You just have to practice. There’s nobody that is going to put in more work than you will,’” she said. “When I started [practicing law] in 2001, there weren’t as many female attorneys as there are now, and I was always going up against men. I never really thought about that. I just thought about, ‘I’ve got to be the best I can be. I’ve got to figure this out.’”
Not unlike her playing days, Ward has shown a utilitarian quality in her legal career. She started in the prosecutor’s office and then launched her own firm, where she provided criminal defense. She returned to her prosecutorial
roots in 2023, but looking back, she said despite being on opposite sides of the courtroom, there was not much difference in her approach.
“At first, they do seem at odds, and at first, when I went into private practice, it felt like driving on the wrong side of the road,” she said. “The way I explain it is my thing was I always wanted to help people. As a prosecutor, I felt like I was helping people from a macro view, trying to help the community as a whole. As a defense attorney, you’re really microfocused because you’re trying to help this one person.
“In both cases, you have an ethical duty to make sure you do everything that you can to argue for your clients, and that was very serious to me, that ethical duty of helping this person, so in that way, it’s very similar. The thing that brought me back to the prosecutor’s office was I felt like I could help more people here.”
CASEY BEARD
Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney
Casey Beard may be the newest face around the prosecutor’s office, having joined the team in 2023, but she did so with the wind of more than two decades of legal experience at her back.
Beard, a native of Hot Springs, spent 20 years as a public defender in the juvenile circuit division, where she advocated for youth within the justice system, a legal specialty that fit her personality, she said.
“I’m naturally a bit of a social worker with a law degree,” Beard said. “I found I had the ability to be relational and to show people my heart and to be vulnerable with them, even in my 20s. I feel like my natural empathic side was able to get me some credibility and buy-in with not only my clients and their families but also with the courts.”
Beard not only gained the respect of
By Dwain Hebda
the local legal apparatus in arguing cases but also dove into youth justice and system reform. She has been asked to speak as a changemaker at national conferences and regularly appears in interviews and on podcasts, where she discusses the critical need for equitable and developmentally appropriate practices in juvenile justice. She said investing the extra time and effort sprang from the same well of compassion that got her into the legal field in the first place.
“I guess it was my dream job in a lot of ways,” she said. “I don’t know that I ever had a day where I didn’t want to show up at work. I don’t know that I ever had a day where I didn’t feel like it was rewarding, even if it’s a thankless job at times. As a result, there was never a day where I didn’t feel like I was the very best person to be sitting next to my client because I was going to always make sure that they were being handled the way that an individual should be handled as a human in that system.”
As she has stepped into her current role, Beard said she has discovered who she is as a leader, the better to help the people under her do the best job they can in bringing about justice.
“I have had to develop leadership skills,” she said. “I don’t know that it was farfetched for me because I was in leadership in college and my sorority, and I’m the oldest in birth order, so some of that does come naturally, but pouring into a younger generation was probably my biggest learning curve.
“I believe I am successful at being a leader by knowing when people need to decompress. My office door is always open, and if I can pour into people and make them feel heard and make them be better at using their own voice or their own skills, then I think that’s a good way to lead.
MELISSA BROWN
Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney
Melissa Brown cannot point to one single event or individual that led her to a legal career — just a drive she felt to help people who had fallen victim to crime that dates back to high school.
A native of Mississippi, she earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law, during which time she first stepped foot inside the prosecuting attorney’s office in 2012, an experience that solidified her path in the profession.
“I had been working at the office while I was in law school for my second and third year,” she said. “Once I got into it, I just really loved the work. I loved being in a position to help victims and try to ensure that justice is served. It’s hard to describe. It’s just like this is what I’m supposed to do.”
Part of her role includes directing the domestic violence and sexual assault unit, a continuation of the types of cases she has dealt with her entire career. Her advice to the staff attorneys under her goes beyond legal strategy and case preparation to matters such as maintaining perspective and the necessity of preserving mental health in the face of the stress of such cases.
“I always tell everybody: The only thing that we can do is the best that we can do,” she said. “Things aren’t always going to turn out the way that we want them to. As long as we’re doing our best and working our hardest, then that’s going to be enough.
“We also try to recognize that there are long days, and we try to help everyone understand that if they’ve had a long day, it’s OK to go home. I always encourage everybody to, you know, find what it is that works for you and take that time to kind of reset. It is different for everybody. Some people want to go play with animals. Some people want to go sit on
a patio and chat with a friend. Some people just want to sit on the couch. The point is you’ve just got to recognize you have to take time when you need it.”
In her current role, Brown has been able to introduce some improvements to help gather information and streamline the prep work of adjudicating cases. She has done so by strengthening partnerships in the community with relevant stakeholders.
“We’ve done a really good job increasing our communication and our level of cooperation and pulling in more partners,” she said. “We’re on the crimes against children task force, and we work closely with the Children’s Protection Center. I think as an entire office, we’re just better connected with our different partners to where we can all sit down in the same room and have a meeting and talk about something, make a decision and move forward.”
VICTORIA WADLEY
Senior
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney
In college, Victoria Wadley lived the life of a collegiate athlete, including practices, competitions and 4 a.m. workouts, all while balancing a full class load.
After graduating from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, a brief foray into teaching saw her splitting her time between instruction, coaching the Cabot High School swim team and, ultimately, attending law school at night.
It was the ideal training ground for her life at the prosecutor’s office, which started with a summer clerkship in 2019 and continued through finishing law school and passing the bar months apart in 2020 and, ultimately, joining the office full time in 2021.
“I think the things about being an athlete that roll over into this world is you have to be consistent, and you have to be disciplined even when it’s hard. Some of being an athlete is very mundane, but
you have to commit to it even when you don’t feel like doing it,” she said. “My previous career as an educator laid the groundwork for a leadership role. As a high school teacher, I was leading students every single day, whether that was through teaching them new content or coaching them. Those skills I learned while I was a teacher.
“I think that helped me here because most of my peers went straight out of law school at 23, 24, to start their new careers. I started at the prosecutor’s office when I was 30 or 31, having had a whole different career before starting here.”
One of the main improvements Wadley has brought about in her current role has been to strengthen ties with law enforcement through training and education. She said after getting over some initial hesitancy in places, the initiative is paying off.
“I will say that it was definitely a road that was not paved at the beginning,” she said. “In the beginning, it was very hard to have quality conversations with law enforcement and that was not so much adversarial by any means. A lot of it was many had not been asked their opinion or asked for their insight before, so they didn’t know how to interact with me when I was asking them for their thoughts.”
“I would also say that from the beginning to now, it has come so far. I have realized that they all want to do a really great job. When we talk to detectives on the front end, like, ‘OK, I see that you did this, this and this. Is there a reason why you didn’t do X, Y and Z?’ It’s usually something they just didn’t think about. We’ve found they really want to know what jurors need to hear during trial or learn how they can testify better because they’re vocalizing those things that they want us to help them with. It really has transformed our office’s relationship with law enforcement.”
Jurist Law Group, PLLC
Elder Law • Estate Planning
With the senior population in the U.S. growing and health care costs skyrocketing right alongside, most families look forward to conversations about elder care and estate planning with dread rather than confidence. Many of those concerns can be allayed with the help of an expert in elder law such as D. Kimbro Stephens, managing attorney at Jurist Law Group in Little Rock. With the right preparation, families can ensure their aging loved ones qualify for Medicaid without having to exhaust all of their assets beforehand.
“At the very least, we can protect a person’s home from liquidation to pay for nursing home care,” Stephens said. “A person should never sell their home to pay for care when Medicaid exempts the home as a resource; however, it is best to place the home in a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust in the event it is sold to protect the proceeds from Medicaid spend down.”
A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust, or MAPT, should be established at least five years before care is needed. The trust allows the recipient to maintain control over assets, including the family home, and keeps the home from being subject to estate recovery — meaning the home will not be sold to repay Medicaid after the loved one has passed away. What is more, even if the home does need to be sold during the recipient’s lifetime, the trust ensures proceeds from the sale do not count as a resource that would disqualify the individual from Medicaid.
“I recommend the Medicaid Asset Protection Trust for most people over the age of 65 as the best practice to protect assets from creditors, lawsuits and counting as a resource for Medicaid eligibility,” Stephens said.
Preserving assets is still possible for those without an MAPT who are in need
Be Prepared
Plan ahead to make the most of Medicaid eligibility with the help of Jurist Law Group
of more immediate nursing home care, however. The family of a recipient can retain up to 100 percent of their assets if the recipient is married and at least 50 percent, in most cases, if the recipient is single. In either scenario, the benefits of Medicaid coverage do not have to come at the price of financial devastation for one’s family — and knowledgeable attorneys like those at Jurist Law Group are there to ensure just that.
“I wish people would seek professional guidance to discover how they can make protected gifts to qualify for Medicaid by repositioning assets within the family,” Stephens said.
D. Kimbro Stephens, Esq.
“I wish people would seek professional guidance to discover how they can make protected gifts to qualify for Medicaid by repositioning assets within the family.”
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By transferring assets to the family for safekeeping, a single person can preserve 50 percent or more of their assets while still qualifying for Medicaid. This method cuts down the time needed to qualify for Medicaid by half, providing a way to protect significant portions of the estate. Couples can transfer assets to the well spouse, and that spouse can then use liquid assets to purchase a Medicaid-compliant income annuity, which ensures the couple qualifies for Medicaid while protecting their resources. The well spouse retains full control over the family’s assets, and Medicaid coverage can begin immediately.
“All persons should consider Medicaid planning as soon as they reach the age of 65,” Stephens said. “Preplanning one’s estate to protect assets from Medicaid spend down in the future is the best practice.”
As with any aspect of one’s senior years, planning ahead is essential to making sure one’s wishes are fulfilled and reducing any unnecessary strain on loved ones. With the help of an experienced elder law attorney such as Stephens, families can take advantage of the strategies that best fit their unique needs and circumstances while securing the quality care their aging loved ones deserve.
Jurist Law Group provides expertise in the field of elder law, specializing in helping seniors and their families find workable solutions for protecting family assets from the high costs of long-term care. Find out more and get a no-risk consultation by calling 501-400-8250 or visiting juristlawgroup.com.
Jurist Law Group
Tools Trade OF THE
As one of the oldest professions in American society, the practice of law is traditionally one of the steadiest industries there is. Based on precedent and standing on tradition, U.S. courtrooms have operated in much the same manner for centuries, so it is with no small sense of unease that the industry has been forced to catch up to the rest of the world, especially as it pertains to technology in the name of innovation and change.
That change has hit suddenly and profoundly, shifting the way attorneys interact with clients, the courts and each other, and adapting to it easily represents the biggest challenge of the modern judicial system.
Kristin Pawlik, a partner at Miller, Butler, Schneider, Pawlik, Rozzell, which has offices in Rogers and Fayetteville, is an at-
Attorneys discuss their biggest challenges, industry trends
By Dwain Hebda
torney dealing in high-conflict divorce, child custody matters, employment and some criminal defense. She said technology has not only crossed the courtroom threshold, but it has become integral in the adjudication of cases due to its pervasiveness in client’s lives.
“I think it started probably early on in my practice handling family law and employment cases, where the social media aspect of it really had a lot of influence,” she said. “From the client perspective, they’re putting a lot more information about themselves out there for other people to see, and even if a client thinks they’re limiting the disbursement of that material, it usually can be found by somebody else who wants it. From a discovery standpoint, social media has provided a trove of information for the lawyer who wants to get information about the other side.”
“Another thing that can be a negative is the use of applications like ChatGPT.”
— Kristin Pawlik
According to the American Bar Association, such changes have hit and hit hard. For an industry that has traditionally slow-walked such advancements, many practitioners are in the uncomfortable position of racing to catch up.
“The legal system has traditionally lagged behind the rest of the nation in technology adoption. As tech plays an increasingly significant role in our lives, its presence in the courtroom is growing,” wrote Shannon Flynn in an ABA blog post. “With this increase in tech comes increasing evidence that attorneys who capitalize on it may see better results. As technology in the courtroom becomes more common, those who don’t use it will fall behind.
“Courtroom tech offers more advantages than making lawyers seem more up to date than their opponents too. Modern technology can help attorneys make a stronger case than ever. It gives courts access to a wealth of new evidence and new, engaging ways to present it.”
From social media to artificial intelligence, Pawlik said the challenges are not just between opposing counsel but routinely play a role between lawyers and their clients even before attorneys take a case.
“Another thing that can be a negative is the use of applications like ChatGPT,” she said. “Before a potential client even comes to see me, they might have used ChatGPT or another generative AI tool to either try to educate themselves or to solve a problem themselves. That’s not something that I would recommend.
“I try to explain to folks that for the most part, those generative applications are going to try to get you to the answer that the program thinks you want. It’s not necessarily finding the best answer; it’s finding an answer that best satisfies your prompt. I will have clients come to me and believe that they know the correct legal answer or the correct legal process when, in fact, they don’t. They’ve been ill advised by the technology.”
Writing for One Legal, Tiffany Sams sussed out other challenges that technology poses, including algorithm bias that undercuts fairness and garden-variety security issues that must be addressed
in order for the legal system to work as it is intended to.
“The integration of technology in courts holds immense promise for transforming how the judicial system operates,” she wrote. “By making courts more accessible, efficient and secure, these innovations can help deliver justice more effectively.
“However, as we move forward, it is essential to balance this technological transformation with a commitment to fairness, neutrality and privacy. A truly modern court system is one where technology in courts serves not just the convenience of the institution but the rights and needs of all individuals involved.”
Another challenge the industry has been dealing with for some time is the number and distribution of new attorneys coming out of law school which, legal experts say, are two very different questions.
As reported by ABC News in May, law schools are experiencing a surge in interest, and 2025 applications are up nearly 21 percent over 2024 figures. By way of illustration, The Wall Street Journal noted Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., received 14,000 applications to fill 650 spots this year, and the University of Michigan Law School received the most applications in its 166-year history.
That trendline has not skipped Arkansas, according to Elizabeth Caldwell, partner at Newland and Associates in Little Rock.
“I would say as far as just keeping up with general demand, I don’t particularly see any issue in the number of law school graduates,” she said. “I have heard from people and read some articles that eventually there’s going to be a kind of a dip, so to speak, as a holdover from the recession, when people were having fewer children, but I
“People can’t get, always, away to drive to Little Rock or drive over to Memphis, talking about eastern Arkansas, for example, to speak to an attorney. I do think that is something that needs to be addressed.”
— Elizabeth Caldwell
don’t know if that will actually happen. I can say I’ve recently done on-campus interviews at [the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law], and there are definitely enough candidates.”
As Caldwell is quick to point out, however, having enough graduates and providing accessible legal services statewide are two distinctly different issues. In June, Iowa State University published the results of a study showing just how prevalent socalled “legal deserts” have become.
The study found half of the 2,307 rural counties in the contiguous U.S. have an insufficient number of practicing private attorneys. Legal-desert counties are more prevalent in the West and Southwest, particularly the 11 percent of rural counties categorized as “critical,” where there exists a deficit of -8.2 lawyers per 100,000 residents. About 29 percent of rural counties were classified “urgent,” at -5.6 lawyers/100,000 residents; and 23 percent were “emerging” deserts at -2.9.
“The idea of there being legal deserts and a dearth of attorneys willing to go work and provide services there, that’s an entirely different question than [the] number of candidates, and I think a serious one,” she said. “People can’t get, always, away to drive to Little Rock or drive over to Memphis, talking about eastern Arkansas for example, to speak to an attorney. I do think that is something that needs to be addressed, and while I don’t know that I’m the person to give you the answers on how to do it, it is certainly something that I think our state, in particular the eastern and southern areas of the state, are suffering from.”
The industry is also being shaped by the types of legal specialties in highest demand. While corporate law regularly tops the list of the most lucrative legal fields and cyber and intellectual property are specialties often cited as fastest growing, meat-and-potatoes specialties addressing man-on-the-street issues continue to lead many lists of most in-demand services. Topping the roster of sought-after specialties for 2025, according to The National Trial Lawyers, are personal injury and mass torts.
“Driven by increasing awareness of consumer rights, highprofile settlements and expanding litigation related to product liability and environmental harm, personal injury and mass torts remain a powerhouse in civil litigation,” the organization states. “With nuclear verdicts rising and plaintiff firms investing heavily in litigation tools and legal marketing, this area continues to top the list of high-demand legal specialties.
“In particular, cases involving trucking accidents, pharmaceuticals and toxic exposure (like PFAS chemicals) are drawing national attention. Firms specializing in these matters are experiencing increased case volume, heightened public scrutiny and significant financial outcomes.”
Andrew Norwood, partner at central Arkansas firm Denton, Zachary & Norwood, said while the firm has had its share of encroachment by technology, he said success in his specialty is still rooted in intuitiveness, experience and, more than most people might think, personal chemistry.
“I always tell people when I sign them up, ‘Listen, attorneyclient relationships are a lot like marriages. Not all of them work out,’” he said. “When it comes to clients, my best approach has
always been, ‘I don’t work for you. You don’t work for me. We’re in this together.’”
Norwood said some clients bring an unrealistic expectation of what their case is worth, while others throw in the towel early because they just want to get the matter over with. He said his role, in addition to being the client’s legal representation, is to advise a best strategy based on the facts and circumstances of the case. It is a simple formula and one that hasn’t changed during his 10 years in practice.
“I always tell people when I sign them up, ‘Listen, attorneyclient relationships are a lot like marriages. Not all of them work out. When it comes to clients, my best approach has always been, ‘I don’t work for you. You don’t work for me. We’re in this together.’”
— Andrew Norwood
“People call me all the time and go, ‘What’s my case worth?’” he said. “I always tell people, ‘Well, for one, I need to see your medical records. I need to see what your diagnoses are. I need to see what your actual injuries are, and even after that, I’m not going to have a full value of what I think your case is worth until after your deposition. Once you’ve been deposed by the other side and they get to ask you questions, I get to see how you hold up under that.’
“Listen, every case is different, and I say that coming from our firm, which is trying more cases than, probably, most. I get that clients might not see their case the same way as me, but different courts don’t always evaluate similar cases the same. I’ve had clients where I’ve got them an offer that was fair but it was less than they wanted and had those that settled their cases way cheaper than I thought their case was worth. That’s just part of it.”
LARGEST ARKANSAS LAW FIRMS
James Bornhoft
BORNHOFT LAW
With a background in prosecution that brought him into the thick of some of the most impactful human trafficking cases in Colorado, James Bornhoft now has a new vantage point in private practice as owner of Bornhoft Law in Hot Springs.
Bornhoft studied finance at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville before completing law school at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.
“Both my parents were attorneys, and I always found it to be a noble profession and endeavor,” he said. “It’s one of the few jobs where you can get paid to help people, so I was naturally interested in it for those reasons.”
He got his first taste of trial law on the national trial team at Sturm.
LEGAL ELITE
By Sarah DeClerk
Pursuing Private Practice
“My coach on the team was a prosecutor, and that naturally got me interested in it because I knew I wanted to be in the courtroom,” Bornhoft said. “I knew I wanted to do trial law, and that’s kind of really where my first interest in it started.”
He went on to intern at a district attorney’s office in Boulder, Colorado, before spending five years as a district attorney himself. He was a member of a special victims unit and served as human trafficking prosecutor for his jurisdiction.
The work put him in close contact with organizations such as the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and local law enforcement agencies. In addition to working on investigations, he taught classes at detectives and citizens academies. He also tried one of the first digital pimping cases in Colorado.
Emerging technology has changed both the investigation methods and the nature of such crimes, he said, but the biggest shift has been in handling of victims.
“These women are victims of people that are subjecting them to a different form of slavery,” he said. “I really think that understanding has led to people being more willing to come forward, which has led to, obviously, being able to prosecute quite a few more of these individuals.”
Bornhoft moved into private practice three years ago, after returning to Arkansas to be closer to family. At Bornhoft Law, his practice areas include criminal defense, family law, personal injury and estate planning.
He said he enjoys safeguarding the rights of his clients while practicing criminal defense. His background in prosecution helps inform that work, he added, since he has an understanding of how investigations are conducted and what prosecutors are looking for to prove a case.
“It really gives you an edge when you know what they need, what they don’t have, especially when crafting a defense for an individual,” he said. “I mean, it’s huge. It’s kind of akin to seeing behind the veil.”
The first year was tough, he said, and he had to learn quickly the aspects of running a practice attorneys are not taught in law school — everything from getting the phone and email systems up and running to developing a strategy for advertising and marketing.
He said he enjoys the freedom that comes with having his own practice, but what he likes most is getting to meet new people and help solve their problems.
“Every day, I meet somebody new. Every day, I get to know a little bit more about somebody’s story and help them out with a problem, effect some sort of positive change in their life.” he said. “For me, that’s truly rewarding.”
Bornhoft is fast becoming a renowned attorney in Hot Springs and said he delights in opportunities to be involved in the local community. He is a member of the local Rotary Club, as well as the Garland County, Arkansas, Colorado and American bar associations.
This year, he was named a “Mid-South Rising Star” by Super Lawyers
He said he hopes to continue growing Bornhoft Law, and additional locations are not out of the question.
“We certainly want to just keep growing our practice, growing our business and continually making ourselves bigger, leaner, more efficient,” he said. “That way, we can continue to serve the state of Arkansas and hopefully have more locations throughout the state to do the same.”
Arkansas Money & Politics needed a good lawyer — our readers came through. They gave us a lot more than one. We present the 2025 Legal Elite as chosen by AMP readers — 50-plus go-to attorneys representing the spectrum of specialties in Arkansas.
JOHN T. ADAMS
Partner Fuqua Campbell
VANESSA CASH ADAMS
Owner Law Office of Vanessa Cash Adams
ROBYN P. ALLMENDINGER
Member Rose Law Firm
LEGAL ELITE 2025 2025
LAUREN O. BABER
Attorney Mayer
ADRIENNE L. BAKER
Partner
Wright Lindsey Jennings
Adrienne L. Baker is a partner in the northwest Arkansas office of Wright Lindsey Jennings and is also the firm’s former chief operating officer. Her practice centers on commercial litigation, including banking and commercial lending, creditors’ rights and collections, contract disputes, and surety law. Baker also regularly provides contract drafting and review services to a variety of businesses. She has been named a “Rising Star” by Mid-South Super Lawyers each year since 2012, and she has received numerous accolades from local publications. Baker 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 Little Rock Class XXXI, and the Arkansas Business Executive Leadership Academy. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas School of Law.
BETSY BAKER
Member, Litigation Section Lead Rose Law Firm
MICHAEL D. BARNES
Partner
Wright Lindsey Jennings
Michael D. Barnes has been engaged in active trial practice for more than 25 years with a focus on product liability, trucking and transportation, toxic torts, class actions and insurance defense. Barnes leads Wright Lindsey Jennings’ trial team. Before joining the firm, he served as a deputy prosecuting attorney and as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and a Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas School of Law. He is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates; the Arkansas Association of Defense Counsel, where he served as president from 2009 to 2010; the Defense Research Institute, where he was state representative 2005 to 2008; ALFA International Product Liability and Complex Torts Practice Group Steering Committee; and the American, Arkansas and Pulaski County bar associations. He is recognized by The Best Lawyers in America in the categories of product liability litigation — defendants and personal injury litigation — defendants and by Mid-South Super Lawyers in the category of civil litigation: defense. Since 2015, Chambers USA has recognized him for his work in general litigation.
MATTHEW BENSON
Partner
Taylor Law Partners
PAYTON
Attorney
C. BENTLEY
Clark Law Firm
Payton C. Bentley, a native of Russellville, joined Clark Law Firm in Fayetteville as an associate in 2017. Bentley’s practice focuses on a wide array of business, civil and family law cases. Prior to joining Clark Law Firm while attending law school, Bentley worked for two years as a law clerk at Odom Law Firm in Fayetteville. During that time, Bentley gained extensive experience in civil law and litigation by managing a variety of civil cases from start to finish. Bentley is a cum laude graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville. During law school, he was the 2015 Board of Advocates Client Counseling Competition Winner. His undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Arts in political science with a minor in legal studies from the University of Arkansas.
TAMERON C. BISHOP
Partner
Kutak Rock
WILL BOND
Partner
McMath Woods
Will Bond has achieved significant verdicts and settlements for clients all over Arkansas, from Little Rock to Fayetteville to Texarkana to Helena. He has been chosen by his peers in the legal community to be included in the publication Best Lawyers since 2016 and was named “Lawyer of the Year” in Little Rock for personal injury litigation in the 2023 edition and 2026 edition.
He has been rated by Super Lawyers as a member since 2006 and chosen as a member of the “Top 50 Arkansas Super Lawyers” since 2022. Bond has a long history of public service, having been elected to serve as Arkansas state representative for the Jacksonville area from 2003 to 2008 and having been elected to the Arkansas state senate to serve the Little Rock area from 2017 to 2020. Bond currently focuses all his professional work on achieving justice for clients injured or killed in automobile and truck wrecks or by medical malpractice and hospital negligence and helping clients in disputes with their insurance carriers.
TYLER D. BONE
Partner
Friday, Eldredge & Clark
Tyler D. Bone is a partner in the medical malpractice practice group at Friday, Eldredge & Clark in Little Rock. He focuses his prac tice on defending doctors, nurses, hospitals and oth er medical professionals in malpractice litigation. Bone maintains an active trial practice and has secured defense verdicts in multiple medical malpractice trials. Recognized as a “Rising Star” by Mid-South Super Lawyers and “One to Watch” by The Best Lawyers in America, he also received the W.A. Eldredge, Jr. Outstanding Young Trial Lawyer Award from the Arkansas Association of Defense Counsel in 2021. Bone earned his Juris Doctor with high honors from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law and his bachelor of arts in history from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Outside the courtroom, he volunteers as a Junior Deputy Little League baseball coach.
JAMES BORNHOFT
Founder, Trial Attorney Bornhoft Law
TONEY BRASUELL
Attorney Brasuell Law Firm
Toney Brasuell has been practicing law for almost two decades and represented individuals in all types of criminal defense cases, from misdemeanors to violent felonies. Brasuell works diligently to protect the rights of the accused in state and federal court all across Arkansas. He knows that the future of his clients is at stake and has the experience, knowledge and creative solutions to find the best possible outcome for them. Brasuell guides clients through the process so they know what to expect every step of the way.
Munson, Rowlett, Moore & Breeding
The Law Office of Robert G. Bridewell
BEAU BRITTON
Partner
Schnipper, Britton & Stobaugh
James D. Bornhoft, founder of Bornhoft Law in Hot Springs, has established himself as a key player in Arkansas’s legal community. With a wealth of experience, including more than 70 jury trials and more than 10,000 hours in the courtroom, Bornhoft has built a reputation for delivering results when they matter most. A third-generation Arkansan, he is deeply committed to serving his local community with personalized, client-centered legal counsel. Before opening his practice, Bornhoft served as the lead human trafficking prosecutor in Colorado’s largest judicial district, managing high-stakes felony cases ranging from human trafficking to murder. His expertise working alongside federal agencies such as the FBI and Homeland Security equipped him with a unique perspective on complex legal matters, which he now brings to his private practice.
DYLAN BOTTEICHER
Partner Cox, Sterling, Vandiver & Botteicher
Beau Britton is a partner at Schnipper, Britton & Stobaugh in Hot Springs. He received his undergraduate degree in finance from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and his Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law. His practice primarily focuses on the areas of estate planning, probate, real estate, business and commercial cases, and civil litigation. He is a past president of the Garland County Bar Association and is very active in the Hot Springs community.
VICKI BRONSON
Partner
Conner & Winters
AMY CLEMMONS BROWN
Attorney, Managing Partner
McMullan & Brown
PAUL BYRD
Founding Attorney
Paul Byrd Law Firm
Paul Byrd is the founding attorney at Paul Byrd Law Firm in Little Rock. Byrd is a graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville. After graduation, he proudly clerked for Judge Tom F. Digby and then went into private practice in 1988. Byrd’s practice has focused on representing people who were injured by wrongdoers. He has litigated against trucking companies and corporations who caused injury to his clients. In the past, he has tried tire failures and vehicle safety litigation in many states, includ-
ing Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. In November 2000, he was featured on the front page of The Wall Street Journal due to his work in the case of Brownlee/Whitaker vs. Cooper Tire and Rubber Co. He appeared in a Dateline NBC documentary regarding the same case in January 2001. He is a past president of the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association and is currently a board member of the American Association for Justice.
ANDY L. CALDWELL
Principal Attorney
Caldwell Law Firm
ELIZABETH CALDWELL
Member
Newland and Associates
BART CALHOUN
Member
McDaniel Wolff
Bart Calhoun is one of the founding members at McDaniel Wolff in Little Rock and co-leads their commercial litigation practice. Calhoun’s practice focuses on litigation in numerous areas, including breach of contract, business torts, employment law, collections, estate litigation, appeals, domestic relations and much more. Additionally, Calhoun regularly provides government relations counseling to clients engaged in highly regulated industries such as those in the fields of health care, medical marijuana, casino gaming and more. Before entering private practice, Calhoun served as an assistant attorney general at the Arkansas attorney general’s office, primarily serving in the public protection department. As a part of this practice, he represented the interests of Arkansas consumers in federal and state courts located throughout the United States. Also while at the Arkansas attorney general’s office, Calhoun provided counsel with respect to proposed legislation and regularly communicated with members from the Arkansas General Assembly, where he maintains strong relationships.
PHIL CAMPBELL
Partner
Fuqua Campbell
KATHERINE BLACKMON CARROLL
Owner, Managing Attorney
Law Offices of Katherine E. Blackmon
Katherine Blackmon Carroll is the owner and managing attorney of the Law Offices of Katherine E. Blackmon, a trauma-informed family law firm with an emphasis on helping clients navigate difficult times with empathy and expertise. Carroll earned her bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University in Texas and her Juris Doctor from the University of Southern Congratulations on being named one of AMP’s Legal Elite for 2025!
California in Los Angeles. The firm’s goals are to walk clients through difficult domestic situations and to provide representation tailored for each individual client. Under her leadership, Carroll’s team continues to fight aggressively for clients and just as frequently talks clients through the emotions that go hand in hand with experiencing a divorce or custody matter.
MEREDITH M. CAUSEY
Member
Quattlebaum, Grooms & Tull
Meredith Causey’s practice centers on electronic discovery and information governance, including identifying, preserving, collecting, reviewing and producing electronically stored information. Causey also advises clients on various technology-related issues, such as software licensing agreements, cloud computing and website privacy policies. Her previous experience includes founding an electronic discovery company, where she advised clients on best practices and provided guidance on legal and strategic issues related to electronic discovery. She is recognized by The Best Lawyers in America in the area of commercial litigation.
NEIL CHAMBERLIN
Partner
McMath Woods
Neil Chamberlin handles injury, death and medical malpractice cases at McMath Woods in Little Rock. He graduated from Hendrix College in Conway in 1989 and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law in 1993. He has served on the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association Board of Governors (20022012) and the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Civil Jury Instructions (2014-2020).
PENNY CHOATE
Founder Choate Law Firm
Penny Choate is the founder of Choate Law Firm in Searcy, which was established in 2004. An accomplished trial attorney in state and federal court since 2001, Choate has litigated a variety of legal cases for her clients for over two decades. As an accomplished equestrian, Choate has won numerous horse competitions, the most recent being 2024 Paint World Novice Reiner Champion and the 2025 Dixie National Walk Trot Pleasure. She also qualified and competed in The Run for a Million Rookie Slate 1 in Las Vegas in August 2024. Choate graduated from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law in 2000 with her Juris Doctor and actively practices in the areas of civil litigation, business formation,
real estate, estate planning, domestic relations, adoption, guardianship and probate. She is married to Timo Anderson and enjoys spending time with her son, Eric Collins, and his family. The best part is that Choate’s granddaughters also share her love of horses.
SUZANNE G. CLARK
Founder Clark Law Firm
Prior to founding the Clark Law Firm in Fayetteville, Suzanne G. Clark was an attorney at the largest national law firm in the state, where she gained significant experience in a wide range of civil litigation. She handles complex business, civil, labor and family law cases with a deep sense of commitment and skill, having special corporate experience to assist in intellectual property cases, as well as commercial litigation. Clark received a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Connecticut and was awarded her Juris Doctor summa cum laude by the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville in 2008. Prior to her legal career, she worked in the semiconductor industry as a process engineer and then in senior management, which provided her with valuable firsthand insights into various business affairs. In 2013, Clark was appointed by thenGov. Mike Beebe to serve as a special associate justice on a case appearing before the Arkansas Supreme Court. The Arkansas Supreme Court appointed Clark to the civil practice committee in 2014. Admitted to practice before all state and federal Arkansas courts, Clark is also admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. Clark has been very active in the Arkansas Bar Association and was elected by its statewide membership to serve as president for 2018-2019, after having served in its house of delegates and the board of governors. Clark maintains an active teaching profile, having taught products liability as an adjunct professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law, as well as a skills course in litigating medical negligence claims. She is a former member of the board of directors of the Northwest Arkansas Free Health Center and she serves on the board of trustees of the Fayetteville Public Library. As a contributor to several distinguished publications, including the Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States, she maintains an active role as a writer for prominent journals.
CHARLES T. COLEMAN
Partner
Wright Lindsey Jennings
Charles T. Coleman was born and raised in Little Rock and then attended college and law school at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. He has been engaged in active trial practice for more than 40 years at Wright Lind-
sey Jennings. Coleman’s practice is focused in the areas of bankruptcy, secured transactions, creditor’s rights and remedies, and other areas of commercial litigation. His bankruptcy practice includes the representation of creditors and trustees in all types of bankruptcy proceedings and debtors in business cases. He was elected to the American College of Bankruptcy board of directors for the 2023 to 2026 term and is also a fellow of the college. Coleman is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Arkansas Bar Foundation and has been named to The Best Lawyers in America, Chambers USA America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and Mid-South Super Lawyers. He regularly serves as a seminar speaker on various aspects of bankruptcy practice within the state and regionally. Since 1986, Coleman has been a member of the Downtown Kiwanis Club in Little Rock, where he served as president from 2000 to 2001, and since 2002, he has been a board member of Kiwanis Activities, a nonprofit organization that owns and operates a camp for at-risk youth. He attends Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church in Little Rock, where he coaches three junior high church basketball teams.
BRANDI COLLINS
Partner
Collins, Collins & Ray
Partner Brandi Collins graduated summa cum laude from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and received her Juris Doctor from the William H. Bowen School of Law, where she was on the law journal. Collins’ areas of practice include various aspects of law with a concentration in DWI, DUI, drug cases and commercial litigation. Collins has been recognized as a “Super Lawyer.” Collins formerly worked as an in-house counsel for a group of companies in the trucking and brokerage industry. She has attended several DWI intensive workshops, including one taught at Harvard Law School, allowing her to provide her unique expertise in DWI and DUI cases. Collins is licensed in Arkansas.
JOHN C. COLLINS
Partner
Collins, Collins & Ray
John Collins started his career in law enforcement, serving as a field training officer, patrolman, investigator and instructor of an alcohol education program. He’s served as a deputy prosecuting attorney and conducted drunk driving courses on a national level, speaking to law enforcement, judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys. A testament to his skills and dedication to his clients, Collins has been named a “Super Lawyer” multiple years, Top 1 percent of Attorneys in America, recipient of the Terry Warner Award, a Top Attorney by the Legal Net-
Lawrence E. Chisenhall Energy Law
Matthew B. Finch Construction Law
Not Pictured: Drake Mann
work, and part of AY Media Group’s “Men of Distinction,” “Legal Elite” and “Best of,” in addition to receiving several other notable awards. Collins is a former state delegate of the National College for DUI Defense and is president of the DUI Defense Lawyers Association, an international defense association. Collins also works as an adjunct professor at the William H. Bowen School of Law and is the published author of the Arkansas DWI trial practice book. Collins is licensed in Arkansas and Texas.
BRIANNA C. COOK
Shareholder, Director Gill Ragon Owen
Brianna C. Cook is shareholder and director at Gill Ragon Owen in Little Rock. She earned a degree in English from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law. She joined the Arkansas Bar in 2016. Cook’s practice involves transactional practice for small business and corporate clients. She represents companies in the areas of employment law, corporate and real estate transactions, and intellectual property law. She also counsels clients about health law and regulatory compliance matters, including patient privacy law, Stark and antikickback compliance. Her employment practice includes working with employers on compliance and policy issues, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the National Labor Relations Act. She also routinely represents employers in unemployment and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission actions. Cook serves as a vice president at Walk for Wheezy, a nonprofit that raises money for the cardiovascular intensive care unit at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock. She also serves as a member of the Bowen Young Alumni Board. She has received distinguished honors in local publications.
CADE L. COX
Partner
Cox, Sterling, Vandiver & Botteicher
HUGH E. CRISP
Attorney Crisp Law Firm
At his Little Rock practice, Hugh E. Crisp exclusively handles personal injury litigation with an emphasis on medical malpractice and catastrophic injuries in the mid-South. Crisp is rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-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 Litigation Counsel of America.
MICHAEL CROWE
Founder The Crowe Firm
CHARLIE CUNNINGHAM
Partner
ARlaw Partners
CHARLES DARWIN “SKIP”
DAVIDSON SR.
Founder, Senior Partner
Davidson Law Firm
BARRETT DEACON
Partner
Mayer
MITCHELL DENNIS
Shareholder, Director
Gill Ragon Owen
Mitchell Dennis is a shareholder and director at Gill Ragon Owen in Little Rock. Dennis graduated with honors from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock
William H. Bowen School of Law and joined the Arkansas Bar in 2017. During law school, Dennis served as editor-in-chief of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review and received top paper awards in multiple classes. Dennis primarily represents public utilities before the Arkansas Public Service Commission. He also practices in various areas within commercial and general litigation, including employment litigation, construction litigation, and personal and corporate contract disputes. Dennis has been included in Super Lawyers by Thomson Reuters.
JOE DENTON
Partner
Denton, Zachary & Norwood
ANNIE DEPPER
Partner
Fuqua Campbell
MARK W. DOSSETT
Partner
Kutak Rock
DUSTIN DUKE
Partner
ARlaw Partners
NICKOLAS W. DUNN
Partner
Davidson Law Firm
KHAYYAM M. EDDINGS
Partner
Friday, Eldredge & Clark
Khayyam M. Eddings is a partner in the labor and employment litigation practice group at Friday, Eldredge & Clark in Little Rock. He counsels employers on all aspects of labor and employment law, including compliance with Title VII, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Labor
Standards Act, the National Labor Relations Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Eddings also represents school districts across Arkansas in matters involving constitutional law, employment issues, Section 504 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. His practice includes litigation in state and federal courts, as well as proceedings before administrative bodies such as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and arbitration panels. Recognized by The Best Lawyers in America and Chambers USA for labor and employment, Eddings has also been recognized by local publications. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock
William H. Bowen School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts from Morehouse College in Atlanta.
JESSICA FONTENOT EDENS
Attorney PPGMR Law
DON A. EILBOTT
Member Eilbott Law Firm
JOHN R. ELROD
Partner
Conner & Winters
PAMELA EPPERSON
Attorney Epperson Panasiuk Law
DANIEL FAULKNER
Attorney Owens & Parker Law Firm
ELIZABETH FLETCHER
Senior Counsel Munson, Rowlett, Moore & Breeding
KATIE FREEMAN
Partner
ARlaw Partners
CRAIG FRIEDMAN
Managing Attorney Friedman Law Firm
DAVID FUQUA
Partner Fuqua Campbell
TIM GAUGER
Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer
Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Tim Gauger leads Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s legal department and is the primary source of legal advice and assistance to senior executive staff and the company’s board of directors. He is corporate secretary for the company and a number of its subsidiaries, and he serves as chairman of the board of the Arkansas Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association. He is also a director and former chair of the board of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. Gauger joined Arkansas Blue Cross in 2015 as a senior regulatory counsel and assumed his current position in 2018. Before joining Arkansas Blue Cross, he served for eight years as chief
LAndy Caldwell
By Sarah DeClerk
CALDWELL LAW FIRM
ittle Rock lawyer Andy Caldwell was introduced to the legal field in high school thanks to his best friend’s father, who was an attorney. Caldwell clerked for the man and his partner the summer after graduation, and he credits that early industry exposure for solidifying his career path.
“It was a great learning experience for which I am forever grateful,” Caldwell said. “I loved the idea of being able to help people solve their legal problems, and I knew then that I wanted to be an attorney.”
As a young attorney, Caldwell went to work for a firm that handled workers’ compensation claims and, he said, “fell in love” with handling administrative claims. Now the principal attorney of his own eponymous firm in Little Rock, Caldwell has made workers’ compensation his primary practice area and continues to fight for his clients to receive the benefits they deserve — benefits that can drastically impact injured workers and their families, especially when an insurance company denies legitimate claims.
LEGAL ELITE
rightfully, on insurance companies rather than Arkansans.
“I think there is a misunderstanding that people who file for workers’ compensation benefits are trying to get something for nothing,” he said. “The reality is that they are hardworking Arkansans that are just trying to get the treatment they need in order to go back to work. Workers’ compensation benefits are less than an injured worker’s normal wages. They do not want to be on it any longer than they have to be.”
“Once the insurance company denies the claim, the injured worker can’t work due to their injury, and often they don’t have health insurance, so they can’t get the recommended treatment in order to allow them to return to work,” Caldwell said. “I love the opportunity to help them get the treatment they need so they can go back to work and provide for their families.”
Navigating the workers’ compensation process can be tricky in the best of circumstances, to say nothing of having to correct a wrongfully denied claim while injured and missing work. In Caldwell’s case, securing positive outcomes for his clients not only benefits them and their families but may help the state, as well.
Injured workers, unable to earn their regular income and denied workers’ compensation, often have to seek other benefits at the expense of taxpayers. Caldwell said his work is vital for ensuring the burden of liability falls,
With the parties involved ranging from injured worker and employer to insurance carrier and medical providers, keen communication and collaboration skills are a must for ensuring the system works as well as possible to get an individual their benefits and, ideally, back to work.
Additionally, as in many other lines of legal work, there is a balance to be struck between fearlessly championing the cause of one’s clients and remembering the attorneys on the other side are simply doing the same for their own.
“You can be a zealous advocate for your client and still maintain professional courtesy with opposing counsel,” Caldwell said. “I believe professional courtesy gets lost sometimes due to the adversarial nature of our profession, but I think it is an essential element of being a good lawyer.”
Caldwell is keeping an eye on developments that might affect his clients’ cases, such as changes proposed to the Arkansas workers’ compensation laws during the most recent legislative session. He said he expects changes to the regulations in the near future and hopes many of the proposed changes will be implemented in order to improve the benefits available to injured workers. Regardless of happenings in the legislative halls, Caldwell’s legal philosophy remains unchanged.
“Every client matters,” he said. “Every client has a unique situation and problem that they need help with. It is my mission to do my very best to advocate on behalf of my client to solve it in the most beneficial way possible for each individual client.”
legal counsel to the governor of Arkansas and for more than a decade as an assistant, senior assistant and deputy attorney general in the Arkansas attorney general’s civil litigation department. He received undergraduate degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and his Juris Doctor from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in Chicago.
ERIKA ROSS GEE
Partner
Wright Lindsey Jennings
Erika Ross Gee is a member of the Wright Lindsey Jennings’ government relations team and a former chief of staff and chief deputy in the Arkansas attorney general’s office. Since returning to Wright Lindsey Jennings in 2015, she has put her years of experience as general counsel for state agencies and licensing boards to work assisting clients in resolving their regulatory and administrative disputes with state government. Gee represents clients in government relations matters, including advocacy and policy development with state agency officials, the attorney general’s office and the executive and legislative branches of government. She also leads WLJ’s medical cannabis practice and is a recognized authority in the industry, providing regulatory and legislative lobbying, compliance counsel and general counsel for licensed dispensaries, cultivation facilities, processors, licensed hemp growers, and processor and ancillary businesses. Gee has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America since 2021 and was named “Lawyer of the Year” in Little Rock in 2023 in the government relations practice area. She earned a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a Juris Doctor at the UA Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law, where she graduated with high honors.
STEVE GERSHNER
Of Counsel
Davidson Law Firm
ERIC GRIBBLE
Partner Fuqua Campbell
RANDY L. GRICE
Partner
Hilburn & Harper
KATIE GRIFFIN
Attorney
The Wilson Law Group
AUSTIN GRINDER
Attorney, Lobbyist
Mullenix & Associates
A licensed attorney and lobbyist, Austin Grinder leads the legal team Mullenix & Associates in Little Rock, coordinating and overseeing the firm’s research efforts, drafting legislation, and providing strategic counsel to cli-
ents to ensure their interests are represented at the State Capitol. Grinder works closely with technology giants, including SAP Software Solutions, Cisco and Pure Storage, along with prominent niche technology companies. He has experience and expertise in the legislative and regulatory arenas with an emphasis in real property, health policy and insurance issues.
TIMOTHY W. GROOMS
Managing Member
Quattlebaum, Grooms & Tull
Tim Grooms is widely recognized for his high-value and high-complexity real estate work representing a diverse clientele, including banks, health care providers, real estate developers, owners and brokers, in a broad range of transactional matters. A fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and the American College of Mortgage Attorneys, Grooms has successfully negotiated hundreds of retail, office and commercial purchase and sale agreements and leases, as well as commercial loans on behalf of state and regional banks, national retailers, developers, landlords and tenants throughout Arkansas and the mid-South. He has advised on numerous high-profile projects including steel mill and lithium projects, retail shopping centers, mixed-use developments, multifamily complexes (including affordable housing), office buildings, educational institutions, hotels, hospitals and medical clinics.
CHARLES HARRISON
Attorney McMath Woods
Charles Harrison is a partner at McMath Woods in Little Rock. He joined McMath Woods in 2000 after serving as senior law clerk to United States District Judge Elsijane Roy for 14 years. Harrison graduated from the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville in 1979 after obtaining his undergraduate degree in Fayetteville in 1976. His law practice is focused primarily on representing clients who have been injured or killed in matters involving car or big-rig wrecks, premises liability and medical negligence. Harrison grew up and attended public school in North Little Rock where he was imbued with a healthy dose of common sense and a scintilla of skepticism.
MICHAEL MCCARTY HARRISON
Partner
Friday, Eldredge & Clark
Michael McCarty Harrison is a partner in the litigation practice group at Friday, Eldredge & Clark in Little Rock, where she focuses on insurance defense and insurance coverage investigation, analysis and defense, as well as transportation litigation, fire and arson defense, personal injury defense and appellate advocacy. With more than 20 years of litigation experience, she has been recognized by Mid-South Super Lawyers and The Best Lawyers in America for her work in insurance litigation. Harrison is a past president of the Arkansas Association of Defense Counsel and is an active member of the Defense Research Institute and the American Board of Trial Advocates. Harrison earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Arkansas in Little Rock.
MICHAEL E. HARTJE JR.
Partner
Hilburn & Harper
AARON M. HEFFINGTON
Shareholder, Director
Gill Ragon Owen
Aaron M. Heffington is a shareholder and director at Gill Ragon Owen in Little Rock. He received his undergraduate degree in finance and information systems management from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 2010. Heffington graduated cum laude from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law and joined the Arkansas Bar in 2013. From contract and real estate litigation to corporate planning, Heffington’s legal practice focuses on his clients’ business needs, whether in the boardroom or the courtroom. Heffington routinely handles everything from contract disputes and enforcement of landlord’s rights to construction issues and disagreements between business owners. Heffington’s litigation and structured settlement transfer practices have afforded him the opportunity to appear in the court of nearly every county in Arkansas.
L. KYLE HEFFLEY
Partner
Kutak Rock
BLAKE HENDRIX
Partner
Fuqua Campbell
SAM HILBURN
Managing Partner
Hilburn & Harper
SCOTT HILBURN
Partner
Hilburn & Harper
JOEL HOOVER
Managing Member
Newland and Associates
KANDI HUGHES
Lead Counsel
Midcontinent Independent System Operator
Q. BYRUM HURST JR.
Principal Attorney at Law
Hurst Law Group
WILLIAM O. “BILL” JAMES JR.
Attorney
James Law Firm
SARAH C. JEWELL
Partner
McMath Woods
Sarah C. Jewell is an injury and wrongful-death attorney who handles cases throughout Arkansas that involve car and truck wrecks, premises liability, medical negligence, and defective drugs and medical devices. Annually since 2018, Jewell has been selected as a Super Lawyers “Mid-South Rising Star.” Jewell was named the 2019 Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association Outstanding Young Lawyer and received the Judith Ryan Gray Young Lawyer Service Award (2018), the Frank C. Elcan II Leadership Award (2018), and Golden Gavel awards (2020, 2021, 2023) from the Arkansas Bar Association for exemplary service to the legal profession. Jewell serves on the Arkansas Bar Association Board of Trustees and the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Board of Governors, and she is past chair of the young lawyers sections for both organizations. Prior to graduating from University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville in 2015, Jewell earned her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in English and taught college writing courses.
JONATHAN D. JONES
Attorney
Jonathan D. Jones, Attorney at Law
Jonathan Jones runs a boutique law firm in Hot Springs focusing on divorce, child custody and other family law matters. His practice also includes adoption and guardianship cases. Jones graduated from Hendrix College in Conway 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. Jones was named to Arkansas Money & Politics’ “Legal Elite” in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024; as well as AY About You’s “Best Lawyers” for 2023 and 2024.
TORI JONES
General Counsel
Bank OZK
HARRISON KEMP
Attorney Mann & Kemp
JUDSON C. KIDD
Managing Partner Dodds, Kidd & Ryan
Jud Kidd has been practicing law at Dodds, Kidd & Ryan for 50 years, representing generations of Arkansas families and recovering millions of dollars for injury victims. Kidd followed in his family’s footsteps and concentrated his practice in family law and personal injury. Kidd has been recognized as one of the best trial lawyers in the country. He is a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and American Board of Trial Advocates. He has been recognized by Best Lawyers since 2001 and Mid-South Super Lawyers since 2006. He has the highest peer rating issued by Martindale Hubble for legal and ethical excellence.
MICHAEL KNOLLMEYER
Owner
Knollmeyer Law Office
KERRI E. KOBBEMAN
Partner
Conner & Winters
ALAN LANE
Partner
Odom Law Firm
FRANK LAPORTE-JENNER
Co-founder
LaPorte-Jenner Law
KELLI LAPORTE-JENNER
Co-founder
LaPorte-Jenner Law
SAMUEL E. LEDBETTER
Partner
McMath Woods
Since 1985, environmental law has been the primary focus of Sam Ledbetter’s law practice. For nearly 40 years, Ledbetter has represented individuals, communities, environmental organizations and companies in a variety of environmental cases. Ledbetter’s environmental practice includes air, surface water and groundwater pollution cases; protecting Arkansas’ free-flowing rivers and streams; holding upstream property owners accountable for damages caused by irresponsible development; challenging permits to new facilities that threaten to harm the environment; and defending companies in pollution cases. Ledbetter served in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 2001 to 2006 and served on the Arkansas State Board of Education from 2008 to 2015. In recognition of his environmental practice, Ledbetter has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America since 1998 and was recognized on numerous occasions as Arkansas’ “Lawyer of the Year” for environmental law.
KAYLEN LEWIS
Attorney
Owens & Parker Law Firm
TODD P. LEWIS
Partner
Conner & Winters
JESSICA VIRDEN MALLETT
Managing Partner
Miller & Mallett
ANGELA MANN
Attorney
Mann & Kemp
BOBBY MCDANIEL
Of Counsel
McDaniel Wolff
Attorney Bobby R. McDaniel has been licensed to practice law in Arkansas for 52 years. A graduate of the University of Arkansas Robert A. Leflar Law Center in Fayetteville, McDaniel has earned a reputation among personal injury victims and peers alike as a results-driven, knowledgeable Jonesboro attorney who puts clients’ needs first. He has obtained record results on behalf of clients, including a malpractice verdict of $8.5 million — paid without appeal, the thenrecord high malpractice verdict in Arkansas — and a $3.5 million medical malpractice verdict affirmed by the Arkansas Supreme Court in 2007. This is the first Arkansas case in which a physician was assessed punitive damages ($500,000). He helped recover $9 million for the family of a man killed by a tractor-trailer truck. He has also recovered millions of dollars for auto accident victims, including multiple million dollar and greater than ten million dollar recoveries, although the terms are confidential. McDaniel has received recognition from numerous organizations for his work handling tractortrailer accidents, car wrecks, wrongful death claims and medical malpractice cases. He has been a featured speaker at numerous continuing legal education seminars, including “Best of CLE” of Arkansas Bar Association for 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995 and 1998 through 2006, speaking on topics relating to jury trial practice. He has been a seminar speaker for the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association for many years and was asked to speak to the 2014 Arkansas Judicial Conference, made up of all Arkansas trial judges, about jury selection, or voir dire, and decided to limit further lecture appearances. He has been featured on CNN, ABC’s Nightline, Good Morning America, and many Jonesboro, Little Rock and Memphis television stations.
DUSTIN MCDANIEL
Co-chair, State Attorneys General
Cozen O’Connor
Dustin McDaniel is cochair of the state attorneys general group at Cozen O’Connor and heads the firm’s Little Rock office. He serves clients facing attorney general investigations and litigation in Arkansas and across the U.S., advising on a wide range of consumer protection and administrative law issues, including laws relating to antitrust, tobacco, Medicaid fraud and data privacy. McDaniel was the Arkansas attorney general from 2007 to 2015 and served as a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from 2005 to 2007. He is recognized by The Best Lawyers in America for his government relations practice and is active in a number of professional, public service and charitable organizations.
KARA MIKLES
Shareholder, Management Committee Member Munson, Rowlett, Moore & Breeding
ANDREW R. MILLER
Partner
Miller, Butler, Schneider, Pawlik, Rozzell
STAN MILLER
Founding Attorney
Pinnacle Legacy Law
DAVID MITCHELL JR.
Managing Member
Rose Law Firm
BLAKE MONTGOMERY
Attorney Montgomery Law Firm
A native of Hope, Blake Montgomery’s journey has always been marked by hard work and a clear sense of purpose. From graduating college at 19 to making the top score on the Arkansas Bar Exam and opening his own law firm by 22, he has never wasted time in chasing what matters. He spent the early years of his career handling more than 2,000 legal matters across southwest Arkansas with a strong focus on civil litigation. Eventually, his calling became clear: standing up for injury victims and taking on the insurance companies head-on. From day 1, Montgomery’s focus has been simple — stand up for folks who cannot fight the system alone. Whether his opponent is big insurance or a corporate defense team, he shows up prepared. Montgomery is a graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville, has served on the Arkansas Bar Association’s board of trustees and legislation committee and the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association’s amicus committee, and is licensed to practice law in both Arkansas and Texas.
LEE MOORE
Managing Partner
RMP Law
Lee Moore is a founding member and managing partner at RMP Law. With a focus on estate planning and tax law, Moore has become one of the most respected attorneys in the field. He has been recognized for his achievements by numerous organizations, including being named Lawyer of the Year in trust and estate in Fayetteville in 2011, 2017 and 2019 and receiving the Outstanding Professional Advisor award at National Philanthropy Day in 2013. Moore’s expertise has led him to serve as program co-chairman for the Arkansas Federal Tax Institute. He is also a member of the real property, probate and trust law section of the American Bar Association, as well as a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.
MICHAEL MOSLEY
Attorney
Owens
& Parker Law Firm
JAIMIE G. MOSS
Partner
Wright Lindsey Jennings
Jaimie G. Moss is a partner at the Little Rock office of Wright Lindsey Jennings. Her commercial litigation practice includes trust litigation, breach of contract litigation, banking and commercial lending, creditors’ rights, and collections and bankruptcy. Moss also works closely with clients and lawyers on a broad range of discovery issues related to the management, collection and review of electronically stored information. She also serves as chair of the firm’s committee on associates. Moss worked as a policy analyst in the Texas legislature for the Senate Committee on Natural Resources, where she evaluated issues related to oil, gas and alternative fuels. She has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America since 2021 in the fields of bankruptcy and creditor debtor rights/insolvency and reorganization law. In the 2023 edition, she was also included in the commercial litigation practice area. Since 2017, Mid-South Super Lawyers has named Moss a “Rising Star” in business litigation. Moss is a graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Law — she was a member of the Arkansas Law Review — and Baylor University in Texas. Moss is a member of the American, Arkansas and Pulaski County bar associations, as well as the Central Arkansas Debtor/Creditor Bar Association.
JULIE MULLENIX
Attorney, Lobbyist
Mullenix & Associates
Julie Mullenix is an attorney and lobbyist at Mullenix & Associates in Little Rock, the government relations and consulting firm she co-founded with her husband, Ted, 25 years ago. Throughout her career, she has helped Arkansas secure historic economic development projects, such as Atlas Tube, Big River Steel, GTL Americas, Highland Pellets and Hybar, among many others. She has also played a pivotal role in “firsts” for the state, including the deployment of Arkansas Wireless Information Network and Arkansas Administrative Statewide Information System. An Arkansas native, she is honored to represent some of the state’s most iconic brands, including Oaklawn Hot Springs, and influential organizations such as the Arkansas REALTORS® Association.
MIKE MUNNERLYN
Of Counsel
Fuqua Campbell
BRUCE MUNSON
Attorney, Senior Partner
Munson, Rowlett, Moore & Breeding
BRIANNA SPINKS NONY
Attorney
Robertson, Oswalt, Nony & Kennedy
ANDREW NORWOOD
Partner
Denton, Zachary & Norwood
DOUG NORWOOD
Founding Partner, Lead Litigation Attorney
Norwood & Norwood
For more than 30 years, former prosecuting attorney Doug Norwood has devoted his legal career to defending the people of northwest Arkansas against criminal charges. He started his firm as a solo attorney handling all kinds of legal matters. Norton quickly decided that driving while intoxicated and criminal defense were the only kinds of cases he wanted to handle. During his time in practice, he has hand-picked a team of highly skilled litigation attorneys whom he leads. Norwood and his team have defended more than 35,000 criminal cases, including thousands of felonies and more than 11,000 DWI cases. Norwood originally hails from north Florida, where he attended Florida State University and received a Bachelor of Science in criminology. He moved to Fayetteville in the early 1980s to attend the University of Arkansas, where he received his law degree. He worked as a prosecutor upon graduation from law school and, in 1988, he opened his own DWI and criminal defense practice. His wife, Cathy, joined him as a law partner in 1995. The firm, Norwood & Norwood, has offices in Rogers, Fayetteville, Springdale and Bentonville.
The Law Offices of Katherine Blackmon is proud to celebrate Katherine Blackmon Carroll’s recognition as
AMP Legal Elite by Arkansas Money & Politics.
This prestigious honor reflects Katherine’s nearly 30 years of dedicated service to Arkansans in family law. Since founding her firm in 1997, Katherine has earned a reputation for fierce advocacy balanced with compassion — helping clients navigate some of life’s most difficult challenges with integrity, empathy, and results.
Being named to the 2025 AMP Legal Elite is not just a personal achievement, but a testament to the values Katherine and her team bring to every case: client-centered representation, trauma-informed care, and an unwavering commitment to justice.
The firm is deeply grateful to clients, colleagues, and the community for their trust and support, and looks forward to continuing to serve Arkansas families with excellence.
SACH D. OLIVER
Trial Attorney, CEO
Oliver Law Firm
CHRIS OSWALT
Attorney
Robertson, Oswalt, Nony & Kennedy
DANIELLE WHITEHOUSE OWENS
Shareholder, Director
Gill Ragon Owen
Danielle Whitehouse Owens is a shareholder and director at Gill Ragon Owen in Little Rock. Owens practices complex civil litigation in state and federal courts. She represents companies and individuals in corporate contract disputes, consumer litigation defense, and labor and employment litigation. Owens counsels clients about statutory and regulatory compliance matters and has defended clients nationally against claims brought under state and federal consumer protection statutes, including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Electronic Funds Transfers Act and state biometric privacy laws. Owens’ legal background encompasses all aspects of civil litigation, including assisting clients in responding to prelitigation demands, drafting and arguing motions, oral and written discovery, and settlement negotiations. Owens graduated cum laude from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law and joined the Arkansas Bar in 2009. She is licensed to practice before the Supreme Court of Arkansas and the District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas.
JASON OWENS
Attorney Owens & Parker Law Firm
BROOKLYN PARKER
Attorney Owens & Parker Law Firm
DAVID PARKER
DUI/DWI Defense, General Litigation
Attorney
Dodds, Kidd & Ryan
As a former prosecutor with more than 15 years of experience, David Parker has tried thousands of criminal cases and understands both sides of the courtroom. Using that experience, he now focuses his practice on driving while intoxicated and criminal defense. Parker has also played a key role in lobbying legislators and drafting new legislation regarding Arkansas’ DWI laws, licensing and criminal statutes. He also wrote many of the DWI arrest forms used by law enforcement today. Parker understands the impact that a DWI or criminal charge can have on a client’s life, and he treats every case with the expectation that it is going to trial. He will attack the state’s case from every angle possible, and he works toward meet-
ing his clients’ goals of being found not guilty of the charges against them.
PAUL PARNELL
Member, Chief Financial Officer
Rose Law Firm
KRISTIN PAWLIK
Partner
Miller, Butler, Schneider, Pawlik, Rozzell
NEAL PENDERGRAFT
Of Counsel
RMP Law
As a founding member of RMP, Neal Pendergraft has been an integral part of the firm’s success. He has used his extensive experience in taxation, estate planning and business law to provide advisory services to the firm. In addition to his legal work, Pendergraft is deeply involved in the community through his philanthropic and business pursuits. He serves on the boards of several organizations in northwest Arkansas, where he is highly regarded for his commitment to improving the quality of life for the people who live and work in the area.
G. ALAN PERKINS
Attorney PPGMR Law
STEVEN W. QUATTLEBAUM
Managing Member
Quattlebaum, Grooms & Tull
Steve Quattlebaum has extensive trial experience in high-stakes litigation across the country, serving as lead counsel in a wide range of complex matters. A fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, he has served as lead trial counsel in more than 100 trials across a wide range of matters, including toxic torts, products liability, breach of contract, intellectual property, environmental disputes, securities fraud, franchise litigation, trade secret misappropriation, personal injury and other high-stakes commercial cases. His diverse client base includes leading corporations across various industries, such as chemical, pharmaceutical and automotive manufacturers; wood treatment companies; investment banks; energy providers; major retail chains and medical device manufacturers.
CARRIE RUSSOM QURAISHI
Principal Quraishi Law & Wealth
ABIGAIL RAINS
Associate Attorney Turner & Rasch
JAMES D. RANKIN III
Attorney PPGMR Law
SYDNEY RASCH
Managing Partner Turner & Rasch
Sydney Rasch is managing partner at Turner & Rasch in Little Rock, a boutique, trauma-informed law firm focusing on family and domestic law, including divorce, child custody and support, probate and domestic violence law. Rasch was born and raised in central Arkansas and attended Cabot High School. She went on to graduate from Hendrix College in Conway in 2013 and from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law in 2019, both with honors. She is licensed to practice law in Arkansas (2019) and Missouri (2020). Rasch is the past president of Arkansas Association of Women Lawyers and is active in the local legal community. In 2022, she was appointed to the Arkansas Supreme Court Client Security Fund Commission. Rasch is also an active member of the Junior League of Little Rock and the Arkansas Bar Association, and she serves as board member of the ABA Young Lawyer’s Section. She has served as a board member of Pulaski County Court Appointed Special Advocates, and as past president of North Little Rock Friends of Animals and New Leaders Council-Arkansas. Rasch also served as an election commissioner on the Pulaski County Board of Election Commissioners from 2022 to 2025. With nearly 18 years of experience in the legal world, including 11 as a paralegal and six as an attorney, Rasch has dedicated her career to fighting for people and their families. Her passion for her work can be seen in how she handles her cases and how she is always willing to go the extra mile for her clients.
BRIAN H. RATCLIFF
Attorney
PPGMR Law
BRIAN W. RAY
Partner
Collins, Collins & Ray
For more than 20 years, Brian W. Ray has advocated for clients in many areas of serious personal injury litigation and criminal defense. He knows the system and knows how to fight for rights in service to others. Ray served as a U.S. Marine, police officer and deputy prosecutor. He knows each case is an important event for each client and stands ready to take a case to trial if necessary to obtain the best possible outcome. Ray graduated summa cum laude from Henderson State University in Arkadelphia before earning his Juris Doctor from the William H. Bowen School of Law, where he qualified for membership to the Who’s Who Among American Law Students. He has earned the respect of both his clients and peers by being continuously named to the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers by Martindale-Hubbell
Samuel E. Ledbetter
Carter C. Stein
Neil Chamberlin
Sarah C. Jewell
Angela Mann
MANN & KEMP
There are many qualities that define Angela Mann as an attorney, but perhaps the most important characteristic keeping the co-founder of Mann & Kemp in Little Rock in the courtroom is this: She likes to be right.
“I’m the kind of person that if somebody tells me, ‘You never said that,’ I’ll go back through my text messages and show them where I did,” she said. “When it comes to the law, I do research and know what the law says and am prepared to provide that in court, if needed, just to strengthen my position.”
Mann originally pursued a career in sales after earning a marketing degree from Christian Brothers University in Memphis, but after realizing that a life of cold calls and closings was not for her, she attended law school at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.
She cut her teeth at a law firm in Little Rock before forming Mann & Kemp with her colleague Harrison Kemp in 2017. Mann said Kemp shares her dedication to doing things the right way and not the easy way, and she trusts him completely as a business partner.
By Sarah DeClerk
clients in divorce and custody cases is understanding how the court will respond to factors such as children’s social media and the parents’ new partners.
“That’s really the most value that we bring to our clients as attorneys is knowledge of the law and, also, knowledge of how a particular judge views a particular situation,” she said.
LEGAL
“The two of us just had very similar goals, very similar practice styles, very similar expectations for ourselves and for each other, and so it made sense for us to form our own firm,” she said. “It was very scary to do that, but it worked out.”
Primarily practicing family law, Mann said she embraces the opportunity to take an analytical approach to cases that are often emotionally charged.
“One thing that is unique about family law is that we are in court quite a bit,” she said. “We’re in court a lot, and we deal with a lot of financial issues. A divorce with assets, it’s like splitting up a business, and so there are a lot of assets that kind of go through the family law courts, and I really enjoy that. It’s like a puzzle.”
She added that the greatest advantage she provides
Custody laws have changed since she has been in practice, she added, and joint custody is now the expectation. Mann said the keys to successful coparenting are communication and mutual respect.
She added that she is not afraid to tell clients things they might not want to hear.
“My job is to help you get the best outcome and to help you get to that outcome, and sometimes that means I may have to tell you to do something that makes you uncomfortable,” she said. “I may tell you that you’ve done something wrong. I may give you advice to do or not do something that is different than what you want, but I do that because I know or can anticipate what we need to do to get the best outcome in the end.”
Divorce can be difficult, she added, and she feels most rewarded when she sees clients walk away knowing they made a positive decision and are ready to take their next steps in life.
Mann recently joined the 20th Century Club and is a member of the Pulaski County Bar Association, the Arkansas Bar Association and the Judge William R. Overton American Inn of Court. She has helped guide legislation about issues impacting her field and delights in helping newer attorneys find their footing.
“I’ve had people, like younger attorneys, reach out for advice or my input on a particular case or a particular set of facts or, you know, had an attorney ask to sit in on a deposition. That’s been really rewarding, having other attorneys seek my advice or seek to learn from me,” she said. “That’s something I do hope to continue to do.”
for demonstrating the highest possible ethical standards and legal ability. Plus, he has earned a rating of “10.0-Superb” from the online legal directory, Avvo, where peers and clients have posted their rankings in terms of knowledge, trustworthiness, responsiveness and keeping clients informed.
JOSEPH D. REECE
Managing Partner RMP Law
According to Joseph D. Reece, the most rewarding part of his work in law is helping clients solve problems and achieve their goals through complex estate planning strategies. Reece is a native of northwest Arkansas and has more than 22 years of experience practicing law. He is a founding member of RMP Law. He earned an accounting degree from University of the Ozarks in Clarksville before obtaining his law degree from Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, and a Master of Laws degree in estate planning and taxation from the University of Miami. His areas of focus include representing businesses and families in northwest Arkansas in estate planning, tax planning and business matters. He has been recognized for his outstanding legal expertise by the The Best Lawyers in America publication and Mid-South Super Lawyers magazine. He is a member of the Arkansas Bar Association and Washington County Bar Association.
SCOTT RICHARDSON
Founding
Member
McDaniel Wolff
Scott Richardson is a founding member of McDaniel Wolff in Little Rock. His recent work involves representing multistate wholesalers and technology firms as trial counsel, achieving more than $200 million in jury verdicts against Walmart for breach of contract and trade secret theft. Richardson primarily practices in the areas of education law, commercial litigation and appellate law. He represents school districts throughout Arkansas and has litigated numerous cases in state and federal courts at both the trial and appellate levels, handling appeals in the Arkansas Court of Appeals, the Arkansas Supreme Court, and the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals as a senior attorney at the Arkansas attorney general’s office. Richardson has regularly represented clients at the Arkansas General Assembly where he has advised state legislators and state agencies on pending legislation, spoken before numerous committees, and advised legislators directly. His dedication to public service is further reflected by serving twice as a special associate justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court.
BONNIE ROBERTSON
Owner, Attorney
Robertson, Oswalt, Nony & Kennedy
GARY B. ROGERS
Partner
Hilburn & Harper
BRIAN ROSENTHAL
Member
Rose Law Firm
GEORGE ROZZELL
Partner
Miller, Butler, Schneider, Pawlik, Rozzell
ABBIE DECKER RUCKER
Partner
Fuqua Campbell
CATHERINE A. RYAN
Attorney
Dodds, Kidd & Ryan
Catherine Ryan has been a civil litigator for more than 20 years, helping injured people and their families obtain relief. She focuses her practice on personal injury, wrongful death claims and appeals. Ryan is admitted to practice in the state of Arkansas and the commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas and District of Massachusetts and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit. Ryan was recognized by Super Lawyers as a “Rising Star” from 2010 to 2013, and as a “Super Lawyer” every year since 2022. She is a life fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
JENNA FOGLEMAN SAIFI
Partner
Miller, Butler, Schneider, Pawlik, Rozzell
M. ETHAN SARTOR
Attorney
Friedman Law Firm
JOHN M. SCOTT
Partner
Conner & Winters
JIM SMITH
Partner
Smith Hurst
PATRICK L. SPIVEY
Partner
Fuqua Campbell
KEVIN J. STATEN
Attorney
Laser Law Firm
Kevin J. Staten graduated from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville with a degree in finance and banking. He was president of Blue Key and chosen Who’s Who Among American College Students. He attended the University of Arkansas School of Law, where he graduated in 1985. He passed the bar and started practicing law at
the Laser Law Firm in Little Rock in 1985 at age 24. Staten has been a trial lawyer for numerous insurance companies and their insureds his entire career. He has tried over 400 jury trials in more than 40 counties in Arkansas. He has possessed the highest possible legal rating of AVPreeminent by Martindale-Hubbell for at least 15 years. Also, he has been selected by his peers as a Mid-South Super Lawyer in the area of insurance defense on 14 occasions. Staten is currently the managing partner at Laser Law Firm.
CARTER C. STEIN
Partner
McMath Woods
As a partner at McMath Woods since 2016, Carter C. Stein is recognized for his compassionate counsel and legal excellence driven by a profound belief in the justice system. He has extensive experience representing individuals and families in personal injury and wrongful death cases. Stein has received numerous accolades, such as being listed in Mid-South Super Lawyers from 2014 to 2024. Additionally, he was recognized as a Mid-South Super Lawyers Rising Star from 2011 to 2013. Stein holds an AV Rating from Martindale-Hubbell, reflecting high legal ability and ethical conduct.
D. KIMBRO STEPHENS
Managing Attorney, Co-founder
Jurist Law Group
D. Kimbro Stephens is cofounder and managing attorney at Jurist Law Group in Little Rock, where he devotedly guides families in the daunting maze of long-term care and helps them with asset protection and estate planning. Prior to entering private practice, Stephens assisted his mother in opening Living Hope Institute, a Christian psychiatric hospital that was the first of its kind in the state. He then spent more than 20 years in hospital administration and executive health care management. As a health care executive, Stephens established many programs for the delivery of medical services and served in many capacities, including CEO and general counsel. Stephens is a member of the Arkansas Bar Association, the National Associate of Elder Law Attorneys, the Academy of Special Needs Planners and WealthCounsel. He completed his Juris Doctor at the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville after earning his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in Massachusetts.
DAVID STERLING
Partner
Cox, Sterling Vandiver & Botteicher
JOHN S. STOBAUGH
Partner
Schnipper, Britton & Stobaugh
John Stobaugh graduated from McGehee High School before earning a degree from Texas A&M University. In 2013, he earned his law degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law and was admitted to practice that same year. He then joined Bell & Boyd as an associate attorney in 2013 and deputy city attorney of Magnolia. He is the past president of the Columbia County Bar Association and served on various community boards during his time in Magnolia. Stobaugh also served as an adjunct professor at Southern Arkansas University there. He joined Schnipper, Britton & Stobaugh in Hot Springs as an associate attorney in 2017 and was named partner in 2019. He focuses primarily on family law, criminal defense, personal injury and civil litigation. Stobaugh is the current president of the Garland County Bar Association, a member of the Hot Springs National Park Rotary Club and a founding member of the Sunshine Therapeutic Riding Center in Hot Springs.
PAULA JAMELL STOREYGARD
Partner
Hilburn & Harper
W.H. TAYLOR
Partner
Taylor Law Partners
JENNY HOLT TEETER
Shareholder, Director Gill Ragon Owen
Jenny Holt Teeter is a director and shareholder at Gill Ragon Owen in Little Rock. She joined the Arkansas Bar in 2007. She received her undergraduate degree from Hendrix College in Conway, where she graduated cum laude with distinction, and her law degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law. Her practice focuses on matters involving general employment law, regulatory compliance, and general corporate and nonprofit law. She assists employers with general employment law compliance issues and health care providers and long term care facilities with regulatory registration and compliance. Teeter also provides general guidance and documentation to business entities and nonprofit corporations. In addition, Teeter serves a number of clients as “outside” general counsel, advising about day-to-day issues and general corporate matters such as financing issues, corporate structure and governance, transaction matters, and contract drafting and negotiation. In that role, she also assists several clients with navigating the process of buying and selling businesses. Teeter is the chair of the firm’s health law group and a member
of the firm’s employment practices group and privacy law group. Teeter enjoys working with nonprofit and educational organizations in her free time. She currently serves as president of Fuse Co-Working, a nonprofit corporation that assists the chronically homeless in central Arkansas. She previously served as chair on the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Health Professions Advisory Board in Little Rock and president of the board of trustees for The Anthony School in Little Rock. She was also appointed to and currently serves on the Arkansas Supreme Court Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee. Teeter has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America in the practice area of health care law.
JOHN E. TULL III
Managing
Member
Quattlebaum, Grooms & Tull
John Tull has extensive experience handling complex civil litigation across a wide range of practice areas, serving as lead counsel in more than 100 jury trials and representing individuals, small businesses and major corporations across a broad spectrum of complex litigation. A fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, his trial experience includes matters involving business torts, breach of contract, product liability, toxic torts, environmental litigation, securities fraud, franchise disputes, trade secrets, personal injury and First Amendment issues. Tull serves as general counsel to the Arkansas Press Association and is a member of the Freedom of Information Act Review Working Group by appointment of the Arkansas attorney general.
PRESLEY TURNER
Partner
Turner & Rasch
Presley Turner is a partner at Turner & Rasch in Little Rock, a boutique, traumainformed law firm focusing on family and domestic law, including divorce, child custody and support, probate, and domestic violence law. Turner was born and raised in Texas. She went on to graduate from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville in 2016 and from University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law in 2019. A licensed social worker and committed member of the community, Turner is a certified trauma specialist, and founded the Center for Advocacy and Awareness, an organization committed to educating attorneys and professionals on trauma. Turner is actively involved in the Junior League of Little Rock and is a past board member of Equal Justice Works and New Leaders Council-Arkansas. Turner is also a certified domestic relations attorney ad litem and is a part-time parent counsel and dependencyneglect attorney ad litem for the Arkansas De-
partment of Human Services, where she provides much-needed representation and support to families going through some of the hardest times in their lives.
BRIAN A. VANDIVER
Partner
Cox, Sterling Vandiver & Botteicher
JAMIE JONES WALSWORTH
Partner
Friday, Eldredge & Clark
Jamie Jones Walsworth serves as president of the Arkansas Bar Association. A partner in the litigation practice group at Friday, Eldredge & Clark in Little Rock with more than 20 years of experience in complex civil litigation, Walsworth tries cases in both state and federal court in matters of insurance coverage and defense, personal injury defense, civil rights defense, transportation defense and electrical utility defense. Walsworth also leads real-time corporate investigations including catastrophic accident matters for railroads, utilities and transportation companies. Recognized by The Best Lawyers in America and as lawyer of the year in insurance, Walsworth is also past president of the Arkansas Association of Defense Counsel. Deeply engaged in community leadership, she previously served as board chair of the American Heart Association in central Arkansas and is past president of the National Charity League.
BROOKE-AUGUSTA WARE
Associate Attorney Turner & Rasch
VINCE WARD
Managing Member
McDaniel Wolff
Vince Ward is managing member at McDaniel Wolff in Little Rock and co-leads the tax and corporate law practice. Ward frequently assists clients with business mergers and acquisitions, commercial real estate transactions, tax planning and controversies, business startups and forming charitable organizations. He also practices in the areas of estate planning and estate administration. Ward’s practice is founded on providing premier legal services with an emphasis on tax considerations while balancing practical considerations and the specialized needs of private individuals, their businesses and their families. Ward has also served as a faculty member at numerous National Business Institute seminars, including Trusts 101, The Probate Process From Start to Finish and How to Keep Tax-Exempt Organizations in Compliance. A native of Fayetteville, Ward moved to Little Rock after obtaining his Master of Laws in taxation from Southern Methodist University in Texas.
MEGAN L. WELLS
Partner
Hilburn & Harper
JACOB I. WICKLIFFE
FamilyLawandGeneralLitigationAttorney
Dodds, Kidd & Ryan
Jacob I. Wickliffe is a dedicated trial lawyer focused on high-conflict divorces, complex custody disputes and attorney ad litem work. Passionate about protecting families and advocating for children, he brings a calm but firm presence to even the most emotionally charged cases. After earning his law degree, Wickliffe served as a law clerk for a family court judge, gaining rare insight into the decision-making process behind the bench. That experience sharpened his understanding of how the justice system operates — and now fuels his mission to advocate effectively for clients in front of it. Today, Wickliffe uses those skills to guide Arkansans through some of the most difficult times of their lives with compassion, clarity, and a commitment to protecting what matters most.
JILLIAN WILSON
Co-managing Partner
Attorney’s Title Group
KYLE R. WILSON
Partner
Wright Lindsey Jennings
Kyle R. Wilson, a partner at the Little Rock office of Wright Lindsey Jennings, has a trial-oriented practice centered around insurance defense, products liability, major tractor-trailer accidents, intellectual property and premises liability, as well as bad faith and fraud litigation. Before joining the firm, Wilson served as an assistant attorney general for the state of Arkansas. He is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates; the Arkansas Association of Defense Counsel, where he is past president; the International Association of Defense Counsel; the Defense Research Institute; the American Bar Association and its litigation, tort and insurance practice sections; the Arkansas Bar Association; and the Pulaski County Bar Association. Since 2018, Wilson has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America for his work in personal injury litigation — defendants, product liability litigation — defendants and personal injury litigation-plaintiffs. Since 2012, Mid-South Super Lawyers has recognized Wilson for his work in personal injury defense litigation, and, since 2015, Benchmark Litigation has named him a “Local Litigation Star” in the areas of general commercial, insurance and product liability litigation. He is a member of the Historic Arkansas Museum Commission in Little Rock.
ROBBIE WILSON
Co-managing Partner, Supervising Attorney
Wilson & Associates
JENNIFER WILSON-HARVEY
Co-managing Partner
Wilson & Associates
RUFUS WOLFF
Founding Member
McDaniel Wolff
Rufus Wolff is a founding member at McDaniel Wolff in Little Rock and co-leads the tax and corporate law practice. His practice focuses on a wide range of taxation and business law matters, and he regularly counsels private individuals, emerging technology companies, real estate developers, oil and gas companies, securities firms and many other types of entrepreneurs whose needs require a creative yet practical approach to their complex legal matters. Wolff is an inactive certified public accountant and served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law, where he taught corporate income taxation from 1989 to 1996. He has also been actively involved in the professional employer organization industry since 1987 and has represented numerous professional employer organizations throughout the United States.
H. WAYNE YOUNG
Partner
Friday, Eldredge & Clark
H. Wayne Young is a partner in the labor and employment group at Friday, Eldredge & Clark in Little Rock. He represents employers in a broad range of labor and employment matters and has been recognized by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, The Best Lawyers in America and Mid-South Super Lawyers. Wayne received the 2017 Russell Gunter Legislative Advocacy Award from Arkansas SHRM and the 2018 Legislative Advocacy Award from the Central Arkansas Human Resource Association for his leadership in employmentrelated legislative issues. He currently serves as general counsel to the Arkansas state council of the Society for Human Resource Management. Dedicated to community service, Young serves on the board of directors of Women & Children First in Little Rock.
KIMBERLY D. YOUNG Partner
Friday, Eldredge & Clark
Kimberly D. Young is a partner in the litigation practice group at Friday, Eldredge & Clark in Little Rock with more than 20 years of experience in complex civil litigation. She defends gas and electric utilities, handles product liability matters involving pharmaceuticals and medical devices, and manages multidistrict litigation. Young also represents behavioral health care providers and advises insurers and policyholders in personal injury, wrongful death and property damage cases. In addition to her trial work, she maintains an appellate practice, having argued before the Arkansas Court of Appeals, the Arkansas Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. Recognized by The Best Lawyers in America and named “Lawyer of the Year” in mass tort litigation/class actions-defendants, Young is also dedicated to pro bono service through the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Medical-Legal Partnership.
HEATHER G. ZACHARY Director of Litigation
Reddick Law
JUSTIN ZACHARY Partner
Denton, Zachary & Norwood
PAUL BYRD
NONPROFIT POWERHOUSES
Turning a philanthropic feeling into functional fundraising takes more than good intentions, though it is a good place to start. Whether in health care, conservation, education or other arenas, a truly well-built foundation can be just that — a solid base from which lives, communities and narratives are changed for the better. For many nonprofits, the tenets of sustained success remain the same regardless of individual missions.
“Our success is rooted in our partnerships, strategic programs and our ability to engage the community,” said Deke Whitbeck, president of the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation. “For instance, our $10,000 contribution to the Fred Berry Crooked Creek Nature Center project was matched by an adjacent landowner, which significantly increased the impact of the habitat work. As we’ve seen, partnerships are essential for dramatically expanding habitat efforts on the ground.”
The foundation has backed the mission of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission since 1982 and has learned a thing or two about appealing to a wide range of donors over the four decades since. From fundraising banquets to tournaments and from equipment initiatives such as Get It for Game Wardens to networks such as the Arkansas Outdoor Society, AGFF is able to bring supporters old and new into the fold in a variety of ways.
“Additionally, our impact fund empowers donors to direct their contributions to specific outdoor areas they are passionate about, such as wildlife habitat restoration or enhancing
By Mak Millard
public access,” Whitbeck said. “We also make it clear that planned giving is accessible to anyone, regardless of the size of their estate.”
Closely related to making the right connections is sending the right message. For Alzheimer’s Arkansas, that has meant fresh logos and branding to better convey the mission and vision of the organization. Initially started out of a garage as a small support group for caregivers of family members with Alzheimer’s, the nonprofit has worked to reposition itself in the last few years as a resource for caregivers from all corners, whether their loved ones have another form of dementia, chronic illness or debilitating disease — a process that has culminated in the organization’s tagline, “A community for caregivers since 1984.”
“We don’t want to turn any caregiver away,” said Stephenie A. Cooke, executive director. “Our focus for 41 years has always been on that unpaid, nonprofessional, family caregiver that is devoting so much of their time and efforts and personal resources and all of the challenges that they face and the sacrifices they make. We just want to do what we can to meet them along their journey.”
Alzheimer’s Arkansas has become more than a support group or caregiver workshop and is now what Cooke described as a “library of resources.” Brochures, provider lists, programming and educational outreach are all facets of the nonprofit’s work, and Cooke said the group’s scope has also expanded to include more work with stakeholders who are interacting with caregivers and those living with chronic illness on a daily basis.
We need your help to champion conservation, sound management and enjoyment of Arkansas’ wildlife and natural resources through our stewardship, advocacy and education.
Deke Whitbeck
“We help provide community presentations and participate in a lot of senior expos and health fairs,” she said. “We do lots of presentations with small groups, whether it’s a Sunday school class or a civic group, maybe other small nonprofits and small businesses that are serving our community of caregivers.”
Messaging is also vital for groups connected to a much larger organization, such as Goodwill Industries of Arkansas. An independently operated member of Goodwill Industries International, the nonprofit benefits from strong brand recognition on the one hand, while, on the other hand, that same familiarity
can lead people to think they already know what Goodwill is all about. In reality, said Brian Marsh, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Arkansas, few people know the depth of its work.
“Communicating our mission has been a priority,” Marsh said. “Over the past decade, we’ve shifted our strategies to focus heavily on digital and social media, using targeted messaging to reach different audiences — but the most impactful way we spread awareness is through firsthand experiences, inviting the public to attend graduations, tour our facilities, or hear directly
We create a compassionate, welcoming and restorative community for family caregivers across the state who are caring for those with dementia, chronic illness or debilitating disease. alzark.org/donate
Stephenie A. Cooke
At Goodwill Industries of Arkansas, we believe change begins with opportunity. Your donation to the Goodwill of Arkansas Foundation helps people break the cycle of poverty, support their families and strengthen our community.
from our students and graduates. Almost every time, the response is the same: ‘I didn’t know Goodwill did that.’ Putting a face to our mission and seeing our mission in motion leaves the strongest and most lasting impact.”
Of course, for all the good that marketing and networking can do, they are still only supplements to the main mission. The substance of the work is in its people and the real, communitychanging efforts all that fundraising is meant to support. Such is the case for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Foundation in Little Rock, said John Erck, vice chancellor of institutional advancement. He pointed to “the faculty, staff and good work that UAMS does” as the foundation’s keys to success.
“When the community has faith in leadership, in the researchers and their health care providers, etc., they’re much more likely to invest in the mission,” Erck said. “Our relationships as fundraisers are also very important, and continuity is key, but the good work that UAMS is doing overall is what drives giving. Health care and UAMS are so important for the state of Arkansas, and UAMS is at the center of that as it drives better health outcomes throughout the state, research that impacts care, and, of course, we educate more than half of all Arkansas health care workers.”
No advocacy effort is without its challenges, whether financial hurdles or obstacles unique to its area of outreach. For AGFF, Whitbeck highlighted the dual concerns of staying financially stable while continuing to engage new audiences. The Arkansas Outdoor Society is one adaptation to the challenge of reaching youth and others new to outdoor recreation, while the foundation also focuses on generating revenue through diverse channels. With that in mind, Whitbeck recommended smaller or newer nonprofits seek out grants or matching opportunities to augment their own efforts.
“We don’t just rely on a few big events. We have multiple revenue streams, like sponsorships, corporate partnerships, general donations and capital campaigns,” Whitbeck said. “We’ve also established the impact fund, which leverages donations through matching programs, often achieving ratios as high as 3 to 1, to amplify the effect of contributions.”
Brian Marsh
goodwillar.org/ give-to-good
Being an organization on the smaller side is not without its upsides, however. In fact, there may actually be more for large nonprofits to learn from smaller operations than vice versa, Erck said. While the UAMS Foundation benefits from the support and infrastructure of the university system, smaller nonprofits “have to do everything.”
“We have the good fortune of being able to focus on building relationships with our donors and community partners and growing philanthropic investment in our mission-critical work,” he said.
At 41 years old, Alzheimer’s Arkansas still operates on a budget of $2 million or less, Cooke said, and the group relies on the dedication of its people, volunteers and a vast array of community partners for long-term sustainability. One silver lining to being a smaller, self-governed operation is the maneuverability it allows in the face of challenges.
“We’ve done a lot with a very small group, but that is a blessing in a way because when we see things are not maybe going the way we had planned, we can pivot and shift gears and be a lot more flexible,” Cooke said. “That can be geographically. It could be from a programming standpoint. We have just the ability to be wherever we’re called to be, and so when we have a group of caregivers over in Helena wanting some respite activity, we can go and do that. We’re not relying on a minimum number of ‘blanks.’ We’re able to meet the needs as they come in.”
There is also something to be said for avoiding growth for growth’s sake. It is easy to fall into “mission creep,” Marsh said, where an enthusiasm to add too many ancillary programs can actually dilute the focus of the nonprofit and reduce its impact. There is doubtless much more than meets the eye at Goodwill Industries of Arkansas, but the organization has stayed true to its core mission since the beginning, remaining centered on education, training and employment. Partnerships are also critical, Marsh added.
“By collaborating with community organizations, employers and educators, nonprofits can expand their reach and
strengthen outcomes while still staying aligned with who they are and how they best serve,” he said.
Alignment gets to the heart of what it takes to build any nonprofit into a vehicle of real impact. With resources, staff and volunteers, partners, stakeholders, and donors all in accord as to the “why” behind every dollar, email and event, the desire to do good can become a realized vision for positive, lasting change.
“Our vision for the future is centered on continued growth and expanding our support for conservation,” Whitbeck said. “We aim to sustain outdoor activities for future generations of enthusiasts.”
“We’re meeting those caregivers in our communities wherever they are just to help in support of making their journeys maybe a little lighter or less stressful in some cases, maybe help them become less anxious about what lies ahead,” Cooke said. “In our world today, if you’re not a caregiver, you either have been or will be, and the trends are not looking that great when it comes to predictions of the explosion of those living with some form of dementia in the next couple of decades. We want to help folks do better and help see that trend change a bit, especially in the communities in which we serve.”
“As Arkansas’ only statewide health science university, we are building a statewide academic health system that is delivering dramatic and lasting health and health care improvements to the people of our state,” Erck said. “Our goal is to consistently raise $50 million plus on an annual basis, and each and every dollar raised is an investment in our work to transform health at the scale and pace that Arkansans deserve.”
“Goodwill’s vision for the future is ambitious and deeply rooted in our mission — to have a graduate from one of our programs in every county of Arkansas,” Marsh said. “Whether through The Excel Center, The Academy at Goodwill, or our transitional employment opportunity program, we want every corner of the state to experience the life-changing impact of education, training and employment.”
Your act of generosity, our longevity. With gift planning, you can provide long-lasting support for our organization while enjoying financial benefits for yourself
John Erck
Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund
Celebrating 35 Years
Headquarters: Little Rock Year founded: 1990
Lead Executive: Jenn Morehead, CEO Areas served: 69 counties in Arkansas, including Bowie County, Texas.
2025
EXECUTIVE BOARD COMMITTEE
Sunshine Bartlett, Arvest (President); Sharmane Andrews, Simmons Bank (Vice President); Michael O’Bryan, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (Treasurer); Sara Neal, Arkansas Children’s (Secretary); Betsy Baker, Rose Law Firm (Past President)
MISSION STATEMENT
Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund’s mission is to provide a culture of support, equipping single parents to navigate their futures with confidence.
ABOUT ARKANSAS SINGLE PARENT SCHOLARSHIP FUND
Since 1990, ASPSF has awarded more than $50 million in scholarships and provided services empowering single parents to complete their education and pursue higher-paying careers. Shifting away from safety net programs, ASPSF recipients and alumni own homes, invest in financial products and spend paychecks on goods and services across local, regional and state economies. Both single fathers and single mothers may apply, as well as grandparents and siblings if they are the sole guardian for a child under 18.
more than a check. ASPSF offers student-development workshops, mentorship and access to community resources so that students have a support system to lean on as they balance school, work and family responsibilities.
2025 has been a year of significant growth for the nonprofit. ASPSF has already served more single parent students in spring and summer 2025 than all of 2024 — 614 compared to 595 — and the fall application period set a new record for total applications received at 1,764. That is a 130 percent year-over-year increase, and only 106 applications shy of the total received in all of 2024.
Best of all is the generational impact ASPSF recipients have on their children and communities. Recipients share how their decision to go back to school and improve their families’ lives inspires their loved ones to pursue new degrees and certifications. Single parents are role models not only for their children — who see their parent studying, working and sacrificing so much to give them a better life — but also their own parents, siblings, cousins and friends.
2024 IMPACT NUMBERS
• 839 scholarships and stipends awarded
• 595 single parents served
• $1,135,200 distributed to single parent s
• 144 graduates
• 86 percent average increase in graduate income
• 3.11 average GPA
• 1,102 children impacted by the power of education
GIVING OPPORTUNITIES
Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund’s scholarship program differs from most others in two distinct ways. First, ASPSF gives the scholarship check directly to the recipient, allowing single parent students to use the funds for any financial obstacle in the way of their degree — from car repairs and grocery bills to more traditional expenses such as tuition, books and school supplies. Second, the scholarship program is much
Donate: Since the fall 2023 semester, ASPSF has had to deny qualified, eligible single parents due to lack of funds. Every student awarded means a family is provided with dinner on the table, gas in the car and heat in the winter while the parent works to make a better future for themselves and their children.
Volunteer: ASPSF needs volunteers to help process applications and interview applicants to ensure all recipients meet ASPSF criteria and have a plan in place to meet their career goals. Learn more and get involved at aspsf.org.
Jenn Morehead
A Gift of TIME LOVE AND
There is an old adage when it comes to volunteering: Do it once, and you’re hooked.
Nonprofit
groups tell their stories to reel in donors, volunteers
That very idea — that a first-time volunteer can find immediate gratification — lies at the heart and soul of how nonprofit organizations operate in Arkansas. It is not a complex concept, of course. Nonprofit organizations rely on volunteers, whether the volunteers in question are offering their time, their money or both.
The key to running a successful nonprofit entity depends on getting people into the proverbial boat. It is not always easy. The winds of economic change or instability handcuff potential monetary donors, and finding time to give time is its own challenge altogether. Life tends to feel like it is on warp drive sometimes, making it harder to carve out time for others.
But the rewards, well, that is what keeps people coming back.
donating an inkind lunch at a sporting event, well, that’s a partner that our sports team is coming in contact with. At our special events, that’s where we have a lot of partnership development, and we’re cultivating at the event and prior to the event.”
It is easy to look at those requests for time and money as a sales pitch, but in fact, those at Special Olympics Arkansas are aiming for a deeper connection. It is far more accurate to classify what they do as storytelling. Almost always, prospective donors and volunteers have their own preconceived ideas about what Special Olympics is and how it operates.
It is when people learn the entire scope that they learn just how valuable they can be and just how great the intrinsic rewards truly are.
By Doug Crise
“We want to make sure we’re connecting,” said Camie Powell, director of marketing and partnerships at Special Olympics Arkansas. “If somebody’s
“It’s just constantly reminding everyone about everything we do for our athletes,” said Terri Weir, executive director, “and what we do for our athletes is free of charge, so that’s also another piece of it that people don’t understand,
a lot of times, everything we do. There’s no cost to the athletes, and there’s no cost to the families.”
Tonya Villines is also in the business of telling a story. As president and CEO at Junior Achievement of Arkansas, Villines is more than happy to receive monetary donations, but the organization’s bread and butter is made up of volunteers working with young people on a number of educational initiatives, including career readiness and money management.
“Volunteers bring learning to life,” Villines said. “We are equipping students with the mindsets and skill sets they need to unlock greater economic opportunity, whether in school or out-ofschool settings. Through our hands-on programming, students gain real-world knowledge and develop competencies that prepare them to navigate postsecondary education, careers and financial decisions with confidence. JA is more than a curriculum; it is a movement of volunteers and partners accelerating mobility for young people, their families and entire communities.”
Michal Harris gets it. He founded the Ikarus Youth Outreach Program in 2017 with the goal of connecting communities through enrichment opportunities for children. Unlike Special Olympics Arkansas, Harris is a oneman show. He is his own fundraiser, his own media and promotions hub, and the lone storyteller for his organization. Like Special Olympics, he spearheads events that are absolutely free to participants, relying on those called to help in Ikarus’ mission.
That mission includes basketball leagues, prayer breakfasts, academic assistance and donation drives for school supplies. Harris said one of the unique aspects of his program is its sheer scope. Most youth outreach programs limit their work to a particular age group, but Ikarus works with youth from 7 all the way to age 17.
Opportunities abound for people to contribute to Harris’ work either monetarily or with their own time. One of the key platforms of Ikarus’ work in the community are I Can Ball basketball camps. Harris is a believer that children drawn into sports or other extracurricular activities are less likely to get mixed up with crime as they get older, meaning his clinics welcome anyone who can help children of any age.
As Ikarus has grown, so, too, has the list of organizations willing to contribute.
“Kind of in the areas of a more serious tone, we do Think Before You Drink,” Harris said. “It’s a teen drunk-driving seminar that’s focused on safety and responsible decision making. We will usually bring out the Department of Human Services. In the past, we had the Arkansas State Police and other organizations come in to support us, as well.”
Through our handson programming, students gain realworld knowledge and develop competencies that prepare them to navigate postsecondary education, careers and financial decisions with confidence.
— Tonya Villines
Harris works off the same playbook as Special Olympics: There are many things he can say to potential donors and volunteers, but time and again, the biggest “payout” comes from working with the very people the organization is trying to help.
The best spokesperson is almost always
Tonya Villines accepts a check on behalf of Junior Achievement of Arkansas from the Taco Bell Foundation.
(Photo provided by JA)
the person whose life is benefitting from the organization itself.
“What we do, a lot of times, we have our athletes tell the impact stories,” Powell said. “In the first partnership engagement, that’s the most important piece for us to show you — an athlete who has been impacted by the program.”
Therein lies the pitch. Powell and Weir are both banking that a firsthand look at an athlete who has found deeper reservoirs of self-love and confidence through Special Olympics will spring anybody into action. Harris operates on the same wavelength over at Ikarus. In a world that is becoming ever more depersonalized and solitary, seeing joy up close triggers volunteers and donors to come back again and again. The good feelings are very much mutual.
“That’s what the first goal is if we’re meeting you just in a regular meeting,” Powell said. “You’re going to find our athletes at every single event. They’re the ones making that touch point. They’re the ones who have the impact. Just the other day, we were out at a meeting, and somebody said, ‘You know what? My niece has just started with Special Olympics, and the confidence she has gained from it is priceless.’”
Harris said he sees telling the story of Ikarus as a two-part proposition. There is the work that is done to bring in individuals, whether to make a monetary contribution or to be on the ground floor, working with the children themselves, but there is also the back and forth that comes from securing community partnerships with school districts, businesses, law enforcement and other municipal entities.
Those bring not only manpower and the occasional check, but they also add an air of legitimacy to the nonprofit’s efforts. If people see their city getting behind the cause, they are more likely to get behind it, as well.
“It’s really an open space,” Harris said. “We have a number of different community partners, whether it’s the Little Rock School District or other organizations, such as the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences [in Little
Rock]. They may have a representative come, and they’ll talk about the impacts and the effects of opioid use as far as what they’ve seen dealing with it.”
One aspect of nonprofit organizations that continues to grow is the area of career readiness. Special Olympics, Ikarus, and other nonprofit agencies such as Junior Achievement of Arkansas work to provide young people with skills and lessons to help them arrive and function in today’s workforce.
Whether it is financial literacy, the basics of entrepreneurship or even just the keys to making a good first impression, nonprofit entities welcome gifts of knowledge as much as they welcome time and money.
At Special Olympics, that knowledge gets passed on by the very people who are being helped. A Special Olympian who learns a skill from a volunteer usually ends up imparting that wisdom to a younger participant. Nothing beats the feeling of being able to teach and guide another person, and Special Olympians who learn skills from an outside source end up becoming mentors for those younger than them.
It all creates a boost of self-confidence that cannot be quantified.
“We joke about it, but it’s true,” Powell said. “If we can get you to one thing, we’ll have you for life. If we can get you to something where you see our athletes performing or interacting with our athletes, it’s just as powerful as the first partnership I connected 13 years ago because our athletes will never let you down.”
That is ultimately how nonprofit groups continue to function and serve in this day and age. The “sales pitch” is as effective as it is timeless. Give what you can for whatever time you have, and you will feel better than anything you could have done for yourself.
“Their stories are so genuine and real,” Weir said, “and that’s what most people tell us about our organization — how genuine and real it is and how warm it feels to come to an event and see that their impact is immediate. A partner’s impact is immediate.”
Camie Powell
Terri Weir
Tonya Villines
Michal Harris
Headquarters: Little Rock
Year founded: 1888
CEO: Chad Aduddell
Area served: Statewide
Board of Directors:
• Chad Aduddell (Chief Executive Officer, CHI St. Vincent)
• Allison Anthony
• Susan Blair (Chair)
• Meghan Collins
• Ray Dillon
• Rick Fleetwood
• Eliza Gaines (Vice Chair)
• Jack Grobmyer
• Denise Hanson
• Frank Kumpuris
• George Makris III
• Michael Millard (Market Director Mission, CHI St. Vincent)
• Barrett Norton
• Wendy Saer (Treasurer)
• Robert Seay
• John Wade
• Larry Levi
• Kathy Taylor
CHI St. Vincent Foundation
MISSION STATEMENT:
To make the healing presence of God known in our world by improving the health of the people we serve, especially those who are vulnerable, while we advance social justice for all.
ABOUT CHI ST. VINCENT FOUNDATION:
CHI St. Vincent is a part of CommonSpirit Health, a Catholic health system dedicated to advancing health for all people and one of the largest nonprofit health systems in the country. In keeping with its mission, CHI St. Vincent Foundation is committed to creating healthier communities, delivering exceptional patient care and ensuring every person has access to quality health care.
The health network serves more than 1 million individuals every year with primary care and specialty provider visits, as well as providing nearly $1 million annually in free or discounted health services to people who cannot afford them. The group’s network includes primary care, specialty clinics, urgent care, hospitals, home health, rehabilitation and surgery centers.
Everything CHI St. Vincent does is to further its vision of a healthier future for all, inspired by faith, driven by innovation and powered by humanity. The group is at the forefront of training the next generation of health care leaders, partnering with nursing programs at local universities and colleges, and the health network is also working diligently to expand health care access in rural communities.
CHI St. Vincent has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report for its high performance across a number of treatment areas, including aortic valve surgery, pacemaker implantation, heart failure, heart bypass surgery, colon cancer surgery, spinal fusion and TAVR.
GIVING OPPORTUNITIES:
Every gift to the CHI St. Vincent Foundation is greatly appreciated and goes back into the mission of its hospitals.
Membership: Joining Community 1888 with an annual membership supports projects that support the future of CHI St. Vincent’s ministry, like the creation of the Anthony Center for Advanced Cardiac Care and growing opportunities for nurses across the state.
Initiatives: The foundation supports projects such as the creation of the Anthony Center for Advanced Cardiac Care, improvements to CHI St. Vincent’s extensive cancer programs, ongoing support of the Arkansas Neuroscience Institute, educational opportunities for frontline nurses and employees, and more.
Events: The 22nd Annual St. Vincent Golf Classic will be Nov. 3. Proceeds benefit CHI St. Vincent Infirmary’s oncology program. In the spring of 2026, the foundation will be ‘dinking for a cure’ with a pickleball tournament that supports the efforts of the breast center.
Sponsored Content
For more information on CHI St. Vincent Foundation, please visit supportstvincent.org.
Bridging the Gap
SFoundations, nonprofits dealing with federal funding changes
By Alex Hardgrave
ince taking office, the Trump Administration has canceled or frozen about $425 billion in federal funding for programs in all sectors, including health care, the arts and education.
Those changes have caused budgetary issues for state departments and nonprofits, causing confusion and limiting the ability organizations have to serve their communities.
“We like things to be stable and predictable,” said Justin Buck, executive director at Wolfe Street Foundation in Little Rock. “The uncertainty in the federal funding space has created this trickle-down uncertainty through our state agency partners.”
Wolfe Street Foundation is a nonprofit in Little Rock that supports those recovering from addiction through group support, one-on-one support, recovery residences and more.
Buck said the resources it provides produce savings for the state.
Specifically, every dollar that goes into recovery support services saves between $4 and $7 through diverting people from emergency rooms, jails and courtrooms. Some of the support it receives is through the Arkansas Department of Human Services.
“Those state agency partners have
to be the bearer of bad news for a lot of decisions that are being made on the federal level,” he said.
Buck said Wolfe Street has lost $100,000 in grant funding, as did many other organizations, because of funding freezes and cancellations.
He said the government did not take away money but rather did not award money the organization was counting on.
“I understand on the one hand a grant is something you apply for and might not get, but in many of these cases, that’s not how it worked,” Buck said. “This was money that had been promised, had been committed not just to Wolfe Street Foundation; it had been committed to the people we serve. I don’t feel entitled to federal money or grant money. No nonprofit director feels entitled to that, but a lot of these decisions are not impacting Wolfe Street as directly as they’re impacting the communities that we serve.”
Some grants are also being consolidated, which Buck expects will be a lower monetary amount overall.
“I suspect it will create an environment in which organizations feel like we have to compete against one another to get those reduced
Sherece West-Scantlebury
Justin Buck
funds,” he said.
Luckily for Wolfe Street, it has enough funding coming from other sources, such as private foundations, to keep its mission going, Buck said. However, the organization was able to establish programming in just three of a planned nine Arkansas counties.
“It has curtailed the level of growth,” he said.
Private foundations in Arkansas are seeing that the local nonprofits they serve are feeling the strain.
“The abruptness of it is what’s devastating,” said Sherece WestScantlebury, president and CEO at the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. “It’s not gradual.”
Linsley Kinkade, chief program officer at the Arkansas Community Foundation, said sudden changes in government funding have created a lot of unknowns.
“Funds that were once very stable with nonprofits are suddenly unstable,” she said. “Nonprofits are businesses, so for any business or organization, that kind of revenue disruption creates chaos.”
West-Scantlebury said she has seen the funding cuts causing wait lists to be longer for nonprofits services, as well as high staff turnover as employees worry about stability.
“It’s just because the dollars aren’t there,” she said.
Without stable funding, nonprofits have to lean harder on private foundations. Prior to the funding changes, both the Arkansas Community Foundation and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation were already seeing an increasing number of organizations asking for money, but now more organizations are asking for more money
or are asking more frequently, Kinkade said.
“They’re not just asking for project support, which may have been in the past,” West-Scantlebury said. “They’re asking for cash flow, bridge funding and money to retain talent.”
Kinkade has also seen employees who have worked at local nonprofits for decades leaving for jobs with more stability.
“There is a lot of knowledge that leaves when an employee leaves,” she said.
Private foundations such as the Arkansas Community Foundation and WRF are privately funded rather than funded by federal money, so they have still been able to award funds to partner nonprofits. However, they cannot fill the gap left by federal dollars. For example, ACF’s average grant is $1,500, while federal money can be hundreds of thousands or even millions.
“Philanthropy cannot replace government dollars,” WestScantlebury said. “Long-term stability really does require public revenue.”
Kincade said there is an increased need but no funding to apply to the need. She still encourages people to continue to donate to local nonprofits or start giving if they have not been to help with the gaps in their local nonprofits.
Without stable funding, nonprofits have to lean harder on private foundations.
“Now is the time for Arkansans to continue to give to their nonprofits that are doing great work to help their friends, their family and their neighbors,” Kinkade said. “The best time to give to your community was 20 years ago. The second-best time to give to the community is today.”
West-Scantlebury said WRF will continue to advocate for policy change.
“We’ll double down on policy changes that could restore public dollars,” West-Scantlebury said. “We’ll continue to fund advocacy and policy that will either restore public dollars or redirect how public dollars are spent. This is about keeping the lights on for our community anchors while policy catches up.”
The uncertainty has made it hard for nonprofits such as Wolfe Street to plan their budgets and plan for writing grants.
“With how complex that system is, when you have an unpredictable element of when you have instability or unpredictability, it really upsets the whole apple cart in many ways, and it is very challenging to make sure that those solutions and those resources get out to our local communities,” Buck said. “Now we have to create a patch in the short term to make sure that people that we’re serving still get served. We have to build a new ship while we’re trying to patch the holes in the ones we’ve got, so it’s been really difficult.”
Linsley Kinkade
Headquarters: Little Rock
Year founded: 1927
Area served: Statewide
President and CEO: Brian Marsh
Board Officers:
Miguel Lopez, Southern Bancorp (chair); Elizabeth Small, UA Little Rock College of Business (vice chair); Troy Wells, Baptist Health (past chair); Carrie Harper Smith, Sterling Seacrest Partners (secretary); Jay Meador, First Horizon Bank (treasurer); Douglas Jackson, Merrill Lynch (foundation chair); Denise Luft, Janet Jones Co. (mission chair)
MISSION STATEMENT:
Changing lives through education, training and employment.
GIVING OPPORTUNITIES:
Goodwill Industries of Arkansas
ABOUT GOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF ARKANSAS:
What if a thrift store was more than a thrift store? What if it was a place where lives were changed, where retail operations and donations were a vehicle for improving the very fabric of communities all across Arkansas? At Goodwill Industries of Arkansas, those ideas are a reality.
Thanks to Goodwill, a single mother can earn her high school diploma while her child receives quality care just steps away. Former inmates can secure meaningful employment and break the cycle of recidivism. Rural Arkansans can gain cutting-edge skills and bring newfound expertise back to their hometowns. Those stories and more unfold every day thanks to Goodwill Industries of Arkansas.
Goodwill’s Excel Center is a tuition-free high school for adults 19 and older with dreams of earning a high school diploma. Meanwhile, The Academy at Goodwill is bridging the skills gap for nontraditional students in need of industry credentials
and certifications. What is more, the organization’s reentry and career services are giving Arkansans second chances, helping people embark on fulfilling career paths and fueling economic growth in every corner of the state.
Supporting Goodwill means furthering the organization’s mission to provide individuals with the opportunity to lead independent, successful and productive lives. Visit goodwillar.org to learn more.
By the numbers:
Last fiscal year, Goodwill had a total economic impact of $81.2 million, including:
• 7,866 people served
• 1,037 certifications and credentials awarded
• 697 people who found work statewide
• 1,367 employed by Goodwill Industries of Arkansas
• 44,341,416 pounds of product kept out of landfills
Donations Matter: Donations of gently used clothes, shoes, electronics and household items fuel life-changing opportunities for Arkansans. An incredible 96 percent of Goodwill’s funding comes directly from the sale of donated goods. Yet monetary gifts remain vital, allowing Goodwill to invest even further in brighter futures through education, training and employment. Every donation, big or small, helps people overcome barriers, build new skills and change the trajectory of their lives. Gifts can be made at givetogood.org.
Deron Hamilton
DENMAN, HAMILTON & ASSOCIATES
Faith Figures
Deron Hamilton does not believe in coincidences. Looking back over the path that led him to his current role as partner at Denman Hamilton & Associates in Little Rock, he sees the hand of a higher power in every step.
“I’m a faith guy,” he said. “If you’re not a faith person, you may not understand this, but I know this is what God created me to do.”
Hamilton was first led to that understanding through an influential teacher who introduced him to the world of accounting in what is now Parkview Arts & Science Magnet High School in Little Rock. So captivated was the future entrepreneur that when he set off for the University of Memphis after graduation — then Memphis State — he already had his future clearly in mind.
That is, he said, until God tested his resolve in ways he did not understand at the time.
“I was on fire for accounting when I
By Dwain Hebda
got [to college], but then my junior year, I took that first hard accounting class,” he said. “I was so used to being successful, it was a shock. I ended up switching to finance, thinking, ‘I don’t want to do that after all,’ because it was just so hard.”
Hamilton entered the job market armed with a finance degree, but something felt amiss until later, when he earned his Master of Business Administration with a focus on accounting from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He came home from both a geographic and skills perspective but still needed a nudge from above to get into the right career lane.
“The goal originally was to scale the corporate ladder,” he said. “Then I took the [certified public accountant] exam, and when I passed that, it all changed.”
Hamilton co-founded My CPA in 2004, a side hustle doing tax work in addition to his day job at Alltel.
“I would work 8 to 6. Then I’d go
do taxes from 6 to 11,” he said. “What I found out was those five or six hours I was spending at night I loved a whole lot more than the eight to 10 hours I was spending in the corporate world.”
The business grew, and Hamilton began to see more and more examples that things were aligning as the Almighty had intended.
“When I first started, I focused on whatever client came through the door because, for me, it was about building relationships,” he said. “I’m trusting that I’ll get connected with the right people, and time after time, I would get connected with the right people. That’s how I met Neil [Denman].
“We had a common friend who introduced us, and it wasn’t anything earth shattering at the time, but a couple of months later, there was an accounting firm that was up for sale, and he reached back out. He didn’t want some parts of the firm, and so we bought it as two separate firms, merging that back into one in 2013.”
Over the years since, Hamilton has not limited his impact to paying customers but has been active in the community as an advisor for Little Rock Kappa League, a mentoring program that develops leadership skills in young men grades 8 through 12. He is also a youth leader at his church, where he helps young men grow in their faith.
“Through Kappa League, I’ve seen a lot of young men go to college, and seeing that gives me confidence in the future,” he said. “Through my church, I work with guys from seventh grade all the way through the first year of college, basically just improving their mindset, understanding what the word says and how they can use the word to help them be better men.
“I consider it a privilege and a blessing to work with these young people. I really believe that having the right mindset will allow you to be who God created you to be.”
Glass Ceiling or Broken
Rung?
By Sarah DeClerk
LANDING FIRST MANAGERIAL PROMOTION A CRUCIAL STEP TOWARD WOMEN’S SUCCESS
Female professionals have long warned of the “glass ceiling,” an invisible barrier that stops women from advancing beyond a certain point in their careers. However, a new theory has taken hold as to why women have a harder time achieving career success than men.
The book The Broken Rung posits that women being overlooked for promotions early in their careers plays a bigger role than the glass ceiling when it comes to dampening their success. The book notes that while women have higher graduation rates and GPAs than men, that advantage is toppled when they enter the workforce, where only 81 women are promoted to manager for every 100 men.
Debbie Shamlin, co-owner of C&C Tree Service in Little Rock, said the broken rung poses a huge problem for young women.
“I don’t think that the opportunities are available and presented to women like they are men, absolutely,” she said. “They’re not even a consideration most of the time.”
With a background in nursing, Shamlin said she felt less valued in a corporate health care setting than at a small business and noted how few female CEOs there are in health care today. She added that the solution is to change
conversations about women’s advancement in the workplace and to hire from within.
“It’s going to take those steps or layers, if you will, to get a person, whether it’s man or woman, to prove that they are ready to handle a role like that, but I just think that it’s going to take opening the minds and having conversations, making it a workplace norm that women are promoted equally,” she said. “It should be dependent on your professionalism. It should be dependent on your ability, on what you bring to the table. It shouldn’t be dependent on your sex, race or creed or any of that.”
Megan Selman has a background in speech pathology but landed her first Csuite position at a nonprofit in Russellville before moving into her current role as CEO of the Russellville Area Chamber of Commerce and first female CEO of the Russellville Regional Economic Development Alliance.
“In my own experience, it’s important to give women that first step into management, or the climb never begins, so I think that’s why I feel very passionate about intentionally mentoring and even just befriending women early in their careers,” she said. “I think that can make all the difference later.”
While the Russellville chamber operates the Russellville Regional Leadership Academy, which helps instill leadership skills in both male and female professionals, Selman said the best leadership training comes from trusting young women with responsibility and supporting them as they grow. After all, relationships were integral to her own success.
“I’m a big believer in strong relationships and treating people right, and my faith is really important to me, so I feel like I try to have good integrity in little things and big things,”
“I just think that it’s going to take opening the minds and having conversations, making it a workplace norm that women are promoted equally. It should be dependent on your professionalism. It should be dependent on your ability, on what you bring to the table.”
— Debbie Shamlin (Photo by Jane Colclasure)
she said. “Sometimes I think if you do the little things in the right way, eventually people take note, and it catches up to you, or I’d like to think so.”
Women should be included not only at the boardroom table but at the breakfast table, she said, adding that she is a part of a woman’s group that meets at a local diner Friday mornings. Such informal meet-ups not only provide opportunities to socialize but can help women expand their community and business endeavors, as well.
“I think that’s just as important to make sure that women are in the boardroom but they’re also being included on the golf course and at the diner at breakfast on Friday morning — things like that,” she said.
Megan Selman
For Amber Wood, owner of Mid South Realty in Little Rock, confidence is key to climbing the career ladder.
“A lot of women, I think that we are, in many cases, our own worst enemy, and I believe that we limit ourselves more than other people limit us,” she said. “I say that because I had zero experience in real es-
tate — none.”
Wood was a stay-at-home mother until about seven years ago, when she decided to pursue real estate as a parttime career.
Then one of her friends inherited a 200-home portfolio the month she earned her license. It was exceptional timing, she said, that put her in touch with some of the biggest players in the Little Rock investment scene and set her on the path to becoming partner and then sole owner of Mid South.
“There are a lot of really successful female real estate agents,” she said. “Now, that being said, there are also a lot of very condescending men that want to call you ‘sweetheart’ and ‘honey’ and ‘darling,’ and in my opinion, that’s a term to, like, put us in our place, right?”
Women have to work harder than men to get the respect they deserve, she said, adding that while women cannot control what other people think, they can control their own relevance, work ethic and knowledge base.
Amber Wood
Women have higher graduation rates and GPAs than men, that advantage is toppled when they enter the workforce, where only 81 women are promoted to manager for every 100 men.
“For any issue you encounter in the workplace, sleep on it. Don’t be reactionary because that’s been the longstanding thing — the narrative has been that women are too emotional, that women are dramatic.”
— Bailey Clark
“If you’re a guy or a girl, and you’re a young professional, you should only be given an opportunity because you deserve it. I think that that starts with the young, female professional, making sure that she is equipped to do the job,” she said, “and then if they don’t hire her, I don’t know what to do about that. They’re just, they’re sexist, and they should not be in a leadership position.”
She added that while she has encountered sexism during her career, she has not viewed it as an obstacle.
“I don’t feel like I have ever been held back, but I don’t think that that’s because men have just been like, ‘Oh, come in, Amber,’” she said. “I think that’s because I’m like, ‘I’m smart. I’m going to help you make money. If you don’t hire me, you’re dumb,’ and they agree.”
Bailey Clark, chief operating officer at Flexion Point in Little Rock, advised women who encounter sexism at the workplace is to stand up for themselves in a respectful way and, if they have the ability to do so, be prepared to find a position elsewhere — but first, sleep on it.
“For any issue you encounter in the workplace, sleep on it,” she said. “Don’t be reactionary because that’s been the longstanding thing — the narrative has been that women are too emotional, that women are dramatic, and we don’t want to perpetuate that. We don’t want to feed into that. Our feelings are most likely valid and are most likely not going to change
on the subject, but sleep on it.”
With a background in accounting, Clark climbed the ranks to management positions that included controller before joining the C-suite when she came to Flexion Point. She likened the career pipeline to a funnel with the broken rung and glass ceiling at either end.
“I think if I had to say which one was the bigger issue, I would say the broken rung because the more that we shrink down the opening of the funnel, the smaller the end of the funnel gets,” she said. “If we can cast a wider net at the beginning of women’s careers, there’s a lot higher likelihood that they may get to the end of that funnel.”
Because there are so few women at the top, women often view each other as competition rather than questioning why there are so few women in leadership to begin with, she said. She added that women also sometimes lack the confidence of their male counterparts when applying for positions.
The best way for women to overcome the internal and external narratives that can hinder their careers is to find inspiration in women who are a few steps ahead of them, she added.
“The more we see women in leadership, the more we’re going to remove the barriers in our own lives, and we’re going to widen that funnel,” she said. “I think we’re going to see that pick up more and more.”
The Hidden Chief Supply Chain Executive in All of Us
You might not have “chief supply chain officer” on your resume, but if you have ever made a grocery list, dodged a snack shortage or executed a late-night fridge audit, congratulations: you are basically running a Fortune 500 supply chain in your kitchen. Your pantry? A warehouse. Your fridge? A logistics hub. And you? A master of crisis management with a spatula.
In the Introduction to supply chain class taught at the University of Arkansas J.B. Hunt Supply Chain and Transportation Department, students learn the fundamentals — plan, source, make and deliver — but if you have ever kept a household running, you have been living these pillars all along. Let’s break it down:
Plan & Forecast: The snack economy
Every supply chain pro predicts demand — and so do you. Empty chip bag? That is data. Friday sleepover? Market disruption. You run analytics in your head: “Two bags last week, but friends are coming — better buy three.” Your instincts rival any AI forecasting model.
Source: The grocery gauntlet
Corporate lingo calls it “supplier management.” You call it grocery shopping. You source from a diverse vendor network — Walmart for price,
Trader Joe’s for morale, Costco for bulk sanity and Amazon for pure survival. You monitor supplier performance (“These bananas lasted two days — never again”) and negotiate costs with coupons like a procurement pro.
Make: The dinner table
Here is where planning meets production. Chicken, pasta and a yogurt that just cleared expiration become finished goods — dinner. You run a justin-time production mode: prep at 5 p.m., delivery by 6 p.m., satisfaction measured in empty plates and minimal complaints. Sure, there are stock shortages (We are out of ketchup!”), but you pivot and move on.
Deliver: Distribution in action
Your logistics network includes lunchboxes, carpools and the occasional handoff of snacks mid-commute. When something breaks down — the forgotten lunch or empty cookie jar — you are in full crisis mode faster than Amazon on Prime Day.
In Closing:
Next time you walk into your kitchen, remember: You are not just cooking. You are managing an empire of planning, sourcing, making and delivering. You might not get the title, but you have earned it: Chief supply chain officer,
chief survival officer and chief snack officer. KPIs achieved — everyone is fed, hydrated, and (mostly) happy.
When kids help with the shopping list, stock the pantry or solve a snack crisis, they are not just helping; they are training to lead. The same skills that keep snacks flowing today will keep businesses thriving tomorrow. Whether it is snacks at home or shipments across continents, supply chain success starts with plan, source, make and deliver. At the University of Arkansas, that is what we do best.
Shannon Bedore is the founder and board chairman of Sightline Retail in Bentonville, having previously served as CEO of Sightline Retail and Blue Elephant Food Group USA. Bedore recently joined the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville as a professor of practice in the Sam M. Walton College of Business J.B. Hunt Transport Department of Supply Chain Management.
Shannon Bedore
MAKING CONTACT
IN A FAST-PACED WORLD, NETWORKING STILL MATTERS
By Doug Crise
Todd Shields wants to stamp out a myth. A couple, actually.
The chancellor of Arkansas State University in Jonesboro acknowledges that his background makes him look like the consummate university leader. Three degrees in political science, including a Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky, will do that. After all, what is a modern day college leader without the ability to communicate, promote, sway and occasionally schmooze?
Shields can certainly do all that with the best of them. One does not become a professor, a published author or an administrator without the ability to network, promote or engage.
Just don’t tell Shields it is a natural gift — any of it. He understands the label of “people skills,” but he bristles at the thought that someone is either born with it or not.
People can be taught how to network, engage and promote themselves and their ideas, Shields said. He also does not want to hear about the young generation being too addicted to their phones and social media to effectively build a professional network.
Shields digs in his heels and believes it all can be taught, just like any other skill, and he puts that belief in action by coteaching an on-campus class on entrepreneurship and leadership.
“I always tell students these days that networking is not just, ‘Hey, I know somebody,’” Shields said. “It means much more than that. It means you have a relationship with somebody.”
Shields tells his class about the “three
C’s”: collaboration, connection and curiosity.
“There’s this collaboration part,” Shields said. “What are you collaborating with them on, how do you connect with them, and are you truly curious about them and what they’re doing? If you have the three C’s, a relationship will develop, and then you truly do have a network.”
The stakes have never been higher. A study published in August by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis indicated that college graduates between ages 23 and 27 are being hit with an average unemployment rate of 4.59 percent for 2025. By contrast, the rate in 2019 was 3.25 percent. Young professionals who are not college educated are not faring any better, facing a 6.38 percent unemployment rate.
These days, “putting yourself out there” is not just a handy skill — it is absolutely vital.
“Networking isn’t a check-the-box,” said Candice Lawrence, vice president for programs and partnerships at the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce/Associated Industries of Arkansas. “It isn’t building contacts so that you can use them to your advantage when you need them.”
Lawrence agreed with Shields in her belief that effective networking does not require a “gift of gab.” In fact, Lawrence said, that tends to backfire. More so than ever in a world where communication largely takes place on screens, a little genuine interest and authenticity can go a long way. If true personal interest is not there, nothing else will matter.
“That approach isn’t authentic,” Shields said. “People will see right through it.
Rather, authentic networking is truly just genuine relationship building. It’s a curiosity to learn more about someone and their story, regardless of what they may be able to do for you in the future. It’s knowing their family members’ names and their aspirations. I’ve found that if your goal is to listen to people, meet them where they are with the goal of serving them, successful networking tends to be a by-product.”
The how behind the networking is just as important as the why, said Deana McCormack, marketing director at Celebrity Attractions in Little Rock. For more than 30 years, McCormack has worked for the company, which brings Broadway theater productions to town.
That 30-year run began with a phone call to a stranger in 1992, when McCormack reached out to a presenter in the Broadway business. Those life and career-defining moments can still happen, McCormack said, but it requires sparking a personal connection. Simply firing off resumes to all corners does not cut it.
McCormack said the tools of networking have changed — and not all for the better.
“It’s quite different,” McCormack said. “It was a big deal when we got a fax machine when we started. Communication has changed a lot. Sometimes people like to hide behind texts or hide behind emails, and sometimes it’s faster to just literally pick up the phone and call them. It adds that human factor to it.”
That human factor is a big part of what Shields tries to impart to his students. Credentials and experience still
mean something, but how a prospective employee communicates through networking is a sneak peak at how that employee will communicate with bosses and coworkers.
“In my day, it was the Rolodex,” Shields said. “Today, it’s like somebody in your contact list, but that’s not networking. I think that a lot of students today think, ‘Well, I’ve got 6,000 followers,’ but that’s not networking. They might not even respond to you if you direct-message them or text them. Today, it’s about being intentional.”
People can tell, McCormack said, when somebody is reaching out to them personally or merely rat-tat-tatting messages into the ether.
“I would encourage anybody to pick up the phone, schedule a meeting and actually meet with someone,” McCormack said. “Then you can actually read their body language and read their tone instead of just imagining what they would sound like on a text message.”
Lawrence appreciates how technology has changed the way people communicate professionally and said one size does not fit all when it comes to forming relationships.
However, at some point, prospective employers need to see an authentic, human side.
“I don’t think the art of networking has changed over the past decade,” Lawrence said. “Successful relationship-building is the key to increasing your circle of influence. It always has been. The biggest
thing has been the increase in choices and opportunities for which to accomplish it.”
Those choices can be used like a palette, Lawrence said, with a little bit of digital communication, some time at professional mixers and some direct personal contact.
“Between social meda platforms, chamber of commerce business-afterhours events, coffee collaboration meetups and relevant, meaningful professional development conferences, there is no shortage of ways to get engaged,” Lawrence said. “This is a plus. I think the sweet spot is ensuring you are balancing virtual events with valuable face-toface connections. Historically, these have served me better than those forged via a Zoom call.”
Whatever the mode of communication, a dab of humanity can do wonders. With more and more applicants going after fewer and fewer open jobs, finding would-be candidates with the requisite experience and education isn’t necessarily difficult.
A peek into who someone is away from the worksite can go a long way toward differentiating someone from the rest of the pack.
“My work is not my identity,” McCormack said. “Family and faith still take precedence over it all. I think it’s very important. If [employees] only turn into machines, they aren’t a good coworker or collaborator. Then you won’t even know what your patrons or customers need, because you only see them as a
mechanism for making money.
“There is no shame if proper networking skills do not come naturally. Mentorship has long been a buzzword in business, but there can be so much more to it than just learning how to do a job. There are also plenty of professionals out there who have learned how to network by asking those who already have.”
Lawrence credits business leaders Mack and Mark McLarty, along with chamber colleague Marcus Turley, with modeling how to reach out and connect on a human level.
“I learned from them that networking isn’t a check-the-box,” Lawrence said.
At Arkansas State, Shields is teaching the same lessons. He brings in leaders from industries as wide-ranging as steel, legal counsel, insurance and medical services to speak to students about forging meaningful professional connections.
It is far too easy, Shields said, to dismiss an entire generation for their communication skills. To do so would go against the very principles of education. Networking can be taught, and the skills that are learned can set somebody up for a lifetime.
“I think they absolutely have the skills,” Shields said. “In many ways, they’re better because they’ve interacted with so many different people in a kind of superficial way. Once they get some practice, they can learn quicker than I would have, but they need to have that opportunity.”
Todd Shields
Candice Lawrence Deana McCormack
Congratulations to Veronica Love for being one of AMP ’s ‘Top 100 Professionals’ of 2025
Amark of a true professional is their ability to translate their skills from one industry to another — not to mention the faith and courage necessary to make such a move in the first place. One will find no shortage of any of those traits in Veronica Love, but there is also a deeper motivation driving her ventures in the health care field.
“Our family has a long history of being caretakers,” Love told Arkansas Money & Politics previously. “I took care of my grandmother, I took care of my father, my aunt, and I took care of my grandmother’s siblings. We had to learn that being a caretaker was a part of being a united family.”
Love opened Home Health Care Agency of Arkansas in 2019 after 25 years of success in the automotive industry. Overcoming the challenges of both entrepreneurship and a global pandemic, the agency has since grown from a few clients in Little Rock into a statewide operation. Today, Home Health Care Agency of Arkansas serves more than 100 clients across urban centers and rural towns, from Stuttgart and West Memphis to Fayetteville, providing personal care, companionship and transportation to elderly and disabled individuals.
With compassion and a heart for serving others matched only by her keen business sense, Love soon realized she could expand her enterprise to better meet the needs of clients and communities. She noticed the lack of options clients and their families had when it came to nonemergency medical transportation, as well as the strain it put on loved ones as they struggled to balance conflicting schedules and obligations. In response, Love founded Southern Carrier Services to fill the gap with safe, comfortable and convenient transportation.
Much of the growth for both companies has come from word of mouth referrals, a reflection of the trusted relationships Love and her team have built as they walk alongside clients and their families. While she oversees a talented and caring group more than 130 strong, Love herself is still closely involved in
Veronica Love comes from a long line of caretakers and opened her agency in 2019.
the day-to-day operations, traveling around the state to personally meet new clients and caregivers and to perform regular spot checks with the agency’s nurse.
“The health care industry is a passion that I have because I’ve seen so much sickness in my family,” she told AMP previously. “When sickness hits your home, it’s a different feeling. When I had to be
naturally to me.”
Love has been recognized as a “Power Woman” and a “Champion of Health Care” by Arkansas Money & Politics and was also a “Top 100 Professional” in 2024. She was also named among the “Best Women in Health Care” in 2024 by AY About You. Home Health Care Agency of Arkansas has picked up accolades of its own, earning a spot on
that caretaker in my family and had to depend on people to help us figure things out, I realized the need. I understand how elderly people need assistance. You have to have patience with them. It was something that I’ve done all my life, and so it just came
AMP’s “Best of 2024” and “Companies of Distinction” lists.
Recently, Love has seen yet another opportunity to help others, this time through mentorship. Her experiences in entrepreneurship make for valuable insights to those just starting out on their own path. Still in the early stages of implementation, Love’s aim is to contribute to the development of fellow leaders and business owners, whether in the health care space or elsewhere. Within her companies, Love also invests daily in building up the people on her team.
“I try to pour into people like people have poured into me,” she told AMP. “I’ve been poured into by so many people, so I try to put that into my staff so the people that use our services can see that.”
The Home Health Care Agency of Arkansas team
Love has lessons to share with new entrepreneurs.
Professionalism in the workplace may look a little different since the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated trends toward more casual office environments and remote work.
There may be fewer employees in the office, and many suits and ties have been replaced by golf shirts, but regardless of the vibe or attire, workers are not expected to ditch their professionalism along with their button-downs or skirts.
Business leaders in Arkansas say what is truly important — and what helps advance careers — is sticking to the triedand-true practices that have spanned generations. That includes things like respect, punctuality and reliability — in other words, the basics. Regardless of the dress code, professionals are expected to adhere to a certain workplace code if they want to move up the chain.
“The way we tend to think about professionalism has definitely changed as dress codes have gotten more relaxed,” said Stephanie Shine, co-founder and partner at Arkansas Talent Group in Little Rock. “Nowadays, it’s less about what you wear and more about how you show up every day, including being reliable, respectful and clear in how you communicate. It’s about being real and flexible while still treating people with integrity and kindness. The basics haven’t changed, but how we express them fits the way we work today.”
Janell
Schmidt,
chief human resources
Essential Skills for Today’s Top Professionals
What does it take to advance a career? Prominent business leaders weigh in
By Mark Carter
officer at Lexicon in Little Rock, said professionalism is not about wearing a suit and tie to the office.
“For us, it’s about showing up prepared, taking accountability and respecting the people working alongside you,” she said. “When those standards are met, projects
Nowadays, it’s less about what you wear and more about how you show up every day, including being reliable, respectful and clear in how you communicate. It’s about being real and flexible while still treating people with integrity and kindness.
— Stephanie Shine
run more smoothly, people go home safe, and our clients know they can count on us. Professionalism is essential because our job sites are complex, high-stakes environments. We’re working with heavy steel, precision equipment and teams that depend on one another for safety as
much as for productivity.
“At Lexicon, someone in a welding hood or a hard hat can be every bit as professional as someone in a blazer behind a desk,” she said. “The real measure is: Do you respect the work, do you respect your coworkers, and do you deliver on what you’ve promised with integrity and safety?”
Greg Fogle, chief operating officer at Conway-based Nabholz, said he stands firm by the old adage, “Dress for the job you want, not the job you have,” but noted, for example, that the dress code at a construction firm likely will differ from that of a corporate law firm.
What is most important, he said, is a meaningful attempt to be professional.
“For example, appearance, etiquette, credibility, trust and reliability are attributes that are differentiators and will certainly set you apart from the crowd,” he said.
However, he noted that the qualities that define professionalism vary widely from person to person.
“Like many things in society where there are divided views on almost everything, the definition of professionalism, appropriate workplace attire and behavior are all in the eye of the beholder,” he said.
Marshall Saviers, CEO and principal for Cushman & Wakefield | Sage Partners in Rogers, said his firm promotes a work culture based on a service mindset.
“If you are serving others, you will
be professional, as well,” he said. “Professionalism is a mindset, in my opinion, although you certainly want to be respectful of others, which means don’t be sloppy in how you dress and act.”
Younger generations catch a lot of flak over perceived lack of professionalism. While some workers, the children of a pandemic shutdown and hybrid work schedules, certainly earned their
reputation, Schmidt said the stigma is oftentimes not deserved.
“Younger generations can sometimes bring different expectations, but that doesn’t mean they lack professionalism,” she said. “In fact, we see a lot of passion and innovation from the young people entering our field. They may not fit the old mold of starched shirts and rigid hierarchies, but they’re deeply committed to learning, growing and doing meaningful work. Our role as leaders is to meet them where they are, set clear expectations, and help them
For example, appearance, etiquette, credibility, trust and reliability are attributes that are differentiators and will certainly set you apart from the crowd.
— Greg Fogle
understand that professionalism is less about appearances and more about the commitment they bring to the job.”
Fogle said he believes the pendulum will eventually swing back to fewer remote roles. For now, younger workers still represent a plurality of remote workers. People ages 25 to 39 made up 36.5 percent of the U.S. remote workforce in 2024, according to data from U.S. Career Institute.
“While there are certain roles that can be effective remotely, I believe that it’s more about ‘who’ can be effective remotely,” Fogle said. “Many people can work well remotely and be trusted to accomplish their work. However, there are others who want to be able to do the laundry while getting compensated to work. We’ve all heard the stories about people who work remotely and have several jobs at the same time. Clearly,
their employers are being cheated, and that ruins it for the honest remote workers.”
Even so, Fogle added that many of the younger workers he deals with have not only embraced a sense of professionalism on the job but live it and demonstrate it more effectively than many of their more tenured colleagues.
“I have had the pleasure of working with very young people who have the energy, excitement and passion about their work that anyone would be impressed by,” he said. “As with many things in life, people are either those that make things happen or wonder what happened — age doesn’t determine this, in my experience.”
For Shine, it boils down to the simple, foundational things such as the Golden Rule.
“From my experience as a business owner and someone who recruits professionals, professionalism in the office is still really important, even though dress codes are more relaxed and schedules more flexible,” she said. “Showing up on time for interviews or work, being polite, sending thank-you notes, and treating your coworkers with respect are things that never go out of style. Those who bring this kind of mindset tend to do well — not just in their jobs but in life overall. It’s really about being reliable, friendly and respectful in everyday actions.”
Stephanie Shine
Greg Fogle
Janell Schmidt
Marshall Saviers
AMP asked four leaders of Arkansas companies and organizations to share their five essential skills for a ‘top professional.’
Greg Fogle, chief operating officer, Nabholz
1. Grit: Having a passion and energy to accomplish the mission is so far superior to literally anything else that I could say that this trait alone will create success.
2. Reliability: They call it “work” for a reason, and those who can be trusted to accomplish their work timely will always be chosen over others who may not accomplish what they are relied upon to do. This is true even in the absence of experience or credentials. I would rather work with a reliable person than one with a wall full of degrees and questionable reliability.
3. Communication: Being able to work well with others often depends solely on how you communicate. Are you clear, timely and persuasive? Do you know when to be quiet and truly listen?
4. Emotional intelligence, or EQ: While the business world loves corporate speak and tag lines, EQ can be boiled down to knowing — and caring — how you and others feel and react. People with strong EQ can be great leaders and co-workers because they are simply good with people.
5. Flexibility: Nothing is ever constant or predictable in life or in business. Get used to disrupting your plans to manage through changes as they happen.
1. Problem-solving
2. Grit
3. Emotional intelligence
4. Time management
5. Integrity
1. Commitment to quality: Details matter. Whether you’re welding or managing a project, precision and consistency define excellence in our industry.
2. Safety mindset : Nothing is more important than going home safe every day, and every professional must treat safety as nonnegotiable.
3. Accountability: Taking ownership of your work and your commitments builds trust across the team.
4. Communication and teamwork: Clear, respectful communication drives collaboration, making complex jobs possible.
5. Creative thinking: In today’s world, we need professionals who think outside the box, who can spot new solutions and improve processes. Innovation isn’t optional in steel — it’s what keeps us ahead.
1. Integrity and communication: These are not only essential skills but also my personal values and focuses as a person and businesswoman.
2. Excellence: Top professionals must work hard and try to always do their best — This may sound cliche but, every day, showing up to be the best version of yourself to help others or perform your job.
3. Passion/drive: You really have to love or at least enjoy what you are doing to be a top professional. This shines through and can take you from good to great. Those who are lucky enough to have found their passion or drive understand this. It makes your job not a job anymore.
4. Communication: Specifically, transparency and directness in that communication. I’ve found that people want the truth and don’t want anything sugar coated. I communicate to others the way I would appreciate being communicated with.
5. Partnership: Partnership and collaboration are key. You have to be able to work well with others to achieve your goals or your customers’ goals. The best teams or companies you can always tell have a certain cadence and deep trust in each other, which is gained through that partnership.
Marshall Saviers, CEO and principal, Cushman & Wakefield | Sage Partners
Janell Schmidt, chief human resources officer, Lexicon
Stephanie Shine, co-founder and partner, Arkansas Talent Group
DuShun Scarbrough Sr.
ARKANSAS MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. COMMISSION
Carrying the Message Forward
By Dwain Hebda
DuShun Scarbrough Sr. has been involved with improving the community around him long before doing it for a living as director of the Arkansas Martin Luther King Jr. Commission.
Raised by his grandmother and aunts, the Little Rock native was instilled early with a sense of fearlessness, being taught he could achieve anything if he kept God first. He channeled that philosophy into civic rights work, starting with a youth speak-out conference, “Death of a Race,” at age 15. He followed that up with participating in a string of seminars and preventive programs.
“Early on, I got involved in volunteer and civic programs, and that hands-on experience opened my eyes to how meaningful and lasting impact could be created through community engagement,” he said. “I realized I wanted to take on leadership roles where I could help develop programs that promoted equality, education and civic responsibility.
“What drew me in then — and continues to inspire me today — is the ability to combine leadership with tangible outcomes. There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing students succeed, communities engage and programs that truly make a difference.”
Scarbrough acquired a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Philander Smith College (now Philander Smith University) in Little Rock, during which time he was a recipient of the Job Training Partnership Act Scholarship.
The cumulative effect of his experiences in the community set his course on a career path that would ultimately lead him to the MLK Commission.
“Seeing firsthand how programs can impact lives inspired me to take on leadership roles where I could create meaningful change,” he said. “What I love about my role now is that it combines leadership with making a real difference. I get to develop programs that improve education, provide mentorship, address food insecurity and foster civic engagement, all while honoring Dr. King’s legacy. We are bringing new experiences to youth and communities in Arkansas.”
In addition to what he has been able to accomplish individually or in leading a team, another rewarding element of his career has been shepherding others to become their best selves, including those who have taken up the mantle of community activism.
“Throughout my career, one thing has remained constant: a commitment to service and empowering others,” he said. “Community service has always been central to my life. I’ve coordinated volunteer programs, educational workshops and mentorship initiatives for youth and families, and I serve on boards that focus on education, economic and community development.
“It’s not just about programs, however; it’s about people. I make it a point to mentor young professionals and students by sharing guidance, opening doors to opportunities and connecting them to
networks that help them grow. I encourage them to pursue their passions, build relationships and embrace public service because the work we do together can have a ripple effect across our communities.”
Making the most of those opportunities has meant staying in near-continuous learning mode. Scarbrough has a Master of Business Administration from Webster University in Orlando, Florida; a Master of Counselor Education from Florida A&M University; and has completed Kingian Nonviolence Certification in Practice, Teaching and Education from The King Center in Atlanta.
He also has a certification from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Massachusetts in the driving government performance course and leaders of the 21st century. In addition, he has a Juris Doctor from the Western Michigan University Cooley Law School. Even as his list of credentials grows longer, the fundamentals of his mission in life have remained unchanged and resolute through the years.
“My commitment to service and community empowerment has never wavered,” he said. “My belief that the next generation will be better is the foundation of everything I do, from volunteering to leading the commission.
“I still love seeing tangible results — students succeeding, communities engaged and initiatives that promote economic empowerment, service, volunteerism and engagement. Every day brings the chance to make a positive impact.”
TYLER SEIDEL
SIGNATURE BANK OF ARKANSAS
Solution Driven, Hometown Proud
By Dwain Hebda
Like a lot of people in banking, Tyler Seidel got into the industry thinking it would be a short-term proposition, providing some spending money while he attended college. He never expected his foray into banking to stretch past two decades, but he is glad it did.
“I began in banking as just a job,” said Seidel, for the past five months vice president of treasury services at Signature Bank of Arkansas after decades with Arvest Bank. “Through a lot of life’s challenges and whatnot, I stayed.”
Born in Florida and raised in Rogers, Seidel showed an achievement streak early, along with a willingness to do what it took to reach his goals. Growing up in a household of 12, most of the things in life had to be earned the hard way, which suited his personality just fine.
“My journey has been a long one,” he said. “My father growing up told me I couldn’t get my driver’s license unless I became an Eagle Scout, so I was in Boy Scouts of America and earned my Eagle Scout at the age of 15. I think through all those activities, through leadership roles, I came to believe in continuous education and growth. I’m always looking to learn more, and I try to learn something new every day. That’s just kind of my philosophy.”
Seidel originally earned a bachelor’s degree in aviation management, looking to keep planes flying. As one
opportunity after another presented itself in the banking field, however, his focus became more on getting his clients’ dreams off the ground.
“Treasury management’s very customer forward, interacting with customers, helping them make their payments and receive payments from businesses,” he said. “I meet with businesses daily to review their operations, their cash lifecycle, their processes and procedures to try to help them maximize efficiency around the vendors they’re paying and receiving funds from.
“It goes all hand in hand with technology and the systems they use and being able to automate sharing of information through their payments and who they’re doing business with. We try to give them greater efficiency around information reporting, trying to help them expedite payments.”
Seidel’s love of all things mechanical started in his father’s auto garage and continued through his aviation studies. He said the same sequential thought process by which he diagnoses and repairs an engine problem has come into play during his banking career, as well.
“I was always working on cars growing up, so you’re constantly troubleshooting, right? What is the issue? What’s a solution? There can be many solutions with everything, so it’s like how do you find the best solution?” he said. “Interacting with businesses, it’s the same
thing. Oftentimes, business owners have a passion for the business they’re running, but they don’t know the financial side. They’re hiring other people to help them, and that’s where we fit in.
“We identify any gaps in how they’re paying their vendors or suppliers, and we try to make that more efficient for them, whether it’s putting some fraud protection controls around things so that the fraudsters don’t get ahold of their funds or digitizing payments versus a paper-based process that has been around forever, but it’s not the most efficient.”
Seidel said he made the recent switch to Signature Bank due to a desire to work in a smaller corporate environment, which he equates to being closer to the clients he is there to serve.
“Coming over to Signature Bank, I saw the culture was all about the community, all about volunteerism, and I really enjoyed that aspect of it,” he said. “Since joining Signature Bank, I’ve helped with charity fundraising for multiple sclerosis research, and most recently, we volunteered and were a big sponsor for the LPGA tournament [at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers Sept. 19 to 21].
“I love getting out in the community, hearing what the community thinks about the bank and telling them why they should bank with us. We truly care about their needs, and helping them grow is what we care about most.”
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.
JAMES ACUFF
Executive Director of Finance & Nonlegal Operation
The Wilson Law Group
COREY ALDERDICE
Executive Director
Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts
Corey Alderdice has served as executive director of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts since 2012, becoming the institution’s longest-serving leader. Under his direction, ASMSA has earned national recognition from Newsweek, The Washington Post and Niche as one of the nation’s top public high schools. Alderdice has overseen more than $40 million in campus redevelopment while expanding statewide programs that provide advanced learning opportunities to more than 7,000 Arkansas families and educators annually. He has championed new initiatives in computer science, global learning and the arts that underscore ASMSA’s innovative early college experience. A respected voice in STEM education, he has been recognized by the National Consortium of Secondary STEM Schools, Bezos Family Foundation, and Code.org for his leadership and advocacy.
MARY ANDREWS
Executive Vice President, Clinic Operations
EngageMED
DANA AUSTIN
Branch Manager
Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp.
Dana Austin has 34 years of experience in the mortgage industry, serving as a trusted leader and advocate for homeownership in her community. Throughout her career, she has consistently ranked among the top mortgage professionals nationwide, earning Diamond and President’s Club honors, recognition as a Top 1% Mortgage Originator, and the Mortgage Star Award. Austin is a past president of the Mississippi County Regional Chamber of Commerce and a past board member of the local planning commission, reflecting her strong commitment to community growth and development. She is also an active supporter of programs like “Work Here, Live Here” in Mississippi County, helping families build their futures locally. Known for her energy, passion and go-getter spirit, Austin is dedicated to guiding families toward their dream of homeownership. Above all, she values her role as a wife, mother and community member, bringing both professional excellence and personal heart to everything she does.
TENESHA BARNES
Deputy Director
Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership
As deputy director of the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership, Tenesha Barnes provides leadership in developing and implementing comprehensive prevention, treatment and recovery strategies for substance use disorders at the city, county and community levels. Throughout her career, Barnes has served as the National Association of Substance Abuse Directors and National Prevention Network representative for Arkansas, as well as the first vice president for internal affairs, NPN secretary and executive board member. She was also director of prevention for the Arkansas Department of Human Services Division of Aging, Adult, and Behavioral Health Services. She directly coordinated prevention activities through the State Opioid Responses Grant, Prevent Prescription Drug/Opioid Overdose-Related Deaths, First Responders-Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act Grants, and the Strategic Prevention Framework-Partnerships for Success grants. Barnes has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology from Henderson State University in Arkadelphia and a master’s degree in human resource development and leadership from Webster University in Little Rock.
RENATA JENKINS BYLER
Arkansas’ Top 100 Professionals
ROLLER FUNERAL HOMES
“Elevating businesses with expert support in Accounting, HR and Finance.”
FLEXION POINT
“From bookkeeping to CFO-level insights, we provide the expertise you need to bridge the gap between talent, strategy and growth.”
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DR. JOHN BATSON
Owner
Capitol Oral Surgery & Implant Center
Dr. John Batson, a boardcertified oral and maxillofacial surgeon in Central Arkansas, embodies intentional innovation in regenerative dentistry. A Little Rock native, he graduated magna cum laude from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, earned his dental degree and completed specialty training before serving as a major in the U.S. Army, honing his skills in discipline and patient-centered care. Today, Batson pioneers advanced biologic therapies, integrating Dentsply Sirona’s OSSIX regenerative portfolio — particularly OSSIX Volumax, a ribosestabilized collagen scaffold with hydroxyapatite for superior ridge augmentation. He pairs it with platelet-rich fibrin, autografts or allografts for optimal structural stability and aesthetics. The Astra Tech Implant EV Profile system enhances his minimally invasive placements, preserving soft tissue in anterior cases, while stem cell therapy and hyperbaric oxygen accelerate healing in complex reconstructions. As the only oral surgeon in central Arkansas with a certified ambulatory surgical center, Batson ensures enhanced safety, efficiency and accessibility for a diverse range of patients for procedures ranging from routine extractions to advanced procedures. A compassionate family man, he raises three children with his wife, Rachel, and enjoys traveling and community service. Rooted in evidence-based precision, Batson delivers transformative outcomes with integrity.
RANDY BEARCE
Market President, Jonesboro
Farmers and Merchants Bank
KEATON BEASLEY
Financial Center Manager III
Simmons Bank
KATIE BECK
CEO
Arkansas Hospitality Association
SHANNON BEDORE
Founder, Board Chairman
Sightline Retail
Professor of Practice
University of Arkansas in Fayetteville Sam M. Walton College of Business
Shannon Bedore is the founder and board chairman of Sightline Retail in Bentonville, having previously served as CEO of Sightline Retail and Blue Elephant Food Group USA. She founded Sightline Retail in 2015 to provide sales, management, strategy, operations, replenishment, warehousing and administrative support for brands to have a lower cost option than directly hiring an internal retail team. Prior to starting Sightline, she worked
at Walmart and Kohl’s. Bedore completed her bachelor’s degree at Michigan State University and master’s degree at Pennsylvania State University. Most recently, she obtained her doctorate from the University of Florida, after which she joined the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville as a professor of practice in the Sam M. Walton College of Business J.B. Hunt Transport Department of Supply Chain Management.
LARRY BILLING
President
Shadrachs Coffee Roasting Co.
Larry Billing is the owner and driving force behind Shadrachs Coffee Roasting Co., a growing drivethrough coffee brand based in Jonesboro. With a passion for excellence in coffee and a heart for community impact, Larry has led Shadrachs from its local beginnings to become a recognizable regional name known for fast, friendly service and faith-driven values. Billing graduated from Harding University in Searcy in 1997 and later founded Shadrachs Coffee in 2004, launching what began as a single drive-thru into a thriving network of locations. Under his leadership, Shadrachs has built a strong reputation for quality, consistency and creativity, blending intentional branding with a welcoming customer experience. Billing is married to Risa Billing, and together they have three children ages 17, 16 and 15. As both a business owner and family man, he is passionate about using business as a platform for encouragement, generosity and faith. When he is not overseeing operations or developing new ideas for Shadrachs, Billing enjoys traveling with his family, diving into biblical studies, and exploring creative ways to connect faith and everyday life.
CHRISTY BJORNSON
Director, Alcoholic Beverage Control Division Department of Finance and Administration
ERIC BOEN
Founder Boen Kemp Construction
JAMIE BOOE
Vice President of Preconstruction Nabholz
Jamie Booe joined Nabholz in 2011 as a preconstruction specialist and has since grown into his current role as vice president of preconstruction. With more than 30 years of experience in the construction industry, including prior work in project management and estimation, Booe is a trusted resource for navigating large and complex projects. Originally from Little Rock, Booe earned his Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. His certifications include LEED AP O+M,
OSHA 30-Hour, Healthcare Construction, and Engineering in Training. He is known for his ability to break down complicated construction challenges and quickly develop solutions that meet the needs of both clients and project teams, all while upholding the founding values that continue to guide Nabholz today.
DYLAN BOTTEICHER
Partner
Cox, Sterling, McClure & Vandiver
STACEY BREEZEEL
Co-owner
Shine Interior Design Studio
Stacey Breezeel is an NCIDQ-certified, LEED AP interior designer and co-founder of Shine Interior Design Studio in Lonoke. A 2009 graduate of Harding University in Searcy, she built her career on collaboration with architects, engineers and contractors nationwide. After launching her own practice in 2012, Stacey partnered with Natalie Biles in 2019 to establish Shine. Breezeel leads award-winning commercial and mixed-use work — blending workplace, hospitality and residential elements — and guides clients from material selection and construction documents through on-site coordination. An active member of the American Society of Interior Designers and her alma mater’s design community, Stacey enjoys mentoring students and supporting fellow professionals. Originally from Texas, she has called Arkansas home since 2005. Outside the studio, she enjoys exploring new coffee shops, traveling with her husband and enjoying time with their daughter.
AMY CLEMMONS BROWN
Attorney & Managing Partner
McMullan & Brown
DAN BROWN
Senior Vice President of Advanced Technology Steelmaking & Chief Operating Officer
Big River Steel
Daniel R. Brown was named vice president and chief operating officer at Big River Steel in Osceola in 2021 and advanced to senior vice president of advanced technology steelmaking in 2022. In addition to Big River Steel operations, Brown has responsibility over the new mill, Big River 2. Brown has spent more than 28 years at U.S. Steel, having joined the company in 1994 as a management associate for the cold rolling division at the Irvin Plant, Mon Valley Works. In 1996, he was transferred to Edgar Thomson (Primary Operations), Mon Valley Works, and advanced through several increasingly responsible positions in steelmaking and secondary metallurgy. In 2003, Dan relocated to U.S. Steel Serbia as plant manager-primary operations for two years and then plant manager-finishing and tin operations for two years. Brown returned to the U.S. in 2006
Jeff Hatfield owner
Congratulations to Tenesha Barnes for being one of AMP ’s ‘Top 100
Professionals’ of 2025
As deputy director of the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership, Tenesha Barnes is part of a team on a mission to reduce overdose deaths by supporting local prevention, treatment and recovery from a grassroots, supportive perspective. ARORP oversees the disbursement of opioid settlement funds for Arkansas cities and counties while also providing technical assistance and resources to help communities build sustainable solutions to address the opioid epidemic and its root causes. Barnes and the ARORP team work with the support of the Arkansas Municipal League and Association of Arkansas Counties to build hope, not just programs.
Barnes’ own background in public health and education includes more than two decades in the field in both prevention and treatment and recovery settings, and her focus at ARORP is on policy development and strategic planning to ensure effective service delivery and outcomes for the initiative. She has represented Arkansas at the national level for organizations such as the National Association of Substance Abuse Directors and National Prevention Network.
At the state level, Barnes served as the director of prevention for the Arkansas Department of Human Services Division of Aging, Adult, and Behavioral Health Services, where she managed and oversaw all prevention activities, including the Substance Abuse Block Grant. She also served as the organizational liaison for the state’s counties, community prevention boards, nonprofit organizations, community coalitions, schools and freestanding entities.
Contributing seven years of experience as a community prevention champion and state prevention director, Barnes’s tenure at DHS helped address health disparities and create structural shifts within the prevention infrastructure for the state’s behavioral health and substance abuse services division. As a leader in the fight against overdose deaths, Barnes brings deep community connections, programmatic expertise and an energetic, solutions-focused approach.
Tenesha Barnes
There was a time when Bill Solleder, marketing director at Visit Hot Springs, likely could not have imagined himself in a regular 9-to-5 job, let alone one in the world of corporate conventions and promoting community events. Solleder’s first love was music, and during the 1990s, it took him all over the country with his Illinois-based band The Blue Meanies.
While it is still somewhat hard to square the image of Solleder, the rebellious free spirit, with Solleder, the tourism executive, there is something about the former ska-punk rocker that still permeates his role as Spa City’s main barker.
“I think a true artist wants to create something from the heart, but they’re also wanting to create something that has never been done before,” he said comparing his present life with his past. “It’s a new color palette. It’s a new musical sound — whatever it may be. The band that I fronted really put a lot of effort into trying to create something absolutely new and, without a doubt, disruptive.
“Once you do that, when you create something and then you perform it or you record it or you display it somewhere and you get a positive reaction from somebody, it’s so reaffirming, and it really feeds your ego in a way that gives you confidence. I gained so much confidence from my time in the music industry that when I came to Visit Hot Springs and [I] had just two months to put together my first event, I had the confidence to do something completely new.”
The event Solleder is specifically referring to was the first Spa-Con pop culture and comic convention, but he has applied the same rock ‘n’ roll bravado to myriad events and tourism promotions since landing with Visit Hot Springs in 2016. Today, even as his reputation has grown and the tourism business has become more data driven, he still strives to retain a little garage-band mentality in the business of promoting Hot Springs.
“I have access to so much data, whether it’s social media analytics or attendance numbers or the [return on
Bill Solleder
VISIT HOT SPRINGS
The Host With the Most
investment] that we set, I could spend an entire day looking at my dashboard,” he said. “I mean, you can really drown in the data, seeing how the numbers are trending. It’s really exhausting.
“When it really comes down to it, the one number that I think everybody looks at in Hot Springs when you’re thinking about tourism is the tax collection number. That’s really the true reflection on where people are staying with us in Hot Springs and where people are eating with us in Hot Springs.”
From there, Solleder said, the difference between his team and the competition is an absolute fearlessness not only for coming up with outlandish ideas but for actually pulling them off. It’s a talent he has honed learning from his boss, Visit Hot Springs CEO Steve Arrison, augmented by his talented and equally fearless team.
By Dwain Hebda
“Steve has done such a wonderful job at being disruptive and successful at the same time,” he said. “Think about the World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade. What a great idea. ‘Let’s make a parade that’s 98 feet long. Let’s paint the street green. Let’s get the whole town to celebrate it.’ Before long, it’s the whole state celebrating it. The country is celebrating it. They’re talking about us in Ireland.
“I tell my marketing staff all the time we have to be disruptive by showcasing the most unique aspects and assets that we have in Hot Springs, and that’s what we strive for. What event can we come up with? What ad campaign can we come up with that’s different than everybody else? I think that’s really important, and it all goes back, for me anyway, to my early days in the music industry and really trying to thrive as an artist, to do something new and unique.”
Family Owned and Operated for 45 Years Welcome
Congratulations to Jennifer Robins for being one of AMP ’s ‘Top 100 Professionals’ of 2025
Juggling the responsibilities of both provider and clinic owner is no easy feat, but nurse practitioner Jennifer Robins is no stranger to a demanding workload. She began her nursing career more than 20 years ago in the intensive care unit before transitioning to emergency medicine, where she worked until moving into family practice.
“I entered health care because I wanted a career that allowed me to help others while also providing personal and professional challenges,” Robins said.
Robins joined Bono Family Medical Clinic nearly 12 years ago and soon after became the clinic’s owner. In 2016, she expanded by opening Walnut Ridge Family Medical Clinic. As a provider, she brings compassionate care to patients as she evaluates, diagnoses and treats their ailments. She is also responsible for the countless other duties it takes to ensure long-term success for both clinics, such as establishing policies and protocols and maintaining quality standards while managing payroll and staff scheduling.
Passionate about health care availability and community well-being, Robins and her team have worked to bring more diagnostic testing to rural areas. Both of her clinics offer services such as X-ray, ultrasound and bone density testing. Robins is also diligent about bringing her patients the most up-to-date, evidence-based care, actively attending professional development workshops and staying current with the latest advancements in modern medicine.
Robins’ dedication extends beyond health care to her community and family. A proud mother of two boys, she strives to instill in them the same values that have guided her own career: curiosity, hard work and compassion.
Bono Family Medical Clinic 9146 U.S. 63 N., Bono 870-930-9990
Bono Family Medical Clinic and Therapy Services
Walnut Ridge Family Medical Clinic
1045 W. Main St. Suite C, Walnut Ridge 870-886-8300
Walnut Ridge Family Medical Clinic
“Success comes from hard work, dedication and determination,” Robins said. “It’s important to be kind, to treat others the way you’d like to be treated and to truly listen to patients and understand what they’re experiencing. Above all, I believe it’s essential to enjoy what you do and find joy in your work.”
Jennifer Robins
as plant manager-finishing operations at Fairfield Works. In 2007, he became plant managerprimary operations at Fairfield Works. In 2008, Brown was named division manager-ironmaking at Gary Works, Indiana, and then later as division manager of steelmaking and casting at Gary Works. He was promoted to plant manager-primary operations at Gary Works in 2018. In 2019, Brown was named general manager-automotive operations (Great Lakes Works/Midwest Sheet) with responsibilities for the Great Lakes Plant, Desco Coating and the Midwest Sheet facilities. Brown earned his Bachelor of Science degree in business logistics from Pennsylvania State University. He also earned his Master of Business Administration in finance from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.
RENATA JENKINS BYLER
Owner, Vice President of Marketing & Facilities Roller Funeral Homes
Renata Jenkins Byler is the third-generation owner of Roller Funeral Homes, one of Arkansas’ oldest familyowned companies, which has a legacy spanning over 150 years. She proudly carries forward the vision of her grandfather Denver Roller, her grandmother Christine Roller, and her parents, Lynn and Sue Roller Jenkins. Byler is known for her leadership, compassion and hands-on service, continuing the promise to serve families “With All Our Respect.” Roller Funeral Homes is the first funeral home in Arkansas to earn the Better Business Bureau International Torch Award for ethics and has been named Arkansas’ best funeral home for more than two decades, as well as one of Arkansas Money & Politics’ “Most Admired Companies.” Byler builds trust through her involvement in Junior League of Little Rock, the Central Arkansas Executives Association, the Baptist Health Foundation and Bolo Bash. She also serves on the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College in North Little Rock and Arkansas State University-Mountain Home boards and previously represented Arkansas on the National Funeral Directors Association Policy Board.
PHIL CAMPBELL
Partner
Fuqua Campbell
CHRIS CERRATO
President, Business Development
Evo Business Environments
BAILEY CLARK
Chief Operating Officer
Flexion Point
Bailey Clark is chief operating officer at Flexion Point in Little Rock. With more than 15 years of experience in accounting, finance and operations, Clark combines technical expertise with a passion for building high-performing
teams and scalable business processes. She began her career in public accounting and went on to serve as controller for an Arkansas-based construction company before joining Flexion Point to grow and manage daily operations. As COO, Clark oversees strategy execution, team development and client operations, ensuring the firm delivers exceptional results while maintaining its core values of relationships first, executing relentlessly and leading with integrity. She takes pride in being a trusted local resource for Arkansas business owners, often finding creative solutions to help them succeed no matter their business need.
SUZANNE CLARK
Owner
Clark Law Firm
Prior to founding the Clark Law Firm in Fayetteville, Suzanne G. Clark was an attorney at the largest national law firm in the state, where she gained significant experience in a wide range of civil litigation. She handles complex business, civil, labor and family law cases with a deep sense of commitment and skill, having special corporate experience to assist in intellectual property cases, as well as commercial litigation. Clark received a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Connecticut and was awarded her Juris Doctor summa cum laude by the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville in 2008. Prior to her legal career, she worked in the semiconductor industry as a process engineer and then in senior management, which provided her with valuable firsthand insights into various business affairs. In 2013, Clark was appointed by then-Gov. Mike Beebe to serve as a special associate justice on a case appearing before the Arkansas Supreme Court. The Arkansas Supreme Court appointed Clark to the civil practice committee in 2014. Admitted to practice before all state and federal Arkansas courts, Clark is also admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. Clark has been very active in the Arkansas Bar Association and was elected by its statewide membership to serve as president for 2018-2019, after having served in its house of delegates and the board of governors. Clark maintains an active teaching profile, having taught product liability as an adjunct professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law, as well as a skills course in litigating medical negligence claims. She is a former member of the board of directors of the Northwest Arkansas Free Health Center and she serves on the board of trustees of the Fayetteville Public Library. As a contributor to several distinguished publications, including the Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States, she maintains an active role as a writer for prominent journals.
DUSTIN CURTIS
Vice President
Interstate Holdings
Dustin Curtis, vice president of Interstate Holdings, has been a key figure with the Landers family for more than 23 years, serving as VP since 2022. Beginning work with Landers during high school, Curtis, a graduate of Bryant High School in 2004 and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2008, manages Steve Landers Jr.’s diverse enterprises, including Warfield Distillery in Sun Valley, Idaho; Stairway Cannabis in Branson and Blue Springs, Missouri; and The Goods, an online Delta 9/THC gummy brand. He is also a partner in Southern Block Capital, alongside a billboard company, self-storage and car dealerships. Southern Block Capital recently closed its first fund of five and is launching its second. A high school sweetheart to his wife since grade school, Curtis is deeply committed to philanthropy, supporting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis for 19 years and Autism Speaks, reflecting his dedication to community and family.
JORDAN DAVIDSON
Nurse Practitioner
Beyond Wellness
With a strong emphasis on patient-centered care, Jordan Davidson understands the significance of being heard and valued by a health care provider. A nurse practitioner at Beyond Wellness’ Hot Springs location, she strives to create an environment where patients feel important and actively participate in their own health care journeys. Specializing in a range of areas, including weight management, peptide therapy, hormone therapy, laser therapies, body contouring, microneedling, radio frequency microneedling, hair restoration, joint injections and injectables, Davidson offers comprehensive and cutting-edge treatments to address her patients’ needs.
JOE DUNN
Senior Vice President & Chief Lending Officer
Stone Bank
Joe Dunn heads up the lending team at Stone Bank, where he is senior vice president and chief lending officer. He had planned on being a lawyer but found banking to be his calling. His stellar reputation in commercial and real estate lending has propelled him to a trusted resource for many of Arkansas’ leading companies. He is a graduate of Pensacola Christian College in Florida, the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking in Texas. He also earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. He
leadership style as hands-off, but always striving to be available. After building the right team, they simply need leadership, he said, adding that it’s important to clearly outline expectations, give staff authority to make decisions to fulfill those expectations, and then let them go to work. Simple verbal affirmation helps tremendously, he said, adding that when a person believes their work matters and believes they have something to contribute, they will often do their best work.
SHANEIL EALY
Executive Director
Women’s Leadership Network
SHANTONIO ELLIOTT
Director of Market Operations
ArchWell Health
STACY EOFF
Controller
The Hatcher Agency
Stacy has spent over a decade with The Hatcher Agency, where she serves as both Controller and Agency Manager. In her dual role, she blends financial leadership with operational strategy, overseeing accounting functions, process improvements, and company-wide initiatives that drive sustainable growth. Stacy has successfully implemented new accounting software, launched a commission accounting process to enhance transparency, and led a CRM integration uniting sales, finance, and operations. Known for her calm, solutions-driven leadership, she manages a team of more than 50 professionals and has built a culture rooted in accountability, trust, and long-term success.
MICHAEL FARQUHAR
Owner, President
Pella Products of Arkansas and Missouri
REBEKAH FINCHER
Chief Administrative Officer
Conway Regional Health System
Rebekah Fincher serves as chief administrative officer at Conway Regional Health System, where she leads strategic growth and business development. She plays a key role in fulfilling the health system’s mission to provide quality health care in central and north central Arkansas. Fincher has helped recruit numerous physicians and led acquisitions, including three primary care clinics and specialty centers in neurology, orthopedics, gastroenterology and maternal-fetal medicine. She also oversees Conway Regional’s graduate medical education programs, offering training opportunities to more than 30 physicians annually. Fincher’s awards include the 2025 Arkansas Business Executive of the Year, 2019 C.E. Melville Young Administrator of the Year and recognition as an “Intriguing Woman” by AY About You in 2020, among other awards.
BILL FITZGERALD
Vice President of Marketing & Communications
Lexicon
BLAKE FLETCHER
Little Rock Market President
Stone Bank
Blake Fletcher has been a community banker and commercial lender for 25 years and has been with Stone Bank since October 2015. Fletcher graduated from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, majoring in finance. He also received a diploma from Southwest Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He pursued additional training in construction and consumer lending through the Arkansas Bankers’ Association, in addition to completing coursework in asset and liability management. He served on the Arkansas Bankers Association’s Emerging Leaders Council as president, as well as on the government relations committee. He is enjoying his new role as Little Rock market president at Stone Bank, especially leading the team at the new corporate headquarters on Chenal. He said coming to work at Stone Bank is a joy and privilege, and his job now is to spread the good word about the bank’s great team, services and products. He believes that once customers give Stone Bank a try, its customer service will win them over.
RYAN FLYNN
President & CEO
Network Services Group
Ryan Flynn was named president of Network Services Group in late 2013. Network Services Group provides information technology support and Voice over Internet Protocol telephone solutions for many businesses across the state. Under Flynn’s leadership, NSG has grown from 11 employees and a single location in North Little Rock to more than 75 employees and three locations in Arkansas. Flynn also has served as president of the Cabot Rotary Club, two terms on the city council of Cabot, on the Cabot Parks and Recreation Commission, and on the Lonoke County Election Commission.
JAY GADBERRY
President & CEO
Gadberry Financial Group
Jay Gadberry established Gadberry Financial Group in 2010 with a clear and ambitious vision: to create a full-service investment and wealth management firm dedicated to helping clients build, manage and protect their wealth. Today, Gadberry Financial Group successfully serves high net worth families, business owners, entrepre-
neurs, corporate retirement plans, foundations, endowments and professionals across various industries. As investment fiduciaries, Gadberry Financial Group focuses solely on serving the best interests of clients and their families. Away from the office, Gadberry is an avid researcher who stays current on global markets and economic trends. He also enjoys golfing, deer and duck hunting, and overseeing structural development and wildlife management on his farm.
TIMOTHY GAUGER
Senior Vice President & Chief Legal Officer
Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Tim Gauger leads Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s legal department and is the primary source of legal advice and assistance to senior executive staff and the company’s board of directors. He is corporate secretary for the company and a number of its subsidiaries, and he serves as chairman of the board of the Arkansas Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association. He is also a director and former chair of the board of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. Gauger joined Arkansas Blue Cross in 2015 as a senior regulatory counsel and assumed his current position in 2018. Before joining Arkansas Blue Cross, he served for eight years as chief legal counsel to the governor of Arkansas and for more than a decade as an assistant, senior assistant and deputy attorney general in the Arkansas attorney general’s civil litigation department. He received undergraduate degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and his Juris Doctor from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in Chicago.
REED GIBBONS
Senior Vice President of Commercial Sales & Leasing
RPM Group
CASEY GRIMES
Chairman
CBI Team
DONNA HALL
Chief Financial Officer
Bank of Little Rock
Donna Hall serves as chief financial officer at Bank of Little Rock, a true community bank that combines innovative financial solutions with a personal touch. In her role, Hall oversees financial strategy, regulatory reporting, accounting and human resources. She has been with the bank for more than a decade, spending many of those years with Bank of Little Rock Mortgage. Hall is a certified public accountant, certified regulatory compliance manager and certified anti-money laundering specialist, bringing extensive expertise across all areas of banking. In 2025, Hall was recognized by Arkansas Money & Politics as one of the state’s Women in Banking. A graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Hall has held roles that include commercial lender, con-
Bradley Meyer may have joined the James A. Rogers Excavating team in 2016, but he has been around the family business for far longer. James A. Rogers Sr., Meyer’s grandfather, founded the company in 1962, and the operation is now owned by Meyer’s brother, Chris, who serves as president and CEO.
After growing up around the company and officially coming on board as an employee, Bradley Meyer worked his way up through several positions. He started out as a laborer, later moving to operator, superintendent and general superintendent before becoming senior estimator in 2020. His responsibilities in the role range from estimating, bidding and managing projects to providing GPS modeling capabilities for the James A. Rogers team.
“I’ve learned that it takes a team to be successful in this industry,” Meyer said.
Meyer has also coupled his hands-on experience with an education in the construction industry. He began the construction management program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock shortly after starting at the excavation company.
Outside of his work at James A. Rogers, Meyer gives back by serving as the state representative for Valor & Honor Outdoors. The nonprofit organization is run entirely by volunteers and provides unique outdoor experiences at no cost to service members, veterans, first responders and their families.
16800 W. Baseline Road, Little Rock
501-455-2439 | 501-455-4125
info@jamesarogersexc.com
James A. Rogers Excavating
ASMSA offers hundreds of young Arkansans an experience that combines the best parts of high school and college in a unique community of learning. ASMSA is the only school in the state to provide advanced course opportunities in STEM and the arts in an oncampus residential setting with no cost for tuition, housing, and meals. Discover how your student can engage in courses designed to challenge bright minds and grow as a student while earning more than a year of college credit.
Congratulations to ASMSA Executive Director Corey Alderdice, who has been recognized as one of AMP’s Top 100 Professionals for 2025!
Your student can thrive at one of the nation’s top public high schools!
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Brian McGee, MD Syed Samad, MD
Ioannis Papayannis, MD
troller and internal auditor, as well as leadership in marketing, human resources and information technology. Deeply committed to her community, Hall is a member of the Arkansas Heart Association’s Circle of Red. She and her husband, Kevin, have been married for 35 years and have one son, Britt, who is married to Emily Williams Hall.
ERIC HAMBLY
President & CEO
Murphy Oil
DERON HAMILTON
Partner
Denman, Hamilton & Associates
TRACI HAMPTON
Director of Marketing & Administrative Services
Highlands Oncology
KELLY HANKS
Director of Marketing
Summit Utilities
JEFF HATFIELD
Owner
Central Arkansas Solar Solutions
Jeff Hatfield, owner of Central Arkansas Solar Solutions in North Little Rock, joined the solar and roofing industry in 2020 and now takes pride in providing topnotch service to his clients, particularly those who have been impacted by storms. Central Arkansas Solar Solutions provides solar and roofing services to central Arkansas and the Natural State as a whole. The company also provides siding, gutters and electrical work, as well as soft and power washing. Central Arkansas Solar Solutions is licensed, insured and bonded. Whether one is updating a roof, upgrading with solar panels or looking to have a roof repaired, Central Arkansas Solar Solutions can meet the need while exceeding expectations.
LINDA HINTON
GeneralManager/MarketingDirector
Tanger
NOLEN HUGHES
Owner
Jan-Pro of Arkansas
LANI JENNINGS-HALL
Marketing Manager
Bell & Co.
FRANK JOHNSON
Chairman of the Board
Arisa Health
COL. MARCUS JONES
Chair
Democratic Party of Arkansas
WENDY JORDAN
Marketing Manager
Crafton Tull
Wendy Jordan is a marketing manager at Crafton Tull’s Little Rock office, where she has been part of the team since 2021. Alongside her marketing role, Jordan is an online adjunct instructor with Arkansas State University in Jonesboro’s undergraduate and graduate strategic communications programs. She is also in her second term as president of the Arkansas Society of Professional Journalists. Jordan serves on the Crafton Tull employee-ownership committee and was honored with a Crafton Tull True Blue Award in 2024. The peer-selected award recognizes employee-owners across the company for dedication to Crafton Tull’s core values. A graduate of Leadership Greater Little Rock Class XL, Wendy has a bachelor’s in journalism and a master’s in strategic communications from Arkansas State University. She is an FAA Part 107 remote pilot and member of the Society for Marketing Professional Services, Arkansas Press Women and the EAST Boundless Gala Host Committee. Jordan has more than a decade of experience in journalism and publishing, having led teams at The Trucker Media Group and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. She continues to contribute as a freelancer for multiple publications. Her work has earned numerous awards, including sports feature writing and aerial photography. At home, she is happiest chasing after her energetic 3-yearold son.
ERICA JOYNER
Director of Administrative & Employee Services Department
The Wilson Law Group
KARA KELLERMAN
REALTOR®
Coldwell Banker RPM Group
Kara Kellerman is a central Arkansas native and powerhouse real estate professional with more than a decade of experience helping clients buy, sell and invest with confidence. A Certified Global Luxury Agent and multimillion-dollar producer, Kellerman was voted a “Best REALTOR®” by AY About You readers in 2024 and 2025, among other local awards. Known for her strong market knowledge, eye for design and hands-on approach, she empowers clients to make smart, confident real estate decisions. Beyond traditional sales, Kellerman flips homes, invests locally and co-owns a short-term rental while managing three others. Her passion for real estate and dedication to excellence have made her one of central Arkansas’s most trusted and dynamic agents. When she is not working with clients, Kellerman enjoys spending quality time with her daughter and exploring the beauty of the Natural State. Whether fishing, hiking, camping or simply enjoying a peaceful walk outdoors, she finds inspiration and balance in nature and family.
CHRIS KENT
Executive Director
Argenta Downtown Council
Chris Kent has served as executive director of the Argenta Downtown Council for nearly a decade, leading efforts to revitalize and promote North Little Rock’s historic downtown. With a passion for historic architecture, art, music and local food, Kent has dedicated his career to fostering a vibrant, walkable district that supports small businesses, attracts cultural investment and enhances community pride. Under his leadership, Argenta has experienced significant growth in public art, live music programming and economic development initiatives that strengthen both residents’ and visitors’ experiences. Kent is a frequent speaker at civic, cultural and professional events, where he shares insights about downtown development and placemaking strategies. His work has earned statewide and national recognition, including being named an Arkansas Hospitality hero and a recipient of the National Main Street Forward Award. Kent continues to champion Argenta as a model for downtown transformation in Arkansas and beyond.
MICHAEL KNOLLMEYER
Attorney Knollmeyer Law Office
CANDICE LAWRENCE
Vice President of Programs & Partnerships
Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce/Associated Industries of Arkansas
ELIZABETH LEVERICH
Marketing Director
Lindsey & Associates
VERONICA LOVE
Founder
Home Health Care Agency of Arkansas
Veronica Love is the founder and CEO of Home Health Care Agency of Arkansas and the president of Southern Carrier Services, a nonemergency medical transportation company. Love previously found incredible success in the automotive world, moving from sales and finance management to directing and managing a multimillion-dollar business. After several years in the industry, Love became the first African American woman in Arkansas to serve as general manager for a franchise dealership while at Crain Mazda. Taking all that she learned in that career, along with her servant leadership style and entrepreneurial spirit, Love has now cultivated her own business into a million-dollar empire. Love’s caring heart motivates her not only in supporting those in need but in creating generational wealth for her loved ones. She leads her teams with integrity, demanding their best and empowering them to serve their communities with dignity, equality and respect.
Congratulations to Jordan Davidson on being named one of AMP’s Top 100 Professionals!
Jordan Davidson, APRN (Hot Springs Location)
With a strong emphasis on patient-centered care, Jordan understands the significance of being heard and valued by a healthcare provider. She strives to create an environment where patients feel important and actively participates in their own healthcare journey. Specializing in a range of areas, including weight management, peptide therapy, hormone therapy, laser therapies, body contouring, microneedling, radio frequency micro needling, hair restoration, joint injections, and injectables, Jordan offers comprehensive and cutting-edge treatments to address her patients’ needs.
Hot Springs | 25255 AR-5K | Lonsdale, AR 72087
*outside of HSV east gate
Jay B. Gadberry, CIMA
DR. SARAH DENMAN LUNSFORD
Owner
Legacy Eyecare
R.J. MARTINO
Founder iProv
DR. SAMARIA MASCAGNI
Dentist
Arkansas Family Dental
Dr. Samaria Mascagni is the Owner and CEO of Arkansas Family Dental in Little Rock, where she leads with a vision of excellence, compassion and community. An Arkansas native, Mascagni founded her practice on the belief that every patient deserves to be treated like family — combining advanced dental technology with genuine, personalized care. Under her leadership, Arkansas Family Dental has become one of Little Rock’s premier dental practices and is known for delivering comprehensive services and exceptional patient experiences. Beyond the practice, Mascagni is a passionate entrepreneur and philanthropist dedicated to education and community service through AFD Gives Back, a nonprofit providing free dental care to underserved populations. Her mission is to inspire confident smiles and meaningful impact throughout the community she proudly serves.
DEANA MCCORMACK
Marketing Director
Celebrity Attractions
PEARL MCELFISH
Founding Director
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Institute for Community Health Innovation
COURTNEY MCKINNEY
Founder Revive Health & Wellness
STACI MEDLOCK
Realtor
RE/MAX Elite
Staci Medlock is consistently one of the top-performing real estate agents in the central Arkansas area, carrying almost 20 years of experience under her belt. A native of the area, she caters to a wide range of clients in cities across the region, including Little Rock, North Little Rock, Sherwood, Maumelle, Jacksonville, Cabot, Searcy and Beebe. While Medlock’s abilities as a REALTOR® are across the board, she has extensive experience in new construction, custom homebuilding and working with first-time homebuyers. Medlock has also served as justice of the peace for Pulaski County’s 15th district since 2013.
BRADLEY MEYER
Vice President
James A. Rogers Excavating Bradley Meyer has served as senior estimator at James A. Rogers Excavating in Little Rock for five years, having previously worked as a general superintendent, superintendent, operator and laborer. Meyer grew up around the family business, which was founded by his grandfather, James A. Rogers Sr., and officially joined the company in 2016. While working his way up from a laborer into other positions, Meyer also began attending the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for its construction management program. Meyer is currently the state representative for Valor & Honor Outdoors, a nonprofit organization that allows veterans, active-duty service men and women and first responders opportunities to get out in the great outdoors.
CHRIS MEYER
President
James A. Rogers Excavating, McHenry & Meyer Companies
Chris Meyer is president and CEO of James A. Rogers Excavating in Little Rock. Founded by James A. Rogers Sr. in 1962, the company has always strived for perfection in every dimension of its work, and that same spirit stays at the root of the company’s ideology today. As the third generation of company leadership, Meyer has served in the role of president and CEO since 2016. Over that time, the business has grown its team, added more locations around the state and expanded its services to include a quarry operation with the acquisition of McHenry Companies in Hot Springs. Meyer sits on the industry advisory board for construction management at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and is a highway division member for the Associated General Contractors of Arkansas.
CORY MILLER
Vice President
R&E Supply
Cory Miller is a results-driven leader in the HVAC/R distribution industry, serving as vice president of R&E Supply, a proud, thirdgeneration family-owned business with eight locations across Arkansas. As a third-generation leader, he is dedicated to carrying forward the values and vision established by his family while guiding the company into the future. Miller focuses on operations, data analytics and process improvement to drive efficiency and growth. Passionate about empowering teams and strengthening customer relationships, he fosters a strong culture built on integrity, excellence, communication and collaboration.
DAVID MITCHELL JR.
Managing Member
Rose Law Firm
ISSAC MORALES
Senior Vice President & Chief Community Outreach Officer
Encore Bank
RYAN MYERS
Vice President
Myers Supply
Ryan Myers is an experienced business leader with a strong background in distribution, operations management and technology-driven innovation. As part of the leadership team at Myers Supply, a familyowned business founded in 1955, Myers has been instrumental in advancing the company’s growth through strategic expansion, robotics integration and a forward-looking approach to customer service. With expertise spanning inventory control, facility solutions and advanced cleaning technologies, he focuses on creating efficiency, driving innovation and delivering long-term value for clients across multiple industries. Myers is passionate about blending tradition with innovation — honoring Myers Supply’s legacy while positioning the company as a leader in robotics, sustainability and advanced facility-care solutions.
BEAU ODOM
CEO
Professional Computer Services
Beau Odom is owner and CEO of Professional Computer Services Inc. in Conway, a managed information technology firm serving small businesses across a variety of industries. Odom founded Professional Computer Services Inc. with his brother in 2006 and became sole owner in 2021. His wife, Hollie, joined him in running the business and serves as chief operating officer. The chief executive is still active in the day-to-day operations as a technician, frequently handling complex client issues and providing solutions and improvements to their technology. A Conway native, Odom was named 2025 Business Executive of the Year by the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce. He and his wife are also active in the community by supporting Rise House, a local domestic violence shelter, and Sons of the Flag, an organization dedicated to assisting burn victims who are first responders and military personnel. PCSI is also the IT sponsor for Shepherds Hope, a free dental clinic in Little Rock.
Congratulations to Shannon Bedore for
being
one of AMP ’s ‘Top 100 Professionals’ of 2025
When it comes to professional success, Shannon Bedore’s work speaks for itself. A long career in retail has seen her hold just about every job imaginable within the world of merchandising.
The company she founded, Sightline Retail in Bentonville, has become a leading and trusted name in the northwest Arkansas supply chain space, providing brands of all sizes with everything from sales and strategy to operations, warehousing and administrative support.
Far from resting on her laurels, Bedore is already hard at work on the next chapter. After transitioning from CEO to chairman of the board for Sightline Retail, Bedore joined the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville as a professor of practice in the Sam M. Walton College of Business J.B. Hunt Transport Department of Supply Chain Management. The post has been a long time coming for Bedore, who has collected a treasure trove of industry data over the years and recently completed her doctorate at the University of Florida.
“I hope that our experiences in launching and managing brands can be used to educate and create more well-rounded retail leaders in the future,” Bedore told Arkansas Money & Politics previously. “A few of our brands have allowed their data to be used in case studies and research in an academic setting, and my hope is that our work will help create better and brighter retail minds in the next generation of leaders.”
Lending her real-world insights to one of the top supply chain departments in the country, Bedore’s valuable experience is helping the university prepare students to meet the challenges of an increasingly complex retail ecosystem. That expertise is for more than just undergraduates to enjoy, however. AMP readers can find Bedore sharing some of the lessons learned throughout her career in a monthly column that started in the September issue.
Exemplifying the power of hard work in one’s industry — and the importance of passing on what one has learned to the leaders of tomorrow — Bedore is the epitome of a “Top Professional.”
Chris Meyer purchased James A. Rogers Excavating from his grandfather in 2016 and has worked since then to build upon the foundations laid by James A. Rogers Sr. back in 1962. Over the course of 63 years, the family-run operation has grown into an established industry name, and Meyer’s goal has been to uphold the company’s reputation for excellence as president and CEO.
Also continuing the James A. Rogers legacy is Meyer’s brother, Bradley, who serves as senior estimator. They are joined by a team of more than 100 skilled professionals known for handling projects of all sizes, from residential site prep to complex highway and municipal work, with a focus on safety, timeliness and customer satisfaction.
Under Meyer’s leadership, the company has expanded not only its employee base, but its footprint in the state. In addition to a presence in northwest Arkansas, the company acquired McHenry Companies of Hot Springs, adding the quarry operation to the company’s range of services.
“What sets James A. Rogers Excavating apart is our deep-rooted commitment to quality, reliability and integrity — values that have guided us for over 60 years,” Meyer said. “As a third-generation family-owned business, we bring decades of experience and personal investment to every project we take on.”
16800 W. Baseline Road, Little Rock
501-455-2439 | 501-455-4125
info@jamesarogersexc.com
James A. Rogers Excavating
CONGRATULATIONS BILL ROACHELL
CHAPTER
PRESIDENT
ASSOCIATED BUILDERS & CONTRACTORS OF ARKANSAS
ABC Arkansas members and staff are proud to call you our leader and friend. Thank you for serving our industry with dedication, integrity, and a drive to always be better.
MEREDITH PIERCE
Marketing Director
Metro Disaster Specialists
Meredith Pierce is marketing director at Metro Disaster Specialists, where she leads marketing strategy, brand development and client engagement across Arkansas. A native of North Little Rock and a graduate of the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Pierce brings experience in television broadcasting, state government communications and corporate marketing to her role. She serves on the boards of BOMA Greater Little Rock and the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce’s North Little Rock Connects. She also volunteers with organizations that include the Arkansas Foodbank in Little Rock and Habitat for Humanity. Pierce has been recognized as a BOMA Associate Member of the Year, BIG I AR Marketing Representative of the Year and a Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Finest Honoree.
HANNAH POTTS
BusinessDevelopment/Marketing
First Security Bank
JASON PRATHER
Managing Principal Legacy Capital
DYLAN QUALLS
Asset Manager
Haag Brown Commercial Real Estate and Development
CARRIE RUSSOM QURAISHI
Principal
Quraishi Law & Wealth
BILL ROACHELL
Chapter President
Associated Builders and Contractors of Arkansas
Bill Roachell, a southwest Little Rock native and graduate of John L. McClellan High School there, earned a business management degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1993 and a master’s in operations management from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville in 1997. He spent 13 years at Greentree Financial followed by several years in commercial banking before joining Associated Builders and Contractors of Arkansas in 2011. Since then, Roachell has helped establish ABC Arkansas as one of the nation’s top-performing chapters, recognized for membership growth and development. Roachell lives in Conway with his wife, Lisa. Their daughter, Summar, is the head women’s golf coach at University of Central Arkansas in Conway.
JENNIFER ROBINS
Nurse Practitioner
Bono Family Medical Clinic
Jennifer Robins has been with Bono Family Medical Clinic for nearly 12 years and has owned the clinic for the past decade. She currently owns and operates both the Bono clinic and Walnut Ridge Family Medical Clinic, which she opened in 2016. Committed to expanding health care access in the state, Robins has worked to bring accessible diagnostic testing to rural areas, and both of her clinics offer services such as X-ray, ultrasound and bone density testing. Prior to moving into family practice, Robins worked in emergency medicine and began her career as a nurse in the intensive care unit. She has 23 years of health care experience, including the past 12 years as an advanced practice registered nurse. Robins has a Master of Science in nursing.
REESE ROWLAND
Principal Polk Stanley Wilcox
AHMED SAMAD
CEO
Arkansas Surgery & Endoscopy Center
Ahmed Samad is the CEO of Arkansas Surgery & Endoscopy Center, Digestive Care, ASC Anesthesia, Central Arkansas Surgical Center and A.A. Properties. Holding a Master of Business Administration and numerous credentials in health care management, Samad’s passion for enhancing patient care has grown from one physician in one location to multiple physicians now serving Pine Bluff, Little Rock, Russellville and the surrounding areas. With his visionary leadership, commitment to excellence and hands-on strategic approach, he has propelled these businesses to the forefront, transforming the surgery centers into leading destinations for surgical and endoscopic procedures known for their high standard of quality care. Samad has been recognized among Arkansas Money & Politics’ “Future 50” and “C-Suite” and Becker’s Hospital Review’s “Emerging Leaders Under 40,” as well as by other publications. He is deeply committed to community service and currently serves on numerous boards, including the Little Rock Planning Commission.
MARSHALL SAVIERS
CEO, Principal Cushman & Wakefield | Sage Partners
Marshall Saviers serves as CEO and Principal of Cushman & Wakefield | Sage Partners, where he helps lead one of Arkansas’ premier commercial real estate firms. With more than two decades of experience, Saviers has helped shape the regional landscape through thousands of lease
and investment transactions totaling millions of square feet and more than $800 million in volume in just the past three years. His clients include many of the nation’s top Fortune 500 companies, from Amazon and J.B. Hunt to Procter & Gamble. Recognized as one of Arkansas’s Most Influential Leaders, Saviers is a CoStar Power Broker, Society of Industrial and Office Realtors designee and dedicated community leader who serves on numerous regional boards.
DUSHUN SCARBROUGH SR.
Executive Director
Martin Luther King Jr. Commission
RACHAEL SCOTT
Director of Residential Leasing & Multifamily
Moses Tucker Partners
Rachael Scott has built an impressive career in real estate, rising from property management to her current role as director of multifamily and residential leasing, executive broker at Moses Tucker Partners in Little Rock. Since joining the firm, she has played a pivotal role in the development and revitalization of downtown Little Rock’s multifamily landscape. Scott is widely recognized as the face of multifamily leasing in downtown Little Rock, her name becoming synonymous with the city’s most sought-after residential properties. Her deep understanding of contract management, tenant relations and market strategy has allowed her to maximize occupancy rates and drive consistent revenue growth. In addition to her real estate career, she is an advocate for Donate Life and the National Marrow Donor Program.
TYLER SEIDEL
Vice President of Treasury Management Services
Signature Bank of Arkansas
Tyler Seidel is vice president of treasury management services at Signature Bank of Arkansas. Passionate about helping Signature Bank optimize cash flow and reduce risk, he works to understand customers’ needs, the market, technology, competition, financial impact and everything else needed to help the bank excel. Prior to joining Signature Bank in May, he worked 24 years at Arvest Bank in positions that included senior product manager, information technology product manager and treasury management. He is an Association of International Product Marketing and Management Certified Product Manager and has the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification. He earned a Bachelor of Science in aviation management and a Master of Business Administration from Everglades University in Florida. He is also an Eagle Scout.
MEGAN SELMAN
CEO
Russellville Area Chamber of Commerce & Russellville Regional Alliance for Economic Development
Good Counsel
An insightful understanding of the law is the foundation for a legal profession. Tim Gauger has that. His sense of humanity makes him the ideal person to lead Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s legal department, and his mastery of problem-solving, his patience, integrity and ethics are above reproach. As senior vice president and chief legal officer, he is the primary voice for corporate governance, regulatory compliance, and risk management. And, while he protects the company’s interests daily, he’s part of the leadership team committed to taking good care of the best interests of our members too.
Congratulations, Tim, on being recognized among the “2025 Top 100 Professionals” by Arkansas Money & Politics.
takegoodcarearkansas.com
Jamie, on being named
Ryan Flynn President
Ryan Flynn has served as president of Network Services Group since 2013, over which time the company has grown from 11 employees and a single office to a team of more than 75 and two additional locations.
Founded in 1989, Network Services Group has spent more than three decades on a mission to restore dignity to the world of tech support with a client-focused approach and wide range of reliable information technology services.
“Having the opportunity to help our clients accomplish their business goals by providing a worry-free IT solution that utilizes technology is the most exciting part of what we do at Network Services Group,” Flynn said.
Outside of NSG, Flynn has been active in his community with the Cabot Rotary Club, Cabot City Council, Cabot Parks and Recreation Commission, and the Lonoke County Election Commission.
Staci CongratulationsMedlock
Consistently
Conway Regional Health System congratulates
REBEKAH FINCHER
Chief Administrative Officer for being named to Arkansas Money & Politics’ 2025 TOP PROFESSIONALS
MARSHALL SAVIERS CONGRATULATIONS
Cushman & Wakefield | Sage Partners, CEO, Principal
Congratulations to all honorees recognized in Arkansas Money & Politics’ Top 100 Professionals! We’re proud to celebrate this year’s outstanding class of leaders who continue to make a lasting impact across Arkansas’ business and community landscape.
DEBBIE SHAMLIN
Co-owner
C&C Tree Service
Debbie Shamlin is co-owner of C&C Tree Service in Little Rock and a real estate agent at Mid South Realty in Little Rock. She was born and raised in south Arkansas and has lived in central Arkansas for more than 30 years. She previously served the community for 26 years as a nurse. Giving back to the community and helping others is what drives Shamlin. She enjoys helping others and making a positive impact on the lives of the people around her, whether she is helping people find their forever homes or helping homeowners with the trees on their property.
TODD SHIELDS
Chancellor Arkansas State University
Todd Shields became the fourth appointed chancellor and 14th leader of Arkansas State University in Jonesboro in 2022. A nationally recognized scholar and champion for students, Shields has prioritized student success through enhanced support services, innovative teaching and community partnerships. Now in his third year, he is working relentlessly to build
TOP 100 PROFESSIONALS
partnerships with local community and industry leaders to strengthen northeast Arkansas and create unmatched opportunities for the student population at A-State, which has grown more than 28 percent since his arrival. Under his leadership, A-State has launched transformative initiatives including the state’s first college of veterinary medicine, the Center for Advanced Materials and Steel Manufacturing, and Windgate Hall of Art and Innovation, positioning the university as a catalyst for regional growth.
BILL SOLLEDER
Director of Marketing
Visit Hot Springs
BRENT STALEY
President Staley Electric
SHARON STRONG
Director
Arkansas Scholarship Lottery
NATALIE TIBBS
Executive Director
Children & Family Advocacy Center
JEFF TURNBOW
Founder
Turnbow Agency
KEN VAUGHAN
President
The Purple Cow Restaurant
AUSTIN WATTERS
Co-owner
Capitol Glass
CONGRATULATIONS AMP TOP 100 PROFESSIONALS
Tyler Seidel
TERI WESTBROOK
Director of Cloud & Security
Pinnacle IT
As director of cloud and security at Pinnacle IT, Teri Westbrook is passionate about helping businesses grow through secure, innovative technology. She leads with both technical expertise and heart — designing cloud solutions that make everyday operations smoother while ensuring clients’ data stays safe and protected. Westbrook works closely with organizations throughout the state to understand their goals, strengthen their security posture and bring clarity to complex technology decisions. Known for her approachable style and commitment to service excellence, she fosters lasting relationships built on trust, collaboration and genuine care.
BROOKE WILLIAMSON
Producer, Little Rock
Sunstar Insurance of Arkansas
JUSTIN WITTENBERG
President & Manager
Ruebel Funeral Home
AMBER WOOD
Owner
Mid South Realty
DR. SUZANNE YEE
Founder
Dr. Suzanne Yee Cosmetic & Laser Surgery Center
Teri Westbrook, Director of Cloud and Security
COOL Mr.
Bill Miller carried forward the family legacy of R&E Supply through determination, consistency
By
Dwain Hebda | Photos by Jane Colclasure
There is nothing exactly simple about the life of an entrepreneur, especially someone like Bill Miller, whose company, R&E Supply, was founded during the 1940s. Market changes, technology upgrades and the winds of fate have derailed many an otherwise sound enterprise or killed it on the vine for want of a new generation to take over, yet R&E continues to thrive to this day.
Miller was not immune to those challenges, of course, but withstood them through a remarkably consistent and straightforward set of principles — hard work, heeding good advice and leveraging born-in commitment to doing the little things that spelled the difference between survival and shutting the doors — all of which, Miller said, he witnessed firsthand in his father and company founder, Carl Miller Sr.
“The biggest thing he taught was customer service. That was basically his whole theme, and that’s what we do today,” Bill said. “One of the other things that Dad always said is, ‘Don’t worry about your competition. If you’re giving the right customer service and taking care of your accounts, you don’t have to worry about them,’ so we never did pay much attention to our competition. We just depended on what we did and focused on giving the best customer service in town.”
Bill might not have made note of his father’s dedication to the family company early on in life, when he and his older brother would scamper and play around in the store. Later, however, that commitment to doing things right came into sharp focus as he saw what it meant to be all in on one’s venture.
“The thing that I realized about him particularly was when he and Mom went on a world trip, I think they were gone probably over a year,” he said. “When they got back, they came in the store in the afternoon, and I looked at him, and I thought, ‘My gosh, this isn’t my dad. He looks like he’s dead.’
“The next morning when I came in — I guess I came in around 7 — he had already been there since 6. He was blowing and going, looking like himself. Mind you, this is after he’d pretty much turned things over to my brother and me. That’s when I realized this is not his work. This is what he loves doing.”
Carl founded his venture in the 1940s after seeing a major technological revolution in the making in Arkansas at that time. Having earned his engineering degree from Kansas State University, Carl saw how rural
electrification would transform the state in many ways, not the least of which was through the ready availability of refrigeration.
Where there was electricity there were appliances and, with that, service companies that required parts and components to keep things running. Thus was born Refrigeration Supply Co., as it was originally called, which today is considered a wholesaler of choice, providing heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration components to service companies.
“Once the infrastructure was in place, Dad developed from the appliance business into the commercial residential business, and we were carrying both electrical and refrigeration, heating and air at that point in time,” Bill said. “That would be in the ‘50s through probably the ‘70s or ‘80s. In the 1980s, we decided there were way too many competitors in the electrical business, so we stuck with the refrigeration and the heating and air conditioning business.”
“I think all people really have a lot of good in them. It’s just a matter of bringing it out. That said, some people are more alive than others, if that’s a way to describe it. You can find out a lot more about them because of their attitude. Remember, you can teach someone new material, but you cannot develop a new attitude in them, and if you don’t get the right attitude in a person, you’ll never see them succeed in that position. That’s the one thing I could probably say is true for all people.”
By the time Bill graduated from Hall High School, now Hall-West High School of Innovation, in Little Rock in 1962, Carl had repeatedly shown the depth of his commitment to the company, even borrowing against a life insurance policy to relocate and reopen after a fire destroyed the building and inventory. Such acts inspired Bill to his own achievement. He was president of a high school graduating class loaded with future success stories and graduated from the electrical engineering program at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. From there, he made a beeline back home to Little Rock, where he took his place alongside his older brother, Carl Miller Jr., following their dad’s lead.
“Carl and I were basically tasked with running the
BILL MILLER ON PEOPLE
BILL MILLER ON WHAT THEY DON’T TEACH IN SCHOOL ABOUT BUSINESS
“You’ve got to know who you can depend on and who you can trust. That trust is the main thing. If you can ever get trust with somebody, that makes for a good relationship in general. That’s the biggest thing I didn’t realize when I was in college was how important it was to get to know my classmates — where they were from, what they did, their parents and all that kind of thing. Networking is very important when you want to start doing things.
“For me, that’s the value of Little Rock Executives’ Association. I can go to any one of my fellow members in LREA that I’ve met over the years and get information I need or get a yes-or-no answer about something. You’ve got to be able to find people like that that you can go to to help bounce ideas off of and decide whether something’s a good project or not. That’s one of the most important things I’ve learned.”
business with Dad,” Bill said. “My brother’s nine years older than I am, and he and I are different. He’s a technical guy, so he knew all the answers for the service tech guys that had control problems. He could answer all of them. I’m a promoter, and I was the one that did most of the buying of the properties and expansion of our business. It worked out well.”
Bill did not have to wait long to show what he could do, taking the lead on the company’s first expansion to Pine Bluff.
“We had a customer in Pine Bluff that decided he was going to be in the wholesale business, which normally doesn’t work very well, especially when the competitors get wind of it,” Bill said, “but anyway, he opened up this company, and it ran for a good six months or so. Then finally, sure enough, everybody got wind of it, and he came to us and wanted to know if we wanted to buy it. That’s how we got into that market.”
A third location followed before the decade, this one in Hot Springs, and during the 1980s, two more locations opened in Russellville and Conway. In time, stores in Searcy, Jonesboro and Fort Smith would be added to the company network, giving R&E clients a direct local connection to the company in most of the population centers in the state.
Along the way, Bill also drove the company’s technology upgrades, starting in the mid 1980s.
“Our computers were called Datapoint. They were made down in Texas and were one of the first computers that had a platform for multiple locations,” he said. “We also developed our software ourselves, and it was quite adequate for us for a long time, until probably 2005, somewhere in there. [Artificial intelligence] is
something we’re actively working on right now with a partner in California. We’re trying to stay ahead of the game.”
Remind Bill that not many 81-year-olds are tuned in to the benefits of AI and other emerging tech, and he just shrugs.
“I’ve always seen [information technology] as being a process for the future,” he said. “Back when I was in high school, I knew there were so many research and development programs going on, you know, during the scientific age when we were in the space race. One of my thoughts at the time was to have some type of capability of being able to digitize all that information and then have a network around the world where you could see the actual data.”
The adoption of computers paid other dividends, as well, allowing for better inventory management, internal communications and, especially, staff training. Bill said any operation is only as successful as its people, which is why the company goes out of its way to provide for employees’ development and career satisfaction.
“Employee relations are one of our big things. We treat everyone like family. That’s in our mission statement,” he said. “We set up a lot of training seminars led by people on our staff who do a lot of training on the
“Delegation’s really tricky. There again, it has to go back to trust, but even trust can only go so far because if you put somebody in a place of management and they don’t have the management skills, then you’re killing them and yourself. You’ve overplayed their game.
“We try to bring our managers up from within. We very rarely go outside because I found that when you go outside to get a manager, they’ve not been trained the way we want them trained. Their attitudes are often different, or they have a different value set, and it’s hard to retrain them into ours, so most of our managers have come from within, and we’ve had very, very good luck with that. I can’t emphasize enough what a good trick that is to be able to pick good people. If you can’t pick your personnel and have a vibe with them to start with, then you’re in trouble.”
technical side, refrigeration and air conditioning. We also put our employees through a lot of online training, monitoring their work and accuracy.
“It’s a big task, and it’s a lot of expense that customers don’t see. It sets us apart because we’re all kind of in the same boat in our industry in that there are very
BILL MILLER ON LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
few people that are being formally trained for our type of business. That’s one of the things we’re working on with the state right now, trying to get some more training in tech schools that are toward HVAC and commercial refrigeration.”
A well-trained, customer-centric staff has become increasingly critical through the years as independent wholesalers such as R&E Supply become more scarce and the ones that do remain find themselves competing against huge national wholesalers, particularly as clients themselves have consolidated.
“In the old days, our biggest competition was an outfit out of Nashville, Tennessee, and they’ve been a good competitor in the fact that we’ve always cooperated with each other and helped each other. It’s never been a mean competition,” he said. “When the big boys came in, it became a little bit different flavor because they have national accounts, and they use that to try to force us out.
“The biggest problem we have is not necessarily in the area; it’s when the actual decision goes to somebody else that’s not in our local area. It’s very difficult to convince somebody in St. Louis, Missouri, who already has their connections with these other companies that we can do as good or even a better job. Just like any bureaucracy, the bigger a client company gets, the more it loses the tune of the marketplace.”
Bill, who attained full ownership of the company in 2010, said the company’s fundamental focus on customer service has again and again proven the differentiator against mounting competition and has the company thinking more growth as it looks to the future.
“When we look ahead, we do have some in-state
growth plans,” he said. “In our business, the clientele that we sell to are mostly maintenance-type clients, so if you have a new area like northwest Arkansas, which is not exactly new anymore, you have to wait for it to get to the point where stuff is breaking down. It depends a lot on the maturity of the area and what’s coming down the pike for the area.”
True to his track record, Bill is looking to innovate in the company’s expansion, tinkering with a store model that is smaller and more nimble than previous locations and stressing speed of delivery, along with the company’s trademark product knowledge and focus on client fulfilment.
“We’ve thought about some smaller type of footprint, smaller service areas,” he said. “The main thing clients want is their materials quickly. That’s, of course, how Amazon has been successful — you’ve got to get the product to them in a timely fashion.”
Bill’s other project for the future lies in mentoring his son, Cory, currently vice president, to one day step in as third-generation ownership.
“You’ve just got to stay focused, and that’s hard to do when there’s so many things hitting you all the time. You’ve got to know yourself, No. 1, and what you can and can’t do. If you have a good foundation and a good spiritual foundation, you’ll find that you can pretty well do anything you want to if you keep focused.”
“I’ve never pushed the company on him, but I have kept him involved. I’d take him down there a lot as a kid, and he’s kind of grown up with that around him,” Bill said. “A few years ago, when my wife and I decided to take some trips, I decided I’d try him out. I said, ‘Cory, I’m going to let you run the company while I’m gone.’ Of course, I have a good staff that helped him, so it wasn’t like I was leaving it to him all by himself, and he really didn’t have to call me for that much.
“We were gone, I guess, probably two months, and when I got back, everybody really seemed to like him. It just bloomed from there. He’s not a wimp. He doesn’t let people roll over him, which can be a problem, but he also understands how to handle employee and customer relations well. I’m just real proud of him. He’s twice as capable as I ever was.”
BILL MILLER ON PERSEVERANCE
Miller has helped drive the company’s technological innovation over the years and continues that work today.
CALS MAIN LIBRARY REOPENS DOORS AFTER RENOVATION LIBRARIES H AVE
Nate Coulter stood on the new rooftop terrace of the Central Arkansas Library System Main Library building during a preview day of its muchanticipated renovation. He said the rooftop space, which overlooks downtown Little Rock and the River Market area, is one of his favorite parts of the $31 million renovation, which was completed in September.
“This is something that Little Rock wants, deserves and needs,” the CALS executive director said.
Coulter pointed out columns which now stand in a green space outside of the library and explained they were from the original library building on Louisiana Street, from which the library moved in the late 1990s.
He said the newly updated library will serve as a focal point to bring people to the downtown area and that the renovation serves as a commitment to the Little Rock community and its economic growth.
“The library is a wonderful reason to come downtown,” Coulter said. “There are a lot of good reasons to come downtown.”
Reese Rowland at Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects, principal architect on the project, said the updates were made because the role of the library in patrons’ lives has changed since the building first opened.
“The library was a place that stored books, but now libraries have evolved,” he said.
Today, libraries have to compete with retail spaces such as book shops and coffee shops, Rowland said. CALS’ answer to that is a Boulevard Bread Co. location on the first floor of the main library that has a walk-up window, as well.
On a September afternoon, Brant Collins, content creator at CALS, showed off a production studio in the renovated space where people will be able to use cameras and sets for film projects. Joining it on the fifth floor is the Darragh Center, which has large windows that overlook downtown. The space is equipped with everything someone needs for a conference or event. Collins said he expects weddings will be hosted there, as well.
EVOLVED
“ THE LIBRARY IS A WONDERFUL REASON TO COME DOWNTOWN. THERE ARE A LOT OF GOOD REASONS TO COME DOWNTOWN. — NATE COULTER
By Alex Hardgrave
Photos by Jamie Lee
CALS’ reimagined Main Library reopened to the public in October.
“ THE LIBRARY IS AN ANCHOR THAT SOLIDIFIES THIS AREA. WE ALWAYS HAVE BEEN HERE, AND WE’RE ALWAYS GOING TO BE HERE.
— NATE COULTER
The third and fourth levels are adult books and movies. Each floor also features plenty of seating in front of the newly installed front windows.
The teen center on the second floor is equipped to host after-school activities, offering computers, young adult books, a kitchenette and study rooms.
“It makes you want to be a teen again,” Collins said.
On the first floor, there is a lot of open seating for groups to meet, as well as the main circulation desk and the Boulevard location. At the back of the first floor, behind colorful glass, is the children’s area, which includes a large activities room, as well as teaching kitchen and stages for story time.
On the basement level, which used to be closed to the public, are the computer lab and offices for three on-site social workers.
“We’re a social hub for everything,” he said.
The library was originally set to have its grand opening Sept. 20, but it was announced in early September that the contractors would not be able to meet that date. Instead, the library opened for public use on Sept. 29 and had its grand opening Oct. 4.
The opening day kicked off with an opening ceremony at 9 a.m. with cheerleaders from Philander Smith University in Little Rock. In the children’s area, which has an expanded footprint and now resides on the first floor to make it more ac-
Clockwise, from top left: A portion of the ceiling includes an excerpt from Trenton Lee Stewart's The Mysterious Benedict Society; the Shaylea Harding Lobby; the new Boulevard Bread Co. location on the ground floor.
cessible for patrons, there was a story time and balloon craft. The main library’s garden hosted face painting and games, and teens made friendship bracelets and performed karaoke.
In the technology center, adults were led through everything the library database can offer them. There was also a cooking demonstration in the new teaching kitchen with Little Rock-based Sweet Creations by Tiffany.
Collins encouraged people to check out everything the library has to offer and to get involved.
“The library is an anchor that solidifies this area,” he said. “We always have been here, and we’re always going to be here,” he said.
Visitors tour the new Sturgis Technology Center.
But Not Alone
Leslie and Jeff Smith
For seven decades, Smith Family Funeral Homes served families when needed most
By Dwain Hebda
When Jeff Smith decided it was time to take the family funeral business into its third generation of family ownership, he was surprised to find his late father, John, slow-walking the idea.
“I graduated college from the University of Arkansas in 1997 and was going to go to mortuary school,” Smith said. “I had worked at the funeral home during the summer in high school and in college, and really, my dad and I both thought this was the direction I would go. Well, my dad redirected me. He said, ‘I think you’d be better off to go get a [Master of Business Administration],’ so I did, and when I graduated with my MBA, we were talking about what I was going do next.
“He said, ‘Well, I don’t think you should come back into the business right now. You would learn a lot more from working for someone else. You need to figure out if this is really what you want to do, and the employees
will respect you more if you go work somewhere else. They won’t think I just handed it to you.”
At that point in the story, Smith began to chuckle as he approached the punch line.
“Then he said, ‘Last, but certainly not least, I want you to go make your mistakes on somebody else’s dime,’” Smith said, as the chuckle rounded into a hearty laugh.
The younger Smith detoured into the mortgage business for a few years and he became very successful, but when his father called to ask if he was still interested in taking over the family firm, the wisdom of the elder was apparent. Despite experiencing a booming mortgage market, Smith was ready to come home.
“I remember when I was young, my dad really taught me the importance of, hey, in our business we serve everybody,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how much money they have or what street they live on. What matters is they’ve lost a loved one and they’re grieving, and we’re going to do everything we can to take care of that family.”
It is hard to imagine today, when the company has expanded into nine locations, just how much of a gamble it was when Jeff’s grandfather, Clifford opened the original funeral home in 1955, particularly since he had no experience in the business whatsoever at the time —but then, Clifford Smith had overcome steeper obstacles before through sheer force of will.
“My granddad’s background is pretty interesting,” Jeff said. “He was born in 1910, and there were, I believe, nine kids in the family. During the Depression, he took off hoboing and looking to find work. Times were tough all across the board. Well, one time when he was back home, a guy pulled him aside and said, ‘Clifford, you’re too
smart to be doing this. You need to go to college, and if you don’t go to college, you’re going to end up either dead or in jail.’ My granddad took that to heart, and he went to Russellville to Arkansas Tech or whatever it was called at the time. He didn’t know any different; he walked right into the chancellor’s office and said, ‘I need to go to school, and I need a job.’”
Waved off, Clifford kept coming back until, finally, the chancellor caved, giving him a job on the grounds crew to get him out of his office. Smith earned an associate degree and then went to Fayetteville, where he finished his bachelor’s degree in agriculture and met Jeff’s grandmother, who was also a student there. In time, Clifford would establish farmers’ co-ops from one end of the state to the other before feeling the urge to start something for himself.
“At that time, there was only one funeral home in North Little Rock, and his buddy convinced him it needed another one, so my granddad decided to start one,” Jeff said.
“Funerals are for the living, a chance for everybody to come together and stop and remember a loved one, and it doesn’t matter if 2,000 people show up or 200 or 20. What matters is that we celebrate the life of your loved one properly and that the people who love you have the opportunity to come and tell you they’re sorry for your loss.
— Jeff Smith
Jeff Smith with his father, John (Photos provided by Smith Family Funeral Homes)
“That is the only case I’ve ever heard of somebody starting a funeral home that had never worked in a funeral home.”
That meant big changes for John and his older sister, then about 12 and 13, respectively.
“The way my dad remembered it, my granddad came home one day and said, ‘Son, we’re going to move. We’re going to sell your pony and give away your dog because we’re starting a funeral home, and we’re going to live above the funeral home,” Jeff said. “My dad thought his world had come to an end.”
Whatever trauma John felt over the loss of his pets, it did not dissuade him from immersing himself in and eventually taking over and refining the family business. In Jeff’s estimation, John was the ideal analytical counterweight, lending operational focus to the big picture dreamed up by his father before him.
“My granddad was the entrepreneur who got the business started, and then my dad refined it,” Jeff said. “Grandad was a serial entrepreneur and a people person, for sure, but Dad and my mom, Kay, both taught me the best lessons about business and relationships and doing everything with excellence. If you’re going to offer a service, make sure that what you’re providing is the very best that you can provide.
“Still to this day, we have a great reputation because we take such good care of people. That was a lesson I learned from my parents, you know; as an owner, our No. 1 responsibility is to take care of our employees and our staff, and if we take care of them, they will take care of all of our customers.”
While Jeff absorbed and applied all of his parent’s lessons through the years, he also inherited a heaping table-
The team at Smith Family Funeral Home.
spoon of his grandfather’s entrepreneurial zeal. Shortly after joining the company for good in 2006, Jeff spearheaded its first expansion.
“We’ve never gone out asking to buy funeral homes, every one of them has been because somebody called us and asked us to continue their family legacy or continue their business,” he said. “When we bought Westbrook in 2008, and then my wife and I bought the funeral homes from my parents at the start of 2010, we just kept getting phone calls over the next decade.
“That’s been good for business, don’t get me wrong, but I think one of the things that I’m most proud of is we’ve never let anybody go when we acquired a funeral home. The vast majority of the employees would say they loved the previous owners that they worked for, but they also really love working for us.”
Today, the company is firmly established in Arkansas, serving hundreds of families per year each with the same compassionate, insightful service at their time of loss. Smith had continued his father’s legacy of innovation, too, with one of the latest examples being Aftercare by Smith. The service helps surviving family members navigate estate closure and myriad other details following someone’s death, regardless of which funeral home they used for the disposition of their loved one.
way. We’ve also seen a big rise in the term ‘celebration of life’ over ‘funeral.’ That definitely reflects the attitude and behavior of baby boomers.
“Services can look as traditional or as unique as the family wants. We’re seeing funerals that look more like a wake or an open mic night. We’re seeing a trend of moving more towards evening services instead of during the day. We’ve held services outdoors. We’ve held them at the Clinton Library [in Little Rock]. Personalization doesn’t have to be all that different; it may just be in terms of people having friends get up and talk or more music. It doesn’t have to be wild to be personalized.”
Still to this day, we have a great reputation because we take such good care of people. That was a lesson I learned from my parents, you know; as an owner, our No. 1 responsibility is to take care of our employees and our staff, and if we take care of them, they will take care of all of our customers.
— Jeff Smith
The company also keeps up with trends in final arrangements, serving new generations seeking more and more individualized services.
“Especially as the baby boomers have come into the picture, they’re driving the decision-making process, and they want everything personalized,” he said. “The funeral business has certainly experienced that with one of the first and largest trends being an increase in the choice for cremation. Half of our services now involve cremation, and I think the reason for that is some people see burials as the old way or a stuffy way or certainly an expensive
The fourth generation of Smith family ownership is still yet to be determined, Smith said. As his father did for him, Jeff and his wife, Leslie, are allowing their children to spread their wings. If the career breeze carries them back home, great, but it will be a course they set for themselves, he said.
In the meantime, there are more families to serve and more lives to commemorate, treated with the dignity and attentiveness that have become the company’s most enduring trademark.
“Something we really talk about in our funeral homes is the whole purpose of funerals is beyond just the disposition of the body,” he said. “We find ourselves reminding people, you know, you can’t skip grieving. Grief doesn’t go away; it’ll wait for you as long as it takes.
“Funerals are for the living, a chance for everybody to come together and stop and remember a loved one, and it doesn’t matter if 2,000 people show up or 200 or 20. What matters is that we celebrate the life of your loved one properly and that the people who love you have the opportunity to come and tell you they’re sorry for your loss. It’s really about your community coming around you and surrounding you with love to help you celebrate that life.”
Leslie & Jeff Smith
THE TAX MAN LEAVETH?
By Sarah DeClerk
Republicans work to phase out state income tax amid doubts about feasibility
They say nothing is certain but death and taxes, but perhaps there is a close third: Wherever there are Republicans, tax cuts will be on the agenda.
With the party benefiting from a supermajority in the Natural State, it is no surprise that traditional Republican policies of tax cuts and reduced government spending are already making headway under Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
“You can see it right before us,” he said. “More has happened in the past couple years than has happened in, obviously, decades — all the talk, if you will — so the talk is meshing up very well with the walk.”
He added that lawmakers are taking a conservative approach to implementation by making cuts gradually after assessing surpluses in the budget.
“More has happened in the past couple years than has happened in, obviously, decades.”
— Joseph Wood
“Gov. Sanders is proud to have lowered Arkansas’ income tax by over 20 percent in just two years and is continuing to work to responsibly phase out the state’s income tax, including through Arkansas Forward, her initiative to cut government spending and improve efficiency that has already identified at least $300 million in taxpayer savings,” reads a statement provided by the governor’s office to Arkansas Money & Politics. Arkansas is not alone in its pursuit of reducing and ultimately eliminating the state income tax. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves this year signed the Build Up Mississippi Act outlining a plan to phase out the state’s income tax, and, in 2022, Kentucky passed House Bill 8 to establish savings and revenue goals that would trigger reduced income tax rates with the possibility of eventually doing away with the tax entirely.
Joseph Wood, chairman of the Republican Party of Arkansas, said he views the eventual repeal of Arkansas’ state income tax as a sure thing.
“The legislators, the governor are obviously being measured and are obviously making sure all the T’s are crossed, I’s are dotted,” he said. “You constantly are taking a check of what’s going on inside your state, let alone what’s surrounding you.”
House Minority Leader Rep. Andrew Collins (D-Little Rock) is not so sure the state will eliminate its income tax — at least, not anytime soon.
“There have been people that talk about getting rid of the income tax, but I think we’re a long way from actually doing that here in Arkansas,” he said. “I think that is more a popular talking point than something we’re realistically going to move toward in the next few years. I would be shocked if we actually got rid of the income tax during Gov. Sanders’ term in office.”
The vast majority of states still have an income tax, he said, adding that those that do not have an income tax often have a specialized industry that can be taxed to make up for it, such as gambling in Nevada and oil and gas in Texas and Alaska.
“If we were to get rid of $4.5 billion from our budget, which is about what the income tax represents, that’s getting deep into the core functions of government.”
— Rep. Andrew Collins
With no such industry to replace the revenue, he said, Arkansas would likely have to make up the difference by having high sales taxes like income-tax-free neighbor Tennessee.
“Arkansas already has one of the highest sales taxes in the country, so doubling it would put us off the charts,” he said. “Also, the sales tax is more regressive than the income tax because it hits low-income people hardest, so getting rid of the income tax to increase the sales tax would be a bad policy choice if you believe in opportunity and economic mobility.”
Michael Pakko, chief economist at the Arkansas Economic Development Institute at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said although discussions about eliminating the income tax may be popular politically, tax cuts do not unleash enough economic growth potential to pay for themselves. He noted that the state income tax makes up roughly half of the gross general revenues of the state budget.
“If you’re going to eliminate that source of revenue for the government, you’ve either got to cut the budget, the general revenue budget at least, by about 50 percent or bring in more taxes, substitute more sales taxes or property taxes for the lost revenue of the income tax,” he said. “That’s about it for a state government. You can’t go out and borrow, though the federal government can.”
He pointed to a massive tax cut passed by Kansas in 2012 that led to a downgrade of the state’s bond rating, a budget crisis and the eventual repeal of the bill in 2017.
“Initially, the shortfall in revenue was made up by just cutting spending to the bone, and that turned out to be very politically unpopular,” he said. “That’s why, ultimately, tax rates were reinstated to where they were before.”
One way to ensure a successful tax cut is by already having an economic surplus, he said. Fortunately, Arkansas has such a surplus, which is one reason why the
most recent tax cuts have not necessitated a reduction in government spending.
“Of course, the danger is in the future, when the budget gets tighter. Then we’re left without that revenue source that would have been there had the tax rates remained in place,” he added, “but that’s, I guess, in our current circumstances, a perspective issue that needs to be kept in mind but not a pressing issue with policy.”
Just as the federal government has emphasized reviewing government spending to eliminate waste and fraud, so, too, is the state examining its services to identify redundancies and implement savings opportunities such as centralizing purchasing to make better use of economies of scale, Wood said.
“I don’t think the services will continue to be what they are,” he added. “Assessing and making sure that we’re not doing things that our private sector is doing, people in our nonprofits are doing — we don’t have to double and triple up on some of the same types of work if we can make those available, so the services, obviously, have to be revealed and looked at. What are we doing, and are they critically necessary, and if not, then should we be doing it?”
He added that he expects a safety net to remain in place for those in need, as well as critical services such as criminal justice. Wood said he also expects growth in the state economy to be taken into account when evaluating future tax cuts.
“I see it as a combination of both businesses developing and growing, flourishing and then obviously goods and services being bought and generating that much more revenue for the state on top of, obviously, the reduction,” he said.
Collins was skeptical of the idea that simply reducing unnecessary expenses would be enough to make up for lost revenue while still maintaining adequate funding for schools, law enforcement and other government services.
Michael Pakko
“If we were to get rid of $4.5 billion from our budget, which is about what the income tax represents, that’s getting deep into the core functions of government,” he said. “That’s not trimming the fat. That’s really gutting what we provide, so I think the more likely scenario would be that if the income tax went away, other taxes would be increased, and I’m not sure that’s really better than where we are right now.”
He added that he disagrees with the recent tax cuts, which have been targeted toward the state’s wealthiest residents.
“Those cuts have been disproportionately focused on top earners,” he said, “and so while I don’t particularly want to see high taxes on anyone, I do think that when we cut for top earners, more of the burden shifts to the middle class and lower income Arkansans, so I would have liked to have seen different tax relief that was a little bit more oriented toward helping middle-class Arkansans.”
Wood said the income tax cuts help Arkansas stay competitive when it comes to attracting both business and talent. With abundant natural resources and opportunities for outdoor recreation, eliminating the income tax, when coupled with improvements to schools and public safety, would make Arkansas one of the most attractive places in the U.S. to relocate a business, he said.
“If you are in a place that’s high tax, you can move to a state like Arkansas and see a big reduction in your cost of doing business, and so I think it becomes more business friendly when you can eliminate state income tax,” he said. “You can now do creative things with your employee benefit packages, etc. Obviously, overall, just recruitment in general is going to be a big plus when you do something like that, and the economy, overall, starts to flourish that much more like it’s doing here in Arkansas.”
Eliminating the income tax also provides Arkansans with a pay raise, he added, allowing them to keep more of their hard-earned dollars, rather than entrusting them to a government that might not spend that money in ways taxpayers support.
“Those dollars that were being expended on going to the state, now you can keep a little more of those dollars,” he said. “Whether it’s sending your kids to certain schools or special activities, what have you, you as the taxpayer get a chance to have more say with your dollars, and that’s a win.”
Collins said he expects another round of tax breaks for top earners is forthcoming, but the timing is tricky for any major cuts. Not only is the state government putting money into school vouchers and a new prison, but it is likely that the state will see significant reductions in federal support for education and health care.
“I think that makes it challenging to get rid of our main source of state revenue or even significantly reduce it,” he said.
He added that although he is unlikely to support any additional income tax cuts for the top brackets, he might support some income tax relief targeted toward low-income and middle-class taxpayers.
“We’re always looking for ways to save taxpayers money. We also want to make sure that when we do so, we’re doing it responsibly and we’re doing it in a way that is fair,” he said. “We already have a high sales tax burden in Arkansas. I think we have the third-highest sales tax burden in the entire country, so moving away from the income tax and toward more sales tax is going to put even more of that regressive burden on low-income people and middleclass people, so I think it’s unlikely that I, personally, would support further reductions in the top income tax rate.”
Pakko said he also anticipates another round of tax cuts in the near future.
“I think the current administration would be open to another opportunity to cut marginal tax rates even further, so I would think that if our surpluses continue to come in positive, they might find a way to implement that kind of an additional change,” he said.
He noted that although he is incredulous that that state could eliminate its income tax entirely, given that the tax makes up half the state’s revenue, there are ways of looking at the budget that show the state income tax to be a smaller component.
“For instance, that 50 percent of the state’s gross general revenues doesn’t take off refunds,” he said. “Now, if you’re going to look at the impact of revenue taxes and the overall state’s budget, you really ought to take into account those refunds.”
That brings the proportion of gross general revenue brought in by the state income tax to 45 percent, rather than 50, he said.
“Then there’s a whole other class of special revenues that don’t even appear in the revenue stabilization law framework that the legislature goes through every year,” he said. “Those are primarily sales taxes and some other excise taxes.”
Factoring that revenue into the budget pool brings the state income tax figure down to about 40 percent, he said, and factoring in intergovernmental revenue, namely federal grants, brings that number down even further to about a third of the state’s revenue.
“There, maybe, it sounds a little bit more doable to cut spending by a third, but then again, those different categories that I’ve just described are not all completely flexible,” he said. “Some are there because of clauses in the constitution and things that you can’t easily change, can’t easily rearrange, so the budget process we have is what we’re stuck with, at least for the time being anyway.”
SETTING CONDITIONS
Does retired Army Col. Marcus Jones have what it takes to lead state Democrats to success?
By Sarah DeClerk
Retired Army Col. Marcus Jones is a man with a plan — a plan to help the Democratic Party of Arkansas grow its political foothold. Elected chair in August, Jones promised to deliver a fiveyear plan for the party within 90 days of taking office. He said he hopes to build on the party’s recent efforts to recruit strong candidates and expand its ground game — something he called “setting conditions.”
“My entire adult life has been about service,” he said, “and I felt like at this time right now, and in the current environment that we have, that this was the right place for me to use my skill and talents and energy to work within the party, to set conditions, to set conditions in our state not just in the upcoming 2026 race but conditions in ’26, ’28 and ’30 and beyond. Being the chair is the right place to do that.”
Jones spent 29 years in the Army as a career field artillery officer. He was deployed to Iraq twice, commanded a basic training battalion at Fort Sill in Oklahoma and served as an assistant chief of staff in South Korea. He worked as a program director at
NATO’s Joint Warfare Centre in Norway before making his way back to his home state of Arkansas for his final assignment as senior regular Army advisor to the Arkansas National Guard.
Leading organizations big and small in the Army required in-depth strategic planning and the ability to deliver on large budgets in some of the most complex and challenging environments imaginable,
which has given Jones a unique skill set he hopes will help him effect change in the party and, by extension, the wider political landscape.
Born in Newport and raised in Jonesboro before attending the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Jones came from a family of Democrats. He has a sign in his office that hung in his grandfather’s barn for about 50 years, proclaiming, “Vote Democratic — people first.”
“We’ve always been Arkansans, but for the most part, we lived outside of the state and around the world,” he said of his wife and children. “Moving back here, I saw changes that I didn’t agree with, especially coming out of the 2022 election cycle.”
Jones said his 2024 Congressional run against Rep. French Hill was motivated by his desire to improve the situations he encountered after he and his family returned to Arkansas.
“I saw laws being passed that I felt like were marginalizing Arkansans,” he said. “I saw things happening in our state where sometimes underserved communities
Photos provided by the Democratic Party of Arkansas
Jones was twice deployed to Iraq.
were being denied access to assistance or even access to rights, and that got me started looking at the place where I might be able to best serve.”
Jones helped restart the veterans and military families caucus, lending the insights gleaned from that effort to the Hispanic caucus, as well. Reviving the caucus involved revisiting the bylaws, providing information about veterans issues to Democratic legislators and veterans service organizations, and reaching out to younger vets.
“We have found that when you start to look at the erosion of veterans benefits and the failure to deliver on a promise that was made to a lot of veterans by the current administration, there are many, many veterans and their families that are interested in connecting to the Democratic party and trying to make that change,” he said.
Members of the military are often considered Republican by default, although the Pew Research Center states that it is not a vast majority. Only 63 percent of veteran
voters align with Republicans, Pew reports, while 35 percent align with Democrats. Jones is no stranger to questions about how his political alignment meshes with his military career.
“I used to joke with Democrats that I got it more from them than I did Republicans,” he said, “but if you look at it, I swore an oath to the Constitution, which means that I believe in due process. I believe in the Bill of Rights. I believe in equity and equality. I believe in the idea that we have protections under the law and the rule of law. All of those things, when you swear that oath to the Constitution, all of those things are Democratic values.”
With President Donald Trump’s administration having a tangible impact on working people’s lives — and not a good one, in Jones’ estimation — strengthening the Democratic party is vital, he added.
“It has never been a more important time for us to build up as Democrats, and we are the organization that is going to mount that defense against what we’re seeing right now coming out of Washington,” he said. “A big part of the vision is that the Democrats in Arkansas are rebuilding the infrastructure of our party.”
That work starts with beefing up auxiliaries and county parties, Jones said. A major component of his five-year plan involves building campaign, outreach and election infrastructure across the state to
better recruit and train candidates.
“We’ve committed to conducting a county and auxiliary assessment and looking at maybe where are some places that, from the state level, we would be better able to resource or enable them,” he said. “I say resource — sometimes it may just be information. In some cases, it may be that we collect those best practices … and make them available so that they can find that and work through challenges themselves.”
The work is not just about rallying the troops, however. The success of the Democratic Party also lies in winning new converts, and to do that, Democrats need to spread their message. It is a message that needs to come from people’s neighbors, coworkers and the people who coach their children’s T-ball teams, Jones said — not Washington.
“We’re not Nancy Pelosi, and we’re not Chuck Schumer,” he said. “We’re Arkansas Democrats, and we’re worried about the things that affect Arkansans’ lives every day. That’s a big piece of our vision of what we’ve got to do going forward. When people think of who the Democratic party is, we want them to know that what we’re doing is working for a more affordable Arkansas, a healthier Arkansas, a safer Arkansas, and when they think of a Democrat, they think of an Arkansas Democrat.”
Marcus Jones
Jones said his five-year plan for the party will include rebuilding community outreach.
report indicated that soybean farmers can expect to lose $85.02 per acre.
Deacue Fields, vice president of agriculture for the UA system, recently told the UA board that the agricultural economy right now is in one of the worst states he has seen.
Meanwhile, state officials hope the loss of China as a major buyer of Arkansas soybeans could be made up by the state’s trade deal with Taiwan, announced by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in mid-September.
The Taiwan Vegetable Oil Manufacturers Association agreed to purchase at least 6.5 metric tons of soybeans with an estimated value of at least $3.44 billion, while the Taiwan Feed Industry Association said it will purchase 7.5 million metric tons of corn and 1 million metric tons of corn products, estimated value $2.12 billion.
On Sept. 25, Trump announced that his administration would take money made from the tariffs and provide relief for American farmers, though he did not initially release details.
“We’re going to give it to the farmers who are going to be hurt for a little bit until the tariffs kick in to their benefit,” he said.
Grown in 41 of Arkansas’ 75 counties on roughly 3.3 million acres, soybeans are one of the state’s top row crops — No. 2 behind rice — and one of its top three crop commodities. Arkansas’ soybean yield generates about $1.7 billion annually and average yields of 40 bushels per acre, according to the UADA.
Having already lost thousands of farmland acres to flooding earlier this year, the Delta rode out a moderate drought in August without much impact. One UA researcher said soybean farmers should also be concerned about the diminishing effect of herbicides as weed control due to weed resistance.
Jeremy Ross, professor and soybean extension agronomist at the UA Cooperative Extension Service, told the Soybean Research & Information Network some weeds are learning to resist multiple herbicides, a development with possible long-term consequences.
“We need research to identify long-term weed control options when chemicals don’t work well,” he said. “We also need to pay attention to the economic profitability of soybeans for our farmers as they compete with other global regions for market share and adapt to address consumer concerns.”
The soybean market indeed is changing, trade wars aside. Human consumption of soybeans and soybean products is on the rise, but most Arkansas soybeans are still used as a supplement in livestock feed.
“Three ways Arkansas soybean farmers could improve their management practices for 2026.
1st-
They should use narrow row spacing when planting soybeans.
2nd-
3rdThey should prioritize irrigation efficiency.
Remember the data.
The domestic market for soybeans as a component in biodiesel is growing, as well. The state ranks 10th nationally in soybean production at more than 150 million bushels each year and fourth nationally in soybean usage. Roughly 35 percent of the annual U.S. soybean harvest is exported.
Arkansas joins Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin as the only states where forecasted yields promise record highs. Though national soybean harvest for 2025 was forecast at 80.3 million acres, down 7 percent from last year, yields were up 2.8 bushels per acre to 53.5, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Ross noted three ways Arkansas soybean farmers could improve their management practices for 2026. First, they should use narrow row spacing when planting soybeans.
“We have a lot of data showing that narrow rows increase yield,” he said.
Second, they should prioritize irrigation efficiency.
“About 85 percent of Arkansas soybeans grow under irrigation,” he said. “Using soil moisture sensors and programs that improve the efficiency of furrow irrigation can minimize over- or underirrigating. Improving water use efficiency supports soybean profitability.”
And third — remember the data.
“Spend the time needed to pull soil samples and track data,” he said. “Building a long field history allows farmers to see nutrient trends over time to better maintain soil fertility.”
According to the UADA Arkansas Soybean Production Handbook, soybeans were first domesticated in the Yellow River and/or Yangtze River valleys in central and southern China between 3,000 and 5,000 years ago. Many soybean references can be found in early Chinese literature.
Soybeans, grown strictly for food in China, were introduced to the U.S. in the late 18th century or early 19th century, agriculture historians believe. The crop’s early growth in North America was due to its use in foraging. It is now the second-largest row crop in the U.S. based on acreage. The soybean was introduced to Arkansas in 1925 and became popular domestically in the 1940s.
— Jeremy Ross, UA Cooperative Extension Service
By Doug Crise
Questions run rampant as colleges give athletes a cut of their revenue
Matt Whiting lives on the other side of the fence.
As a baseball player at the University of Arkansas at Monticello from 2009 to 2010, Whiting suited up in a uniform with no name on the back and played on a field with just a couple of bleachers. A handful of signs from area businesses dotted the athletic facilities, the only clue to anything that might be producing revenue.
After graduating, Whiting exchanged his uniform for a dress shirt, taking a position at the athletic department next to then-Director of Athletics Chris Ratcliff. The move made sense for Whiting, whose mother, Mary, was the university’s director of admissions. At the time, Ratcliff was one of the youngest athletic directors in the country at any level, and together, they worked to sustain a department that operated on a budget of roughly $2 million.
Think $2 million is a lot? Not in collegiate athletics.
Years later, at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Whiting is running his own show. His office overlooks UCA’s Estes Stadium and its trademark gray-and-purple field. He has just over a year in the office’s executive chair, having served an apprenticeship under longtime athletic director Brad
Teague that began in 2016. Teague, like Ratcliff, was a hard charger, working tirelessly to fill the coffers of an athletic department that transitioned from NCAA Division II to Division I, a move that created more athletic scholarships and, in doing so, drove up the price of doing business.
In 2025, Whiting is still pushing for revenue and still dispersing that revenue among UCA’s 16 sports. Like everyone else in his position, Whiting knew everything about college sports would change when Senior District Judge Claudia Wilken of the Northern District of California ruled in a multibillion-dollar legal settlement in June that Division I athletic departments could funnel their revenue directly to the athletes themselves.
Whiting and UCA President Houston Davis may have passed on revenue-sharing for its first year, but a kind of inevitability was acknowledged in October, with the university announcing that it would opt in for the 20262027 athletic year.
That “House Settlement” ruling put a cap of $20.5 million on how much athletic revenue can be given to athletes, something that may have evinced a chuckle from Whiting, since his department is a good couple of million dollars away from even having that much to give. But Whiting was dead serious when he
Matt Whiting
and Davis looked at the rules on roster limits that came with the House ruling.
Football, by example, was set to take a hit on the new roster rules, the past maximum of 140 getting knocked down to 105. UCA currently lists 114 on its roster, leaving nine players out in the cold.
Each player, on scholarship or not, represents revenue to the university, and with college enrollment numbers in free fall all across the country, Davis and Whiting decided UCA could not take the hit.
“A lot of schools don’t have that revenue to share,” said Whiting, who said he and Davis will reexamine “opting in” for the next academic year. “We carry anywhere between 450 and 500 student athletes. To get to those roster limits, that means a decrease in the number of athletes we have in our program. The question we asked is why do we decrease the number of student athletes during a time when enrollment across the country is declining and we’re about to enter what everybody’s calling an ‘enrollment cliff’?” Whiting said.
Whiting does not have to state the obvious. While new legislation has pried open the door for college athletes to profit off their play, large universities such as the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville may as well exist in a different universe than their smaller Division I counterparts. That leaves administrators with more questions than answers as smaller athletic departments scramble to keep and compensate their athletes.
While UCA chose to wait a year, athletic directors at the state’s other smaller Division I schools — the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff — have opted into the new rules of revenue sharing. What that means differs from school to school, since none have the budget to fully meet the $20.5 million cap while also operating at full blast in other areas.
Nobody wants to return to the outmoded “amateurism” model that left athletes with empty pockets as universities cashed in on their names and exploits, but all are dealing with a balancing act their bigger peers do not have to face.
ASU Athletic Director Chris Pezman estimated his department is within 10 to 15 percent of that $20.5 million revenue-sharing cap. That does not mean the Red Wolves program is not compensating athletes — it means compensating athletes now plays a part in how Pezman divvies up the budget.
“For us, it’s how do we continue to grow and invest in revenue share while still supporting our programs, our coaches and the needs that come with facility maintenance, new facilities, coaches’ contracts — all things that still need attention and investment?” Pezman said. “How do you strike that balance?”
The spectre of revenue sharing now hangs over every decision Pezman makes. A coach
Estes Stadium, Conway (Photo provided by UCA)
“For us, it’s how do we continue to grow and invest in revenue share while still supporting our programs, our coaches and the needs that come with facility maintenance, new facilities, coaches’ contracts — all things that still need attention and investment? How do you strike that balance?”
— Chris Pezman
that wants a charter flight for his team? That is thousands of dollars that do not go to the athletes. An international trip for the basketball teams? That may no longer be budgeted.
And somewhere, there is a competing school more than willing to offer what Arkansas State cannot.
“Even at larger schools, I think those conversations are still happening,” said Pezman, who previously served as director of athletics at Big 12 conference member Houston. “It’s just more acute at our level.”
Pezman already knows the potential consequences. He was a walk-on, or nonscholarship, football player at Houston, and he knows those are the athletes in the crosshairs if a program is forced to winnow its roster down to the new regulations.
It is not just sentimentality when Pezman says there is a price to pay for losing those athletes.
“My sensitivity to walk-ons is important,” Pezman said. “That’s a pathway we can’t lose sight of. There’s a lot of walk-ons who go on to be incredibly successful, and frankly, those are the kids who come back and support the institution because they’re paying to go to school, and they really wanted to go there. Let’s not lose sight that those kids mean a lot to us.”
Little Rock Athletic Director Frank Cuervo said the decision to opt in was fully backed by Chancellor Christina Drale, the university board of visitors and the UA System board of trustees. After that came the question of how to make it all work while still being competitive within the Ohio Valley Conference.
“I think we determined that in order to compete at the highest level, we had to be in a position where we opted in,” Cuervo said.
Like Pezman, Cuervo said revenue sharing is a new piece of the puzzle for how his department spends money. Unlike the other schools, Little Rock does not offer football, making the mandated roster sizes easier to achieve, but the university still must scare up enough dollars to operate athletics on a base
level while simultaneously cutting its athletes in on the revenue.
It is there that Cuervo runs into the same problem as his peers: Since revenue sharing has never been done before, nobody knows the exact “right” way to do it.
“It’s like if you’ve got this new golf club,” Pezman said. “You have to figure out how to hit the club, and that’s what we’ve been figuring out.”
Not figuring it out could be dire. Under the new rules, there is nothing keeping an athlete bound to his or her university. There is also no way to govern an athlete’s contact with those representing other universities.
In short, a standout player can get a cut of the revenue, yet leave for any school offering a bigger cut. That is already changing the fundamental way athletes are recruited and coached.
“There’s no time to create and develop players like we used to,” Pezman said. “How many kids are happy sitting? Sometimes you have to develop, so it puts pressure on the coaches to give instant support and success in the transfer portal. You have to retain them, develop them and not lose them when they’re ready to start playing.”
UAPB Athletic Director Chris Robinson has given that scenario plenty of thought. Robinson said the decision to opt in to revenue sharing was made collectively by the university presidents of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, and while he supports the move, he also knows he is handcuffed if the bidding for one of his athletes gets too high.
Centennial Bank Stadium, Jonesboro (Photo provided by ASU)
“We need that support for our infrastructure,” Robinson said. “Now, if we deflect that money and go toward paying the students, it throws that balance off a gear in that regard. We had one young man leave, and he’s at a school now getting $30,000 a month.”
Robinson said sharing revenue is important, but not at the expense of an entire athletic department. Rather, he is working to spruce up what he is selling, seeking donations for better facilities and larger scholarship allotments for his teams.
That is not to say Robinson is not also trying to prime the pump for athletes being compensated, but where UAPB falls short, he hopes to make up for that with attractive facilities, competitive programs and the experience of competing for a historically Black college.
“We just completed a softball complex for $1.2 million,” Robinson said. “We just did a soccer locker room. That’s $400,000. We keep education at the forefront. You can come here and get the opportunity to shine. Then maybe you get the opportunity to go some other places, too, or you stay here, graduate and create a legacy here at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.”
In this new world of revenue sharing and freedom to transfer, does the notion of graduating with a positive college experience still mean something?
“I believe it does,” Whiting said. “I really, really do. We want to have real conversations with our student athletes, and we want them
to know that we care for them. Even in this era, we want to give them sound guidance. We want it to be beneficial for that young man or young woman competing for us. I do think that matters. I do.”
Yet there appears to be no endgame for the current state of college athletics. Cutting players in on the profits they generate may be the right thing to do, but in the exchange, university administrators and coaches could be facing a bottom-line culture where loyalty has its limits and the relationships are purely transactional.
For them, the past is merely a prologue, and the future is unwritten.
“This is not a full fix,” Pezman said. “It’s a short-term fix, and that’s probably my singular frustration. If we’re going to fix it, let’s fix it. Let’s stop doing half measures and figure out what this thing needs to look like in the long term instead of limping along to it.”
“We need that support for our infrastructure. Now, if we deflect that money and go toward paying the students, it throws that balance off a gear in that regard. We had one young man leave, and he’s at a school now getting $30,000 a month.”
—
Frank Cuervo
Jack Stephens Center, Little Rock
(Photo by Doug Crise)
Chris Robinson
Simmons Bank Field, Pine Bluff (Photo provided by UAPB)
Running It Back?
Hogs return to hardwood
to build
on Cal momentum, Sweet 16 run
By Mark Carter
Arkansas basketball is back on the national stage, and it looks like the Hogs may be ready to stay for a while.
If the program’s recent run of Sweet 16s and Elite Eights is not enough evidence to suggest that Razorback roundball is back among the higher echelon of college basketball, then look no further than the return of Primetime at the Palace. The event officially kicked off the 2025-2026 season and introduced the new team to fans on Oct. 3 inside Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, much like the much-ballyhooed Midnight Madness practices of old.
Arkansas may ultimately be a football state in terms of what matters the most to fans, but basketball is a very close second, and second-year coach John Calipari is continuing the resurgence begun under Eric Musselman.
Coach Cal’s first year on the Hill may have started slow, something Hog fans had grown accustomed to under Musselman, but the Hogs finished strong and in the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in the past five years. Several key players return from that 22-14 squad that won four of its
last five regular season games in what many consider to be the toughest conference slate in college hoops history to secure a spot in the Dance.
Arkansas earned a 10 seed and proceeded to bounce Kansas and 2-seed St. John’s before dropping a one-possession overtime thriller to Texas Tech in the round of 16.
The Hogs lost a couple of go-to scorers in Johnell Davis and Adou Thiero to the draft, but back for Cal are 6-4 junior guard D.J. Wagner, who followed his coach to Fayetteville from Kentucky; 6-6 sophomore swingman Karter Knox; 6-6 sophomore wing Billy Richmond III; 6-10 senior forward Trevon Brazile; and reserve guards Ayden Kelley, a 5-10 redshirt freshman, and Jaden Karuletwa, a 6-4 sophomore.
D.J. Wagner
Calipari needed some time to get to know his team last season. Although a couple of his UK players ended up following him to Fayetteville through the portal, when the hall-of-fame coach arrived on the Hill, he had but one player on the roster. That was Fayetteville walk-on Lawson Blake, who then abruptly ruptured his Achilles tendon in practice. Other players
from Muss’ final Arkansas team had either exhausted their eligibility or entered the portal.
This time around, the head Hog is not starting from scratch.
“We kind of know each other a little bit,” Calipari told reporters Oct. 1 about his squad, “at least the five guys that came back, and then you add the guys to them, less anxiety. We’re like, ‘OK, we have an idea of what we want to do,’ and I’m talking staff, players, everybody.
“Walked in [last year], and when I said, ‘Let me see my team,’ there was no team. We had [Blake], who blew out his Achilles two days later. We had nobody, and we had to start all over. This year, we had a great summer, great fall conditioning. The guys have really competed at a high level. I feel really good about the team.”
Wagner’s return was a big get for Cal. Wagner was the floor general for most of the year after the injury to freshman phenom Boogie Fland. He averaged 11 points and 4 assists a year ago — but is capable of big scoring bursts — and will be expected to handle the point once again.
Fan-favorite Knox contributed 8 points and 3 boards a game
and was a major factor throughout the Hogs’ late run. Richmond, another fan favorite for his dive-on-the-floor, gritty play reminiscent of the Nolan Richardson era, averaged 6 points and 3 rebounds and was a spark off the bench. Brazile, meanwhile, spent most of last season finding his footing after multiple injuries over the course of his Arkansas career but has always been a SportsCenter Top 10 highlight ready to explode.
Late last season, something seemed to click for the up-anddown, would-be breakout star. Brazile averaged 7 points and 5 boards for the year, but his game was elevated in March, especially, when he started every game in the SEC and NCAA tournaments and was a major factor in the Hogs’ postseason run.
Cal’s reputation as an elite recruiter remains intact after his move from Lexington. He and his staff signed Darius Acuff, a top 5 recruit out of Detroit and IMG Academy. Considered perhaps the most dynamic freshman guard in the country, he can man either backcourt spot.
The 6-3 playmaker averaged 24 points and 4 assists in the 2024 Nike Elite Youth Basketball League spring circuit and was named the 2025 Allen Iverson National Player of the Year and a
Coach John Calipari is set up to build on the success of his first season on the Hill. (Photos provided by UA)
“Razorback nation proved last year that they will show up for games like this that are played in elite facilities at destination cities.”
— Coach John Calipari
2025 McDonald’s All-American while earning a host of other national awards and accolades.
Joining Acuff in the prep recruiting class is another 5-star, 6-5 shooting guard Meleek Thomas out of Pittsburgh and Overtime Elite. Also a McDonald’s All-American, he averaged 20 points in the 2024 Nike EYBL.
Other incoming freshmen are 7-1 Angola native Paulo Semedo, 6-7 wing Karim Rtail from Lebanon, 6-7 wing Isaiah Sealy out of Springdale and 5-9 guard Amere Brown from Pittsburgh. Each is expected to be role or depth pieces.
Cal’s portal class includes a big get in 6-10, 230-pound senior Nick Pringle from South Carolina, who spent two seasons at Alabama (where he was part of the Crimson Tide’s first Final 4 team in 2024) before transferring to the Gamecocks. He has played in 117 D-1 games, averaging 6 points and 4 rebounds with 53 blocked shots while shooting 63 percent from the field.
He will be expected to anchor the Hogs’ admittedly thin frontcourt alongside Florida State senior transfer Malique Ewin, 6-10 and 240. He averaged 14 points and 8 rebounds last year for the Seminoles while shooting 60 percent from the field, the latter of which led the ACC.
To help bolster the frontcourt, Cal brought in 7-0, 285-pound freshman Elmir Džafić from Bosnia.
As is his custom — and as if the SEC slate is not hard enough — Calipari has not shied away from competition in the nonconference schedule. The Hogs 2025-2026 schedule is a beast.
Arkansas will face 18 teams that earned 2025 NCAA bids, nine conference champions from last year and a total of 22 opponents that won 20 games last year. As if that is not enough, the Hogs will suit up against all eight teams that advanced to last year’s Elite Eight.
Most notably, Arkansas will face all four teams that advanced to the 2025 Final Four and 11 of the 2025 sweet 16 teams.
The Hogs will open with two high-profile exhibition games, the first in Fayetteville Oct. 24 against Cincinnati and the second on Oct. 27 against Memphis at the FedExForum in Memphis. The St. Jude Tip-Off Classic presented by Bad Boy Mowers will not count in the win-loss ledger, but it will renew a heated basketball rivalry. Plus, Cal coached the Tigers from 2000 to 2009 before landing at Kentucky. He led Memphis to a 252-69 record, including a national runner-up finish.
The season opens in Fayetteville Nov. 3 against Southern, which won the SWAC last year, then the Hogs travel to East Lansing to take on Tom Izzo and Michigan State on Nov. 8. Next up are four straight games in BWA against UCA, Samford, Winthrop and Jackson State before the much-anticipated game with Duke on Thanksgiving Day in Chicago’s United Center.
Karter Knox
Nick Pringle
Trevon Brazile
Arkansas hosts Louisville in the SEC-ACC Challenge Dec. 3, plays Fresno State in Little Rock Dec. 6 and, in a Sweet 16 rematch, takes on Texas Tech in Dallas Dec. 13.
“We are excited to return to Dallas. Our experience
last year in the American Airlines Center was first class, and our fans and alums in the Metroplex helped make it great too,” Cal said. “Dallas has traditionally been good to the Razorbacks, and we expect nothing different this year. The Arkansas-Texas Tech rivalry means a lot to both fan bases and, if recent history holds true, this game should be a great matchup. We like our team and have great respect for Coach [Grant] McCasland. This game will help prepare both teams for another NCAA Tournament run.”
Queens University of Charlotte comes to BWA on Dec. 16; another neutral site matchup is set with Houston in the Never Forget Tribute Classic on Dec. 20 at the Prudential Center in Newark; and James Madison rolls into Fayetteville Dec. 29 to close the noncon slate.
Calipari said the team is excited for the chance to play Houston, one of the sport’s most dominant teams over the past five years under coach Kelvin Sampson.
“Razorback nation proved last year that they will show up for games like this that are played in elite facilities at destination cities,” Calipari said. “We look forward to facing a top-level program led by one of the best coaches in the country. Kelvin and I have been friends a long time. He has built an incredible program with a great culture at Houston. This game will be a
Mar. 11-15 SEC Tournament Nashville, Tenn. (Bridgestone Arena) SEC/ESPN
Mar. 19 & 21 NCAA 1st/2nd Rounds Buffalo, N.Y. • Greenville, S.C. • Oklahoma City, Okla. • Portland, Ore.
Mar. 20 & 22 Tampa, Fla. • Philadelphia, Pa. • San Diego, Calif. • St. Louis, Mo.
Mar. 26 & 28
NCAA Regionals SOUTH: Houston, Texas • WEST: San Jose, Calif.
Mar. 27 & 29 EAST: Washington, D.C. • MIDWEST: Chicago, Ill.
April 4 & 6 NCAA Final Four Indianapolis, Ind. (Lucas Oil Stadium) * -
great measuring stick for us as we wind down the nonconference part of the schedule and start to turn our attention to the SEC schedule.”
Cal and his Hogs do not ease into what promises to be another grueling SEC slate. Arkansas hosts Tennessee to open league play Jan. 3. Other conference home opponents are South Carolina, Vanderbilt, LSU, Kentucky (on Jan. 31), Auburn, Missouri, Texas A&M and Texas. SEC road games will take Arkansas to Ole Miss, Auburn, Georgia, Oklahoma, Mississippi State, LSU, Alabama, defending national champ Florida and Missouri.
Before the season started, the Hogs returned to Hot
Springs for the Razorback Tip-Off Scrimmage at Bank OZK Arena Oct. 12.
“Last year was a tremendous success for all involved,” Cal said. “We are excited to return and grateful to those in Hot Springs for making this possible. This is a great chance for people in that region to interact with this year’s team. The returning players had a great experience last year, and we have a lot of new players on this team who will do the same this time. The trip will also be important to those new guys so they, too, get to know a different part of Arkansas and to know the passion for the Razorbacks throughout the state, not just northwest Arkansas.”
A LOOK AT THE STATE’S OTHER D-1 PROGRAMS
LITTLE ROCK TROJANS
Coach: Darrell Walker (8th season at UALR)
Last season’s record: 19-14, 12-8 Ohio Valley Conference
Players to watch: Johnathan Lawson, G; Tuongthach Gatkek, F
Outlook: The Trojans were dealt a blow in the preseason, losing graduate student guard KK Robinson (Bryant) to a seasonending injury. That will put more pressure on Lawson, who was first-team all OVC a season ago, scoring 15.4 ppg. If Lawson can approach last season’s numbers while getting help from a fresh batch of transfers, Little Rock can still challenge for the upper half of the conference.
ARKANSAS STATE RED WOLVES
Coach: Ryan Pannone (first season)
Last season’s record: 25-11, 13-5 Sun Belt Conference
Players to watch: TJ Caldwell, G; Chandler Jackson, G
Outlook: Everything is new at Arkansas State from the top down. Ryan Pannone, whose coaching stops have included high schools, the NBA and everything in between, takes over after serving as the top assistant at Alabama. Pannone revamped the roster in the off-season, bringing in an entirely different group of players. Pannone earned the reputation as a strong recruiter at Alabama, now it’s time to see if he can make all the newcomers mesh.
By Doug Crise
UCA BEARS
Coach: John Shulman (2nd season)
Last season’s record: 9-24, 4-14 Atlantic Sun Conference
Players to watch: Camren Hunter, G; Ty Robinson, G
Outlook: The Bears suffered a blow when leading scorer Layne Taylor (17 ppg) transferred to Murray State in the off-season. Expect some of the scoring slack to be made up by senior guard Camren Hunter (Bryant), who returns for his senior season after spending a year at Wisconsin. Regardless of who does the scoring, the Bears as a whole have to get better on the road, having gone 1-17 in away games last season.
UAPB GOLDEN LIONS
Coach: Solomon Bozeman (4th season)
Last season’s record: 6-25, 3-15 Southwestern Athletic Conference
Players to watch: Kyle Brown, F; Dennis Asoro, F
Outlook: Once again, the Golden Lions will open with a punishing schedule, playing 11 straight road games until their December 15 home opener. Coach Solomon Bozeman will need every one of those games to see what he has, as only three players return from last season. Those players will need to replace the nearly 20 ppg from All-SWAC forward Doctor Bradley, who transferred to conference rival Bethune-Cookman in the offseason.
SPIRIT, SPECTACLE, Sanctuary Local champion looks to revive Pine Bluff’s Saenger Theatre
By Mark Carter / Photos by DeWaine Duncan
During the early 1920s, the Saenger Amusement Co. built a chain of theaters across the southeastern United States. Its flagship venue, the 4,000-seat Saenger Theatre in New Orleans, still in operation, set the bar for opulence.
Its sister theater in Pine Bluff, featuring an ancient Egyptian temple motif inspired by the 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, was an architectural marvel in its own right.
It still is a marvel, though the Pine Bluff theater has sat empty and unused on a downtown corner for 50 years. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Saenger is but a shell of its former self. The “bones” are still good though, and one local champion — who performed on the Saenger stage as a child before it was converted to a movie house in the 1950s — intends to see it revived.
Through her nonprofit, Old Town Theatres Centre, Kathy Majewska is leading efforts to have the 1,700-seat venue restored to its past glory.
“The Saenger was conceived as a palace of dreams, echoing the grandeur of old European theaters,” she said. “Yet its purpose was more than spectacle — it was sanctuary.”
The theater was designed by renowned architect Emile Weil, whose charge was to echo the grandeur of the old European theaters. In its heyday, the Saenger hosted Broadway shows and some of the biggest acts and stars of the day, including the Ziegfeld Follies, Will Rogers, John Philip Sousa, Van Johnson and Fay Wray. It even hosted the incomparable Harry Houdini, who made a horse “disappear” on the Saenger stage.
For Majewska and many others, the Saenger was much more than a venue. The theater represented the soul of the community it served, a community that stretched across southeast Arkansas and beyond. Makewska said the theater enabled patrons to leave their troubles behind and escape into new worlds inside its walls. Unfortunately, the Saenger’s heyday was short lived.
The Saenger Theatre in Pine Bluff still evokes a sense of splendor after sitting empty for 50 years.
“For decades, it was considered the third greatest theater in the South, but by the mid-20th century, the golden age of live performance gave way to the silver screen,” she said. “Hollywood bought up the old palaces, transforming them into movie houses. The Robert Morton theater pipe organ fell silent. Chandeliers dimmed. Ornate mirrors disappeared, and in the name of darkness, the Saenger’s radiant Egyptian Revival interior — once ablaze with crimson reds, emerald greens, golden yellows and Egyptian blues — was painted over.”
Majewska said the Saenger is filled with many mysterious motifs and symbols woven “into the very fabric of the theater design.”
“Each tells a story far older than the theater itself yet perfectly at home in a house dedicated to art, performance and human imagination,” she said. “The ceiling, once painted an Egyptian blue, holds two magnificent, winged seraphines that are messengers of intense love and divine fire, transmitters of sacred life and knowledge.
Beneath layers of paint applied to darken the auditorium for movies, Majewska said she still sees ancient Egyptian symbols whispering to her.
“Green tana leaves, red garlands, war chariots — they cry out for recognition,”
she said. “Winged seraphim on the ceiling shower love upon the audience. Open-mouthed faces echo the ancient ‘opening of the mouth’ ritual, a ceremony meant to breathe life into the soul. Swords with fire motifs speak of sacred fire, where human effort meets divine inspiration.”
Since the Saenger closed in 1975, it has stood in “quiet ruin,” Majewska said, vandalized, neglected and nearly forgotten. Majewska has worked for decades to revive interest in restoring the theater, and she and her late husband even acquired ownership during the 1990s. In 2012, they transferred ownership to the city, which has been able to apply enough BandAids to keep the structure standing.
Majewska now hopes to spark a Saenger restoration revival. She is confident in her ultimate success but acknowledges it will not be an easy road.
For Majewska, the restoration of the Saenger Theatre is about so much more than architecture.
“It is cultural, economic and spiritual. It is a chance to reclaim a space that once united generations and can again,” she said. “The architecture speaks, and I listen.”
She cited a quote attributed to famed architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable, who wrote about the destruction of the original Penn Station in New York in a 1963 newspaper editorial: “We will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed.”
“It is cultural, economic and spiritual. It is a chance to reclaim a space that once united generations and can again.”
— Kathy Majewska Old Town Theatres Centre
Majewska said she likes to relive her childhood performances on the grand Saenger stage.
“These ornaments are echoes of a civilization that used art to teach, to connect, to inspire,” she said. “Ancient Egypt spoke of gods, heroes and eternal truths, and now, here in Pine Bluff,
The Saenger was built to accommodate 1,700 patrons, with not a bad seat in the house.
they speak again — not of pharaohs or empires, but of us. Of community. Of transformation.”
This is the first of a two-part series on the Saenger Theatre and efforts to restore it. Next month, Digs of the Deal will look at the role of a restored Saenger in the revitalization of downtown Pine Bluff. For more information about the Saenger and its restoration, contact Majewska at kathymajewska@gmail.com. Donations can be sent to Simmons Bank in Pine Bluff, earmarked “Saenger restoration.”
Congratulations to Beau Odom for being one of AMP ’s ‘Top 100 Professionals’ of 2025
Beau Odom discovered an interest in information technology during high school and worked his way up at a tech company before teaming up with his older brother to establish Professional Computer Services Inc. in Conway in 2006. His wife, Hollie, joined him in running the business after Odom became the sole owner in 2021.
With more than 20 years of experience in IT and 15 years of experience in dental office management, the husband-and-wife team understand what matters most in the small business IT world: simple networks that work, family-centered business practices and user-friendly solutions that give employees the tools they need to care for clients.
Professional Computer Services, Inc.
707 Parkway St., Suite 105, Conway pcsi.info 501-358-4899
Professional Computer Services, Inc.
Achieving success, expanding my business, and ensuring support not just for my family, but for the families of my staff members — these motivations not only inspire me to strive harder every day but also give me purpose.
The PCSI team is adept across a wide range of industries, providing managed IT services to businesses from medical and dental offices to trucking companies and restaurants. Though he holds the CEO title, Odom is still very much a technician, as well. He frequently jumps in to handle the more complex issues clients encounter and spends much of his time providing solutions to improve clients’ technology.
Odom’s drive and dedication to the company, its people and the community has also been recognized by the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce, which named him business executive of the year for 2025.
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