Scott Teague
Regional Commercial Banking Manager, U.S. Bank, Chair
Scott Teague is head of the Commercial Banking Group for Arkansas which includes Middle Market, Private Banking and Business Banking. He began his career in 1988 in Little Rock with Union National Bank and spent 14 years there through acquisitions to what is now Bank of America. His previous responsibilities ranged from branch manager, indirect lending, consumer loan manager, business banking market manager, to senior client manager. He joined U.S. Bank in July, 2002. He is a member of the North Little Rock School District Board of Education and the United Way of Arkansas Board.
Peter Banko
President & CEO, St. Vincent Health System
Peter Banko is the President and Chief Executive Officer at St. Vincent Health System in Little Rock, Arkansas. St. Vincent is part of a Catholic Health Initiatives, based in Denver and the second largest Catholic health system in the United States. St. Vincent currently has three campuses and is currently developing an ambulatory/outpatient campus in West Little Rock. The system also is comprised of a joint venture rehabilitation hospital with HealthSouth, joint venture surgical centers with physicians, and an employed medical group with both primary care & specialty physicians.
James Barnes
President, BBA Solutions
In 1996, James and Terry Barnes established a college textbook company. James, a graduate of Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas believed that he could provide better value to students by offering more used textbooks as an option.
In 1997, Textbook Brokers was established as the alternative for textbook sales at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. The company now services over 100 colleges and universities in 20 states and are growing each year. From those humble beginnings, Textbook Brokers have grown into the fourth largest college textbook company in the United States with revenues exceeding $100 million in 2011.
In the early 2000’s, Textbook Brokers was one of the first college textbooks companies to create an online market for students.
In 2011, the company was rebranded. James and Terry formed BBA Corp. in 1996 when they opened their first college textbook store at Henderson State University. Now, they have chosen the name of BBA Solutions to represent all the services and products that their company provides to our customers.
Susan Blair
Executive Vice President, Bank of the Ozarks, Inc.
Ms. Blair has over thirty years experience in financial services with special expertise in marketing, public relations, strategic planning, sales and financial management.
Blair joined Bank of the Ozarks, Inc. in 2004. She directs product management and development for the bank’s 95 branch offices in Arkansas, Texas, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina in addition to managing the Investor Relations program of the publicly traded company. She is also responsible for corporate communications and public relations.
Nick Brown
President & CEO, Southwest Power Pool
Nick was elected President and Chief Executive Officer of Southwest Power Pool, Inc. in November, 2003 after serving in numerous engineering roles since joining the company in 1985.
In his current position he is responsible for ensuring that SPP achieves its mission and goals of reliably operating the bulk electric network across 9 states and managing the wholesale power market.
Jay Chesshir
President & CEO, Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce
On May 19, 2006, Jay Chesshir became the 15th President and CEO of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce in its 143-year history.He began his career at the Little Rock Regional Chamber in February 2005, serving as Economic Development Vice President, Senior Staff Executive for Fifty for the Future, and Executive Director of the Metro Little Rock Alliance, an eleven county marketing coalition dedicated to central Arkansas’s becoming recognized as the premier location for new and expanding business within the mid-south.
Ed Drilling
President, Arkansas AT&T
Ed Drilling joined Southwestern Bell Telephone Company in 1979. During his career, he has served in various operations positions including customer service, sales and marketing, and the external affairs organization. He was named President of the Arkansas Division in 2002.
John Fowler
President, Summit Bank
Barry Goldberg
Entelechy Partners
Barry Goldberg has over 25 years of experience developing leaders in a wide range of organizations. Barry has held sales and marketing leadership positions and top line revenue accountability with The Naisbitt Group, Krames Communications (a division of Hachette International) and P/L accountability for a global CRM solutions organization at Alltel Information Services.
Barry speaks and writes globally on leadership and executive development. He is a guest lecturer at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock Graduate School of Business EMBA program and writes a monthly column, On Leadership for Arkansas Business.
Barry holds a BA from the University of Texas at Austin in World History and a Graduate Certificate in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Barry holds a Professional Certified Coach credential from the International Coach Federation.
Jeff K. Hankins
Jack Harvey, CLP
President and CEO, Enterprise Financial Solutions, Inc
Jack grew up in Mississippi and graduated from the University of Mississippi with a degree in Electrical Engineering. After spending seven years in computer sales with IBM in Memphis, TN, he joined ITEL in 1977, a tax leveraged leasing company out of San Francisco, to manage the Memphis, TN office. He then joined Econocom, a computer leasing company based in Memphis and after seven years became President. After Econocom was sold, he was recruited to Minneapolis, MN to run Bell Atlantic Computer Products, a telecom and computer engineering and leasing company owned by Bell Atlantic. After he sold this company for Bell Atlantic, Jack was recruited to Skytel to run the national sales organization, its operations group, and customer service. Jack returned to the leasing business in 1999 and opened his own leasing company, Enterprise Financial Solutions, Inc. located in Little Rock, AR. Enterprise Financial focuses on vendor and customer direct programs in the Southeast and Southwest regions of the US.
Jay Heflin
CEO, Bird & Bear Medical, Inc.
Jay founded Bird and Bear Medical, Inc. in 2001. The company began as a mobility provider but quickly realized that they wanted to offer a wider array of services to the patients in the community. In January of 2002, the company merged with a local respiratory provider, Blanks Home Oxygen, to form the new and improved Bird and Bear Medical. Since early 2002, the company has expanded the service area and offerings to provide the most comprehensive services possible to patients, their caregivers, and referrals.
Jay has served on the board of directors for the Arkansas Tennis Patrons Association, the CareLink Board, The Oauchita Board of Trustees, the Metropolitan Board of YMCA, and the National Association of Independent Medical Equipment Suppliers.
James Hendren
President, Hendren Consulting
French Hill
Chairman & CEO, Delta Trust & Banking Corp.
J. French Hill, 54, is an investor and venture capitalist living in his hometown of Little Rock. He is founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Delta Trust & Banking Corp., a private banking and wealth management company headquartered in Little Rock.
Mr. Hill founded Delta Trust after a six-year career with Arkansas’ largest bank holding company, First Commercial Corp. First Commercial is now part of Regions Financial Corp. (RF). He was responsible for First Commercial’s $13 billion trust company and the company’s investment broker-dealer operations. As an executive officer of First Commercial, he also oversaw human resources, compliance, asset quality and strategic planning.
Brian Itzkowitz
President & CEO, Goodwill Industries of Arkansas
Brian Itzkowitz, President and CEO, Goodwill Industries of Arkansas Brian Itzkowitz began his career with the Goodwill Industries enterprise in 1998 at Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake in Baltimore, MD. He later served as Vice President of Retail Operations at Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida and currently serves as president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Arkansas. Since coming to Goodwill Industries of Arkansas in August 2008, the agency has achieved significant operational and mission services growth throughout the state, including the addition of eight locations, the creation of over 200 jobs, and seen an increase of over almost 400% in people served and over 600% in people placed in jobs.
Henry “Hank” Kelley, Jr.
President & CEO, Flake & Kelley Commercial Mgmt., Inc.
John Lawlor
John Lawlor joined Vestcom in December 2008 as Chief Commercial Officer. As Chairman and CEO, Mr. Lawlor is focused on driving the vision for the company’s future growth, building on its expertise of content integration and history of innovation in execution at the shelf edge. Additionally, Mr. Lawlor will continue to enrich Vestcom’s business processing outsource model for today’s customer-centric retailer with expanded solutions for effective in-store communications that reduce the cost of doing business and engage the shopper.
Aaron Lubin
President, Executive Recruiters
Aaron Lubin is in his 38th year as Owner and President of Executive Recruiters Agency. Lubin is a graduate of Long Beach State University with a BA in Sociology as well as Webster College with an MBA—Human Resources. He is currently a member of the National Association of Personnel Consultants, the Little Rock Rotary Club, 5:00 AM Workout Club at the Little Rock Athletic Club, the Coast Guard Reserves, and various other professional civic and non-profit boards.
Jason Mann
President & CEO, USAble Life
Jason Mann is a high energy and success driven senior executive who serves as President & CEO of Life and Specialty Ventures (LSV), a holding company formed in 2005 as a joint venture between Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida and Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Mann has extensive experience in Insurance and Healthcare financing with a unique blend of business strategy and operational execution, best exemplified by his success at LSV.
LSV partners with Blue Cross plans across the country, and offers groups and individuals ancillary insurance products (dental, life, disability, and worksite) through its subsidiary USAble Life and affiliate Florida Combined Life. LSV insures more than 2.5 million members, generates in excess of $450M in annual premium, has approximately 600 employees and is licensed to sell its products in 48 states and the District of Columbia.
Lester Matlock
President, Matlock and Associates
Lester, a CFP financial advisor, formed Matlock and Associates in 1995 and is associated with Ameriprise Financial. He holds licenses in California and Arkansas and also conducts business in Kansas, Arizona, Nebraska, Alabama, and Illinois. He has been a district manager, member of the Advanced Advisor Group, Circle of Success, Senior Financial and Platinum Financial Advisor, as Chairman of the Arkansas National Financial Planning Association. Lester has a BS in finance and economics from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
Lester is active in the community, serving on CASA and board member of the Quapaw Quarter Association whose mission is to preserve historic neighborhoods and landmarks in Central Arkansas.
Hugh McDonald
President and CEO, Entergy Arkansas
Hugh T. McDonald was named president and chief executive officer of Entergy Arkansas, Inc. on June 1, 2000.
Hugh joined Entergy in 1982 as an engineer at Waterford 3 nuclear generating plant in Louisiana. Since then he has held various management positions in the distribution, transmission, customer service, retail marketing and regulatory business functions in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Arkansas.
Hugh holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Construction Management from North Dakota State University, 1980; and earned his MBA degree from the University of New Orleans in 1987.
Steve Nelson
Vice President, Controller, Dillard’s, Inc.
Steve is a CPA with extensive experience in retail accounting, financial control and financial reporting for public companies. He has been the Vice-President and Controller for Dillard’s, Inc. since 1988. Prior to joining Dillard’s, Steve served in various accounting and controllership roles within the banking and thrift industry in central Arkansas. He is a former audit manager in the Little Rock office of Ernst and Young. Steve received his accounting degree from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He earned an MBA from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas where he received the Leadership and Service Award.
Jennifer Peper
Vice President-Aristotle
Marty Rhodes
President, Stephens Insurance Services
Marty Rhodes holds a B.A. degree from Hendrix College and is currently the President and CEO of Stephens Insurance, LLC, a position he has held for 6 years. Rhodes is a member of the Rotary Club of Little Rock, Fifty for the Future, and serves as the Chairman of the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce. He also serves on the Board of the Boys and Girls Club of Central Arkansas, the Board of Trustees at Hendrix College, and the Arvest Bank Board.
William ‘Bill’ G. Roehrenbeck
Master CMB President & CEO, Arvest Mortgage Company, Central Mortgage Company
Arvest mortgage subsidiaries finished 2005 with $1.1 Billion in retail originations and $22 Billion in Mortgage Servicing Rights. Bill has been in the mortgage banking industry for 35 years and holds the Master Certified Mortgage Banker designation. Bill has held several positions within the Arkansas Mortgage Bankers Association and has been state president twice. He currently serves on the FannieMae’s National Housing Advisory Council, Fifty for the Future of the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce and Director for Arvest Bank Little Rock.
Barry Simon
President, Datamax/Micro
Elizabeth Small
President, PDC Companies
Elizabeth S. Small is President and CEO of the PDC Companies and Chairman and CEO of PDC Construction, Inc. in Little Rock. Elizabeth began her career in 1984 with the PDC Companies, and she is responsible for the company’s core corporate operations including acquisitions, property management, finance, construction and realty.
Originally from Jackson, MS, Elizabeth received her BA from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas and her MBA from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Robert Smith
Vice President, Dassault Falcon Jet
Jeff Standridge
Vice President, Global Operations, Acxiom Corporation
Jeff D. Standridge currently holds the position of Vice President, Global Operations for Acxiom Corporation based in Little Rock. He is directly responsible for the development and management of Acxiom’s Global Service Centers in Poland and China. He is also responsible for Acxiom’s companies in global emerging markets, including Acxiom’s newest acquisitions in Brazil and the Middle East & North Africa (MENA).
During his tenure with this company, Dr. Standridge has provided leadership to specific units focused on Acquisition Integration, Organizational Effectiveness, Leadership Development, Risk Management, Training and Development, Web Services, and Business Information Systems. Before joining the company, he was a professor with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Sharon Vogelpohl
Principal/President, Mangan Holcomb Partners
Sound strategic thinking, flawless execution and measurable results are the hallmarks of the tightly integrated marketing programs Sharon delivers for agency clients. Launching her agency career as an intern at Mangan Holcomb in 1994, Sharon became a principal in the firm in 2005 and was named president in 2010. Along the way, she has nurtured many advertising and public relations campaigns from strategic development to award-winning recognition. A member of the Arkansas Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, Sharon was selected by Arkansas Business as a “40 Under 40” honoree in 2005 and was recently named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Club of Little Rock.
Steven Warren
Partner in Charge, BKD, LLP
Steven Warren is the Regional Managing Partner of BKD, LLP’s South Region and oversees BKD’s practices in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Mississippi. BKD is Arkansas’s largest public accounting firm with offices in Little Rock, Pine Bluff, Fort Smith, and Rogers. Outside of Arkansas, BKD is a highly regarded firm across the nation and is the 10th largest CPA firm in the United States. In addition to serving as Regional Managing Partner Steven is also a member of the firm’s governing board.
Steven joined BKD after graduating from Missouri Southern State University in 1984. Rising quickly through the ranks he became BKD’s firm-wide Associate Director of Accounting and Auditing in 1991 and was elected to the partnership in 1994. He practiced as a Missouri CPA specializing in serving financial institutions and SEC reporting entities and was a firm leader of BKD’s financial institutions practice. Arkansan by choice, Steven moved to Little Rock in 1998 to assume leadership of BKD’s Arkansas practice as the Partner in Charge. In 2008, Steven was selected as the Regional Managing Partner for BKD’s South Region.
Ty Warren
President, Arkansas Region, BancorpSouth
Ty Warren, a 23-year banking veteran, is the Little Rock President for BancorpSouth. He has served in this position since July of 2008.
Before his current position, Warren spent a year in the corporate office in Tupelo, Mississippi as the bank’s Senior Vice President of Retail Banking. In that role, he was responsible for Corporate Marketing, Product Management and Development, Retail Sales and Customer Experience for over 300 offices that BancorpSouth operates in eight states – Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Missouri and Florida. During this time BancorpSouth received the award from J.D. Power and Associates as the #1 bank in the Southeast in customer satisfaction.
Prior to starting that new position for the bank, he was the Community Bank President in Olive Branch, Mississippi for four years, preceded by a 15-year career with Trustmark National Bank in Jackson, Mississippi.
Warren is a native of Natchez, Mississippi. He is a graduate of the University of Mississippi with a BA degree in Banking and Finance and Managerial Finance and also a 1997 graduate of the LSU Graduate School of Banking.
Brent Whittington
Chief Operating Officer, Windstream Corporation
Mr. Brent Whittington is the chief operating officer of Windstream Corporation here in Little Rock, Arkansas. Mr. Whittington, who graduated from UALR with a B.S. in accounting in 1994, is responsible for Windstream’s operations, customer service, information technology, marketing and sales. served as executive vice president and chief financial officer for Windstream Corporation. Windstream Corporation is headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas and is an S&P 500 company with communication operations in 23 states and about $4 billion in annual revenues. Mr. Whittington previously served as senior vice president of operations for Alltel prior to joining Windstream in December 2005. He joined Alltel in 2002 as vice president of finance and accounting. Before joining Alltel, he worked for Arthur Andersen LLP for eight years. Mr. Whittington was the recipient of the 2010 UALR College of Business Distinguished Alumni of the Year Award.
John Womack
Chairman and CEO, Arvest Bank
John Womack is chairman and chief executive officer of Arvest Bank’s central Arkansas operations. He oversees all banking operations and strategic direction for the region, which has more than 430 associates and 28 banking locations in 12 communities.
Previously, John served as Fort Smith president and chief executive officer. He joined Arvest in 1999 as president, when the bank opened a loan production office in Fort Smith with the desire to grow operations in the River Valley region. During his tenure in Fort Smith, John led the bank to more than $730 million in assets and the third highest deposit market share in the region.
Peter Yuan
President, Arkansas Region, Iberia Bank
Pete Yuan is currently President, Arkansas Region for IBERIABANK. In this role, he is responsible for IBERIABANK’s banking operations and activities in Arkansas. Pete also has responsibility for the bank’s title business, operated under Lender’s Title, United Title, and American Abstract. He has twenty-three years of experience in the financial services industry.
Pete began his professional career in 1987 with NationsBank in Dallas, where he was responsible for the bank’s West Coast large corporate energy portfolio.
