He graduated from Bauxite High School and followed an older friend to north Louisiana where he entered an engineering program in Ruston.

Brent Whittington soon discovered engineering was not for him, but a girl he had met was. So he dropped out of Louisiana Tech and followed the girl with plans to go to Fayetteville.

Deadlines and financial realities intervened, and Whittington found himself commuting  back and forth from his parent’s home in Bauxite to UALR.

“In pursuing an education, sometimes you can’t control where you go, but you can sure control what you make of it,” he said.

Whittington focused on obtaining a degree that would provide a rewarding career and a satisfying life — a degree in accounting from UALR’s College of Business. He took advantage of UALR’s career counseling, engaged professors, small accounting classes, and real job experience through internships.

He got the degree in 1994 and landed a professional job, but the new graduate had nagging doubts — could the quality of the education he received at UALR allow him to compete nationally in the accounting world?

That question was answered after his new employer, Arthur Andersen Inc., sent him to Chicago for training for all the firm’s new accounting hires. It was  only the second time Whittington had been on an airplane, the first time he had been in a major city, and the first time he had been thrown with newly educated accountants from the top accounting schools in the country.

“After my training with Arthur Andersen in Chicago with these students from all across the country from prestigious schools doing the same job as me, it was a great confidence booster,” Whittington said. “I saw that I was just as well prepared — maybe better. I said, ‘Hey, I know what I’m doing. I am just as well-prepared to kick butt as any of these kids.’”

And, oh yes — he got the girl. He and Denise were newlyweds when one of his first assignments for Andersen took the couple to New Zealand for a year-long assignment. They now are the parents of a 9-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son.

Today, Whittington is the chief operating officer of Windstream Corp., responsible for the telecommunication company’s operations, customer service, information technology, marketing, and sales.

He previously served as executive vice president and chief financial officer for the Little Rock-based, S&P 500 company with communications operations in 23 states and about $4 billion in annual revenues. Windstream provides phone, high-speed Internet, and high-definition digital TV services. The company also offers a wide range of IP-based voice and data services and advanced phone systems and equipment to businesses and government agencies.

He was senior vice president of operations for Alltel prior to joining Windstream in 2005. He joined Alltel in 2002 as vice president of finance and accounting.

Not bad for a kid from Bauxite whose first shot at college didn’t work out as planned.

Whittington, a smiling, fit and trim young executive who loves to take advantage of Arkansas’ outdoor living with his family, said it was his education at UALR — a B.S. in accounting and master of business management — that gave him the keys to the good life he aspired to as a kid.

“I know the value of a quality education,” Whittington said. “And it is something that you always build on in life, in your job — every day is an educational opportunity. And at UALR, I know I got a great start.”