If the business of business is business, as the maxim goes, and if one should never mix business with pleasure, as the other one holds, then shame on the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame! Every year this august council more ably and reliably pools the state's most celebrated names in industry -- as well as industry analysts and reporters -- for a new induction and a heckuva party at the Statehouse Convention Center.
This year's class -- three of whom walked a red carpet down the center of the ballroom -- included the late drug store entrepreneur Stephen LaFrance, marketing materfamilias Millie Ward, Tyson Foods executive Donald "Buddy" Wray and record producer Al Bell. A common theme among inductees' acceptance speeches was faith in God and the blessings bestowed therein.
The 10-member selection committee was led by Tyson Foods executive Greg Lee and featured Judy McReynolds (ArcBest Corp.), Reynie Rutledge (First Security Bancorp) and Ann Bordelon (Wal-Mart).
The reception Friday, Feb. 13 -- triskaidekaphobia? Not here -- brought together several Hall members such as Thomas "Mack" McLarty, Joe Ford and Wayne Cranford, with sons of Hall members such as Charlie Coleman and Jim Walton, and perhaps future Hall members such as Steve Edwards of the grocery store chain. The reception outside the ballroom before dinner quickly became so dense that mingling became a kind of slow, full-contact choreography.
The contingent least culpable for this unruly mix of business and pleasure must be Dean Eli Jones of the University of Arkansas' Sam M. Walton College of Business and his people, who put the affair on. Jones even enlisted his wife, Fern, who first escorted the music impresario Bell down the red carpet, then put on a show of her own, singing "What a Difference a Day Makes," "At Last," and an original song, "Dare to Believe."
The event raised about $185,000 through 38 sponsorships and another $69,000 in "in-kind" services by four media partners, said college spokesman David Speer.
"This year's event was special because of the diverse group of inductees," he said. "We had honorees representing many different parts of Arkansas, a wide variety of businesses -- entertainment, advertising, retail and food production -- and many different institutions of higher education."
High Profile on 02/22/2015