The Arkansas Economic Development Foundation paid a Tupelo, Miss.-based executive search firm about $59,000 for its work helping Gov. Asa Hutchinson hire a director for the state's economic development agency earlier this year, foundation Chairman Gus Vratsinas said Wednesday.
And the University of Arkansas System has paid a Florida-based executive search firm more than $108,000 for its work on the UA-Fayetteville chancellor search, a spokesman for the system said Wednesday.
The Pace Group of Tupelo aided Hutchinson in his search for the director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. Hutchinson interviewed two candidates for the job and hired Mike Preston from Florida's economic development agency, said Vratsinas of Little Rock.
"We just funded the deal for them," he said. "It worked out very well. They were timely."
The privately financed foundation, which supports the activities of the publicly funded commission, had a $50,000 contract with The Pace Group and also paid $9,025 in expenses to the executive search firm, Vratsinas said.
Hutchinson, a Republican, has cited the Pace firm's work regarding the economic development post in making the case for the Legislative Council to approve an $85,000 proposed contract with the firm to help find a replacement for Department of Human Services Director John Selig.
Selig announced Oct. 8 that he is departing at the end of this year. He has been the department's director since July 2005 and has been a key player in the development of the state's private-option program that uses federal Medicaid funds to purchase private health insurance for about 180,000 low-income Arkansans.
Hutchinson spokesman J.R. Davis said Wednesday that the company says it has worked in 42 states with 26 governors. A spokesman for the firm referred questions about the firm's experience to Hutchinson's office.
Davis said the company's health care clients have included the state of Mississippi to fill its health officer job; St. Bernards Health Care in Jonesboro; the Owensboro Medical Health System in Owensboro, Ky.; Memorial Hospital in Gulfport, Miss.; Shands Healthcare in Gainesville, Fla.; and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota in Fargo, N.D.
Rebecca Raspberry, a spokesman for St. Bernards Health Care, said St. Bernards used The Pace Group in its search for a foundation executive before it hired Marilyn Hummelstein.
"Our leadership and board were very pleased with the work provided by The Pace Group," she said.
Hummelstein is president of the St. Bernards Development Foundation.
The state Department of Human Services' proposed contract with The Pace Group is for $65,000 -- plus up to $20,000 in expenses -- according to the governor's office. The proposed contract would start Friday and end June 30 and would be paid for with state and federal funds, according to the Bureau of Legislative Research.
The Legislative Council will consider the proposed contract during its meeting Friday, after its Review Subcommittee recommended approval of the proposal Tuesday. Selig makes $161,647 a year as the director of a department with an $8.3 billion budget and about 7,400 employees.
The University of Arkansas System hired the Florida-based search firm Greenwood/Asher & Associates to assist in its recent search for a new UA-Fayetteville chancellor at a price of up to $155,000.
UA System spokesman Nate Hinkel said that the system contracted to pay $90,000 to the firm, plus budgeted $65,000 for the firm's expenses.
"The firm has been paid its $90k for work plus $18,542 for expenses," he said in an email. "The 60k for expenses is just estimated on the front end, but rarely do expenses wind up totaling the whole amount."
Hinkel said that the UA System is still receiving reimbursement requests from Greenwood/Asher for expenses, and "there are some we have received, but that have not been processed.
"So the total will keep changing until all of the transactions are tallied, which should be in a couple weeks," he said.
Metro on 11/19/2015