Ed Fryar, an agricultural economist and founder of a poultry processing company, has been appointed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson to the 10-person University of Arkansas System board of trustees.
The board oversees six university campuses, in addition to an online-only university and seven two-year colleges. Responsibilities for the 10-member board include approving tuition rates.
Fryar, 65, will replace former U.S. Sen. David Pryor, 84. Fryar's 10-year term begins March 1.
"I appreciate the role of education both for personal development for an individual, but also for economic development for a given economy," said Fryar, a former agricultural economics professor at UA-Fayetteville from 1982 to 1994.
In 2000, he co-founded Ozark Mountain Poultry. He served as the company's board chairman at the time of its sale last year to George's Inc.
Ozark Mountain Poultry specializes in chickens raised without antibiotics. It began with 25 employees in Rogers and at the end of Fryar's leadership had about 1,850 employees in plants around the state, he said. The company topped $280 million in annual sales, according to its website.
"Ed has decades of experience in education, research, agriculture, economics, business management, and, as a resident of Northwest Arkansas for more than 40 years, he knows the heart of the region well," Hutchinson said in a statement Monday.
Fryar lives in Rogers with his wife, Michelle. The couple have two children and eight grandchildren.
He said he was born near London, England, where his father, Edward, was stationed in the U.S. Air Force at the time. The family moved to Fayetteville when he was about 2½ years old, he said. The family moved again when he was about 5½ years old, and he earned his high school diploma from Parkview High School in Little Rock, Fryar said.
Fryar earned a bachelor's degree in economics and a master's degree in agricultural economics from UA-Fayetteville. He went on to earn a doctorate in agricultural and applied economics from the University of Minnesota.
He was named to the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame this year. He has been a member of the Agribusiness Council for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
In serving on the UA System board, "my interest really revolves around the state of Arkansas and education," Fryar said. "I wouldn't be where I am without having a Ph.D. in agricultural economics."
In 2010, Fryar served as campaign treasurer for U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., in the former Rogers mayor's first successful bid for Congress.
Fryar spoke about the importance of education using economic terms, stating that an economy "in the long run" increases with the productivity of its workforce.
In economic terms, "increasing human capital gets back to education in various forms, whether it's a Ph.D. in nuclear physics or somebody going to trade school," Fryar said.
He said he sees the UA System "playing a tremendous role in human capital," and he described his interest in serving on the board.
"Arkansas is very important to me, and education is very important to me," Fryar said. "This ties in with both of those."
Metro on 02/05/2019