Four Arkansans instrumental in real estate, publishing, construction and banking will be inducted into the 22nd class of the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame Feb. 7 in Little Rock.
Announced Thursday by the Hall of Fame's board and the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, the inductees are:
• Gerald Alley, president and chief executive officer of Con-Real LP, a real estate and construction firm based in Arlington, Texas.
• Olivia Farrell, retired chief executive officer of Arkansas Business Publishing Group in Little Rock.
• Charles Nabholz, chairman emeritus of Nabholz Corp.
• Reynie Rutledge, chairman and chief executive officer of First Security Bancorp in Searcy.
With the induction of those four, the hall will have 90 members since the first class was named in 1999. Two classes -- in 2001 and 2007 -- had husband-and-wife pairings.
Alley, 67, a native of Pine Bluff, founded Con-Real in 1979, which is the largest black-owned real estate and construction firm in Texas. He graduated from the University of Arkansas with a business degree in 1973.
Farrell is co-founder of the group that publishes Arkansas Business. Earlier this year, Farrell received the Little Rock Rotary Club's Business & Professional Leader of the Year award and was named to the Arkansas Women's Hall of Fame. She also is a former co-owner of the Arkansas Writers Project, publisher of the Arkansas Times.
Nabholz, 83, founded Nabholz Properties in 1983 as an extension of Nabholz Construction, founded by Nabholz and his three brothers in the 1950s.
Rutledge moved to Searcy after his family bought interest in First Security Bank and later established a holding company, First Security Bancorp. It has 77 banking locations across the state, $1.18 billion in capital and $5.4 billion in assets, according to its website.
"These distinguished leaders have done much to promote Arkansas through their business dealings and community support," Matt Waller, Walton College dean, said in a news release Thursday. "They serve as global ambassadors to our state through their industries."
Jason LaFrance, Walton College alumnus and principal of Dale Capital Partners, chaired the selection committee of nine business and community leaders who reviewed nominations from throughout the state and chose the inductees. Criteria for selection included the significance of the impact made as a business leader, the concern demonstrated for improving the community and the display of ethics in all business dealings. Living inductees must be older than 60.
The induction ceremony will be Feb. 7 at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock. The hall of fame is permanently housed in the atrium of the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville.
Tickets to the ceremony, which is black-tie optional, are $150.
Business on 10/11/2019