The Arkansas Business Power List debuted in 2006 (with 171 profiles) and was an annual feature until 2009. It is no longer an annual event, but the Power List continues to be a useful compendium of the people who are running the largest business, professional and nonprofit entities in our state.
This year’s installment includes 192 leaders in 20 different industry categories. Waiting more than two years between lists means a lot of new faces are on the list. Many of the state’s largest companies have installed new CEOs since the last Power List in January 2009, when the full force of the Great Recession was just beginning to be realized. (Trivia: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed just above 8,100 on the day our last Power List appeared and was headed straight down.) Leadership of educational institutions has also been in flux — with more changes, including the presidency of the University of Arkansas System, to come.
What hasn’t changed is this: Most of the largest companies in every industry are being run by white males in their 40s and 50s. No attempt was made to ensure women and minorities were well represented or that the breadth of the state’s geography was covered. The biggest companies in most industry are still likely to be in central or northwest Arkansas.
Although it will be awhile before we attempt this again, we solicit additional names that should be included on the Power List in the future.
www.arkansasbusiness.com to view Hank Kelley’s Power List profile.
www.arkansasbusiness.com to view John Flake’s Power List profile.
www.arkansasbusiness.com to view the full 2011 Power List.