FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Business and community leaders throughout the state are invited to submit nominations for the 2010 Arkansas Business Hall of Fame by July 1, 2009.

The Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas established the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame in 1999 to recognize Arkansans – by birth or by choice – who have been successful business leaders. The Arkansas Business Hall of Fame honors, preserves and perpetuates the names and outstanding accomplishments of business leaders who have brought lasting fame to Arkansas.

A selection committee of business and civic leaders from around the state will review the nominations and select the honorees. The criteria for selection are:

• No more than four individuals will be inducted annually.

• Nominations will remain on file for five years.

• It is encouraged that the nomination application be submitted in its entirety. The Selection Committee is most concerned with “why this person should be honored as a member of the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame.”

• Nominees can be living or deceased.

• All living inductees shall be at least 60 years of age at time of selection.

• Nominees are to be Arkansans by birth or by choice.

Consideration will be given to nominees who may have been born in Arkansas but whose business achievements have been outside of Arkansas and to nominees whose accomplishments are primarily in Arkansas.

Nominations are not limited to University of Arkansas graduates.

The Selection Committee will consider the following when making their selection of honorees:

1. Business – the nominee has made a significant impact as a business leader.

• Nominees are expected to have made a significant impact as a business leader and be recognized primarily as a business leader and for their managerial success.

• The preponderance of weight will be given to such accomplishments as starting and building a business and leading an established business to significantly greater achievements.

• Among the factors to be considered are industry recognitions, being an industry pioneer and/or leader, and recognition by others for achievements.

2. Community – the nominee has had concern for improving his/her community as a business leader; and

3. Ethics – the nominee has displayed the highest level of ethics in their business dealings.

The 2010 Arkansas Business Hall of Fame Celebration will be held on Feb. 12, 2010, at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock. The Arkansas Business Hall of Fame is permanently housed in the atrium of the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development on the University of Arkansas campus.

For a nomination form and more information, please contact the Office of External Relations at the Sam M. Walton College of Business, Business Building 117, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Ark. 72701-1201, (479) 575-6146, by e-mail abhf@walton.uark.edu or on the Web at http://waltoncollege.uark.edu/abhf/.

The 2009 inductees were Chesley Pruet, founder, Pruet Drilling Co., El Dorado, Ark.; Raymond Rebsamen, founder, Rebsamen Insurance Co. Inc., Little Rock, Ark.; Willis Shaw, founder, Willis Shaw Express Inc., Elm Springs, Ark.; and Jim Earl Yates, founder, E-Z Mart Stores Inc., Texarkana, Texas. A listing by year of previous inductees is also available at the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame Web site.