UA Walton College Announces 2005 Arkansas Business Hall of Fame Inductees

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Recognized for the lasting economic impact their businesses have made on the State of Arkansas, four distinguished Arkansans have been selected for the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame.

The Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas, and the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame board announced these outstanding business leaders for the 2005 induction ceremony:

• The late Dave Grundfest Sr., co-founder and president, Sterling Stores Company Inc., Little Rock, Ark.
• James T. "Red" Hudson, founder and chairman, Hudson Foods Inc., Rogers, Ark.
• Donald Munro, chairman and CEO, Munro and Company Inc., Hot Springs, Ark.
• Edward M. Penick, chairman and CEO, Worthen Banking Corporation, Little Rock, Ark.

Walton College Dean Doyle Z. Williams said: "This year's inductees built businesses that have made - and are continuing to make - a significant impact on the economy of Arkansas. We founded the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame in 1999 to showcase the Arkansas economy and to highlight the important and lasting contributions of its talented business leaders. We feel it is important to the state's future business leaders to honor and perpetuate these inductees' names and accomplishments."

The seventh-annual Arkansas Business Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held on Friday, February 4, 2005, 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 at the Walton College on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville.

The selection process was chaired by Walton College alumnus and Arkansas native Tommy Boyer, chief executive officer of Micro Images, Amarillo, Texas. A nominating committee of 20 business leaders encouraged people throughout the state and beyond to make nominations, and then a selection committee of 12 business and community leaders reviewed the nominations 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. In addition, the inductee must be over the age of 60.

Boyer said: "We are very excited about this year's inductees. They join 25 other Arkansas business leaders in a place of prominence. Each of these distinctive people has made a major contribution to the state of Arkansas in terms of employment and revenues and has reached out and touched the nation with their expertise and services."

Dave Grundfest apprenticed in a Mississippi country store, learning the retail business from the ground up. In 1922, with his brother Sam, he co-founded Sterling Stores Company Inc., an organization of retail variety stores, with the first store in El Dorado, Ark. Over the next 50 years, he built 100 stores, operating in six states. He founded Magic Mart Discount Department Stores in 1965, building it into a 50-store operation.

Known as "Mr. Dave" by his employees, Grundfest employed more than 6,000 people at the apex of operations. He retired in 1971. With revenue over $110 million in 1983, the company was sold with approximately 150 stores. Active in the Little Rock and state communities, he was president of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce, the Little Rock YMCA and the Rotary Club of Little Rock. He co-founded the Grundfest Foundation for the Education of Youth and the Arkansas chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. A native of Cary, Miss., Grundfest attended Mississipppi State College. He died in 1974.

A native of Pine Bluff, Ark., "Red" Hudson started his career as a feed-store clerk for Ralston Purina Company and worked his way up to vice president of the West Central division. When Ralston Purina offered to sell the division, Hudson pulled together the financing and founded Hudson Foods in 1972. Under his leadership, the poultry and meat processing company grew to a $2 billion publicly traded company with 10,000 employees and 19 processing plants in 11 states. His company has been a major influence in the growth of the Northwest Arkansas economy. In 1995, "Inc. Magazine," Ernst & Young, and Merrill Lynch named Hudson the Master Entrepreneur of the Year, southwest region. Hudson Foods was purchased by Tyson Foods Inc. in 1998. Hudson is a respected community leader and champion of a number of local causes, including the University of Arkansas, NorthWest Arkansas Community College and the Walton Arts Center.

For more than 50 years, Donald Munro has been in the shoe manufacturing business. He has maintained manufacturing facilities within the state when most of the manufacturing in his industry has been outsourced overseas. More than 40 years ago, he arrived in Hot Springs, laying the groundwork for Munro and Company. Today, Munro is an $80 million company, operating four Arkansas plants and a distribution center in Hot Springs, Mt. Ida, Clarksville and Wynne, employing 1,000 Arkansans. Less than two percent of all shoes worn in the United States are made domestically; Munro and Company is the largest domestic shoe manufacturer in the United States. Munro is past chairman of the Footwear Industry Association and immediate past chair of the American Apparel and Footwear Association - the first footwear executive ever to hold the position. He is also a committed philanthropist and active in the community and the state. A native of Boston, Mass., Munro received a degree from Yale University.

Edward M. Penick joined Worthen Banking Corporation in 1948 and by 1961 became president. He was appointed CEO in 1966 and chairman in 1974. Under his leadership, the bank became the largest financial institution in Arkansas, with 12 banks and nine financial services companies with assets of more than $2.2 billion. Penick's forward thinking helped to modify the state's restrictive branching laws and create the concept of customer-friendly service. He was also the driving force behind the First Arkansas Bankstock Corporation, a banking holding company. A native of Little Rock, Penick was a World War II pilot and hero. He graduated from the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas in 1947 and the UA School of Law in 1948. He later did post-graduate work at the Stonier Graduate School of Banking. He joined the Eichenbaum Liles and Heister law firm after retiring in 1986 and continued to serve Little Rock and the state through his many civic activities.

Previous inductees in the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame include:

• 1999 - the late William T. Dillard Sr., Dillard's Inc.; the late Charles R. Murphy Jr., Murphy Oil; Jackson T. Stephens, Stephens Inc.; the late Sam M. Walton, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
• 2000 - Joe T. Ford, ALLTEL Corporation; the late Harvey Jones, Jones Truck Lines; the late Donald W. Reynolds, Donrey Media (now Stephens Media Group); Don Tyson, Tyson Foods Inc.
• 2001 - the late Col. Thomas H. Barton, Lion Oil Company; the late William E. Darby, National Old Line Insurance Company; J.B. and Johnelle Hunt, J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc.; John H. Johnson, Johnson Publishing Company Inc.
• 2002 - Roland S. Boreham Jr., Baldor Electric Company; the late Sheridan Garrison, American Freightways Inc. (now FedEx Freight East); Gene George, George's Inc.; Walter V. Smiley, Smiley Investment Company
• 2003 - Richard E. Bell, Riceland Foods Inc.; David D. Glass, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.; the late Robert D. Nabholz Sr., Nabholz Construction Corporation; the late Louis L. Ramsay Jr., Simmons First National Corporation

• 2004 - the late John A. Cooper, Sr., Cooper Communities Inc.; the late Frank Lyon Sr., Frank Lyon Company; Charles D. Morgan, Acxiom^® Corporation; the late Robert A. Young, Jr., Arkansas Best Corporation.

Tickets to the black-tie event on Friday, February 4, 2005, are $125 per person. For more information about tickets and event sponsorships, please contact the Office of External Relations at the Sam M. Walton College of Business, Business Building 343, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701-1201, (479) 575-6146, by e-mail at abhf@walton.uark.edu, or on the Web at http://waltoncollege.uark.edu/externalrelations/halloffame.asp