Arkansas Business Hall of Fame Seeks Nominations for Class of 2025

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The 2023 Arkansas Business Hall of Fame inductees (l-r) Curt Bradbury, chief operating officer of Stephens Inc.; Judy R. McReynolds, chairman, president and CEO of ArcBest; Ross M. Whipple, president and CEO of Horizon Capital Partners LLLP; and E. Fletcher Lord Jr., chairman of the board of Bumper to Bumper/Crow-Burlingame Co. stand with Walton College Dean Matt Waller.

Give strong business leaders the recognition they deserve.

There’s still time to nominate accomplished Arkansans – by birth or by choice – who have made meaningful contributions to their industry, community and state for induction into the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame. Nominations for the 2025 class will be accepted until Thursday, Aug. 15.

Since its creation in 1999, the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame has become one of our state's most prestigious honors for business leaders. This past February, four business leaders were recognized in the class of 2024:

• John L. Conner Jr., president, Holden-Conner Company
• Gary C. George, chairman, George’s, Inc.
• Eric Jackson, senior vice president, Oaklawn
• Dhu C. Thompson, owner, US Irrigation; former owner/president, Delta Plastics and Revolution Bag

Listen to the inductees share their paths to becoming industry leaders here.

Selection criteria and nomination forms for the 2025 class are available at walton.uark.edu/abhf. For questions regarding the form or process, contact the Sam M. Walton College of Business Office of External Relations at (479) 575-6146 or e-mail abhf@walton.uark.edu.

The honorees, selected by an independent group of business leaders, will be inducted into the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame on Feb. 14, 2025, at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.

About the Sam M. Walton College of Business: Founded in 1926, the Sam M. Walton College of Business is AACSB-accredited and ranks among the top business schools in the nation. Walton College is the largest college at the University of Arkansas, serving nearly 9,000 undergraduate, master's and doctoral students. Walton College is recognized among U.S. News & World Report's 2023 "Best Business Schools," and its undergraduate supply chain management program was ranked No. 1 in North America by Gartner. The college's Master of Business Administration program was also ranked No. 11 for best return on investment by The Wall Street Journal. The Princeton Review ranked the college's graduate entrepreneurship program as one of the top in the country for the first time in the 2022-23 year. And in partnership with the Global Campus, the U of A's online business degree program ranked No. 12 nationally among 214 institutions by U.S. News in 2023.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas’ economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.