Coaching Change

by Talk Business & Politics ([email protected]) 165 views 

A familiar face has returned to head the corporate finance department at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.

J. Dale Dawson, who oversaw the department in the early 1990s, is back in the saddle again following the exodus of Peter F. de Vos.

You might recall that Dawson teamed up with other Stephens execs to buy Haygood Truck & Trailer Parts in 1991, move the Memphis enterprise to Little Rock, rename it TruckPro and sell it in 1998 to another Memphis-based enterprise — the Auto Zone chain.

Dawson left Stephens to serve as chairman and chief executive officer of Haygood/TruckPro. De Vos, who was executive vice president and manager of corporate finance, “resigned to pursue other interests,” according to a Stephens Inc. memo.

De Vos came to Stephens two years ago from BT Alex Brown & Sons Inc. and before that was with Morgan Stanley. De Vos was described as a rainmaker whose decision to pursue other interests coincided with lower-than-expected precipitation during his watch.

He made real estate news in Little Rock last year when he bought a 6,756-SF home near the Country Club of Little Rock for a reported $2.77 million.

That residence was owned by a well-known member of the Arkansas financial community — Thomas D. Raney, former president of T.J. Raney & Sons Inc.