CEOs Shuffle and Slip Away

During the time since the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal last profiled the chief executives of publicly traded companies in the state’s northwest corridor:

• Six companies have disappeared from the local roster.

• One firm has been added, although it’s traded on the Canadian Venture Exchange.

• Three of the remaining companies changed CEOs, one because of the death of First Federal Bancshares of Arkansas’ Frank L. Coffman, who had been the longest-serving CEO in the state.

• Most of the CEOs have enjoyed improved stock prices over the past year, a reversal of the trend back in December 1999.

Robert Weaver, CEO of P.A.M. Transportation Services Inc. in Tontitown, had the best year of the 26 CEOs at publicly traded companies statewide. He guided the longhaul carrier to a 173 percent stock return for 2001.

Chaz G. Jones, a research analyst with the Little Rock securities firm Stephens Inc., said 2001 was the culmination of P.A.M. putting up “some of the best results in the trucking industry” for the last four to five years.

“That effort was never recognized by the market or Wall Street before, and this was the year that the company got the recognition that it deserved,” Jones said. “That’s why we saw it appreciate to levels it probably should have already been trading at. Of course, this is in large part do to the job that P.A.M.’s management team has done.

“Bob Weaver, [CFO] Larry Goddard and [COO] Cliff Lawson continue to perform very well relative to their peers.”

Below are profiles for each of the 15 CEOs at Northwest Arkansas-based public companies. Just like 2.5 years ago, they are still exclusively male, mostly middle-aged (although the average age has continued to fall) and generally well-paid. The average annual compensation for Northwest Arkansas’ CEOs for their most recent fiscal year was $1.45 million.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. CEO Lee Scott, whose 2001 total compensation was $10.56 million, and AERT’s Joe Brooks, who receives no compensation, represent the extremes.

The companies that have disappeared since the last “CEO Profiles” are:

• Poultry waste recycler Aarow Environmental Group Inc. changed its business model in summer 2000 and moved to Oklahoma City. Its broadband wireless reincarnation is now defunct.

• Southwestern Energy Co. moved from Fayetteville to Houston in February 2001 where it continues to thrive. Its subsidiary, Arkansas Western Gas Co., is still based in Fayetteville.

• Loislaw.com Inc. of Van Buren was purchased by Dutch publisher Wolters Kluwer NV in January of 2001 for $95 million. Former CEO and founder Kyle Parker and his wife, Renee, have since moved to Florida.

• National Home Centers of Springdale was taken back private by its founder and primary shareholder Dwain Newman in December. It was delisted from the Nasdaq exchange in January.

• StaffMark Inc. of Fayetteville officially moved its headquarters in May to Boston.

• American Freightways Corp. of Harrison. agreed in Nov. 2000 to be acquired by FedEx Corp. of Memphis. The subsidiary is now know as FedEx Freight.

Delta Systems Inc. of Rogers, the Canadian-traded firm, is the newcomer. Gerald S. Hurlow, Delta’s the part-time CEO, has helped it cut expenses by 27 percent since its 1999 initial public offering.

New faces for old companies include Larry Brandt, who succeeded Coffman, his father-in-law, at First Federal in Harrison. Coffman’s death at 78 robbed the CEO roster of its oldest member.

The Brooks brothers — Stephen and Joe, at ages 45 and 46, respectively — head Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies Inc. in Springdale and are the area’s youngest public company CEOs. Robert M. Powell, CEO of USA Truck Inc. in Van Buren, is now the oldest at 67.

The average age is now 53, a year older than the average for all 26 public companies statewide.

CEOs by One-Year* Return on Stock
Click on a CEO’s name to read his profile.

Robert Weaver — P.A.M. Transportation Inc. — 173%

Joe and Stephen Brooks — AERT — 126%

Cameron D. McKeel — HCB Bancshares Inc. — 67%

Robert Powell — USA Truck Inc. — 56%

Kirk Thompson — J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. — 50.1%

C. Stanley Bailey — Superior Financial Corp. — 40%

Larry Brandt — First Federal Bancshares of Arkansas — 25.4%

Robert Young III — Arkansas Best Corp. — 20.08%

John McFarland — Baldor Electric Inc. — 12.5%

H. Lee Scott — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. — 8.48%

John H. Tyson — Tyson Foods Inc. — 6.5%

William Floyd — Beverly Enterprises Inc. — -9.1%
Gerald R. Hurlow — Delta Systems Inc. — -11.5%

E. Lynn Scott — Brass Eagle Inc. — -12.7%

Dean Cannon — Cannon Express — -57.89%

Dwayne Powell — Pocahontas Bancorp Inc. — **

**Based on adjusted closing price on trading day closest to May 8, 2001, **and May 8, 2002.
**CEO has been in place for less than a year.

(Jeffrey Wood contributed to this report.)