Forty Under 40: Mark Myers

Mark Edward Myers, 37, has bounced around not only the world but also in professions. After serving a year in Iraq, Myers is settling down.

He started negotiating the purchase of Advertising Plus Inc. in 2003 while he was training to be an officer in the Army Reserves. He returned from Iraq in mid-March, and 45 days later he bought the advertising and marketing firm.

Myers, who grew up in North Little Rock, received his bachelor’s degree in history at the University of Arkansas in 1991, where he also played rugby. From there he went back to Little Rock to work for John Hancock Financial Services in 1993 as a broker. Six months later it closed its Little Rock office and Myers started working on his own as a health insurance broker.

In 1996, he managed the successful reelection of U.S. Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark. He then went with Hutchinson to Washington, D.C., as his special assistant. In 1998, he was asked to come back to Arkansas by the National Republican Congressional Committee to run Phil Wyrick’s campaign for Congress, which he lost.

In 1998, Myers moved to Van Buren and started doing public relations freelancing, which lead to the start-up of Myers Global Media Group.