The City Wire Person of the Month: Craig Pair

Editor’s note: The City Wire will highlight each month a person in the Fort Smith region. Special recognitions, accomplishments, philanthropic support and many other factors will be considered when selecting a person to profile. Input from The City Wire readers also will be considered.

story and photos by Robert Parson

Craig Pair graduated from Westark Community College (now the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith) and worked for himself repairing arcade video games and pinball machines.

A former instructor suggested he go on a job interview for a local company needing someone to work on Programmable Logic Controllers — devices that allow many pieces of equipment to work together more efficiently and be operated from a central location.  The interview was at 11 p.m., he started work at midnight, and finished his first day on the job at 4 am. 

That project came to an end, and he again went to work for himself, this time programming PLCs on a freelance basis. He figured he would do that until he was hired full time, but one project lead to another, he was adding employees of his own, and after about five years he formed Control Technologies Inc.  16 people are currently employed by the company.

In addition to sales, manufacture, and programming of PLCs, Pair formed Hi Tech Products to develop commercial products from Control Technologies existing projects.   Among those products is Blackout Pro which blacks out a computer screen when a vehicle is in motion. It’s found wide acceptance among utility companies

Control Technologies was awarded Arkansas Small Business of the Year in 2000, and runner up in 1999. Pair is the only certified system integrator in the state and the 100th system integrator in the world. 

He has also been involved in Leadership Fort Smith, the Fort Smith Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, and has worked with the entrepreneurship programs at Fort Smith Northside and Southside High Schools. He and several partners provide small loans to students to implement business plans. He said the program at the high schools is a success, with most of the loans paid back in full and some of the students receiving entrepreneurship grants from the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

Michelle Stockman, with Little Rock-based Arkansas Capital Corp., said Pair is the “poster child for a well-rounded businessman. Not only does he understand how to run a company, but he also gives back to the community. Without Craig’s help, the entrepreneurship programs would not have been as well funded or have as many resources to train the next generation of entrepreneurs.”

He doesn’t attribute his success to himself.

“All these things that have happened have not been Craig Pair Against The World. There have always been people around me,” Pair said. “Fort Smith is a good place to place to get involved. Some of the best people I’ve ever met have been because I have been involved.”

Pair and his wife, Anita, have three daughters, Sarah, Rachel and Hannah.