The 2011 NWA Class of Forty Under 40

Throughout the spring and summer, as has become customary here at the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal, our editorial staff has put in long hours working on the Forty Under 40 issue.

Not all of the hours have been fun, but it is our sincere hope you, the reader, will find them well worth the effort. From our perspective, they were more than worth it, because we believe the 15th version of Forty Under 40 exemplifies the best of what the issue has come to represent.

We don’t pretend this class includes everyone who deserves the honor, and there are always tough calls to make. We firmly believe, though, the 40 people you will meet here are best-in-class individuals, both personally and professionally.

They come from a mountain of nominations submitted from all across our six-county coverage area, and even beyond in a few cases. They also represent a wide variety of professions and industries.

Once the intensive selection process has been completed, we back off, look at the class as a whole and ask, “Is this group representative of the finest folks in this market?”

This year, just like the 14 before it, we’re proud to answer that question with a confident, resounding, “Yes.”

The 40 individuals who constitute this class are tangibly committed to bettering themselves, their companies and our communities. Put more simply, these honorees make Northwest Arkansas a better place to live, work and play.

The honorees include attorneys and bankers, chefs and educators, and of course, managers of practically every variety. In our humble opinion, this year’s class represents more colors on the rainbow than any in recent memory.

More than 30 percent of class members, for example, are female. More than 75 percent, meanwhile, are married, and 85 percent have children.

Five said they wouldn’t change a thing about their jobs, while one would change the Dodd-Frank act because it is “complete lunacy.”

Likewise, four said they wouldn’t change a thing about Northwest Arkansas. More than 20 percent, however, would prefer less traffic and/or a less negative stigma attached to our area.

And as for the honoree who would like to move Northwest Arkansas closer to the beach, we offer a hearty, “Hear, hear!”

This year’s class, like past ones, also boasts a strong sense of giving back to the community. A couple of those will be obvious simply by their job titles, while others have donated time to help everywhere from Bentonville to Brazil.

When it comes to the economy, which no doubt has been on most of our minds as of late, optimism is scarce. More than half ranked their confidence level at five or below on a 10-point scale, and only three went higher than seven.

Still, 65 percent of honorees, when asked about their preparedness for retirement, answered seven or higher, using the same 1-to-10 scale. Only eight, conversely, gave themselves a number below five.

Our hope is that you’ll find all of it as fascinating as we did. Every member of this year’s Forty Under 40 class, after all, was nominated by a boss or a peer who believed he or she is among the best and brightest in Northwest Arkansas.

After doing the work, we agree. Now it’s your turn to enjoy.

(Click here to view profiles of this year’s Forty Under 40 class.)