Regional Coalition Celebrates 25 Years

For 25 years, the Northwest Arkansas Council has brought together business and civic leaders from throughout the region, identified common issues, and advocated for major projects that proved to be pivotal for the area.

The council played a key role in the creation of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport and the Benton/Washington Regional Public Water Authority in the 1990s, and in helping procure funds for major, game-changing highway projects throughout the years.

More recently, the organization helped establish a regional wayfinding system and has conceived and executed strategic plans to further develop the economy through programs that support education and workforce development.

Back in 1990, Northwest Arkansas had a number of elements that could promote economic development separately, boasting the world’s largest retailer, the state’s largest university and major players in the transportation and food-processing industries.

But the council was formed because business leaders believed that, if these entities and the cities joined forces, the region would be greater than the sum of its parts.

“The best thing we could do was get together and build a regional solution or regional priority, and out of that became the genesis of ‘I don’t live in Fayetteville; I live in Northwest Arkansas,’” John Elrod, a founding member of the council, said in a video looking at the history of the organization.

“In those days, the word regionalism would be spoken in the same breath as the word Communism. There were very, very strong feelings,” said Elrod, a partner at legal firm Conner & Winters LLP in Fayetteville.

Some council members pointed to high school football rivalries as a source of underlying competition between the cities.

The development of a united front and regional mindset did not just happen naturally and took a few years of planning.

“It wasn’t always an easy start. It wasn’t easy conversations, but over the years it’s gotten easier, and that’s because of the camaraderie and the consistency of the people involved,” Rosalind Brewer, outgoing presiding co-chair, said at the meeting.

Brewer, president and CEO of Sam’s Club Inc., said the work of the council has helped cultivate a region where she was happy to bring her family.

“I have a 12-year-old daughter who absolutely loves this environment,” she said.

 

Who’s Who of NWA

According to a piece on the history of the NWA Council in its annual report, John Lewis, co-founder of The Bank of Fayetteville, and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. founder Sam Walton began discussing the idea of a regional business council in the late 1980s.

When the council first got together in 1990, it was a motley crew of 25, also including Walton’s daughter, Alice Walton, named the first chairman of the council, Simmons Foods chairman and CEO Mark Simmons, Tyson Foods Inc. founder John Tyson, his son, Don Tyson, who served as chairman of the company at the time, and J.B. Hunt, founder of J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc.

In describing NWA Council’s impact on the community, Uvalde Lindsey, executive director from 1990 to 2005, said the council itself as a private, nonprofit organization cannot build anything. Those tasks are left to the region’s public entities, and the council can only act as an advocate. 

“It starts with building consensus within the region, finding a common voice to undertake major projects that are important to the entire region and everybody that lives in Northwest Arkansas,” Lindsey said.

“The council has an ability to exercise a strong advocacy, giving community and civic business leaders within the region a common voice, supported by mayors, judges, quorum courts and city councils, which makes it easier when talking to members of Congress, governors, and any of the funding agencies, whether it’s the Federal Highway Administration or the Federal Aviation Administration, appropriations committees in both Washington, D.C., and Little Rock,” Lindsey said.

At the 25th anniversary luncheon, fellow council members lauded Lindsey’s dedication during his years as executive director, and his knowledgeable insight on a wide range of subjects.

He was also granted an honorary lifetime membership — a distinction previously given only to President Bill Clinton and Alice Walton.

 

A Catalyst For Achievement

U.S. Rep. Steve Womack gave remarks regarding the council via a video that was shown during the meeting.

“NWA and our entire state would not be the same, if not for the dedication of the NWA Council,” Womack said.

“Thank you for being the catalyst for all we’ve become,” he said, pointing to what he called the council’s “countless achievements.”

The crown jewel of those achievements might be the founding of the regional airport, or XNA.

Identified early on by the council as a key goal, the proposed project was met with its share of naysayers, who questioned the choice to build an airport “in a cow pasture, with no airlines convinced to go there,” said luncheon keynote speaker Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who served in U.S. Congress when the airport opened in 1998.

“I’ll never forget the intensity of Alice Walton and her leadership,” Hutchinson said. “It took that intensity and vision to make sure that was accomplished with all of the mayors and the cities. It was really her heart that was put into that.

“Years later, it exceeded all expectations — built on budget, built on time, and it transformed Northwest Arkansas,” he said.

In the early 1990s, the region had to work hard for any attention from state government.

But now, Bentonville-born Hutchinson said the region is often the topic of discussion when he makes gubernatorial appointments. “We’re always looking at, is NWA being considered for this appointment? We want to make sure that one of the economic engines of our state is adequately represented in state government.”

 

Highways and Water

In addition to a regional airport, council members identified the completion of U.S. Highway 412, between Siloam Springs and Springdale, and improvements to U.S. Highway 71 as crucial projects for the region’s future in 1990, according to the council’s report.

Those projects were completed in the mid-1990s.

Drinking water access to rural areas  of Benton and Washington counties was also an issue identified early on by the council.

It researched which towns needed the service and potential routes for a pipeline bringing water from Beaver Lake, and then it worked with U.S. Sen. Dale Bumpers, a member of the appropriations committee at the time, to secure federal funding that jump-started the regional water authority, commonly known as “Two-Ton,” Lindsey said.

The project was completed in 1999.

“Those are the things that the council does. It puts together a plan, finds out what was the best way to proceed to carry out that plan and then finds the resources necessary to actually build the projects,” Lindsey said.

Members say that, while the NWA Council did not single-handedly bring about change, it at least helped expedite the process.

“You could make the case that a lot of the projects might have eventually happened, but they would not have happened as quickly as they did and some might not have happened at all,” said Scott Van Laningham, executive director of XNA and vice chair and secretary/treasurer of the council.

 

Looking Forward

Also in the meeting, members of the council honored longtime member, former U.S. Rep. John Paul Hammerschmidt, who died in April.

His fellow council members described Hammerschmidt as a visionary, and Hutchinson credited him as the driving force behind the establishment of what is now Interstate 49, another key infrastructure project.

Hammerschmidt served as chair of the council from 1993 to 2005.

His departure from the position led to the implementation of a new chairman system that consisted of one-year terms.

Since then, John Tyson, Simmons, and former University of Arkansas Chancellor David Gearhart are among those who filled the role as presiding co-chair.

Jim Walton, chairman and CEO of Arvest Bank, is the co-chair for 2015-16, having held the position three times now.

Fayetteville native Mike Malone has been president and CEO of the council since 2006, and the organization is now comprised of more than 100 members.

In 2014, the council declared an early victory on a five-year plan established in 2010 to boost economic growth, and it announced a new, three-year plan in January.

While the more recent plans still address infrastructure issues, there is an added focus on education, workforce development and quality of life.

In addition to a video looking back at the history of the council, a video titled “Looking Forward” was shown, featuring comments from young local business leaders, including Daniel Hintz, chief experience architect at Velocity Group, and Karen Minkel, home region program director for the Walton Family Foundation.

Hutchinson reflected on his recent visit to Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California, as a source of inspiration for the region.

He said that some elements at the headquarters were purposely left unfinished, meant to serve as a reminder to everyone that the job is not yet completed.

“What a word picture as to where we are in NWA,” he said. “Great things have been done, but more needs to be done for this generation and the next.”