UAFS Family Enterprise Center officially renamed after the late Jim Walcott

Family and friends of the late Jim Walcott gathered Tuesday (Nov. 7) to rename the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith Family Enterprise Center (FEC) after Walcott. Renaming was supported by donations from the First National Bank of Fort Smith and Citizens Bank and Trust of Van Buren.

Walcott, a business and community leader who played a part in the creation of the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education, died May 7 after a long battle with cancer. He was employed by Fort Smith-based Weldon, Williams & Lick for 43 years and was president and CEO for 32 of those years, according to information provided by the company.

The FEC offers family businesses a learning community to meet the unique needs of the family in business, according to the university. According to FEC Director Justin Smith, the FEC is the only organization of its type in Arkansas and one of only 50 nationwide. He said the FEC has 55 members companies and expects the membership to grow.

First National Bank of Fort Smith gave a gift of $400,000, and Citizens Bank and Trust gifted an additional $100,000, to support the naming opportunity as part of the university’s ongoing comprehensive campaign. Matching contributions came from Judy and Lance McReynolds, Mark and Vicki Rumsey, Neal and Gina Pendergraft, Carol and Jim Williamson, Weldon, Williams & Lick, the estate of Jim Walcott, and donors who wished to remain anonymous, according to UAFS.

UAFS Chancellor Dr. Terisa Riley thanked the self-labeled “Old Geezers” in attendance for the FEC creation. She fought back emotion as she opened the Tuesday afternoon ceremony – held in the Bakery District in downtown Fort Smith – and mentioned Walcott’s name.

“Every time I say it (Walcott Family Enterprise Center) I kind of well up with tears, tears of joy and a little sadness,” she said, adding that Walcott and others who helped create the FEC did so to support the hundreds of family businesses in the region that “are the core of the services, the amenities, the products that we benefit from every day.”

The FEC and some UAFS classrooms and offices are located in the Bakery District.

She said she was introduced soon after becoming UAFS chancellor to a few FEC supporters who called themselves the “OGs” of the center. She thought it meant “original gangsters,” but was corrected that it meant the “old geezers.” Riley said through laughter it became clear that they were “not only family business leaders, but also community leaders.”

Sam Sicard, president and CEO of First National Bank, a family business for more than 150 years, praised Riley’s leadership and said he and the bank are proud to support the FEC and honor Walcott’s legacy. He said providing support to small businesses is “not only a privilege, but an obligation.”

Sicard said Walcott’s constant mantra to “move the needle” often resulted in significant community contributions, including his being a leader in the creation of the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education. The colleges in the system now employ more than 200 staff and faculty, have more than 700 students on campus and will have around 1,000 students in the different colleges and programs within a few years. The colleges and other programs are generating a $600 million annual economic impact for the region.

Walcott’s vision of what could be was often part of his service to the community boards on which he served, Sicard said.

“I’ve been on a board with Jim. … You absolutely never knew what he was going to say,” Sicard said with a laugh. “He was on a different wavelength than everyone else.”