From construction to grandchildren: Industry veteran Chris Horton charts retirement course

Chris Horton, a key leadership team member for years at Bentonville architecture and engineering firm HFA (formerly Harrison French & Associates), has retired.

Horton, 58, is retiring as president and CEO of ECS (Enformed Construction Services), a national general contractor and construction management firm launched in 2020 and a sister organization to HFA. They are wholly owned subsidiaries of a holding company formed in 2019 called HFA Enterprises LTD.

Horton joined HFA in 2004 to help get the architecture firm’s engineering group off the ground. He was the company’s chief financial officer, executive vice president and board member before taking on the ECS assignment four years ago.

“The impact of Chris’ legacy on both companies is undeniable,” HFA said in a statement. “We wish him the very best as he embarks on this new season of life.”

Horton told the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal he’d always intended to retire when he was 55.

“When I became an owner at HFA, I indicated to Harrison [French] and Larry [Lott] that was my target age,” he said.

He said he delayed the departure to ensure ECS had a good foundation for growth.

Matt Orender, ECS’s director of construction and the company’s first hire, has assumed the CEO role. Orender has more than 25 years of project management experience and previously worked for CDI Contractors in Little Rock.

A Bryant native, Orender will remain based in central Arkansas and work from ECS’ office in Benton.

“Matt is a great guy, and I knew it from the first time I met him in 2016,” Horton said. “He was the first person that came to mind when I was looking for a director of construction.”

Aside from traveling, camping and playing golf, grandchildren figure prominently in Horton’s retirement plans.

“We were blessed last October with our first grandchild. I’ve always heard that grandchildren were the reward for not throttling your own kids, and it is definitely true,” he joked. “We will get to keep our granddaughter two days a week, and we are thrilled at that opportunity.

“I grew up around both of my grandparents and had very close relationships with them. We look forward to having that kind of relationship with our granddaughter.”