Forty Under 40: Luke Parsons

Growing up as the fifth generation on his family’s farm in Springdale, working with cows and on row crops for $1 an hour taught Luke Parsons not to quit.

“It built grit and knowing how to work hard,” he said.

One of nine children, he credits his sisters with sustaining him after their mother died. In addition to the farm, Parsons’ dad was a banker in Springdale and modeled “the value of serving your community with your God-given talents and abilities.”

Parsons graduated in 2009 from the University of Arkansas in accounting and finance and is also a graduate of the Southwest Graduate School of Banking at SMU.

After college, he worked his way up to assurance manager at HoganTaylor Accounting in Tulsa, Okla. He joined Legacy Bank in Rogers in 2014 as a commercial lender and became senior vice president in 2020.

For the past three years, he’s worked to open a full-service downtown Bentonville location. His goals include partnering with customers to achieve financial goals and continuing to grow Legacy’s assets, which just crossed $1 billion.

“When I started, we were at $300 million,” he said. “It’s quadrupled in size since.”

A lifelong learner, Parsons realizes banking is changing fast “and wants to evolve with the industry to add value and be on the cutting edge to meet the needs of my customers and serve them.” He also looks forward to finding and developing the next leaders of the bank.

Like his dad, Parsons serves his community, including serving six years on the Downtown Springdale Alliance Board. He’s also on the boards of Ozarks Electric Cooperative and OzarksGo, Arkansas Electric Cooperative Inc., ERMCO Inc., and Today’s Power.

Parsons enjoys family time, tends to his Angus cows, fly fishes and mountain bikes.