Northeast Arkansas Outstanding Business Awards winners honored

For the fifth consecutive year, Talk Business & Politics recognized four outstanding businesses in Northeast Arkansas.

This annual award — the Northeast Arkansas Outstanding Business Awards presented by Arvest Bank — is an effort to draw attention to local businesses that have an impact in the region in terms of employment, community contributions as well as inspiring others to take part in the dynamic entrepreneurial environment shaping Northeast Arkansas.

Winners were selected in four categories — large, small, startup and nonprofit businesses. Four finalists in each category were invited to a luncheon Tuesday (April 15) and the Red Wolf Convention Center in Jonesboro. Here are the winners in each category:

Large – Engines Inc.

Cameron Wofford cleaned the offices and bathrooms at his family-owned business, Engines Inc., was in high school. Years later he worked his way into the parts department and continued to work his way up the administrative ladder. By 2011, he decided that at some point he wanted to run the company.

He spent years working under the tutelage of his mother, Linda Wofford, who was the company president for years. He worked as a general manager and vice president. As his mother transitioned into retirement, he worked as the acting president. He was recently named president at Engines.

“It’s something I made an active decision about,” he said. “I wanted to be here.”

Founded by Lloyd and Tommy Wofford, the company packages diesel and spark-ignited power products serving the OEM, marine, agriculture, and industrial markets. Engines has more than 700 package designs from which its customers can select, Wofford said. Click and read more here.

Small – ARPets Hospital

Dr. Kristin Sullivan always knew what she wanted to do as a career. Sullivan loved animals and, starting in high school, she worked toward her goal of becoming a veterinarian.

She studied animal science in college and then attended veterinarian school. Once she got her degrees, she worked at a clinic and for a time, she thought she might buy into that practice and become a co-owner. When it became clear that might not work out, she had to make a choice — continue to work for someone else or start her own practice. That’s when ARPets was born. The business was formed in 2017, and Sullivan, along with her husband Michael, decided to locate the business in Brookland because they determined there was a need in that community.

“I had been practicing veterinarian medicine for five years,” she said. “I wanted to own my own clinic at some point. … It was the best time to do my own thing. It was a huge learning experience for sure.” Click and read more here.

Startup – Little Lattes

Katherine and Joseph Myer were married when they were young and he was in the U.S. Army. The couple moved to Europe and soon welcomed a daughter. Near the military base was a small coffee shop with a play area for young children.

Being away from home with no support system was tough, Katherine Myer said. But, those other mothers and their children helped to form a support system that she really needed.

When she and her husband moved to Jonesboro in 2020, a tornado had just destroyed the Mall at Turtle Creek and one of the few spaces where moms and young children could mingle with each other.

“I was pregnant with my son at the time, and after he was born there was no place for us to socialize with others. We had nowhere to go,” she said. Read more here.

Nonprofit – Wings of Honor Museum

The U.S. military thought they’d found the perfect spot in Tennessee to build a pilot school. It was 1942 and the world was at war. There was only one problem. To build an airfield in the chosen spot, about 5 million cubic yards of dirt needed to be moved.

It wasn’t long before a flat expanse just north of Walnut Ridge was discovered and the Walnut Ridge Army Air Forces Basic Flying School was born.

In 1999, the Wings of Honor Museum was opened to celebrate the area’s rich military history, Director Harold Johnson said.

“We thought we had a rich history here — we thought it was history that needed to be preserved,” Johnson said. Read more here.