Mike Preston wearing a new hat in the business arena

Former Arkansas Secretary of Commerce Mike Preston is wearing a new hat these days – a hard hat.

Preston was recently named CEO of CDI Contractors, a construction firm owned by publicly-traded and Little Rock-based Dillard’s, Inc. After leaving state service as commerce secretary and executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, Preston joined Stephens Inc. as an advisor on projects involving economic development incentives and he joined the board of CDI.

“I’ve been on the [CDI] board for almost three years. So I saw it from that perspective and got to know some of the team and other board members and the Dillards’ team who works very closely with CDI, obviously as the owners of CDI,” he said.

Through the lens of construction, Preston said he’s bullish on 2026 and 2027 based on projects in the company pipeline and other economic factors.

“I’m optimistic. I’m pretty bullish on 2026 and going into 2027. I base that on our pipeline alone, looking at what we have already booked to start working on in 2026,” he said. “With CDI, we’re headquartered here in Little Rock. We have office in Fayetteville and an office in Frisco, Texas. So all those areas are growing for us exponentially. Our challenge is going to be keeping pace with making sure that we have a team there that’s ready to build all these things going into place.”

He said the Feds cutting key interest rates another quarter point will help juice some projects as well as some of the business investment aspects of the One Big Beautiful Bill that will kick in during 2026.

“You’ll see the president’s worked really hard on deals coming into the country. I think he quotes some trillions of dollars of deals that he’s made of people making investments in there. So we’re seeing a lot of that activity start to filter in into Arkansas, into Texas, and the markets that we’re really strong in,” said Preston.

The former top business recruiter for the state said other developments that will impact Arkansas’ overall economic climate includes the new incentives that were created and updated in the last legislative session.

“We’re extremely competitive, and that’s something I’m proud of the work that we did when our administration was there and now leading in this administration,” said Preston. “And the work that the governor’s doing in lowering our income tax, both on a corporate and a personal income side, that’s moving the needle for Arkansans.”

A legislatively-referred constitutional amendment that will be on the ballot in 2026 could further help grow industry across the state. The measure, which will likely be Amendment 3, will allow an easier creation of economic development districts around the state.

“That’ll make us even more competitive as a state. So having done economic development now in multiple states and then working with Stephens’ clients, it was all over the country. I saw what other states were offering, and I’ll say that Arkansas is extremely competitive on this,” he said.

Preston also emphasized the need to develop more energy resources in Arkansas. Power is the No. 1 need for business expansion and growth, although workforce is still critical.

“If you could be a state that is competitive on your energy, keeping low-cost energy, you’re going to be attractive to a lot of companies,” said Preston. “The demand for energy has just gone up. When you look at some of these giant data centers that are coming in across the country, they need a lot of power to operate those. So companies are making that decision now. Workforce is still extremely important. Incentives less important now, they’ll help end the deal, they’ll help you get it across the finish line.”

Preston said he sees prosperous opportunity for Arkansas on a number of fronts.

“The next wave of mega projects… the data centers are getting all of the attention right now, but if you look a couple years down the road and some of the emphasis the president is putting on reshoring and bringing more jobs here, I think you’ve got to look at the automobile industry. I know that’s one that we’ve always looked at in Arkansas. We’re one of the only southern states that does not have an OEM [Original Equipment Manufacturer] for automobile manufacturing. I think you’re going to see a move to that with a reinvestment from the Fords and the GMs of the world, but also from Japanese investment. We saw the Japanese investment come in Nippon Steel with U.S. Steel, and they’ve already committed an additional $3 billion into Arkansas. With that steel right there in the backyard, it only makes sense more now than ever for Arkansas to be next in line for whatever that next OEM, whether it be a Japanese owned or a US owned company,” he said.

You can watch Preston’s full interview in the video below.