Walton Re-structures Management

Jim Walton, chairman of Arvest Bank Group Inc., will soon be able to do a little more bird hunting and focus more on the Bentonville chain’s “big picture.”

After years of having 21 different bank presidents and division heads reporting directly to him, Walton is implementing a new regional management structure that will cut that number to eight. The plan is to free up more of his time and to make the bank group, Northwest Arkansas’ largest, more efficient.

We’re told the change is strictly an internal realignment and that it will have no noticeable external effect on any of Arvest’s operations. The restructuring is unrelated to the ongoing consolidation of Arvest’s banks into one charter.

Arvest, which has about 130 offices in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri that have about $3.4 billion in deposits, will still operate its offices as community banks with local boards and local decision-making authority.

David Short, president of Bank of Bentonville, will be the regional manager over Arvest banks in Northwest Arkansas. Ron Struthers and Burt Stacy will have similar responsibilities in central Arkansas and central Oklahoma, respectively.

Walton is in the process of resigning from most of his banks’ individual boards, although he will still participate in some board activities. We hear that Arvest’s executives almost unanimously favored the move because it will alleviate some of Walton’s workload and provide him with more time to be creative and visible in the organization.

Walton, 53, is the son of the late Wal-Mart Stores Inc. founder Sam Walton and Helen Walton.