Profiles

A directory of Profiles for Northwest Arkansas Business Journal Awards

Fast 15: Ericka Young-Melber

Ericka Young-Melber was 17 when she started her moving company to help afford an adoption. The previous year, the St. Louis area native moved to Fayetteville because Arkansas allows someone…

Fast 15: Taylor Toreno

Losing her mother at 15 shaped Taylor Toreno and motivated her to be successful. “She always told me I could be whatever I want to be,” Toreno said. “I want…

Fast 15: Marissa Spear

Marissa Spear readily admits her job title may sound foreboding. “Evaluation can be a scary word for people,” she quipped. But as a public health advocate with the UAMS Office…

Fast 15: Ryan Pottinger

Growing up in Overland Park, Kan., Ryan Pottinger remembers thinking what an impact his dad had and what a cool job it was. Pottinger decided he wanted to follow in…

Fast 15: Lourdes “Lulu” Peredo

Lulu Peredo’s parents, her role models, ingrained in her that whatever legacy she leaves has to benefit her community. While she’s still exploring that, she’s living it out at Runway…

Fast 15: Caleb LeBow

Caleb Lebow is a Hillbilly. He’s from Ozark. It’s the school’s mascot. But he’s far from the cliche underachieving mountaineer. He has a master’s degree in engineering, has his finger…

Fast 15: Tom Hanna

Fort Smith-based KMW Properties was a “passive” real estate development company primarily supporting the operations of Hanna Oil & Gas. That began to change when Tom Hanna returned to the…

Fast 15: Tanner Green

An entrepreneur since he was a teen growing up in Farmington, Tanner Green dropped out of the University of Arkansas after one year for an opportunity to join software startup…

Fast 15: Will Ginger

Will Ginger grew up at Merrill Lynch. The Fayetteville native followed in the footsteps of his mother, Nan Ginger, as they both joined Merrill Lynch full-time after graduating from the…

Fast 15: Sara Lynn Geiger

With her eyes on Northwest Arkansas’ future, Sara Lynn Geiger is “making sure what we’re doing today results in a better tomorrow.” Geiger works to create a better quality of…

Fast 15: Johnny Galloway

Johnny Galloway may be a born-and-bred Texan, but he has heeded Northwest Arkansas’ call twice. The first time to earn a degree. The second time to reinvent his career during…

Fast 15: Cameron Clark

Cameron Clark has enjoyed being a proponent of growth in Northwest Arkansas. The Fayetteville native only expects it to continue. In 2015, Clark graduated early from the University of Arkansas,…

Fast 15: Micah Bender

Problem solving motivates Micah Bender. A thinker who is always learning, he likes to be in the details and do the thinking to help his team execute. “I like to…

Fast 15: Jackson Bates

Almost as an afterthought, Jackson Bates decided to study finance as a University of Arkansas freshman. He dabbled in graphic design as a teenager — he designed the original logo…

Fast 15: Brandon Andrews

Brandon Andrews is motivated by helping others as it makes him “feel complete.” It also led the Green Forest native to consider a nursing career before pivoting into banking. In…

C-Suite: Jeff Williams

Fast fact: Williams joined America’s Car-Mart as chief financial officer in October 2005. He became president in March 2016 and has been a director since 2011 and CEO since January…

C-Suite: Dave Wilgus

Fast fact: Wilgus was named CEO in 2019 after working for HFA for nearly 19 years. What’s the most recent book you read? “The Infinite Game” by Simon Sinek. What…

C-Suite: Lori Walker

Fast fact: Managed external and internal communications for the $1.2 billion bank’s core system conversion in 2018, a merger in 2019 and a global pandemic in 2020-2021. What is the…

C-Suite: Eddie Vega

Fast fact: Vega was the first Hispanic to own a radio license in Arkansas, and his company is the only independent radio cluster with FM signals in Little Rock and…

C-Suite: Susan Upchurch

Fast fact: Upchurch and her team are responsible for distributing over $14 million in Emergency Rental Assistance program funds to Benton County residents since February 2021. What’s the most recent…