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CFO of the Year Finalists (Large Private Company): Jim Wilson

3 min read

Jim Wilson spent the first 18 years of his life in the close-knit community of Green Forest in Carroll County.

“In 1950, the census was 738,” he said.

“Everybody knew everybody.”

As he grew up, he developed a love for basketball and baseball. Wilson didn’t expect his beloved hobby to lead him where it did.

“I was accomplished enough in basketball to get a scholarship to UCA, where I played for four years,” he said. “There were two guys I respected who were older than me. They were good athletes and treated me very well as a younger person. They both became accountants.”

Because of those role models, Wilson decided to work toward a degree in accounting. When he graduated, he moved to Houston to work for Occidental Petroleum Corp. To be closer to his wife’s parents, Wilson moved back to Little Rock in 1973. He worked for the Central Terminal Distribution Center, a warehouse in a downtown building that today houses the Arkansas Museum of Discovery.

But in 1976, the center hired a partner whose attitude concerned Wilson. So on March 15 of that year, he moved to Baldwin & Shell.

“I’ve been here ever since,” he said.

Wilson was attracted to the dedication of Baldwin & Shell’s executives, like President Bob Shell, who has been with the company since 1950.

“This is not only his employment but the love of his life,” Wilson said. “We have really formed a nucleus. Most of the staff members have been here many years. When people come, mostly they stay.”

Wilson thinks leaders should stay transparent. “Honesty and integrity are No. 1,” he said. “Practice what you preach. Lead by example.”

He said difficulties in the construction world had helped temper him as a leader.

“Our industry is constantly changing,” he said. “The dynamics of trying to have your name out there is a competitive market. You’re trying to build a quality product that you can be proud of and not shortcutting any aspect of it. Getting a satisfied owner is so important.”

Wilson said he had also worked hard to keep up with changing technology in the accounting world.

“When I first came here, our accounting system was a magnetic card system,” he said. Since then, the company has moved to computers and later implemented a system called Bid Tech. “It’s a state-of-the-art deal,” Wilson said. “We’re the only ones in Arkansas using it.”

When he’s not crunching numbers for Baldwin & Shell, Wilson is active in sports, coaching baseball and basketball for Park Hill Baptist Church in North Little Rock. Before that, he officiated basketball games for the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference for 17 years. He is also a member of the Associated General Contractors of America.

“I still look every day at how I got to where I am and how I need to carry myself,” he said. “There’s a Biblical verse, Micah 6:8: ‘And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’”

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