Arkansas Business

Samuel Marr

Sam Marr hopes to continue to prosper in Arkansas, noting that he left Oklahoma, where he was raised, for Arkansas, where he was educated and where he makes his career. “Obviously, I like Arkansas,” Marr said. And it’s here where he has risen to the rank of controller at one of the state’s 17 publicly traded companies, USA Truck.

Marr joined the company right out of college, in December 2004, as a credit supervisor. He rose through the ranks in accounting and finance roles until, in September 2011, he was named controller of USA Truck, the ninth-largest trucking company in Arkansas with revenue of $519.4 million in 2011 and about 3,000 employees.

After graduating from high school in Muldrow, Okla., Marr earned two bachelor’s degrees, one in business administration from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and the second in accounting from the UA at Fort Smith.

Although he occupies an important position at a major Arkansas firm, he said he was particularly proud of earning his CPA, which he achieved in April 2010.

Marr, who is also a chartered global management accountant, is generous with his praise, saying, “I wouldn’t be here but for my staff.” When asked what principle guides him in his career, Marr noted that he works “to always teach people the way that I want to be taught, very constructively and very openly.”