Mike Cumnock*

CEO Gives His Best to the State’s Children

What began as volunteer work became a full-time job for Thomas M. “Mike” Cumnock, chief executive officer of Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches Inc. in Batesville.

In 1985, Cumnock was teaching at Lyon College and volunteering as a counselor at the ranch. Though he says the ranch was doing a good job of housing the state’s abused and neglected children, it had no real counseling program. So he quit his job at the college and joined the staff.

Ten years later, he became CEO.

Cumnock says he sees himself as the Ranch’s chief cheerleader and primary fund raiser. Under his leadership, the Ranch began offering a full-service program that addresses the emotional needs of its residents. He’s brought morale to a new high, quadrupling the Ranch’s income and completing Phase I of an expansion that includes the $2.2 million construction of three new buildings.

“I think of my self as an ‘ideas guy,’” Cumnock says. “I look for new and better ways of doing things… I believe in children and the non-profit sector’s ability to create changes that the governmental sector could not do as efficiently.”

To that end, Cumnock’s completed several education programs to give him the ability to help Ranch residents. He’s completed leadership, therapy and clinical hypnosis training.

In December, he graduated from the executive MBA program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He says he plans to integrate what he’s learned into the Ranch program, beginning with implementing “total quality management” initiatives.

“No matter what the business, customers come first. In our case, the customers are our children and our donors,” he says. “Without the children, we would have no program, and without donors and support, we could serve no children.”

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