Rusty Meeks Returns as Travelers CEO

Rusty Meeks, CEO of the Arkansas Travelers, says the minor league ballclub and the city of North Little Rock have made real progress in dividing up the cost of extensive renovations to Dickey-Stevens Park, the Travs’ riverside home. (Karen E. Segrave) Rusty Meeks is the CEO of the Arkansas Travelers. The Travs and the City of North Little Rock have an ongoing dispute as to who will pay for extensive renovations to Dickey-Stevens Park, home of the Travs, which are currently required by Major League Baseball. The Travs are a Minor League Baseball team affiliated with the Seattle Mariners and members of the Texas League.

After stepping down as CEO and vice president of the Arkansas Travelers baseball club in June, Rusty Meeks is back at his old position.

Meeks confirmed in an email to Arkansas Business that he is back at his post.

In June, Meeks said that he was taking a job as director of Practice Plus of Little Rock, a provider of business services and support to physicians’ practices in Arkansas.

Meeks, who was with the Travelers for 13 years, continued to serve as vice president on the team’s board of directors during the time he wasn’t running day-to-day operations.

Sophie Ozier, the Travelers’ first female general manager, was the top executive in the time Meeks was away.

He joined the team in 2012 and worked his way up, becoming CEO in December 2020. Over the years, he was a bat boy, intern, director of merchandise, sales manager and assistant general manager. As a boy, he shagged foul balls at Travelers’ games at the old Ray Winder Field next to the Little Rock Zoo.

Last year, Meeks guided the minor league team through negotiations with the city of North Little Rock over a multimillion-dollar renovation of Dickey-Stephens Park at the base of the Broadway Bridge.

The Travelers, once a part of the St. Louis Cardinals organization, have been a farm team of the Seattle Mariners since 2016.