The Sam Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas will induct four into its Business Hall of Fame at a ceremony tonight at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.
The 2015 inductees to the University of Arkansas Business Hall of Fame are Millie Ward, Al Bell, Stephen L. LaFrance Sr., and Donald E. "Buddy" Wray. They join 66 other members of the hall.
You can read about each of the inductees in a free digital edition of a special supplement to Arkansas Business. You can also read each of their individual profiles:
- Al Bell is a Brinkley native who as an executive and owner of Stax records made the Memphis Sound a major part of pop music in the 1960s and 1970s.
- Stephen L. LaFrance Sr., who died in 2013, built USA Drug of Pine Bluff from one store into the largest privately owned chain of drugstores in the U.S. before its 2012 sale to the Walgreen Co.
- Millie Ward of Little Rock is co-founder and president of Stone Ward, a full-service advertising agency with offices in Little Rock and Chicago.
- Donald E. "Buddy" Wray served in several executive positions over decades with Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale, including chief operating officer and executive vice president and special assistant to the president and chief executive officer.
