Greg McKinney, CFO of Bank OZK of Little Rock, and Richard Bell, president and CEO of Bell & Co. of North Little Rock, received lifetime achievement awards at Arkansas Business' 2020 CFO of the Year Awards on Dec. 15 in Little Rock.
The event also honored the state's top chief financial officers in five categories. It was broadcast live online in front of a small audience of honorees and sponsors from the Rock City Events and Conference Center.
McKinney received the CFO Lifetime Achievement Award. He joined Bank OZK in 2003, when the publicly traded company had a different name, $1.1 billion in total assets and 409 staffers. Today, the lender ranks among the 100 largest banks in the nation with total assets of $26.8 billion and a workforce of 2,800 spread across 250 offices in a 10-state footprint.
“It’s amazing how much this bank has changed in the 17-plus years I’ve been here and how those changes have challenged you,” said McKinney, who's been CFO since year-end 2010. “We work hard, but it’s not just all work. There is fun to it, and work here is not a place you have to drag yourself to.”
Bell received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Accounting. His company has grown to 38 employees and has a variety of boutique accounting specialties, including working for trucking companies. He said that if he had practiced with a large national or regional firm instead of his own company, he would already be retired. Instead, he relishes sharing his experience as a mentor and teacher, and says he has no plans to quit.
“As long as I still have my competencies, I’ll probably stay around," he said. "To be honest with you, I don’t know what I’d do.”
Other honorees are:
Small Private Company CFO:
- Jason Keith, Staley Technologies
Large Private Company CFO:
- Gina Dailey, Pinnacle Pointe Hospital
Nonprofit Organization CFO:
- Jennifer Styron, CARTI
Public Sector CFO:
- Todd Townsend, Ozarks Electric Cooperative/OzarksGo
Education CFO:
- Kimberly Hadley, John Brown University
