At 19, Kirk Thompson was broke and dejected. His father had passed away, and Thompson decided to drop out of school at the University of Arkansas. He was overwhelmed, and he needed a job.
It was 1973.
Thompson was good with numbers. His high school math teacher, Wyth Duke, had inspired Thompson to believe he was capable of finding opportunities outside of what his small hometown of Newark, Arkansas, offered.
So Thompson applied for a bookkeeping job through an employment agency. The job was with a trucking company called the J.B. Hunt Company, located in Lowell.
Co-owner and hiring manager Johnelle Hunt was not interested in hiring Thompson, but she agreed to the interview as a favor to the employment agency.
They immediately hit it off. He was hired.
Thompson began work the next day and thrived at J.B. Hunt. After a year or so of working at minimum wage, he realized he needed to go back to school. He spoke to Mrs. Hunt who encouraged him to continue working while he pursued a degree in accounting. And that is exactly what he did.
Thompson was born in Little Rock in 1953 to James H. Thompson, a brakeman for the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and Mabel, a stay-at-home mom. After Thompson completed the third grade, the family moved to Mabel’s hometown of Newark. Thompson graduated from high school in 1971 as valedictorian – in a graduating class of 35.
In his junior year of high school, Thompson had the opportunity to visit the University of Arkansas through a summer honors program. That experience convinced him to attend school there after high school.
After graduating from the University of Arkansas, Thompson gave up his job with J.B. Hunt and set off to begin a professional career as an accountant at Peat, Marwick, Mitchell and Co. – now known as KPMG – in Little Rock. Eighteen months later, while auditing a bank in Texarkana, Thompson received a phone call from Mrs. Hunt. She asked him if he would be interested in coming back.
The pull to return to the J.B.Hunt Company was strong. It was now 1979, and Thompson found himself in an interview with owners Johnelle and J.B. Hunt and executive Wayne Garrison. He was hired.
At just 26 years old, Thompson found himself working as the chief financial officer for the trucking company, which was experiencing explosive growth with $20 million in revenue.
In 1983, J.B. Hunt Transport Services made its initial public offering. That year, it would earn $63 million in revenue. Three years later, shareholders elected Thompson as president and chief operating officer. In 1987, Thompson was elected chief executive officer. By 1988, the company’s revenue had grown to nearly $400 million.
During his tenure at J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Thompson led the company through rapid growth, deregulation, driver shortages, innovative cost-cutting measures and improved working conditions for drivers. In the 1990s, the company extended its reach into railroad logistics, nationally transforming the trucking industry.
In 2011, Thompson became chairman of the board and relinquished day-to-day operations to John Roberts, the current president and chief executive officer.
In his 23 years at the helm of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Thompson transformed the company from a basic trucking provider to a $3.8 billion truckload and intermodal empire, one of the nation’s largest. The company has been recognized as one of Forbes magazine’s Best Managed Companies in America and Fortune magazine’s America’s Most Admired Companies.
Today, J.B. Hunt Transport Services has revenues of $7 billion making it one of the largest publicly held transportation logistics companies in North America. It operates nearly 13,000 trucks and employs more than 22,000 people. The headquarters remains in Lowell.
A favorite quote that Thompson attributes to baseball great Yogi Berra sums up his outlook about success: “If you ain’t got no animals, you ain’t hardly got no circus.”
Thompson credits the company’s successful transformation to the great team, past and present, at J.B. Hunt. Success for Thompson in both his personal life and in business was dependent upon the people surrounding him.
Outside of work, Thompson is most proud of his four children. His daughter Nicole Guenther lives in Fayetteville and is a speech therapist. His son Zac, a resident of New York City, is an editor for Frommer’s Travel Guides and writes play reviews for The Village Voice. Daughter Kelsey Roth, an English as a second language (ESL) curriculum specialist for the Springdale School District, lives in Fayetteville. Daughter Eden Raines lives in Little Rock and teaches middle school at The Anthony School.
Thompson is smitten with his five grandchildren who he says are the greatest and cutest grandkids alive: Exie Claire and Cash Guenther, Aspen and Levi Roth and Leo Raines.
He serves on the boards of the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas and Rand Logistics. His philanthropic support and interests include the arts at the Walton Arts Center, Theatre Squared and the SoNA of Fayetteville, as well as the Waterfront Playhouse of Key West, Florida. Thompson resides in Key West, Florida, and in Fayetteville and Jasper, Arkansas.
See more of the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame.
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