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Arkansas Business Power List 2016: Nonprofits

8 min read

Rod Bigelow, 47

Executive Director
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville
Rod Bigelow became executive director of the museum in 2013. Bigelow had been the deputy director of operations and administration at Crystal Bridges since 2010, overseeing the areas of finance, facilities, grounds and trails, IT, security, human resources, culinary and retail activities. Bigelow formerly was chief operating officer and interim executive director at the Toledo Museum of Art and chief financial officer and interim executive director at the Tacoma Art Museum in Washington. In September, Crystal Bridges announced that more than 2 million visitors had walked through its doors since its opening on Nov. 11, 2011.


John E. Brown III, 66

Executive Director
Windgate Charitable Foundation Inc., Siloam Springs
John E. Brown III has headed the Windgate Charitable Foundation since its founding in 1993. The foundation, which had $230.8 million in assets at the end of 2014, primarily supports projects to strengthen marriage and family relationships, promote arts and craft education, serve children and assist Christian higher education. Brown is a former president of John Brown University, the Christian college founded by his grandfather in 1919. He received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from JBU in 1971 and a law degree from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1974.  Brown served two terms as a senator in the Arkansas Legislature.


Ed Clifford, 76

President and CEO
The Jones Trust, Springdale
Ed Clifford has headed the Jones Trust since 2012, when he left his post as president and CEO of the Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce. Before his stint at the chamber, Clifford worked in management in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Clifford is a member of the boards of the Mid-America Arts Alliance and Northwest Arkansas Community College Foundation. He also is president of the board of the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust. The Jones Trust had assets of $65.4 million as of the end of 2014. It supports nonprofit organizations serving families throughout northwest Arkansas.


Clay H. Davis, 51

Executive Director and Treasurer
University of Arkansas Foundation Inc., Fayetteville
Clay Davis was named the foundation’s fifth executive director in 2007. He has a bachelor’s degree in business and economics from Hendrix College, a law degree from the University of Arkansas, a Master of Laws in taxation from the University of Florida and a doctorate in higher education from the University of Arkansas. The University of Arkansas Foundation had assets of $861.7 million as of June 30, 2014. It provides private financial support for all University of Arkansas campuses.


Mary Elizabeth Eldridge, 37

Director of Programs
Ross Foundation, Arkadelphia
Mary Elizabeth Eldridge has worked at the Ross Foundation since 2004. Her father, Ross Whipple, chairs the nonprofit. Eldridge has a bachelor’s degree from Washington & Lee University and a law degree from the University of Arkansas School of Law. She’s a member of the Arkansas Forestry Commission. One of the foundation’s best-known initiatives is the Arkadelphia Promise, funded by the foundation and Southern Bancorp, which offers college scholarships and other aid for eligible graduating seniors of Arkadelphia High. The foundation had assets of $95.5 million as of the end of 2014, primarily in timberland.


Rodney Ferguson, 52

President and CEO
Winrock International, Little Rock
Rodney Ferguson was named head of the Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development in 2013. He previously was a principal with Lipman Hearne Inc. in Washington, D.C., a marketing and communications firm that exclusively serves nonprofits. There he worked closely with the MacArthur Foundation to increase awareness of the MacArthur Fellows awards. Ferguson, a native of Alabama, graduated from Birmingham Southern College. He also attended the University of St. Andrews in Scotland as a Rotary Foundation International Scholar and graduated from Harvard Kennedy School with a master’s in public policy. The institute seeks to empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity and sustain natural resources.


Pierre Ferrari, 65

President and CEO
Heifer International, Little Rock
Pierre Ferrari, who joined Heifer in 2010, was born in what was then the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and raised in Congo, Kenya and England. He has a master’s degree in economics from the University of Cambridge and a Harvard MBA. He has both private sector and nonprofit experience, including at Coca-Cola USA, Care and the Small Enterprise Assistance Funds. Heifer, which seeks to end hunger and poverty, primarily through the gift of livestock, operates in 30 countries and had assets of $170.4 million as of June 30, 2014.


David A. Frueauff, 49

President
Charles A. Frueauff Foundation Inc., Little Rock
David Frueauff is the grandnephew of Charles A. Frueauff, whose estate was used to found the Frueauff Foundation. The foundation focuses its giving on educational, human services and health-related causes. It had assets of $111.2 million at the end of 2013. The foundation has made more than $130 million in grants to more than 650 agencies and institutions since its founding in 1950.


Kaneaster Hodges, 77

President
Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation Inc., Bentonville
Kaneaster Hodges, a Newport native, has a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, a master’s in 1963 in theology from Perkins School of Theology of Southern Methodist University in Dallas and a law degree from the University of Arkansas School of Law. He also served as a Democratic interim senator representing Arkansas after the death of incumbent Sen. John L. McClellan. The Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation, with assets of $625.8 million at the end of 2014, supports colleges and universities in Arkansas and community foundations operating in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.


Donna Huckabee

CEO
Winthrop Rockefeller Trust, Little Rock
Donna Huckabee has been with the Winthrop Rockefeller Trust for 31 years and is one of only two employees of the nonprofit. The trust, a private foundation, had $132.2 million in assets as of June 30, 2014. It makes awards for various purposes focusing on Arkansas and education.


Peter G. Kumpe, 69

President
University of Arkansas Fayetteville Campus Foundation
Peter Kumpe is a founding member of the Little Rock law firm of Williams & Anderson. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1969 and graduated with honors from the University of Texas School of Law in 1972. The UA Fayetteville Campus Foundation supports the Honors College and Graduate School at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. The foundation had $513.6 million in assets as of June 30, 2014.


Heather Larkin, 44

President and CEO
Arkansas Community Foundation Inc., Little Rock
Heather Larkin has worked at Arkansas Community Foundation since 1998, becoming its president and CEO in 2008. Larkin, a native of Charleston, received a bachelor’s degree from Hendrix College in Conway and is a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law. She is a board member of Just Communities of Arkansas, Keep Arkansas Beautiful Foundation, Rotary Club 99 and Acansa Arts Festival. The Arkansas Community Foundation, which had assets of $232.8 million as of June 30, 2014, creates, invests and manages funds established by corporations, individuals and nonprofits to fulfill the charitable intent of the donors.


Bruce R. Lindsey

Chairman
Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, New York and Little Rock
Bruce Lindsey is chairman of the board of directors of the Clinton Foundation. He joined the foundation in 2001 as general counsel and served as CEO from 2003 to 2013. Lindsey was assistant and deputy counsel to the president during President Bill Clinton’s two terms in office. He had previously been a partner at the law firm of Wright Lindsey & Jennings of Little Rock. Lindsey received a bachelor’s degree from Rhodes College and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. The Clinton Foundation had assets of $332.5 million as of the end of 2014.


R. Madison Murphy, 58

President
Murphy Foundation, El Dorado
Madison Murphy serves as president of the Murphy Foundation, a private family foundation that focuses on the education, health and well-being of the citizens of south Arkansas, particularly those in El Dorado. Murphy is the son of Murphy Oil Corp. founder Charles Murphy Jr. and sits on the board of Murphy Oil and Deltic Timber Corp. The foundation had $60.2 million in assets as of April 30, 2015.


Buddy D. Philpot, 57

Executive Director
Walton Family Foundation Inc., Bentonville
Buddy Philpot joined the Walton Family Foundation as executive director in 2001, and though the foundation announced his retirement in August, he continues to serve as chief of the foundation prior to the announcement of his successor. Philpot previously had worked at the Walton family-owned Arvest Bank Group and was president and CEO of Arvest Bank in Springdale. He has banking degrees from the Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas and the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University. The Walton Family Foundation is the largest nonprofit in the state with assets of $2.8 billion.


Anita Scism, 59

President and CEO
Endeavor Foundation, Springdale
Anita Scism, born and raised in northwest Arkansas, was named the chief of the Endeavor Foundation in 2008. She previously was president and CEO of the Walton Arts Center. Scism attended the University of Arkansas and is a member of the Council on Foundations. The Endeavor Foundation is a community foundation with 80 funds and total assets of $180.5 million as of the end of 2014.


Scott Varady, 52

Executive Director
Razorback Foundation Inc., Fayetteville
Scott Varady is new to the Power List, having joined the foundation in December after more than 19 years with the University of Arkansas’ Office of the General Counsel. Before coming to the UA, he worked as an associate at the law firm of Mitchell Williams Selig Gates & Woodyard in Little Rock and with the firm of Swidler & Berlin in Washington, D.C. Varady also was a staff member for the late Sen. Dale L. Bumpers and former Rep. Bill Alexander. Varady, a Little Rock native, earned his bachelor’s degree from the UA, a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. The Razorback Foundation supports intercollegiate athletics at the UA. The foundation had $45.2 million in assets as of June 30, 2014.


Alice Walton, 66

Founder
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville
Alice Walton, only daughter of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. founder Sam Walton and his wife, Helen, was the driving force behind the creation of Crystal Bridges Museum, which opened Nov. 11, 2011. The museum, which is developing a worldwide reputation, had assets of $983.9 million as of the end of 2014.


Sherece Y. West-Scantlebury, 50

President and CEO
Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, Little Rock
Sherece West-Scantlebury came to the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation in 2007. She has a bachelor’s degree from Bowie State University in Bowie, Maryland, a master’s from the University of Michigan and a doctorate from the University of Maryland. West-Scantlebury also was a fellow of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Policy Institutes. The foundation had assets of $145.2 million at the end of 2014. It focuses on economic development, education, and economic, racial and social justice.


Darrin Williams, 47

CEO
Southern Bancorp Inc., Arkadelphia
Darrin Williams took the helm of Southern Bancorp in 2013. Williams graduated from Hendrix College in Conway and got his law degree from Vanderbilt University and a master’s of law from Georgetown University Law Center. Before joining Southern, Williams served in the Office of the General Counsel for the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, as Arkansas chief deputy attorney general and later as a partner at the law firm of Carney Williams Bates Pulliam & Bowman. He also spent three terms in the Arkansas House of Representatives, serving as chair of the House Judiciary Committee and speaker pro tempore of the 89th Arkansas General Assembly. Southern Bancorp is a rural development bank. It has 45 branch offices in the Mid-South and more than $1 billion in total assets.


The Power List

Accounting

Agriculture & Timber

Architecture & Engineering

Banking & Finance

Construction

Economic Development

Education

Energy & Utilities

Government

Health Care

Insurance

Law

Manufacturing

Media & Marketing

Real Estate & Development

Retail

Technology & Telecom

Tourism

Transportation

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