Brad Phelps, formerly chief deputy attorney general for the state of Arkansas, has been named associate general counsel of the Arkansas State University System. Phelps has served in various roles in the attorney general’s office since 2003 and became chief deputy in 2010. He began his duties with the ASU System office in Little Rock on Nov. 3.
Agriculture
Jeff Miller, professor of agricultural communications in the Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food & Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, has been awarded the VIP Citation by the National Future Farmers of America. Miller, who is retiring from the National FFA Agricultural Communications Career Development Event Committee after 14 years, was one of 17 national award winners.
Education
Thomas Wolfe has been promoted to deputy chief information officer at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, where he was previously director of operations in information technology services. Wolfe has more than 15 years of experience in IT and a master’s degree in information security and assurance.
Brad Miller, an associate professor and associate chair in the Department of Engineering & Physics at Harding University in Searcy, has been named to the new position of director of the Office of Sponsored Programs. Beginning Jan. 1, Miller will facilitate and administer all grants that are awarded to the university and faculty members.
Financial Services
Gary Sams has been named vice president and retail manager for BOKF in Fayetteville, and Maria Grayson has been named assistant vice president and branch manager in Bentonville. BOKF is a Tulsa bank that does business in Arkansas under the name Bank of Arkansas. Sams was previously a market manager for Associate Bank of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and has worked for Wells Fargo and Arvest Bank. At Bank of Arkansas, he will direct retail branch strategy for the bank’s consumer division.
Grayson was previously a branch manager for the Public Service Credit Union in Denver. She has spent more than 20 years in the financial services industry with experience in branch management and mortgage, consumer and commercial lending.
Thomas J. Longe has been elected to the board of directors of Home BancShares Inc. of Conway, the parent company of Centennial Bank. Longe is the president and chief operating officer of The Trianon Cos. of Naples, Florida. He has worked in the acquisition, development, management and financing of various commercial and residential real estate developments. Longe is also the former chairman, CEO and president of TIB Financial Corp., which was a publicly traded bank holding company in Florida.
Health Care
Trey Gwaltney has accepted the position of controller at ARcare, a nonprofit provider of health care services based at Augusta. The position was previously held by Teresa Edwards, who is moving into the position of vice president of finance. Gwaltney, who has been with ARcare for three years, has a degree in accounting from Harding University at Searcy.
Nonprofits
Ray Dillon, CEO of Deltic Timber Corp. of El Dorado, is a new member of the board of directors of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute Foundation at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. Other new directors are David Avery, vice president of corporate affairs for Windstream Holdings Inc. of Little Rock; Wade Ruckle of Maumelle, CEO of Central Bank in Little Rock and Pinnacle Bank in northwest Arkansas; Ed Bennett of Maumelle, senior vice president of the private client group for Regions Insurance Group; Cameron Smith of Rogers, founder and president of Cameron Smith & Associates Inc. and CSA Outplacement & Career Coaching; Dr. Hershey Garner of Fayetteville, a radiation oncologist at Highlands Oncology Group; and Denise Garner of Fayetteville, a retired oncology nurse practitioner and president of Complements Properties LLC. n
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