Robert Shults

Robert Shults has established a reputation as a keen-minded numbers guy with a talent for structuring deals that leave both parties happy.

The 68-year-old chairman and CEO of Little Rock’s Financial Centre Corp. was attracted to the world of balance sheets and P&L statements while devouring books and magazines as a young man.

“I read some articles that intrigued me that one of the ways to get ahead in business was to enter through accounting,” said Shults, who grew up in Marvell (Phillips County). “I always wanted to run my own business and thought accounting was my best shot to do it.”

After high school and a stint with the U.S. Marine Corps, Shults headed for the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and majored in accounting.

Shults joined the St. Louis office of Arthur Andersen after graduating cum laude in 1961 and opened the accounting firm’s Memphis office in 1966. He came to Little Rock to work at Allied Telephone Co. (now Alltel Corp.) as executive vice president and CFO in 1970.

A decade later, Shults left to become chairman and CEO of Financial Centre Corp. and Skyways Airline, which was taken public in 1982 and merged with Air Midwest in 1984.

For the past 20 years, he has focused his energies on Financial Centre Corp., which pioneered commercial development in west Little Rock’s Financial Centre Parkway and Shackleford Road area. Shults recalls the challenge of working through millions of dollars of debt tied to a prime rate that hit 21 percent.

These days much of Financial Centre Corp.’s work is at The Ranch, a 600-acre mix of residential, office and retail projects on Highway 10 in west Little Rock.

Shults has served on the Arkansas Children’s Hospital board of trustees for more than 20 years. A member of Fifty for the Future, he also is active with the Arkansas division of the American Cancer Society and the Arkansas Arts Center.

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