Denver Peacock and Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr.
Denver Peacock has known Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. for years; he just didn’t realize recently how many years.
They’d worked together on Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Rotary Club and the Little Rock Sister Cities Commission, but he never realized he’d known Scott as a child
“He wasn’t Frank Scott Jr., but D.J. Scott, when he was one of my 12-year old campers at Kids Across America camp in Branson, Missouri, many many moons ago,” Peacock said in introducing Scott on Wednesday as the recipient of the Communicator of the Year Award bestowed by the International Association of Business Communicators’ Arkansas chapter.
The club also honored Bobby Roberts, the retired longtime director of the Central Arkansas Library System, as recipient of its John K. Woodruff Award for lifetime achievement. Past winners have included Joe Booker, former U.S. Sen. David Pryor, Craig O’Neill, Ron Robinson, Dale Nicholson and Leroy Donald.
Peacock, principal of the Peacock Group in Little Rock, said he and Scott had shared meals, prayed together and conversed many times over the past few years, but never made the camp connection until Scott ran across an old picture recently.
“True story,” Peacock said. “I have a few photos to prove it, but I’ve been sworn to secrecy.”
Scott said that communication had been key to his mayoral victory in a crowded field and then in a runoff last year, spreading a message of unity, job growth and public safety. He said Little Rock must come together, reclaim its “swagger” and work to become a great city. “I didn’t do this alone,” he said. “I owe so much to my entire team.” In particular, he praised Senior Adviser Kendra Pruitt and Lamor Williams, the city’s communications and marketing manager, who were both in attendance.
A former intergovernmental affairs director for former Gov. Mike Beebe, Scott is also an associate pastor, a former state highway commissioner and an ex-board member of the Little Rock Port Authority. “When we come together, we are more than just a series of neighborhoods and ZIP codes,” he said. “We are the people of Little Rock.”
Roberts, introduced by Jeff LeMaster, a past president of the IABC chapter, said he signed on at CALS as a six-month interim director but stayed for 27 years. “I must have liked it a lot,” he quipped, before calling clear communication a crucial factor in his ability to help pass 17 of 22 ballot issues on public funding for the library system. “You’ve got to be able to tell the people exactly what you’re going to do with the money,” he said. Another essential is asking for the right amount of money for projects, and following through, he said.
“Little Rock has always seemed to me to be on the cusp of being a great city,” he said, indicating that under Mayor Scott that prospect looks bright. “You must have essentials like a good fire department and roads, but great cities also take care of matters of the mind,” he said. That commitment can be seen in libraries, parks and museums, additions that are “set on top of the basics.”
Sign up for Daily E-news
