Has any previous year brought so many changes atop so many of Arkansas’ largest businesses and institutions?
Here’s a list, certainly not comprehensive, of chief executive changes in 2025, starting with publicly traded companies.
1. CEO Shake-Up
John Furner will succeed Doug McMillon as CEO of Walmart Inc. when the Bentonville retailer ends its fiscal year on Jan. 31. Furner is a second-generation Walmart executive who started as an hourly associate in 1993. He has been CEO of Walmart U.S. since 2019. Mindy West will step up from chief operating officer at Murphy USA Inc. of El Dorado on Jan. 1, when Andrew Clyde retires after serving as CEO since the company was spun off from Murphy Oil Corp. in 2013.
Seth Runser will become CEO of ArcBest Corp. of Fort Smith on New Year’s Day, when Judy McReynolds retires after 16 years in the job. Runser was formerly president of the ABF Freight division and took the title of president from McReynolds in 2024.
Jay Brogdon will start the new year as CEO of Simmons First National Corp. of Pine Bluff, the holding company for Simmons Bank, of which he has been president since 2023. George Makris Jr. was CEO from 2013 to 2022 and then took the job back on Jan. 1, 2025, when Bob Fehlman retired. PAMT Corp. of Tontitown, the publicly traded trucking company, promoted Lance Stewart from chief financial officer to CEO in August, after Joe Vitiritto’s resignation in June.
CDI Contractors, the construction division of Dillard’s Inc., got a new CEO in September. Mike Preston, the former director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission and then a managing director at Stephens Inc. of Little Rock, succeeded retiring Mark Beach.
Privately held Arvest Bank, the second-largest bank chartered in Arkansas, promoted Matt Machen from COO to CEO when Kevin Sabin retired on Nov. 1.
Stephens Inc. got its third generation of leaders in January when Warren Stephens retired after 39 years to become ambassador to the United Kingdom. His sons, Miles Stephens and John Stephens, were named co-CEOs of the investment banking firm, and daughter, Laura Stephens Brookshire, was named chair of the executive committee and senior executive vice president.
John D. Harris was fired by Coulson Oil Co. of North Little Rock in October after 13 years as CEO, and the private petroleum distributor filed a civil suit accusing Harris of using corporate credit cards for more than $5 million in improper personal expenses. Harris has denied wrongdoing. Little Rock attorney Baker Kurrus, a business consultant and former state-appointed superintendent of the Little Rock School District, is serving as interim CEO.
New managers were also appointed in the public sector:
In January, retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Jay B. Silveria succeeded Donald Bobbitt as president of the University of Arkansas System.
Suzanne Peyton was promoted to executive director of the Clinton National Airport in Little Rock earlier this month, succeeding Steven Baker, who resigned in September.
2. Hard Year for Farmers
Arkansas farmers had a difficult row to hoe in 2025.
Arkansas’ soybean, cotton and rice farmers faced high costs of production — like rising costs for seed, fuel, fertilizer and labor — and depressed commodity prices. Arkansas crop value was expected to fall by $617 million.
“Breaking even is the best-case scenario this year,” said Hunter Biram, an assistant professor and extension agriculture economist with the University of Arkansas.
Sen. John Boozman, the chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, told Arkansas Business that it’s more expensive for Arkansas farmers to grow a crop than what they will get paid for it.
Bankruptcies among Arkansas farm families were on the rise this year too. Joel Hargis of Caddell Reynolds Law Firm in Jonesboro said row crop farmers were “hurting.” “I mean, they’re hurting badly,” he said.
President Donald Trump instituted wide-ranging tariffs that upset traditionally reliable foreign markets for agricultural products. China, normally the biggest buyer of U.S.-grown soybeans, decided to buy its soybeans from South America instead.
Farmers welcomed action from Trump and Congress to increase the reference prices used to determine when a commodity price is low enough to trigger a farm subsidy payment. Farmers had said the previous prices, which were based on the 2011-2012 crop year, were outdated.
In December, Trump and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced $12 billion in agriculture aid. The payments expected to reach Arkansas were expected to account for about half of the crop value lost by Arkansas farmers this year.
Jennifer James, a rice farmer in east Arkansas, said rain and delayed plantings also made this year difficult.
“There’s not a whole lot of good news in row crop agriculture in the state right now, but farmers are optimistic people, so we keep thinking that something good is going to happen,” James said.
3. Data Centers on the March
Artificial intelligence hubs and giant data centers were some of the biggest projects announced in the state this year, with big tech companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Meta and Oracle committing billions of dollars to building data centers across the country.
Google is constructing a $4 billion data center across a 1,178-acre site in West Memphis. The campus will include a data center facility, office buildings, substation facility and other infrastructure. Google plans to employ 300 people at the site, which will deliver huge computing power for the cloud, networking and data storage.
An unnamed Fortune 100 company is planning two $1 billion projects in central Arkansas. The first is a 300,000-SF facility on 440 acres at the Port of Little Rock. The project would create about 50 jobs, and additional data center facilities could be built at the site if the original project succeeds.
The unnamed company is also planning to build a 300,000-SF data center on Lollie Road near the Conway airport, representing the largest capital investment in the city’s history. That project would also create around 50 jobs.
And in November, news broke that California-based Serverfarm is working on a large-scale data center valued at at least $1 billion in Clarksville, acquiring two parcels totaling 135 acres.
Entergy Arkansas will provide the bulk of the electricity for the Arkansas data centers, which aim to meet the computing demands of artificial intelligence, machine learning and expanded cloud services.
These giant centers are not without drawbacks. Critics argue the projects raise utility rates for consumers and are a drain on the state’s water and energy resources. Residents also have concerns about a lack of transparency around the details of these projects, as well as noise and pollution.
4. ABCBS Gets a New Partner
Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield gained a partner in 2025 after experiencing, in 2024, its worst financial loss as it tried to keep pace with rising costs.
ABCBS announced in November that it will partner with Cambia Health Solutions of Portland, Oregon, in a “strategic affiliation,” allowing Cambia to manage and operate the Little Rock nonprofit health insurer.
Under the partnership, the two organizations will remain independent entities but “share operations, share technology, which is a big part of this, as well as share staff,” ABCBS CEO Curtis Barnett told Arkansas Business.
The agreement is subject to regulatory approval in Arkansas, which is expected to come in 2026.
Arkansas Business had reported in January that ABCBS, ranked among the state’s largest private companies, was in talks about a possible partnership with Cambia. ABCBS serves more than 1.9 million people and Cambia serves more than 3.6 million through its regional health plans in Oregon, Idaho, Washington and Utah.
ABCBS decided to work with Cambia because of the rising costs of health care services.
Founded in 1948, ABCBS lost $226.2 million in 2024, compared with a net income of $13.2 million in 2023.
The company attributed the loss to a rising number of medical services for its members and higher costs for outpatient surgery and hospital services. In addition, ABCBS has seen an increase in “high-dollar” claims and prescription drug costs for weight-loss medications, cancer drugs and other specialty medicines.
But ABCBS projects that it will be close to breaking even for 2025.
ABCBS has 3,200 employees. Last month, however, eligible employees were given the option of taking an early retirement. The timing of the offer had nothing to do with Cambia, an ABCBS spokeswoman said. The move was done as a way to manage its resources and position itself for long-term stability and success, she said.
5. Steel Boom Continues
2025 saw the continuation of the state’s steel boom, with multiple companies expanding their presence in Arkansas.
In June, Japan’s Nippon Steel completed its $14.9 billion acquisition of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel, committing to spend $11 billion in new investments in U.S. Steel by 2028.
The acquisition was followed by a November announcement that the company planned to invest another $3 billion in Mississippi County to build a new direct reduced iron (DRI) plant and upgrades to allow for the capacity to produce grain-oriented steel. The DRI project is legally required to have the spending and commitment completed by the end of 2028.
Next door to U.S. Steel’s Big River 1 and 2, Hybar LLC of Osceola completed construction of its new $700 million rebar plant and produced its first rebar in June. Arkansas Business broke the news in March that Hybar was considering a second plant in Mississippi County and confirmed the expansion in June. In October, Hybar 2 gained state approval for an air permit.
Steel fabricators also made moves across the state, with Lexicon Inc. of Little Rock announcing plans in March for a $37.6 million expansion of its corporate headquarters and steel fabrication operations in Little Rock. That four-phase expansion is set to take place over two years.
In August, steel fabricator Merrill Steel of Schofield, Wisconsin, announced plans for a $32 million manufacturing facility in Osceola, taking over the space formerly occupied by Denso Manufacturing Arkansas Inc. The project is expected to create 108 jobs over three years.
And this month, Basden Steel, a structural steel fabrication company based in Burleson, Texas, announced an expansion to Marked Tree. The 70-acre property in Poinsett County marks the company’s first true greenfield project.
6. Arkansas’ Generation Gap
Arkansas utilities spent 2025 scrambling to address an electricity demand crisis, and lawmakers sought to bolster the state’s competitiveness with the Generating Arkansas Jobs Act.
The act lets utilities charge ratepayers for the cost of building capital projects as they go up, rather than waiting until they’re complete. The idea was to help Arkansas compete for data centers and other big projects.
Entergy Arkansas is working on a pair of $1.6 billion power generation stations in Jefferson County that they hope to finance under the act. One would help power a $4 billion Google project in West Memphis.
With electricity demand expected to reach unprecedented levels over the next few years, Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. is planning a billion-dollar, 1-gigawatt gas-fired power plant near Texarkana. Southwestern Electric Power Co. and Oklahoma Gas & Electric have new power plant plans before the Arkansas Public Service Commission.
The generation projects go hand in hand with billions of dollars’ worth of transmission project priorities by Little Rock’s two grid overseers, Southwest Power Pool and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator.
Bills for ratepayers are sure to go up; at year’s end, regulators were weighing a dozen separate rate increases, some as high as 24%.
“Never before has the industry seen the amount of electricity growth potential that we’re seeing today through data centers, reshoring and manufacturing,” Arkansas Commerce Secretary Hugh McDonald said. And he should know. He was CEO of Entergy Arkansas for 16 years. “That lack of excess capacity is driving the need for new generation plants.”
But skeptics fear a construction spree will batter ratepayers. “We know that energy prices are going up,” Arkansas Advanced Energy Association Director Lauren Waldrip said. “But we want to continue to make sure that mechanisms are in place to put some downward pressure on costs.”
7. Health Care Concerns Under Big Beautiful Bill
Many Arkansas hospitals were still recovering from the effects of COVID in 2025 when a new concern emerged for executives: the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The OBBBA will slash about $1 trillion from health programs, resulting in an estimated 10 million people in the U.S. losing their health insurance, according to the Center for Medicare Advocacy.
The bill also will change the Affordable Care Act marketplace. The ACA’s enhanced premium tax credits are set to expire at the end of the year, and it’s estimated that about 5 million people will lose their health insurance as a result, the Center for Medicare Advocacy said.
Hospital executives said they were concerned that if the tax credits weren’t extended, people would choose to not have insurance. But those uninsured people will still require health care services and end up in the emergency department, which is the most expensive way to receive care.
To offset the cuts to health programs, the OBBBA created the Rural Health Transformation Program, which will distribute a total of $50 billion to states during the next five years to improve rural health care. The state of Arkansas applied for $1 billion in funds, and awards will be decided by Dec. 31. Arkansas could see its first distribution in early 2026.
During the year, hospitals continued to see the costs of supplies, pharmaceuticals and labor remain higher than before COVID. The hospitals’ revenue increases, however, didn’t keep pace with expenses. There were marginal increases for Medicare reimbursements and no increases for Medicaid.
On Arkansas Business’ list of the largest hospitals and medical centers released in October, 39 hospitals out of 95 reported a loss during 2024.
8. Lithium Quest Rolls Forward
Arkansas’ lithium industry cleared key regulatory and financing hurdles in 2025 and ended the year on the brink of a final investment decision on a $1.45 billion production plant near Lewisville.
The Arkansas Oil & Gas Commission approved landowner royalty rates for Smackover Lithium and Saltwerx, frontrunners in the race to kick-start domestic lithium production in south Arkansas. The royalty issue was a prerequisite for selling Arkansas lithium products to battery manufacturers.
Smackover Lithium, a joint venture between Standard Lithium of Canada and Equinor of Norway, expects the Lewisville plant to produce 22,500 tons of lithium carbonate per year, starting as early as 2028. The project started the year by securing a $225 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to speed construction.
The company also successfully tested its direct lithium extraction methods. DLE processes pull lithium from brine already being used for bromine production and reinject the spent brine underground, avoiding environmentally harmful evaporation ponds and open-pit mines.
Saltwerx, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, acquired significant brine fields and drilled exploration wells in 2025, and gained royalty rate approval for its Pine Unit project in Lafayette and Miller counties.
Albemarle, a bromine player in the region for decades and the world’s largest lithium producer, began running a direct lithium extraction pilot plant in Magnolia. Chevron bought a major lithium stake in Arkansas and east Texas this year, and EnergyX of Austin announced plans to build a $700 million DLE plant in the Smackover region.
The Arkansas General Assembly approved tax incentives in its spring session to attract lithium producers and related battery supply chain businesses to the state. And the Venture Center launched the Arkansas Lithium Technology Accelerator in June. The state also held its second annual Lithium Innovation Summit in October.
9. Tariff Troubles
The business community waits for the ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court on the legality of President Donald Trump’s tariff policy, a decision that is expected early next year.
Many experts believe tariffs have contributed to the slowing national economy and continued stickiness of inflation. In Arkansas, farmers and trucking companies especially are under stress, facing rising costs and shrinking trade markets because of tariffs.
In May, Walmart Inc. of Bentonville said prices for many items could increase because of the current tariff environment’s effects on inflation. Trump responded with a social media post saying that Walmart should absorb the additional costs.
“Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain,” Trump posted. “Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and not charge valued customers ANYTHING.”
The trucking industry grew concerned about Trump’s 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada. More than 40% of Class 8 trucks are imported from Canada and Mexico.
“The uncertainty regarding tariffs is disrupting, if not stifling, decisions for our customers and companies,” said John Culp, president of Maverick USA in North Little Rock and chairman of the Arkansas Trucking Association. “A 25% tariff will impact our businesses, and I see no way it will not lead to inflation.”
Economist Mervin Jebaraj said in October prices haven’t spiked because many companies are waiting on word from the U.S. Supreme Court.
“As of now, the broader national economy is slowing quite a bit, employment has slowed quite a bit, and inflation is not coming down fast enough, and there is a lot of uncertainty on when we will have to pay for the tariffs,” said Jebaraj, the director of the Center for Business & Economic Research at the University of Arkansas’ Walton College of Business.
10. Health Education Advances
It was a big year for health education in Arkansas, for both people and animals.
Lyon College welcomed the inaugural class of students to the state’s first dental school. The Lyon College School of Dental Medicine opened in Little Rock’s Riverdale neighborhood, where the school takes up seven floors of an office building on the former Alltel campus. The school plans to admit 80 students per year for a total of 240 students. Arkansas was one of 14 states without a dental school and the only state with more than 2.5 million people that did not have a dental school. Arkansas ranks near the bottom in oral health rankings.
Lyon College also unveiled renderings in February for a veterinary school in Cabot. The school is scheduled to open in fall 2026 and plans to admit 120 students annually.
Meanwhile, Arkansas State University broke ground on a $33.2 million building this year for a veterinary school in Jonesboro. The college will welcome its first students to the 56,000-SF facility in fall 2026.
In Bentonville, Walmart heiress Alice Walton advanced a pair of health endeavors this year with new developments at the Heartland Whole Health Institute and the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine.
The institute opened an 85,000-SF facility where it will promote a whole-health approach to wellness, with the goal of improving access and reducing costs for health care. The 154,000-SF medical school, which welcomed its first 48 students this year, will use a curriculum that focuses on disease prevention and uses a “whole-person approach to care.” The school said it received more than 2,000 applications for its first 48 spots.
Both Walton-associated endeavors will share a campus with Walton’s Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
11. Franklin County Prison
The battle over a proposed 3,000-bed prison near Charleston continues more than a year after Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced the state had purchased 815 acres for just shy of $3 million.
Area residents and some local officials are strongly opposed to the new facility, with many saying the proposed site can’t support the prison. The estimated $825 million price tag is also causing concerns, but Sanders said the state has a critical shortage of prison space and spends $30 million annually to house inmates in county jails.
The state Legislature, behind a bill proposed by Sen. Jonathan Dismang, attempted to pass $750 million in funding for the prison, but Senate Bill 354 failed five times in the Senate. Because it is an appropriations bill, it required a three-quarters majority. In five votes between April 1 and April 8, the Senate failed to reach a three-quarters majority. The last vote was 21-9 in favor, short of the 75% threshold.
About $75 million has already been approved by the General Assembly to fund construction of the prison. Supporters of the facility have promised to try again in the next legislative session.
The Sept. 2 death of Sen. Gary Stubblefield, who represented Franklin County, threatens to complicate opposition to the facility. Stubblefield was a vocal opponent of the prison, and, after his death, Sanders announced the election to fill his position would be in November 2026.
After criticism that such a lengthy delay would help the pro-funding side, Sanders moved the election to June, still after the April fiscal legislative session. Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Patricia James ruled in October that the June date would unconstitutionally deprive voters of a say in next year’s session.
Sanders has appealed James’ ruling, but did set a March 3 special election date to comply with the order while it is on appeal.
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