‘True Grit’ (Editorial)

(Left) Judy McReynolds of ArcBest and the late Jo Luck of Heifer International.

We hope readers took the time to read our Marty Cook’s profile last week of Judy McReynolds, who is retiring as CEO of ArcBest at the end of the year. Under her leadership, the company remade itself, rebranding from Arkansas Best to ArcBest and transforming itself from a transportation enterprise to a full-service logistics company.

McReynolds took the helm during the Great Recession but led ArcBest to profits of more than $1.2 billion since 2010.

What stuck with us most, however, were remarks by her husband, Lance: “It’s not a smart move to underestimate her. She plans and she prepares and she outworks everyone in the room.”

Also last week, word came of the death of Jo Luck, one of the first women to hold a cabinet-level position in Arkansas government but better known for her leadership of the nonprofit Heifer International.

Jo Luck (she insisted on using both names) was, like McReynolds, a transformational leader, seeing Heifer grow to an organization with a budget of $130 million and build a state-of-the-art world headquarters in east Little Rock. In 2010, she received the World Food Prize for her work with Heifer.

McReynolds and Jo Luck both demonstrated that quality perhaps best described by fellow Arkansan Charles Portis: “true grit.”