Woodruff County native Lana Roth kept her focus rural after graduating from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 2011.
The Arkansas State University business graduate had a reason to pinpoint Stuttgart, the “Rice Capital of the World,” as her destination.
“My boyfriend then, husband now, was from Stuttgart and farms here. So I wanted work in this area, and a mutual connection put me in touch with Keith Glover, CEO of Producers Rice Mill, who was looking for an in-house lawyer.”
Roth took the job and soon became general counsel for the 850-employee company. She’s been a civic leader ever since, serving on the Planning & Zoning Commission and leading the Chamber of Commerce
in the town of 8,100. Roth and her husband, Clint, also manage a fifth-generation rice, soybean and corn farm. “I never thought ‘rice’ would be an integral part of my work and home life.”
Roth counts shepherding a 26-megawatt solar power project through the regulatory process as her top achievement at Producers. “It will be the largest private solar and storage facility in the state, and it was a multiyear process. We have the pieces in place, and we’re supposed to start construction this spring.”