The Conway Area Chamber of Com-merce’s third annual Women in Business Awards, presented by the University of Central Arkansas Foundation and Sim-mons Bank, honored individuals in the Conway area who have excelled in leader-ship and community service and who have inspired others on both a personal and pro-fessional level. Each year, four individuals receive the “Outstanding Woman in Busi-ness Award,” sponsored by Conway Corpo-ration and Southwestern Energy.

This year’s Outstanding Women in Busi-ness winners are Melissa Britton of Con-way Management Inc., Chasity Campbell of Abundant Wellness/Bodyworks Spa, Tess Fletcher of Children’s Advocacy Alliance and Lori Ross Scroggin of Conway Regional

Health System. The honorees embody high standards of excellence, dedication and ac-complishment to their respective organiza-tions, industries and to the business com-munity.

The “Diamond Achievement Award” is presented to an individual with at least 25 years of professional experience. This award recognizes a woman who has inspired and empowered many generations of women and who has had a positive impact on those in her profession and in the community. Fletch-er Smith’s Jewelers awards the Diamond Achievement Award recipient with a dia-mond-studded pendant featuring the Con-way “C.”

Lori Case Melton of Arvest Bank is the 2014 Diamond Achievement Award winner.

Melton is vice president of business develop-ment at Arvest Bank and worked for Centen-nial Bank for 13 years. The Arkansas Bank Marketing Association named Melton “Bank Marketer of the Year” in 1999 and again in 2007. She is the only banker ever to have re-ceived the award twice.

Chamber of commerce and association executives from Brownwood, Texas; Dal-las, Texas; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Atlan-ta, Georgia, selected the 2014 award recip-ients.

This year’s guest speaker, sponsored by Acxiom, was Sonja Yates Hubbard, CEO of E-Z Mart Stores. Hubbard spoke about “Diversity, Adversity and Connections” and

WOMEN IN BUSINESS < 4D

December 2014

Women In BusinessCongratulations to the 2014 women in business

2014 Women in Business honorees, from left: Melissa Britton, Conway Management Inc.; Chasity Campbell, Abundant Wellness/Bodyworks Spa; Lori Case Melton, Arvest Bank – Diamond Achievement Award recipi-

ent; Tess Fletcher, Children’s Advocacy Alliance; and Lori Ross Scroggin, Conway Regional Health System.

As the holiday shop-ping season officially kicked off last month, thousands of central Arkansas residents got a digital reminder of all Conway has to offer. Last month more than 13,000 households in Beebe, Cabot, Mau-melle, Searcy and Rus-sellville were targeted with a Facebook mar-keting campaign high-lighting Conway holi-day shopping options.

The campaign was made possible through a new partnership the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce has with Acxiom. “For the first time we’re able to exe-cute fairly sophisticat-ed digital marketing campaigns in-house,” said Jamie Gates Se-nior Vice President of the Conway Area Chamber. “Reach-ing out to our targets through Facebook gave us instant feedback and a much higher con-

DIGITAL < 2D

Convention and visitors bureau digital Campaign

targets area shoppers

Faulkner County Business Journal To subscribe call (501) 329-2927 • Log Cabin Democrat2D — Sunday, December 14, 2014

Tour Group visits NYC through Chamber, Collette Vacations

A group of Arkansas travelers experienced The Big Apple Dec. 1-5 on a five-day guided tour by Collette Vacations.

The Conway Area Chamber of Commerce of-fered the all-inclusive ex-cursion through Collette – an international tour, cruise and vacation agen-cy. Through the partner-ship, the Chamber is able

to provide locals with a hassle-free travel opportu-nity at a group rate. Col-lette Vacations is a family-owned business offering 150 tours to destinations on all seven continents.

Led by a professional tour manager, the group took a sightseeing tour in Manhattan to the Stat-ue of Liberty, Ellis Is-land, Central Park, the

9/11 memorial and oth-er world-renowned land-marks. Attendees expe-rienced the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, a show-ing of Disney’s “Aladdin” on Broadway, the Metro-politan Museum of Art, Times Square, the Rock-efeller Center Christmas Tree, and shopping on Fifth Avenue.

The tour group consisted of (Row 1, from left) Adena White, Glenda Hall, Mary Caroline Grimes, Laura Grimes, and Kathryn Weaver; Row 2: Kaye Talley, Ronnie Hall, and Donna Zurborg; and Row 3: Linda Paxton, Stephanie Talley, and Donna Boxley.

version rate.”The Convention and

Visitors Bureau (CVB) campaign targeted wom-en within the trade area of a certain income who had children in the house. Only individuals within the trade area, but out-side of Faulkner County were shown the ads. The trade area was defined as west of Lake Dardanelle, north of Greers Fer-ry, south of Lake Mau-melle and along high-way 67/167 from Cabot to Bald Knob.

“We felt like that was our “perfect customer” for a holiday shopping promotion” said Gates. For the last several years the CVB has done a back-to-school and a

holiday direct mail cam-paign. Gates says that this year’s digital cam-paign will complement

rather than replace the former mail strategy. “We

own that data. We will continue to use it off-line, through the mail, and on-line in places like Fa-cebook.”

During the five day promotion, the CVB Fa-cebook page got approxi-mately 1,000 new “likes.” The promotion includ-ed a $500 holiday shop-ping spree giveaway in the form of a cash card. As the posts were “liked” or “shared” individuals became eligible to win. Gates said that the goal of the campaign was to create ongoing digital re-lationships for the CVB so that events and pro-motions beyond back-to-school and Christ-mas could be promoted throughout the year.

DIGITAL from 1D

A CVB sponsored Facebook campaign persuaded area shoppers to shop Conway for the holidays

“We own that data. We will continue to

use it off-line, through the

mail, and on-line in places

like Face-book.”

Faulkner County Business Journal Sunday, December 14, 2014 — 3D Log Cabin Democrat • Find our online edition at www.thecabin.net

CONWAY, Ark. (December 8, 2014) – Arkansas high school students will now have 100 percent of their financial need covered to attend Hendrix College, thanks to the Hendrix Arkansas Advan-tage. The new program is now available for Arkansas high school seniors enroll-ing at Hendrix in the fall 2015 semes-ter.

“Hendrix has always been a place for Arkansas students to have a world-class liberal arts experience in their home state, and we always should be,” said Hendrix President Bill Tsutsui. “We should never, ever, be out of reach for Arkansas students.”

The Hendrix Arkansas Advantage is for Arkansas high school seniors who have a 3.6 or higher GPA and who have a 27 ACT or above or 1200 SAT (exclud-ing Writing) or above. The program will

meet students’ demonstrated financial need through all forms of financial assis-tance, including merit scholarships, need-based grants, federal and state grants, federal student loans and student em-ployment.

“We know that cost is a critical issue for students choosing a college, and many students and families assume that a pri-vate college is prohibitively expensive,” Tsutsui said. “But when you consider the financial aid we offer and our four-year graduation rate, Hendrix is a very good investment for Arkansas students and families. And the Hendrix Arkansas Ad-vantage is the best investment we can make in those students and in our state.”

For more information on Hendrix Ar-kansas Advantage, call 501-450-1362 or

HENDRIX < 4D

Hendrix to Meet All Financial Need for Arkansas Students

Photo by Mike keMP

Price .........Address .............. Bed/BAth ....... suBdivision ............sQFt ...... $/sQ Ft ......Built

$650,000 .........1605 Stanley Russ Road ...5/5/1 ...................... None ..................................... 7500 ........... $86.67 ...............2000$496,000 .........4605 Sawgrass Cove .........5/5/0 ...................... Centennial Valley ................... 4597 ........... $107.90 .............2000$461,500 .........1735 Centennial Club .......5/4/1 ...................... Centennial Valley ................... 4720 ........... $97.78 ...............1998$431,600 .........16 Edge Hill .......................4/3/0 ...................... Ridge Point............................ 3240 ........... $133.21 .............2014$375,000 .........830 Reynolds Ave ..............3/2/1 ...................... The Village at Hendrix ............ 2300 ........... $163.04 .............2013

top REsIDENtIal HomE salEs, DECEmBER

Last month, at the age of 97, longtime Conway businessman and philanthropist Felton O’Kelley died. Mr. O’Kelley built sev-eral successful busi-nesses and served on a number of local civic and charitable boards. Any of those contri-butions are worthy of lengthy discussion. But we want to share a story about one single decision, made by Mr. O’Kelley alone, that permanently changed the course of Conway’s economic future.

Mr. O’Kelley’s ear-ly professional suc-cesses were in the con-crete and construction trades. One day in the early 1960’s, he was contacted by an out-of-state team of sur-veyors and engineers. It seems that the very

public and political discussions of exactly where to put interstate 40 had been discrete-ly and quietly made. These surveyors need-ed concrete markers to designate the center-line through the then-undeveloped route. Mr. O’Kelley’s business was the logical local vendor.

So understand, that for a brief moment in time, Felton O’Kelley had the means and op-portunity to singular-ly capitalize on this priceless information. The only thing stand-ing in the way was his own darned civic-mind-edness. You see—Mr. O’Kelley served on the Conway Development Corporation (CDC) board. That still-young organization was in the midst of discussing how to best provide for Con-

way’s economic future.Rather than person-

ally profit from his “in-sider knowledge” Mr. O’Kelley advised the board that an indus-trial park adjacent the new interstate would give Conway a huge head start towards re-cruiting manufactur-ers. You can probably figure out the rest of the story. The CDC did develop that industrial park. It was the first one in Arkansas to be owned by a non-prof-it for the benefit of the community. And it was and is a success by any measure.

But for a brief win-dow of time 50 years ago, all that success hung in the balance as a good man chose to put his community’s prosperity above his own.

An overdue thank youEDItoRIal

visit www.hendrix.edu/ar-kansasadvantage.

Founded in 1876, Hen-drix College is a national leader in engaged liberal arts and sciences educa-tion. This year, Hendrix was named the country’s #1 “Up and Coming” lib-eral arts college and #8 in the nation for “Best Un-dergraduate Teaching” by U.S. News and World Re-port. Hendrix is featured in the 2015 Fiske Guide

to Colleges, Forbes maga-zine’s list of America’s Top Colleges, the 2014 Prince-ton Review’s The Best 378 Colleges, and the latest edition of Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think about Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliat-ed with the United Meth-odist Church since 1884. For more information, vis-it www.hendrix.edu.

via Hendrix.edu

her family’s legacy. Her father, Jim Yates, found-ed the privately held, family owned and oper-ated company in 1970. Before becoming CEO of E-Z Mart, Hubbard, a certified public ac-

countant, worked for the chain for 27 years as as-sistant controller, con-troller and chief finan-cial officer.

Twenty high school seniors and their coun-selors representing

Conway High School, Greenbrier High School, Vilonia High School, St. Joseph Catholic School, Conway Christian High School and Guy Perkins High School were invit-ed to attend the event, which was made pos-sible by Textbook Bro-kers. The campus book-store, which has more than 60 locations around the United States, gave

each student attending a $100 textbook voucher to be used at any of their stores.

Everyone attending Women in Business re-ceived scented candles from Park Hill Home and UCA Bear magnets.

For more information about Women in Business, visit Con-wayChamber.org/Women-In-Business.

Faulkner County Business Journal To subscribe call (501) 329-2927 • Log Cabin Democrat4D — Sunday, December 14, 2014

Lori Case Melton of Arvest Bank received the 2014 Diamond Achievement Award.

E-Z Mart CEO Sonja Yates Hubbard spoke about “Diversity, Adversity, and Connections” at the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2014 Women in Business event.

WOMEN IN BUSINESS from 1D

The Conway Area Cham-ber of Commerce recently re-leased their 2015 “Blueprint.” The Blueprint is the sched-ule and program of work for all chamber sponsorships and ad-vertising. “As area businesses make decisions about how to best identify consumers, recog-nize leaders and build new re-lationships we hope they will look toward the Blueprint for direction,” said Brad Lacy Con-

way Area Chamber of Commerce CEO. “The Blueprint also offers our members one stop for a cal-endar year’s worth of events.”

The 2015 Blueprint identifies

13 events hosted by the chamber and 4 channels of traditional ad-vertising. If your business is in-terested in participating in the 2015 suite of chamber program-ming please contact Lindsay Henderson at 501.327.7788.

Chamber releases 2015 “Blueprint”

CONWAY, Ark. (De-cember 4, 2014) – The Village at Hendrix, LLC and Conway realty group J.C. Thornton & Co. are jointly developing the McKennon Building.

The new 15,000 square foot mixed-use space, along Harkrider in The Village at Hen-drix, will include two two-story buildings with five commercial bays to accommodate small of-fices and 11 one-bedroom apartments on the upper floor.

The 1,300-sq.-ft. office spaces will be geared to-ward business profes-sionals, such as attor-neys, financial advisors and insurance represen-

tatives. The new offic-es of J.C. Thornton & Co. will also be located in the McKennon Building.

“The McKennon Build-ings will serve a need for high quality small office space in The Village and downtown Conway and continue to build on The Village’s commitment to providing spaces to work, live and play.” said Ward Davis, Chief Executive Officer for the Village at Hendrix.

Construction on the new project began in October and will be completed by late spring 2015. For leasing information, contact Ward Davis at 501-499-4000 or davisw@thevillagea-thendrix.com.

McKennon Building Mixed-use developMent to open late spring 2015

Hendrix Village Adds New Commercial, Residential Space

HENDRIX from 3D

Faulkner County Business Journal To subscribe call (501) 329-2927 • Log Cabin Democrat6D — Sunday, December 14, 2014

Connect Arkansas, a project of the Arkan-sas Capital Corpora-tion Group, recently an-nounced an exciting initiative to assist busi-nesses in Vilonia and Mayflower – communi-ties affected by the April tornadoes – with special assistance to help its businesses better com-pete.

In conjunction with broadband research firm Strategic Networks Group (SNG), Connect Arkansas is providing Faulkner county busi-nesses – including Vi-lonia and Mayflower – with the opportunity to participate in the Small Business Growth Pro-gram, which provides one-of-a-kind resourc-

es and customized guid-ance on the benefits of increased Internet us-age.

The Small Business Growth Program helps businesses understand what meaningful and ex-panded Internet utiliza-tion could mean for their business. Participating local businesses that take an online self-assessment will receive invaluable business intelligence in the form of a roadmap to driving revenues and re-ducing costs.

SNG has surveyed tens of thousands of businesses across the na-tion regarding their In-ternet use and accompa-nying financial benefits, which allows SNG to compare how a Faulkner

county business is lever-aging broadband’s ben-efits in comparison to their peers and competi-tors. For example, a par-ticipating manufacturer with 10 employees will receive a customized re-port that shows the top three Internet applica-tions (in terms of reve-nue and cost benefits) that they should be un-dertaking – along with the average financial im-pact their peers are real-izing.

In addition, Connect Arkansas is conducting a statewide study of small- and medium-sized (less than 100 employees) businesses to develop strategies to improve Ar-kansas businesses ability to compete in an increas-

ingly digital economy.“We’ve found that

small businesses across North America are typ-ically slow to adopt In-ternet applications,” said Doug Adams, vice pres-ident of communica-tions for SNG. “Research in more than 10 states shows us time and again that small businesses ei-ther don’t understand how Internet applica-tions are relevant to their business or lack the will to take the time to de-ploy them. We’re thrilled to be able to help Vilonia, Mayflower and Faulkner county rebound using best practices of Internet utilization.”

To take the survey visit www.connect-arkansas.org/survey

Faulkner County businesses eligible for “digital economy” assessments

Therese Pollard

The Conway Area Chamber of Commerce has hired Therese Pollard as director of events. Pol-lard is responsible for the planning and execution of select Chamber events, including Academic Sign-ing Day, Bowling for Busi-ness, Teacher Breakfast & Education Fair, Minor-ity Enterprise Develop-ment Awards Gala, Busi-ness After Hours, and CEO Luncheons.

“I am thrilled to wel-come Therese to the Chamber. I believe our members will find her a joy to work with,” said Lindsay Henderson, se-nior vice president of Chamber operations. “The Chamber hosts a number of events throughout the year, so it was important to hire someone who was thorough, creative and people driven. We have found that with Therese.”

Pollard was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but spent most of her childhood in Arkansas af-ter her parents relocated

to Cherokee Village. She moved to Conway in 2003 to attend school at the University of Central Ar-kansas, where she grad-uated with a bachelor’s degree in English Educa-tion.

Prior to her role at the Chamber, Pollard worked in UCA’s Division of In-ternational Engagement as international partner-ships coordinator. She be-gan working for the divi-sion nearly seven years ago as a graduate assis-tant while she pursued a master’s degree in Eng-lish. She became a full-time employee in 2009.

“I am so proud to have the opportunity to work with the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce and be part of a team of such creative and ded-icated people,” Pollard said. “After living in Con-way for the past 11 years, I have witnessed tremen-dous growth; now I feel very fortunate to be a part of the continued develop-ment of our great city.”

Therese Pollard named Chamber’s director of events

Carolers from Arvest Bank’s Conway locations sang a collection of holiday favorites during the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual Christmas Open House. The event took place Thursday, Dec. 11, from 2 to 4 p.m.

Christmas Open House

Faulkner County Business Journal Sunday, December 14, 2014 — 7D Log Cabin Democrat • Find our online edition at www.thecabin.net

Unemployment RateOctober

Seasonally AdjustedUS ................................................. 5.8%Arkansas ....................................... 6.0%

Not Seasonally AdjustedUS ................................................. 5.5%Arkansas ....................................... 5.1%Faulkner County .......................... 4.7%Conway ......................................... 4.6%

Sales Tax CollectionsConway* September

2014 .................................$2,033,1682013 .................................$1,883,448Percent Change 7.9%

Year to Date (September)2014 .............................. $17,172,6462013 .............................. $17,134,076Percent Change 0.23%

Annual2013 .............................. $23,235,8912012 .............................. $22,944,163Percent Change 1.3%*Tax Rate 1.75%

Faulkner County* September2014 ....................................$770,9042013 ....................................$713,845Percent Change 8.0%

Year to Date (September)2014 .................................$6,467,1322013 .................................$6,371,070Percent Change 1.5%

Annual2013 .................................$8,588,8352012 .................................$8,465,686Percent Change 1.5%

*Tax Rate 0.5%

Restaurant Sales*October

2014 .............................. $15,168,8282013 .............................. $13,776,844Percent Change 4.3%

Year to Date (October)2014 ............................$146,394,5792013 ............................$137,798,641Percent Change 9.9%

Annual Sales 2013 ............................$164,989,5862012 ............................$161,318,563Percent Change 2.3%*Including mixed drink sales

Hotel SalesOctober

2014 .................................$1,667,4152013 .................................$1,473,429Percent Change 13.2%

Year to Date (October)2014 .............................. $16,668,2852013 .............................. $16,225,500Percent Change 2.5%

Annual Sales2013 .............................. $18,556,9112012 .............................. $18,683,676Percent Change -0.7%

Conway Building Permits

Single Family HomesYear to Date (November)

2014 .................................108 Permits2013 .................................131 PermitsPercent Change -17.6%

Annual2013 .................................147 Permits2012 .................................186 Permits 2011 .................................153 PermitsPercent Change 2013-2012 -21.0%

Average Construction Cost*Year to Date (November)

2014 ....................................$223,8432013 ....................................$229,029Percent Change -2.3%%

Annual2013 ....................................$228,2752012 ....................................$207,5372011 ................................... $204,387Percent Change 2013-2012 10.0%*Not including land or lot improve-ments

Average Square Footage*Year to date (November)

2014 ...........................................2,9292013 ...........................................3,022Percent Change -3.1%

Annual2013 ...........................................3,0022012 ...........................................2,9102011 ...........................................2,814Percent Change 2013-2012 3.2%

Average Construction Cost Per Square Foot*

Year to Date (November)2014 .........................................$76.352013 .........................................$75.79Percent Change 0.7%

Annual2013 .........................................$76.042012 .........................................$71.332011 .........................................$72.64Percent Change 8i2013-2012 6.6%%* Total under roof

Lottery SalesFaulkner County* November

2014 .................................$1,062,4642013 .................................$1,139,563Percent Change -6.8%

Year to Date (November)2014 .............................. $12,918,321

2013 .............................. $14,448,801Percent Change -10.6%

Annual2013 .............................. $17,038,2772012 .............................. $16,943,909Percent Change 0.6%

Total State November2014 .............................. $30,324,7682013 .............................. $31,820,221Percent Change -4.7%

Year to Date (November)2014 ............................$367,782,0022013 ............................$397,947,716Percent Change -7.6%

Annual 2013 ............................$432,932,7992012 ...........................$452,245,215Percent Change -4.3% Natural Gas

Severance Tax DistributionConway

Year to Date (November)2014 ....................................$340,1982013 ....................................$255,027Percent Change 33.4%

Annual2013 ....................................$276,5232012 ....................................$162,523Percent Change 70.2%

Faulkner CountyYear to Date (November)

2014 ....................................$277,1312013 ....................................$207,002Percent Change 33.9%

Annual2013 ....................................$224,4552012 ....................................$131,418Percent Change 70.8%

Information provided by Pulse of Conway

EconomyGlance

With a goal to make the community safer one woman at a time, Grandmaster Han’s Martial Arts is offer-ing free self-defense classes to women who work for or represent businesses and or-ganizations that are members of the Con-way Area Chamber of Commerce.

Master Tom Mul-laney of Grandmas-ter Han’s Martial Arts will lead the self-de-fense class on Satur-day, Dec. 20, from 10 a.m. until noon. The class will take place

at Grandmaster Han’s Martial Arts Acade-my, located at 1216 Harkrider Street in Conway.

The next class is scheduled for Satur-day, Jan. 24, from 10 a.m. until noon. Mul-laney began offering the free, monthly self-defense classes in No-vember and plans to schedule addition-al classes throughout 2015.

Reservations are avail-able by calling 501-291-2HAN (2426) or emailing gmh@conwaycorp.net.

Free women’s self-defense class offered Dec. 20

The Conway Area Chamber of Com-merce’s 2015 commu-nity profile and re-source guide is now available at Conway-Chamber.org. Con-way+ is the theme of the 2015 quality-of-life and local refer-ence publication. It will be available in print in the coming weeks.

The Chamber

sends the guide by di-rect mail to prospec-tive residents and companies that con-tact the Chamber about relocating to Conway, households of a qualifying in-come relocating with-in Conway’s tradi-tional trade area, and high-income house-holds in Conway and surrounding commu-nities.

Chamber Resource Guide Available Online