Self-employed Americans and those whom they hired accounted for 44 million jobs in 2014, according to the Pew Research Center.

“The self-employed, 14.6 million in all, represented 10% of the nation’s 146 million workers, and they in turn provided jobs for 29.4 million other workers,” the Pew Research Center said. The center analyzed U.S. Census Bureau data.

The self-employed were found most in the fields of agriculture, forestry and fishing; construction; and professional and business services.

Thanks to Wal-Mart’s policy of front-end loading stock awards for top executives, Greg Foran was the higest paid executive in Arkansas during 2014.

Foran received stock awards in April 2014 for his performance as CEO of Walmart Asia and then more stock as part of a three-year performance incentive program when he was named in August 2014 to succeed Bill Simon as CEO of Walmart stores in the United States.

Foran’s stock awards were worth almost $15.8 million. That, plus a $500,000 cash bonus, pushed Foran’s total compensation to $19.5 million for the fiscal year that ended Jan. 31, 2015.

That was enough to edge out his boss, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. CEO Doug McMillon.

McMillon’s total compensation last year was just under $19.4 million — down nearly $6 million from the previous year, when he had been promoted and similarly benefited from bonus shares.

Foran and McMillon occupy the top spots on this week’s list in which executives of 19 publicly traded companies headquartered in Arkansas are ranked by total compensation as disclosed in the companies’ most recent proxy statements. In most cases, the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2014; exceptions are Tyson Foods Inc. (Oct. 3, 2014), Wal-Mart and Dillard’s Inc. (Jan. 31), Acxiom Corp. (March 31) and America’s Car-Mart Inc. (April 30).

Get the Lists

A total of 94 executives are ranked, and their total compensation ranged from Foran’s $19.5 million to the $182,435 in salary and other compensation that Michael K. Borrows earned in just over three months as chief financial officer of USA Truck Inc. of Van Buren.

Arkansas Business’ list ranks executives by total compensation as reported in each company’s annual proxy statement. The list breaks down the total into salary, the calculated value of stock and stock options awarded, bonuses or other cash performance pay, plus any other compensation reported to the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.

The 94 executives were paid a total of $277.9 million in their most recent fiscal years, of which only $46.7 million — less than 17 percent — came in the form of base salary. Performance-based pay is preferred by proxy advisory firms like Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. of New York, whose recommendations to institutional investors have shaken up “say on pay” votes.

In mid-2014, for instance, Bank of the Ozarks Inc. of Little Rock changed its executive compensation strategy after a negative report from ISS resulted in a dramatic drop in the percentage of proxy votes that approved of the old strategy. CEO George Gleason’s base salary dropped from $1.73 million in 2013 — the highest on the list — to $1 million in 2014, but his total compensation increased from $4.3 million to $5.1 million.

In 2014, the highest salary, just under $1.3 million, was paid to Roger Jenkins, president and CEO of Murphy Oil Corp. of El Dorado. His total compensation of $12.8 million put him at No. 3 on the list.

Cash realized by the exercise of stock options is reported on the list but is not included in the compensation total; however, it added another $31.7 million to the total earned by executives last year.

If windfalls from stock options were included, Tyson Foods Chairman John H. Tyson, who realized $11.3 million by cashing out options, would be No. 1 with total income of $20.15 million. Instead, he’s at No. 10 with $8.85 million.

Of the 94 executives on the list, only 25 exercised stock options in the periods covered by the most recent proxies.

Nine Women

Among the 94 executives on the list are nine women. The only woman making her first appearance is No. 41 Shelley Simpson, EVP, chief marketing officer and president of Integrated Capacity Solutions for J.B. Hunt Transport Services of Lowell.

Four of the women are members of the Dillard family that controls Dillard’s Inc: No. 37 Drue Matheny, No. 63 Denise Mahaffy, No. 88 Alexandra Dillard and No. 93 Annemarie Dillard.

The highest paid woman on the list is No. 8 Rosalind G. Brewer, whose $9.5 million in total compensation as CEO of Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club division during the year that ended Jan. 31 was down from $11.7 the previous year.

Nada C. Stirratt, who ranked 29th, resigned on March 31, the end of Acxiom’s fiscal year. Her total compensation of $2.5 million included severance benefits of more than $900,000.

The other women on the list are No. 30 Judy R. McReynolds, president and CEO of ArcBest, and No. 34 Mindy K. West, chief financial officer of Murphy USA.

New Names

Foran, Simpson and Borrows were among 19 new names on this year’s list. The other newcomers are:

• No. 6 David Cheesewright, EVP of Wal-Mart and president and CEO of Walmart International;
• No. 25 Walter K. Compton, secretary of Murphy Oil;
• No. 36 K. Todd Montgomery, vice president of Murphy Oil;
• No. 51 J. French Hill, now congressman from the 2nd Congressional District who was briefly an EVP of Simmons First National Corp. of Pine Bluff after it acquired Delta Trust & Bank, where Hill was CEO;
• No. 52 Robert E. Gunderman, CFO and treasurer of Windstream Holdings Inc. of Little Rock;
• No. 57 Marn K. Cheng, senior vice president of retail operations for Murphy USA Inc. of El Dorado, which was spun off of Murphy Oil in 2013;
• No. 58 J. Lavon Morton, SVP of risk and chief audit executive at ArcBest Corp. of Fort Smith;
• No. 61 Michael R. Johns, ArcBest’s VP and general counsel;
• No. 70 Jeffrey H. Lester, who was hired as EVP of risk management and safety by USA Truck in 2013 and resigned in August 2015 after the new CEO, Tom Glaser, asked him to work in Van Buren on a daily basis rather than commuting in from Dallas;
• No. 72 John C. Eichler, Windstream’s controller;
• No. 75 Russell A. Overla, who was EVP of truckload operations for USA Truck until his resignation in September;
• No. 78 Allen W. West, who was promoted to CFO at P.A.M. Transport Inc. of Tontitown in September 2013;
• No. 85 Don “Trey” Barrett III, COO of Inuvo Inc., which last week completed the move of its headquarters from Conway to Little Rock;
• No. 90 R. Thomas Fritsche and No. 91 J. Matthew Machen, both EVPs for Bear State Financial Inc. of Little Rock; and
• No. 92 Randall G. Gottlieb, president of Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies of Springdale.

Robert Gunderman’s brother, Kenneth, is now CEO of the Windstream REIT spinoff, Communication Sales & Leasing Inc. of Little Rock. CS&L has not completed its first fiscal year and its executives were not included in this year’s compensation research.

Already Gone

Stirratt, Hill, Lester and Overla aren’t the only executives who have left the jobs they had in 2014.

Others who are already gone include:

• No. 5 James V. Lochner, who retired in September 2014 as Tyson Foods’ chief operating officer;
• No. 7 Jeffery R. Gardner, who resigned as CEO of Windstream a year ago this week and in August was named CEO of Monitronics International of Dallas;
• No. 16 James I. Freeman, who re-tired as CFO of Dillard’s on Feb. 1;
• No. 21 Brent Whittington, who resigned as CPP of Windstream in September 2014 and bought Moots Cycles of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, on Oct. 1 of this year;
• No. 46 John Simone, whose health forced him to resign as CEO of USA Truck in July and to be succeeded by Glaser;
• No. 49 Roy M. Slagle, who retired as SVP of ArcBest’s ABF division in October 2014;
• No. 68 John C. Rudolfs, who resigned as EVP of marketing for Murphy USA in May 2014;
• No. 86 Clifton R. Beckham, who resigned as CFO of USA Truck in September 2014 and was subsequently hired as president and COO of Earl L. Henderson Trucking of Caseyville, Illinois;
• No. 89 Christopher M. Wewers, who resigned from Bear State Financial in March and is now chief financial officer at Southern Bancorp Inc. of Arkadelphia.

No. 59 David L. Bartlett has announced that he will retire from Simmons First National Corp. next month.

The sale of Parkway Bankshares Inc. of Portland (Ashley County) to Citizens Bancshares of Batesville Inc. will close at $21.8 million.

The math of the all-cash transaction for the parent company of the $133 million-asset Parkway Bank of Rogers works out to a book value multiple of about 1.41.

Portland denizens associated with the Pugh and Newcome families are represented strongly among the roster of Parkway shareholders. Some of the largest investors include:

• Marjohn 99 Trust, led by co-trustees Robert D. Pugh and Edward Scherm, 12.54 percent worth $2.7 million;
• Marilyn Newcome, 9.77 percent worth $2.1 million;
• Patricia S. Newcome Testamentary Trust, 9.77 percent worth $2.1 million;
• Robert D. Pugh Family Trust, 9.64 percent worth $2.1 million;
• Jerry Sadler of Siloam Springs, former chairman and CEO of Parkway Bank, 5.71 percent worth $1.2 million;
• VMM 2000 Trust, led by Mary Pugh Manning, 4.45 percent worth $970,000; Robert D. Pugh, 2.99 percent worth $651,000;
• Thebes General Partnership, led by Mary Pugh Manning, 2.93 percent worth $638,000;
• Mike Necessary of Rogers, 2.10 percent worth $457,000;
• Leslie Borgognoni of Lake Village, CFO of Parkway Bank, 2.07 percent worth $451,000;
• Edward Scherm, chairman of Parkway Bank, 2.07 percent worth $451,000;
• Joel Newcome, 1.31 percent worth $285,000; and
• Robert Taylor of Russellville, CEO and president of Parkway Bank, 1.24 percent worth $270,000.

Northwest Branching

In addition to four full-service locations in southeast Arkansas, the Parkway acquisition will give Citizens Bank a second office in northwest Arkansas.

The Rogers office will join a Fayetteville branch that the $577 million-asset lender opened in July.

Two other banks are adding to their branch network in the Benton-Washington county market as well.

Arvest Bank of Fayetteville is developing its sixth full-service branch in Springdale, at the northwest corner of Elm Springs Road and 48th Street.

The $15.6 billion-asset lender has 20 full-service branches in Washington County and 21 to the north in neighboring Benton County.

First Western Bank of Booneville is developing its first branch in Bentonville at 1106 S. Walton Blvd.

The $331 million-asset lender operates four full-service branches in Benton County (three in Rogers and one in Bella Vista) but has zero offices in Washington County.

Citizens Bank of Batesville

^*Four in Batesville, two in Hot Springs and one each in Fayetteville, Mountain View, Imboden, Cave City and Pleasant Plains.
^**In thousands.

Remember the settlement we told you about in July that Little Rock businessman Walter Quinn hoped to work out in a federal lawsuit in Tulsa?

Things did not work out.

Prosperity Bank of El Campo, Texas, filed a $4.9 million consent judgment against Quinn, a leading investor in Heartland Bank of Bryant.

Also named in the Nov. 13 judgment are Quinn Investments Ltd., Quinn Management Co., RX Finance LLC, Rock Exploration LLC, Rock Oil & Gas LLC, QF Holdings LLC, The Quinn Living Trust and the Walter Quinn Irrevocable Family Heritage Trust.

The judgment is linked with a pair of delinquent loans. One loan originally totaled nearly $14.7 million and dates back to Sept. 28, 2012.

The other originally totaled $3 million and dates back to June 28, 2010.

We told you five months ago that Prosperity inherited the two contentious loans through its 2014 acquisition of F&M Bank & Trust of Tulsa for a $255 million combination of stock and cash.

Components of the unsuccessful settlement efforts included a would-be loan of $1.9 million from Simmons First National Bank of Pine Bluff and a would-be purchase of the loans by Platinum Partners of New York, a privately owned hedge fund sponsor.

Another ingredient floating in the financial settlement stew was the possible sale of Quinn’s holdings in Rock Bancshares, parent company of the $248 million-asset Heartland Bank.

Bank of the Ozarks Inc. of Little Rock said Tuesday that it will sell more than 2 million shares of common stock at a price of $52.42 per share — about $110 million.

The stock offering, expected to close Tuesday, will fund "general corporate purposes," including a capital contribution to the its bank subsidiary "to support its expected growth in non-purchased loans and leases."

Publicly traded (Nasdaq: OZRK) Bank of the Ozarks is a bank holding company with $9.3 billion in total assets as of Sept. 30. The company owns a state-chartered subsidiary bank that conducts banking operations through 174 offices in Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, New York and California.

NEW YORK - The mobile payment wars are heating up.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, said it's launching its own mobile payment system that will allow shoppers to pay with any major credit or debit card or its own store gift card through its existing smartphone app at the cash register.

It started testing the new payment feature Thursday at its stores in the Bentonville, Arkansas area, where the retailer is based. It plans to launch the payment system called Walmart Pay in all 4,500-plus U.S. stores in early next year.

It's part of Wal-Mart's overall mobile strategy to making shopping easier and faster, but the launch is the latest salvo in the battle for mobile payments that's in the early stages. Wal-Mart has moved into the field as Apple's one-year-old tap-and-pay system is being expanded to other merchants like Best Buy and KFC and several months after Google launched the Android Pay mobile wallet app and Samsung came out with Samsung Pay. They're all trying to get a piece of what could be a very lucrative business, but none of them have cracked the market so far.

Poll: Would you use Wal-Mart's new mobile pay system? Let us know here.

The move signals that Walmart believes it's best to build its own system to better serve its customers, even as it backs a retail industrywide mobile payment program that is in test phase.

"We are creating a seamless shopping experience that includes payment," Neil Ashe, president and CEO of Wal-Mart's global eCommerce, told reporters on a conference call on Wednesday. "It's fast. It's simple, and it's a secure way for customers to use their smartphone."

Twenty-two million customers use the Wal-Mart app each month, and more than half of Wal-Mart's online orders are now coming from a mobile device. This holiday season, Wal-Mart added new features like allowing online shoppers to check in once they get to the parking lot so they could have their online orders ready for pickup.

Wal-Mart executives said that after evaluating various mobile options, they found that they had different constraints, working only on certain devices or payment types. Apple Pay requires iPhones. But Google's own tap-and-pay services, Android Pay and Samsung's Samsung Pay require Android phones.

However, Ashe and Daniel Eckert, Wal-Mart's senior vice president of services, told reporters the system is designed to integrate with other payment applications like Apple Pay - if the retailer decides to include them.

Wal-Mart's move could be a blow to Merchant Customer Exchange, or MCX, set up a few years ago by a consortium of retailers and restaurants to create an industrywide mobile payment system. Wal-Mart has been a key player. But Wal-Mart executives told reporters they remain excited about the MCX pilot program for the payment system called "CurrentC." A pilot test is being conducted in Columbus, Ohio, and it involves Wal-Mart and 10 other retailers.

Nevertheless, Eckert noted, "We are listening to the needs of the customer. We are looking at innovating the checkout experience and using payment to do that."

Wal-Mart's new mobile payment systems works this way: Shoppers download the Walmart app and then select a payment method. At the register, they open up the app and then they activate the camera function to scan a QR code on the reader. That connects the phone to the basket of items they're checking out. Customers can put the phone away and an e-receipt application will be sent to the app.

Mobile-payment services from Apple, Google and Samsung all rely on wireless technology called NFC. The customer merely taps the phone next to a payment machine at the store and authorizes the purchase, usually with a fingerprint ID. But it works only in stores with newer, NFC equipment. Samsung goes further in offering a backup: The phone can mimic the old-school magnetic signals produced by card swipes and work with most existing equipment.

JPMorgan Chase, meanwhile, is working on its own system for mobile payments. But Chase Pay won't use NFC when it debuts next year. Rather, it will rely on QR that can be scanned by a register.

All of these services offer security benefits: They store and transmit an alternate card number that's generated by the card issuer. The merchant never gets the real card number, so it remains safe even if the store's system gets hacked. With Wal-Mart Pay, the company says no card information is stored on the phone, but the real card number is still stored at what it says is a secure data center.

The retail consortium's CurrentC system is similar to Apple - but customers don't use a fingerprint, and it doesn't use NFC technology. Customers scan a QR code on the reader.

Apple and others have faced some challenges to change the behavior of shoppers accustomed to just taking out their wallets to pay. Technology at the stores also has not kept pace with the efforts of the like of Apple.

When Apple launched in the U.S., the U.S. had 200,000 tap-capable machines. That's expected to surpass 1.5 million this year. The growth includes about 100,000 small to medium-sized merchants each month, Apple said. Apple has said that Cinnabon will add Apple Pay to all its U.S. locations next year, while Domino's company-owned pizza stores will get it by year's end. Apple also is conducting a pilot program with Starbucks, with a broader rollout next year, while KFC will launch next spring.

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

United Bank of Springdale named Paige Mulhollan as chief financial officer and senior vice president.

Mulhollan, a former Fayetteville resident, has more than 30 years of banking experience.

He joins United after serving as vice president and financial reporting manager of Western Alliance Bank in Arizona. 

"We are very blessed to have Paige join our UB team," said United Bank CEO and President Nathan Gairhan in a statement. "His banking experience and dedication to non-profit organizations like Habitat For Humanity are in direct alignment with United Bank’s values. We trust that he will be a positive addition to both the NWA region and our United Bank family."

Jeff Cude has joined BancorpSouth Bank as a senior vice president and senior lender in the Fayetteville branch.

Cude brings 26 years of experience in the financial industry with a focus in commercial banking.

He is a registered mortgage loan officer with the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System.

See more of this week's Movers & Shakers, and submit your own announcement at ArkansasBusiness.com/Movers.

It’s safe to say no Walton or Dillard will go hungry, but 2015 has not been kind to the family fortunes of Arkansas’ retail giants.

Actually, the year started out spectacularly for the families that control Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville and Dillard’s Inc. of Little Rock.

Dillard’s stock, which famously dropped below $4 a share during the winter of 2009, had clawed its way back from near-death and then exploded to $125 by the time 2015 arrived. And the ascent continued, peaking above $142 for a brief moment in April.

Wal-Mart stock also hit its all-time high in 2015, closing a hair above $90 a week into the year and pushing the value of the Walton family’s combined stock holdings tantalizingly close to $150 billion.

But as the year winds to an end, both stocks have tumbled precipitously. The Dec. 2 closing price for Wal-Mart was $59.66, off by more than a third from its zenith, while Dillard’s stock closed at $73.75 — down more than 40 percent year to date and by very nearly half from its high point.

Well, as Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton said when the dust cleared on Black Monday in October 1987, “It’s only paper.”

The Waltons are in no danger of losing the top spot on Arkansas Business’ annual list of the state’s top stockholders, with $99 billion in just those stock holdings that they are required to disclose publicly under U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission regulations.

After breaking the $1 billion mark for the first time back in the spring, members of the Dillard family, No. 5 on the list, have stock worth a combined $560 million as of Dec. 2.

Get the List

Dec. 2 closing prices were used to create the list. A total of 117 individuals and families are included on the list by virtue of owning at least $1 million in publicly disclosed stock. The top 10 spots are held by the same wealthy individuals and families as when the list was last compiled in November 2014, but Nos. 7-10 have changed positions.

The heirs of Don Tyson, No. 2 on the list, saw a second straight year of stellar growth in stock value, an additional $800 million since last fall after adding $1 billion the year before that. Meanwhile, the heirs to the Murphy oil and timber fortune, No. 4, had a second dismal year thanks to the plummeting stock value of their biggest holding, Murphy Oil Corp., as petroleum prices remained at historic lows.

The family of the late J.B. Hunt remained steady at No. 3 with a trucking fortune valued at $1.5 billion, off only slightly since the fall of 2014.

Rounding out the top 10:

• George G. Gleason II and his wife, Linda, retaining the No. 6 position but with a fortune in Bank of the Ozarks stock that has grown by roughly 40 percent each of the past two years to more than $307 million.

• Richard N. Massey, whom the SEC considers to be the owner of $203 million worth of stock in the fast-growing Bear State Financial by virtue of his position as managing member of Bear State Financial Holdings LLC, which recapitalized the old First Federal Bancshares of Arkansas. Massey also serves on the boards of Fidelity National Information Services Inc. and Fidelity National Financial Inc., which add $15 million to his personal total and moved him up one spot to No. 7.

• John W. Allison, who moved from No. 10 to No. 9 as the value of his stock in Home BancShares Inc. swelled by a third to almost $185 million and overtaking the publicly disclosed stock holdings in Texas-based Conn’s Inc. of Witt Stephens Jr. and his sister, Elizabeth Stephens Campbell.

The List

The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission requires public disclosure of stock held by officers, directors and any person or entity that owns at least 5 percent of the outstanding shares of any publicly traded company. The information included in Arkansas Business’ annual list is gleaned from corporate proxy statements and Forms 3, 4 and 5 filed with the SEC.

Unless otherwise noted, the shares are deemed by the SEC to be owned outright by the person or family listed. Exercisable options and restricted shares are generally not included.

The stockholders on the list can be presumed to have other investments, even in publicly traded companies, that aren’t made public and therefore aren’t included in the totals.

The four-count criminal indictment against former One Bank & Trust executive Tom Whitehead was dismissed Thursday by U.S. District Judge Kristine G. Baker at the request of federal prosecutors.

Whitehead's attorney, Charles D. Matthews of Hot Springs, confirmed that his client had negotiated an agreement to testify against two co-defendants who remain under indictment, former One Bank executives Michael Heald and Bradley Paul.

A fourth defendant, Gary Rickenbach, last month entered a conditional guilty plea provided Baker agrees to sentence him to two years of probation. Baker has not decided whether to accept the terms Rickenbach negotiated with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Little Rock.

All four men were indicted for their alleged roles in a $1.5 million line of credit extended to a Florida businessman, Albert Solaroli. Solaroli never repaid the loan, and the four were accused of helping One Bank's owner, the late Layton "Scooter" Stuart, cover up the loan loss.

Solaroli pleaded guilty in April to a negotiated charge of money laundering, and he's scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 21.

Matthews said he and Whitehead were "really happy" to have negotiated the dismissal of the charges — one of conspiracy, one of conspiracy to launder money and two of aiding and abetting the falsifying of bank records. Being able to negotiate dismissal rather than a plea agreement is unusual, he said.

Asked whether he thought Heald and Paul would go to trial — now scheduled to start May 31 — Matthews said, "I really don't know. There's no conversation going on with myself, representing Tom, and these other lawyers. That too is unusual."

Heald is represented by Gary D. Corum of Little Rock, and Paul is represented by Lloyd W. "Tre" Kitchens III of Little Rock.

Arkansas consumers increased their savings rates between March and September thanks to lower gas prices, and they expect to take on more auto loans and credit card debt in the next six months.

Those are among the findings from the third installment of the Fall 2015 Arvest Consumer Sentiment Survey released Tuesday. This installment focuses on consumers’ attitudes about spending, saving and debt.

Arkansas consumers’ household savings rate increased from 11.6 percent to 13.9 percent from March to September, the survey said. While the percentage of those planning to increase their savings rate fell from 20 percent to 14 percent, the number of Arkansas consumers planning to maintain their rate of savings went from 73 percent to 77 percent.

Arkansans’ consumer debt also remained below that of their neighbors in Missouri, including Greater Kansas City, in all categories except for auto loans and student loans.

For Arkansans planning on acquiring debt in the next six months, the largest percentage was those seeking student loans at 6 percent, up from 5 percent in March.

"It appears that low gasoline prices helped both higher- and lower-income families increase their savings rates," said Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas and lead economist for the survey. 

"As a result, fewer Arkansans indicated a desire to increase their savings further and more respondents indicated that they would either keep their current rate or decrease savings somewhat in the coming six months," she said. "More Arkansas respondents also indicated that they would be seeking auto loans and credit cards in September than in any of the previous Arvest Consumer Sentiment Surveys."

In Arkansas, 24 percent said they plan to make a major household purchase in the next six months, the same as in March. Major household purchases include items such as furniture, televisions and refrigerators. Those who said they had made a major household purchase in the past six months went down 2 percent to 37 percent in September.

The Arvest Consumer Sentiment Survey is conducted twice a year through 1,200 random phone surveys. The next round of results are scheduled for May. 

Regional, national and international experts will discuss the economic outlook for Arkansas, the nation and the world at the 22nd annual Business Forecast luncheon.

The event, coordinated by the Center for Business and Economic Research at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, will be from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29, at the John Q. Hammons Convention Center in the World Trade Center District in Rogers.

The panelists are:

• Moderator: Bill Dillard III, vice president, Dillard’s Inc. of Little Rock
• International Speaker: Michael Drury, chief economist, McVean Trading & Investments LLC
• Domestic Speaker: Kevin Kliesen, business economist, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
• Regional Speaker: Kathy Deck, director, Center for Business and Economic Research

"The Business Forecast luncheon is our premier networking event for business and community leaders from Northwest Arkansas, the state and the region," Walton College interim Dean Matt Waller said. "The forecasters provide the attendees with insights that they can use to anticipate economic challenges and opportunities over the coming year."

To register online, visit the business forecast website.

WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer prices were unchanged in November as declines in energy and food held down overall costs. But core inflation was up 2 percent over the 12 months ending in November. That was the fastest pace in more than a year and the kind of increase Fed officials want to see to justify the start of a round of interest rate increases.

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates after seven years of record lows. But it's signaling that further rate hikes will likely be made slowly as the economy strengthens further and muted inflation rises.

The Fed's move to lift its key rate by a quarter-point to a range of 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent ends an extraordinary seven-year period of near-zero rates that began at the depths of the 2008 financial crisis. Consumers and businesses could now face modestly higher rates on some loans.

The Fed's action reflects its belief that the economy has finally regained enough strength 6½ years after the Great Recession ended to withstand higher borrowing rates. But the statement announcing the rate hike said the committee expects "only gradual increases" in rates going forward.

Rates on mortgages and car loans aren't expected to rise much soon. The Fed's benchmark rate doesn't directly affect them. Long-term mortgages, for example, tend to track 10-year U.S. Treasury yields, which will likely stay low as long as inflation does and investors keep buying Treasurys.

But rates on some other loans, like credit cards and home equity credit lines, will likely rise, though probably only slightly as long as the Fed's rate hikes remain modest.

For months, Chair Janet Yellen and other Fed officials have said they expected any rate hikes to be small and gradual. But nervous investors have been looking for further assurances.

The central bank's target for the federal funds rate — the interest that banks charge each other — has been at a record low between zero and 0.25 percent since December 2008. At the time, Fed officials led by Ben Bernanke were struggling to contain a devastating financial crisis that triggered the worst recession since the Great Depression.

The recession officially ended in June 2009. But unemployment kept rising, peaking at 10 percent before starting to fall. The jobless rate is now at a seven-year low of 5 percent, close to the Fed's target for full employment.

After the financial crisis, the Fed turned to other extraordinary measures, including a series of bond purchases intended to shrink long-term loan rates. The Fed ended the purchases in October 2014, though it's kept credit loose by reinvesting its bond holdings.

Those enormous holdings will complicate the Fed's efforts to raise its target rate. But the central bank has tested other tools to help it achieve the increases it wants in the funds rate.

Some analysts expect the Fed to raise rates at every other meeting in 2016, for a total of four quarter-point moves. Others think that after Wednesday's hike, the Fed could wait until June before raising rates again.

While Fed officials want to move slowly, an acceleration in inflation could force them to raise rates more quickly. Right now, the Fed's preferred price gauge is up a scant 0.2 percent over the past 12 months. Even excluding volatile energy and food, prices are up just 1.3 percent.

Read the full Fed statement here. A key portion of the statement:

The Committee judges that there has been considerable improvement in labor market conditions this year, and it is reasonably confident that inflation will rise, over the medium term, to its 2 percent objective. Given the economic outlook, and recognizing the time it takes for policy actions to affect future economic outcomes, the Committee decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to 1/4 to 1/2 percent. The stance of monetary policy remains accommodative after this increase, thereby supporting further improvement in labor market conditions and a return to 2 percent inflation.

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

FIS will sponsor a startup accelerator in Little Rock devoted to financial technology, CEO Gary Norcross announced Thursday.

Norcross, delivering the keynote address to the 150th annual meeting of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, revealed that FIS had been working with the chamber to bring the FinTech Accelerator to the Venture Center in downtown Little Rock. He said it was satisfying to launch the program in the city where the company started.

FIS, based in Jacksonville, Florida, is a global banking technology services provider whose origins trace back to Systematics of Little Rock. It maintains a large campus in west Little Rock that employs roughly 1,300 workers with a focus on product development. Globally, it has more than 55,000 employees. 

The accelerator will set out to identify "global innovators and accelerate the development and growth of early-stage financial technology ventures," according to a news release.

Norcross said the 15-week program will be highly selective and admit up to 10 "fin tech" startups in its first installment, expected to begin in the spring.

Applications will be accepted beginning in January at VentureCenter.co/FinTech-Accelerator. 

The company did not release the amount of its investment or that of any potential seed investment the participating startups might receive. But it said it will start a community investment fund to raise money for the startups.

FIS said it will provide accelerator participants with mentoring and training as well as access to its facilities during the run of the program, but otherwise there will be no interest stakes or obligations between the company and the startups.

"We're excited about it," Norcross said. "There's so much value we can get from this mentorship."

Chris Cline, the FIS senior vice president who leads the Little Rock operation, said the company hopes to continue the FinTech program beyond the first cohort, but "right now, we're going to focus on the first one."

Another accelerator, the HubX-Life Sciences accelerator, was announced in October by the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub and Baptist Health. Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield signed on earlier this week as a sponsor. Its goal is to accelerate the growth of life-sciences startups. HubX will be based at the Innovation Hub in the Argenta district of downtown North Little Rock.

The FinTech Accelerator will live out of the Venture Center, which shares space with the Little Rock Technology Park at 107 East Markham in downtown Little Rock. Launched in 2014, the Venture Center has grown to more than 200 members, 76 active startups and 37 trained mentors who have led more than 340 mentor sessions. The center has produced 44 of its Pre-Accelerator program startups. Six of its member startups have raised more than $2.25 million in venture capital.

Norcross, an Arkansas native who sits on the board of the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, said he was pleased to work with the chamber and the Venture Center to further establish Little Rock as a microhub for tech startups.

He stressed the importance of innovation during his keynote speech, and said he believes the accelerator will help uncover it.

"Innovation is so important for a company like ours," Norcross said. "We have to stay ahead of the curve in this industry because it's changing so rapidly."

The industry is as disruptive as he's ever seen it, he noted.

FIS is projected to bring in $9 billion in 2016 revenue, up 12 percent since 2009. Norcross provided other FIS tidbits:

• FIS has more than 20,000 clients in more than 120 countries;
• It process more than 27 billion transactions last year;
• Boasted more than 34 million mobile banking users;
• Processed more than 848 million bank cards;
• And touches more than 750 million end consumers with its banking and financial software.

Other highlights from Norcross' address:

• Mobile delivery is changing everything, he said;
• Financial institutions used to be able to adopt a wait-and-see approach. No more;
• While it took ATMs 19 years to be widely used, mobile banking took only four years to become globally accepted;
• In 2016, FIS will invest $500 million back into research and development (the company operates five global innovation centers: San Francisco, New York, London, Bangkok and Bangalore, India);
• To young entrepreneurs, he said: "The most successful training we've all ever had has been where the failures have occurred." 

Before Norcross took the stage, chamber members officially voted in new 2016 board members, including 2016 Chair Jeff Hathaway of Coldwell Banker Hathaway Group, who takes over for Van Tilbury of East Harding.  

Farmers & Merchants Bank of Stuttgart on Friday named Bob King its community bank president for The Bank of Fayetteville, which Farmers purchased in November.

"We have full-faith and confidence in Bob, knowing he will lead our team with the same enthusiasm and focus he has exhibited during his long tenure at The Bank of Fayetteville," Farmers President and CEO Gary Hudson said in a news release.

King has been with The Bank of Fayetteville since 1999. He has been executive vice president of lending operations since July 2004. 

King said the bank's merger with Farmers brings "new opportunities and services" for its customers.

"I am honored to be appointed community bank president of The Bank of Fayetteville, and I’m committed to preserving the mission of our founders to be the premier community bank in northwest Arkansas," King said.

Farmers & Merchants announced the all-cash deal to buy The Bank of Fayetteville in July; the deal closed in November. At the time of the anouncement, the purchase price was not disclosed, but Arkansas Business reported in October that the $702 million-asset Stuttgart bank paid $42.3 million for the bank, about 1.34 times book value.

The deal is expected to boost the asset total of Farmers & Merchants beyond the $1 billion mark. The tally would make it the 13th Arkansas financial institution to achieve that asset milestone.

While The Bank of Fayetteville name remains on eight branches in northwest Arkansas, Mary Beth Brooks, the bank's then-CEO, told Arkansas Business in July that the banks' two bank charters will "more than likely" be merged.

Brooks has since left The Bank of Fayetteville. She was one of the bank's five largest shareholders.

The Ghost … clanked its chain so hideously in the dead silence of the night, that the Ward would have been justified in indicting it for a nuisance.

“’Oh! captive, bound, and double-ironed,’ cried the phantom, ‘not to know, that ages of incessant labour, by immortal creatures, for this earth must pass into eternity before the good of which it is susceptible is all developed. Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness. Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life’s opportunity misused! Yet such was I! Oh! such was I!’

“’But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,’ faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.

“’Business!’ cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. ‘Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!’

“It held up its chain at arm’s length, as if that were the cause of all its unavailing grief, and flung it heavily upon the ground again.

“’At this time of the rolling year,’ the spectre said, ‘I suffer most. Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode! Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!’”

***

Arkansas Business readers are, for the most part, good men and women of business — as was Charles Dickens himself. May this time of the rolling year be a comfort to you, and may we all remember the business poor Marley forgot: charity, mercy, forbearance and benevolence.

A long-running sibling dispute involving the national president of Ducks Unlimited that culminated in a multimillion-dollar land sale was the most-read story on ArkansasBusiness.com in 2015.

Senior Editor George Waldon’s Feb. 9 front-page story on disagreements between Deborah Tipton of Memphis and her younger brother, George Dunklin Jr., attracted strong reader interest throughout the first quarter of the year, even after Dunklin was declared the high bidder at a court-ordered auction of his family’s 15,881-acre farming and hunting holdings in Arkansas and Jefferson counties.

The Feb. 9 story and a Feb. 25 follow-up with auction results each drew enough traffic to place high in the year’s list of the 10 most-read stories, according to page views calculated by Google Analytics.

In fact, the Feb. 9 story appears to have drawn the most traffic ever by an Arkansas Business story in a single year in the website’s 16-year history. The Feb. 25 follow-up ranked No. 5.

Obviously, Dunklin’s status as DU president (he’s now its chairman) and his ownership of some of the state’s prime duck hunting properties — along with familial conflict and lots of money at stake — provided a mix that was irresistible to readers.

The year’s second-biggest draw was the website’s breaking news that the human remains found in March in Petit Jean State Park were those of long-missing Little Rock construction executive John Glasgow.

Hikers had discovered the remains the previous afternoon — a story Editor Gwen Moritz broke on ArkansasBusiness.com a few hours after the discovery noted that Glasgow was the only person reported missing in that area.

The discovery opened a new chapter in a mystery that Arkansas Business has covered extensively since the chief financial officer of CDI Contractors disappeared in January 2008. While Glasgow’s brother, Roger, believes the death was the result of “foul play,” the medical examiner could not make a conclusive ruling on the cause of death.

Arkansas Business readers also took a keen interest in upscale homes — how much those homes can cost and the legal headaches they can cause.

First, the No. 3 story is the latest entry of a perennial favorite: Pulaski County’s most expensive home sales of the year.

This year, Senior Editor Mark Friedman rounded up photos, prices and other details of the 14 biggest home sales of the previous year. The most expensive: a two-story, 3,400-SF Edgehill home purchased by Diane Wilder and Barnett “Porter” Briggs Jr. for $1.75 million. The home, built in 1988, was sold by Sherry Worthen. Other million-dollar homes on the list were found in the River Market District, the Heights, Hickory Creek and Chenal Valley.

Friedman’s report on another seven-figure home — a $1.25 million manor in Hillcrest — was the year’s ninth most-read story.

The cover story examined Dr. Joel Dworkin’s lawsuit against Kathleen “Kathy” Blasingame, the home’s former owner. After Dworkin bought the home from Blasingame, he discovered it had leaky windows and other issues that would cost more than $300,000 to repair.

Dworkin alleged Blasingame committed fraud by not telling him about the condition of the house. He wanted to rescind the real estate contract and alleged other unspecified damages. Blasingame denied the charges.

Ultimately, Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge W. Michael Reif ruled in favor of Dworkin, awarding him $102,200 in damages. But Reif said Dworkin was not entitled to rescind the contract.

Arkansas Business readers were also attracted to Managing Editor Jan Cottingham’s nostalgic look back at Buster’s Bar & Restaurant, the place to see and be seen in the 1980s in Little Rock.

Buster’s was Little Rock’s original “fern bar,” described by Cottingham as “a stylish establishment attracting young professionals — some single, some decidedly not.” Opened by James “Buster” Corley in 1978, the legendary watering hole hosted yuppies, legislators, lobbyists and “bond daddies,” securities salesmen who proliferated in the 1980s.

Cottingham’s look back came after a new crop of Arkansas legislators prepared to welcome Buster’s new incarnation, Dave & Buster’s, to Little Rock at the Gateway Town Center. The Legislature voted to raise the cap on how much a player of arcade games can win in order for the chain, which now offers food and drinks along with arcade games and billiards, to set up shop in Arkansas.

Other stories hit on familiar themes that remain popular with Arkansas Business readers: the intrigue that surrounds companies in trouble, big commercial real estate deals and local celebrities in business.

A simple update on construction at the new Lewis Crossing retail development in Conway drew thousands of views as it was shared widely on social media. Friedman’s update on the collapse of Turner Grain included new details from the bankruptcy hearing testimony of one of its former owners, Dale Bartlett, who claimed not to know what happened to the giant grain dealer.

Readers were also curious about disagreements among the partners in former Razorbacks quarterback Clint Stoerner’s insurance agency. The agency’s partners had removed Stoerner from his job at the

Stoerner & HaVas Insurance Agency Inc. claiming Stoerner did not do his job at the company, and Stoerner sued. The partners eventually settled out of court.

The 10 Most-Read Stories on ArkansasBusiness.com in 2015

1. Sibling Dispute Leads to Sale of Farm & Hunting Land in Delta
2. Sheriff Confirms Petit Jean Remains Are Those of John Glasgow
3. 14 Most Expensive Home Sales of 2014 in Pulaski County
4. DAV Construction Searched by Federal Agents
5. George Dunklin the High Bidder in Auction of Arkansas, Jefferson County Land
6. Little Rock's Original Fern Bar: How Buster’s Birthed Dave & Buster’s
7. Turner Grain's Dale Bartlett Claims Ignorance in Company's Collapse
8. Site Work Begins for Lewis Crossing in Conway
9. Million-Dollar Dream Home in Hillcrest Focus of Lawsuit
10. Former Hogs QB Clint Stoerner Tangles with Former Business Partners

A real estate firm in Kansas City, Missouri, paid nearly $30 million for two apartment complexes in northwest Arkansas.

Block Funds, led by Kenneth Block, paid $22.5 million for the Stoneleigh Centerton complex in Centerton and $6.7 million for the Stadium Apartments in Fayetteville. Block Multifamily Group will manage the properties.

“The northwest Arkansas multifamily occupancy levels are some of the strongest in the nation,” Kenneth Block said in a statement.

Stoneleigh has 280 units while Stadium has 112 units. Block said in a release that it now manages more than 1,000 units in northwest Arkansas.

Rupple Row Cottages

A California real estate investment group paid $16.35 million for Rupple Row Cottages in west Fayetteville.

TwinRock Partners of Newport Beach bought the properties through its AR Shamrocks LLC. The 80 cottages — four-bedroom, three-bath town homes built for student housing — are on North Wordsworth Lane in the Rupple Row subdivision.

Wells Fargo Bank provided a loan of $11.7 million for the acquisition. TwinRock was co-founded in 1998 by CEO Alexander Philips and has invested nearly $500 million in residential and commercial properties.

Rob Kimbel, through his Spring Creek Rentals LLC, was the seller. Kimbel is an investment partner of Specialized Real Estate Group, which is building a 300-plus unit apartment complex at the southwest corner of Joyce Avenue and Steele Boulevard.

Village Gets New Owners

An investment group paid $5.2 million for Arena Village on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Fayetteville.

Monroe Arena LLC bought the property from Arena Village LLC, said Steve Fowler, a member of Monroe Arena. Arena Village is led by Sean Holley Trumbo as trustee for the Arthur Howell Trumbo Trust.

The village is located on MLK near the University of Arkansas and the university’s soccer field. The village, which consists of three buildings totaling 23,400 SF, covers about 3.6 acres, and the group has the ability to build on an undeveloped anchor adjacent to Stadium Drive.

Fowler said the group hasn’t finalized its plans for Arena Village. He said it would get a “facelift,” but more in-depth plans, including adding space and renovating existing space, would depend on tenants.

Ownership was actively looking for new tenants. The village is in a prime location on MLK with the university and Fayetteville High School within a stone’s throw, and several new student housing complexes have recently been built in the nearby area.

Eye Center Sold

The Eye Center at 594 E. Millsap Road sold for $2.5 million.

Smith Eye Care Properties LLC of Springdale, led by Steven Smith and Kellye Smith, was the buyer. Kellye Smith is an ophthalmologist at The Eye Center.

First Security Bank of Springdale provided a $2.5 million loan for the purchase. The Eye Center is a 13,708-SF building on a 2-acre lot.

WRM Holdings LLC of Fayetteville, led by W.R. McCullough, was the seller.

Beautiful Sale

A 12,690-SF retail space sold for $1.625 million.

Southern Sand LLC, led by Patrick Harris, acquired the space at 4107 Steele Blvd. in Fayetteville, which is anchored by the Regency Beauty Institute, a beauty school. The lot covers slightly more than 1.7 acres.

Freedom Bank of Oklahoma in Tulsa backed the purchase with a $2.1 million loan. A listing shows there is 6,500 SF of vacant space.

CFKS Investments LLC, led by Scott Stokenbury, was the seller. CFKS acquired the property in 2014 for $1.55 million.

Foundation Deal

The Schmieding Foundation of Springdale sold a 6,240-SF office building on North Frontage Road in Fayetteville.

Daugherty & Daugherty Properties LLC, led by Robert and Jason Daugherty, paid $690,000 for the property, which was formerly the home of the First National Title Co. The property is at the northeast corner of Frontage and Joyce Boulevard.

Simmons First National Bank of Springdale funded the purchase with a loan of $590,000.

Remember back in the spring when Centennial Bank of Conway bought a big portfolio of commercial loans? The accompanying plans for a commercial loan operation housed in New York are continuing to develop.

Last week the bank, owned by publicly traded Home BancShares Inc., submitted an application with the Arkansas State Bank Commission for a full-service branch on the 12th floor of a 45-story building at 12 E. 49th St. between Madison and Fifth avenues.

Pretty hip: The building is called called Tower 49.

The branch will replace a loan production office that has been the home to the Centennial Commercial Finance Group, which was formed when Centennial bought $289 million in national commercial real estate loans from J.C. Flowers & Co. LLC.

The loans originated within the former Doral Property Finance portfolio, which was part of Doral Bank of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The bank failed in February, and Home Bancshares acquired the bank’s assets and deposits in the Florida Panhandle as part of a deal assisted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Chris Poulton, one of two former Doral executives that Centennial hired at the time, is president of Centennial CFG.