Many developers told us they were actively divesting their portfolios. Liens and foreclosures have led to lawsuits and bankruptcies, and the wrangling will continue into 2008. Multi-storied projects that were the talk of the town just over a year ago have been scrapped for less lofty goals, or altogether.
Area banks saw a 40 percent increase in past dues from the first quarter to the third quarter. But bankers were also plagued by a rash of armed robberies, and even a heisted night deposit safe.
Some longstanding partnerships dissolved: two partners - Bill Schwyhart and Robert Thorton left the Pinnacle Group to form their own yet-to-be-named company; and Rebecca Garner left Garrison Asset Management, an incarnation of a firm she built and sold to Tom Garrison, to be a fixed income adviser with Decatur, Ill.-based Investment Planners Inc.
The business community mourned the deaths three people who greatly influenced commerce in Northwest Arkansas, and possibly the world. Matriarch of Wal-Mart, Helen Walton, died April 14; John Lewis, rainmaker and founder of The Bank of Fayetteville died June 1; and Gregg Ogden, founder of Athletic World Advertising died Aug. 18.
But not all the news was bad. Retailers and restaurants are still flocking to the Pinnacle Hills area in Rogers and companies like Crye-Leike are actively investing in Northwest Arkansas. And, economists say the oversupply is dwindling, though slower than many would like.
Following are some of our other observations about business news during 2007.
Best Bank News
It was the year of the female executive in Arkansas banking. Candace Franks was appointed as the Arkansas State Bank Commissioner by Gov. Mike Beebe in June, and in October Mary Beth Brooks, president and CEO of The Bank of Fayetteville and Susie Smith, senior executive vice president and chief operating officer with Little Rock-based Metropolitan National Bank, were both named "Top 25 Women to Watch" by U.S. Banker magazine.
Worst BlackBerry Owner
We know a lot of executives who are hardcore, dedicated BlackBerry users - those who return e-mails while on vacation standing in line at Walt Disney World - but when we interviewed Jay Howard, CEO of I.O. Metro, in July, he told us he was on his fourth BlackBerry in two years. He wears them out, he said. He also grew a $250,000 investment made in 2005 into $5 million in 2006 revenue and has plans to franchise the furniture store.
We'll keep our eyes on Research In Motion Ltd.'s stock prices (and I.O. Metro, too).
Best Greenies
Many "green" champions that are making "sustainable" business "everyday" business come to mind (Fourfrogs LLC, pb2 Architecture, Stitt Energy Systems Inc. and EGIS Natural Development Inc., CaseStack Inc.), but we have to tip our hats to Wal-Mart and Uniliver and their still-in-progress national rollout of concentrated laundry detergent. With bottom line savings of 5 million pounds of plastic, 25,000 gallons of diesel fuel and 26.3 million SF of cardboard by Uniliver brands since 2005, there's a great fiscal example for many Wal-Mart suppliers to follow.
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source: arkansasbusiness.com
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