Rusty Mathis of Ben E. Keith Foods and Betsy Broyles Arnold of the Frank & Barbara Broyles Legacy Foundation won executive of the year awards at the 29th annual Arkansas Business of the Year Awards at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.
Arkansas Business Publishing Group of Little Rock presents the awards each year to honor businesses, nonprofits and executives in Arkansas.
(Video: Watch videos of the winners and read more about all the winners and finalists here.)
Mathis of North Little Rock received the Business Executive of the Year Award for his work at Ben E. Keith Foods, the Fort Worth food service giant that is building a new $70 million, 430,000-SF headquarters and distribution center in North Little Rock. Mathis said he's proud of having built the North Little Rock location, with 288 employees, into "one of the most prominent brands in our distribution footprint."
Arnold received the Nonprofit Executive of the Year Award for her work leading the Frank & Barbara Broyles Legacy Foundation of Fayetteville, created to help support and educate caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients. Arnold, the daughter of Frank and Barbara Broyles, is the foundation's CEO. She's also the co-author of the "Coach Broyles' Playbook for Alzheimer's Caregivers," of which the foundation has distributed more than 1 million copies in 11 languages.
Other winners at Thursday night's event:
- Fort Thompson Sporting Goods of Sherwood in Category I (1-25 employees)
- Edafio Technology Partners of North Little Rock in Category II (26-75 employees)
- Tiger Correctional Services of Jonesboro in Category III (75-300 employees)
- Fort Smith Children's Emergency Shelter, named Nonprofit Organization of the Year.
Arkansas Business readers nominate businesses, executives and nonprofits for the awards, and an independent panel of judges determines the winners.
The Arkansas Community Foundation also presented its Smart Corporate Giving Awards to three businesses:
- Small Business: Stone's Throw Brewing
- Medium Business: Garver
- Large Business: ProPak Logistics
Arkansas Business is accepting nominations now for the 30th Arkansas Business of the Year awards. You can nominate businesses, executives and nonprofits here.
See more videos of Thursday night's winners at their individual profiles and on the Arkansas Business YouTube channel.