2017 Arkansas Business Hall of Fame Inductees Are Announced

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Four distinguished leaders in business and community service in Arkansas have been named as the 2017 class of inductees for the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame.

The Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas and the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame Board announced that these outstanding leaders will join the 74 other members of the Hall of Fame on Friday, Feb. 10, 2017:

• Charles E. Scharlau, retired chairman, president and chief executive officer at Southwestern Energy Co.
• Thomas B. Schueck, chairman of Lexicon Inc.
• Sherman E. Tate, president and chief executive officer of Tate & Associates Management
• Gus M. Vratsinas, chairman of Bailey Construction and Consulting, LLC

“I am proud and humbled to have the opportunity to celebrate the careers of these four outstanding business leaders,” Walton College Dean Matthew A. Waller said. “They and those who have preceded them as members of the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame represent the best in business in our state. Their lives and epic achievements in business and in their communities have helped keep Arkansas moving forward.”

The Arkansas Business Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock. The Arkansas Business Hall of Fame is permanently housed in the atrium of the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development at the Walton College on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville.

Ann Bordelon, Walton College alumna and chief financial officer and chief administrative officer of NOWDiagnostics Inc., chaired the selection committee of nine business and community leaders who reviewed nominations from throughout the state and chose the inductees. Criteria for selection included: the significance of the impact made as a business leader, the concern demonstrated for improving the community and the display of ethics in all business dealings. In addition, living inductees must be over the age of 60.

A list of previous inductees into the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame is available at walton.uark.edu/abhf.

Tickets to the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame induction ceremony, a black-tie optional event, are $150 per person. For more information about tickets and event sponsorships, please contact the office of external relations at the Sam M. Walton College of Business, Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development 217, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701-1201, 479-575-6146, by email at abhf@walton.uark.edu, or on the Web at walton.uark.edu/abhf.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.