Justin Allen leads the firm’s Government Relations practice group and assists clients in working with state and local government on matters of policy, regulation and legislation.

Allen practiced law as a litigator for almost eight years at Wright Lindsey Jennings before joining the Arkansas Attorney General’s office as Chief Deputy Attorney General. As Chief Deputy, Allen gained considerable experience in government relations matters. In that position, Allen was responsible for all legal departments within the office and handled legal issues faced by the State, including constitutional issues, consumer protection, environmental, antitrust, criminal appeals, habeas corpus, Medicaid fraud and administrative law. He also worked with the Governor’s office, legislators, agency directors and private interests on matters of legislation and policy.

Allen’s more recent experience includes:
• Providing government relations and lobbying services to clients in the areas of energy, telecommunications, gaming, alcohol and tobacco regulation, agriculture, healthcare, economic incentives, business development and manufacturing.
• Assisting clients in working with the Little Rock city government and its Board of Directors.
• Assisting clients in working with Attorneys General across the country.
• Defending businesses in investigations and litigation pursued by the Arkansas Attorney General.
• Assisting businesses with projects involving the Arkansas Economic Development Commission and the Department of Finance & Administration.

Matt Boch advises clients on navigating state and local tax issues and leveraging economic development incentives to further their business goals. He works closely with individuals and companies in an array of industries, providing legal counsel on a range of tax and incentives matters.

Clients rely on Matt for his multistate tax experience as well as his deep understanding of the Arkansas tax world. Matt is experienced in all major tax types: sales and use taxes, income taxes, property taxes, and miscellaneous taxes. He guides clients through all the stages of tax controversies, from the point of an initial audit, through administrative appeals, and on to litigation when necessary. He advises companies on tax planning and compliance as well.

Matt also represents clients seeking economic development incentives and regularly negotiates and implements incentive packages, helping clients address any obstacles that may arise along the way.

As a leader in the field, Matt frequently publishes and presents on tax and incentive issues to national and local organizations and publications. At the multistate level, Matt serves as an assistant editor of the Journal of Multistate Taxation and Incentives and as editor-in-chief of ConNexus, the newsletter of the American Bar Association State and Local Taxes Committee. And as a leading Arkansas tax lawyer, Matt chairs the Arkansas Tax Advisory Council, serves as Secretary of the Arkansas Bar Association Section of Taxation, authors the Arkansas Tax and Incentives Update blog published by Dover Dixon Horne, and also coauthors both the Bloomberg BNA Arkansas Corporate Income Tax Navigator and the forthcoming Arkansas Pass-Through Entity Navigator.

In addition to tax and incentives matters, Matt also advises businesses on environmental issues and general corporate, regulatory and commercial matters.

Matt is married to Caroline Rothert Boch, who grew up in Hot Springs. They have three children, Charlotte, Thomas and David. In his free time, he enjoys hiking and camping.

Leisa Cagle, is Vice President and Controller for McKee Foods Corporation headquartered in Collegedale, TN with operations in Gentry, AR. McKee Foods is best known for its line of Little Debbie® baked goods. Little Debbie is America’s leading snack cake brand in unit and dollar sales. McKee strives to provide consumers with quality products of excellent value. McKee Foods’ annual sales are about $1.4 billion.

Robert is a senior associate in his fourth year with KPMG’s Global Location & Expansion Services group to assist clients with location analysis and site selection both domestically and globally. Robert has worked with a variety of clients across multiple different industries during his time at KPMG.

Professional and industry experience
• Evaluated and analyzed potential foreign and domestic locations based on key location criteria to assist clients in making a location decision.
• Assisted in the identification, implementation, and compliance of credit and incentive programs.
• Prepared and analyzed comparative cost assessments of labor markets, real estate, utility and infrastructure, tax, and business incentives to support location decisions.
• Evaluated real estate for a variety of facility requirements including: industrial/manufacturing, logistics, corporate/back office/shared service, and research & development.
• Developed tax and other comparative cost models to evaluate site options and viabilities identifying short and long-term cost savings.
• Helped clients secure and implement benefits involving tax credits, grants, training assistance, financing programs, infrastructure assistance, property tax abatements and exemptions.
• Performed economic development consulting focusing on site development, project readiness, and overall marketability of a site.

Lance earned his Bachelor’s degree from Ouachita Baptist University and has worked for the Chamber for seven years. Lance has served the Northwest Arkansas region in a number of capacities including the Springdale Advertising and Promotion Commission and as a Washington County Justice of the Peace. Currently, he serves as State Senator. He enjoys playing golf, cheering on the Razorbacks and spending time with his two daughters.

Jason Green is the Vice President – Human Resources at ABB in Fort Smith, AR. Prior to joining ABB in 2007, he worked for Hallmark Cards, Inc. in Kansas City, Missouri for 15 years in a variety of Human Resources positions. Jason is a native of Fort Smith and earned a bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management from the University of Arkansas and a MBA from Washburn University.

He and his wife, Kim, have four children and reside in Fort Smith, where he is active on a number of boards and volunteers with several non-profit organizations.

Kenny Hall joined the State Chamber & AIA as Vice President for Governmental Affairs in September 1998. He was named Executive Vice President in May 2006.

As the senior lobbyist for the organizations, Kenny works to enhance the business climate in Arkansas before the state legislature, governor’s office, various state agencies and the Arkansas congressional delegation. His primary responsibilities include the development and implementation of the State Chamber/AIA’s legislative strategies, political activities and coordination of the organizations’ committees on taxation, workers’ comp, unemployment insurance, healthcare, education and energy.

Born in Little Rock and raised in Mayflower (Faulkner County), Kenny graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science in Education. He also earned a Juris Doctor degree in 1984 from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (Bowen) School of Law and is licensed to practice law in Arkansas and Mississippi.

Kenny received a Bronze Quill award from the Arkansas Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators in 2003 for the State Chamber/AIA’s Daily Legislative Update. His affiliations include serving as an ex-officio board member of the Arkansas Environmental Federation, an officer of the Associated Industries of Arkansas PAC, officer of the State Chamber/AIA IEC, board member of the Arkansas State Chamber Foundation and the Associated Industries of Arkansas Foundation. In 2008, he became a gubernatorial appointee on the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services Advisory Council. Kenny served as President of the Arkansas Society of Association Executives in 2013-14, President of the Arkansas Society of Professional Lobbyists in 2005-06, Vice President of Kids’ Chance in 2002-06, Vice President of the Little Rock Club and an officer of the Committee to Save Arkansas Jobs PAC.

He lives in Little Rock with his wife, Natalie (married 10/13/90), and their children, Reid (5/18/95-University of Arkansas Class of 2018) and Krista (9/6/00-Baptist Prep Class of 2019). Diagnosed with MDS in April 2012, which quickly progressed to Acute Myeloid Leukemia, he survived extreme chemotherapy and an allo stem cell transplant in 2012. When he is not working he enjoys time with his family, playing golf, coaching basketball and boating.

Asa Hutchinson was sworn in as the 46th Governor of Arkansas in January 2015, and immediately set in motion his plan to bring more jobs and economic growth to his native state. Governor Hutchinson kept a major campaign promise by working to pass the biggest income tax rate cut in state history. His initiative to require computer-coding classes in every public high school makes Arkansas a national leader and signals to businesses everywhere that our students will be prepared for the 21st century economy.

In addition, the Governor’s emphasis on government efficiencies — including a hiring freeze instituted on his first day — have resulted in taxpayer savings and better focused state services. As part of his strategy to market Arkansas and attract more jobs and businesses to the state, Governor Hutchinson already has met with CEOs of major industries across the globe from Silicon Valley to Germany, China and Cuba.

On the national stage, Governor Hutchinson has been a key leader on energy, security and education.

The Governor is chairman of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC), chairman of the Southern States Energy Board (SSEB), and chairman of the National Governors Association Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee. He is the former chairman of the Southern Regional Education Board.

Before being elected governor, Asa Hutchinson served as Director of the Drug Enforcement Administration and as the first Undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Voters in Arkansas’s Third District also elected him to Congress three times.

A graduate of the University of Arkansas law school, Asa Hutchinson, at age 31, was appointed by President Reagan as the nation’s youngest U.S. attorney.

He and his wife Susan have been married 43 years. They have four children and six grandchildren.

Nicole Kaeding is Director of Federal Projects at the Tax Foundation, where she researches federal tax issues. Her analysis has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, National Public Radio, and numerous other national, state, and local publications.

Nicole has testified or presented to officials in more than a dozen states.

Previously, Nicole was a budget analyst for the Cato Institute focused on federal and state fiscal policy, and the state policy manager for Americans for Prosperity Foundation where she oversaw the policy activities of AFPF’s 34 state chapters. In 2014, Nicole was selected as a National Review Institute Washington Fellow. Prior to working in public policy, Nicole managed retail banking locations for seven years in Indiana and Illinois.

She graduated from DePaul University with a Master’s degree in Economics and Policy Analysis, and completed her undergraduate studies at Miami University majoring in Finance and Political Science.

Nicole lives in Washington, DC with her husband and two children.

Anthony is CEO at Brick+Mortar Co. (a national market research, community growth, and brand development company established in 2016) and COO at The PACE Group (a national executive search firm established in 1992). He leans on his philosophy of excellence, integrity, and honesty to build and refine processes and teams of people to do outstanding work. His reputation for leadership has taken him through many experiences including responsibility for creating and implementing long-term employee training programs, workforce management for over 300 employees across four companies simultaneously, and as an executive at two national retail recruitment firms.

Anthony has spent his career focusing on leaving people, companies, and cities better than when he arrived or met them. After receiving his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of the Southwest in Hobbs, New Mexico, he immediately began finding ways to connect people and organizations to one another. His expertise includes locating retail to communities, linking local businesses with their consumers, and facilitating cooperation between city administrations and the private sector to increase public well-being.

On multiple occasions, Anthony has filled the gap between city government and the private sector as a business liaison to city administrations and nonprofit entities. He is passionate about helping communities and individuals thrive. Working with many states and cities in the country has given Anthony a unique perspective on the diversity of individual communities and the belief that what is needed in each is never “one size fits all.” Taking pride in his work product has driven him to discover new processes needed in each unique municipality. A specialized solution and marketing strategy is necessary in order for each municipality to appeal to new retailers and restaurants while keeping the character of the individual community alive through supporting local businesses first, and Anthony is excited to make these solutions available.

Gary Newton, former executive vice president of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, was recruited by Luke Gordy, founding executive director of Arkansans for Education Reform Foundation (AERF), to create and become the first president and CEO of what has become Arkansas Learns. Upon Gordy’s retirement, he also assumed management responsibility for AERF.

Talent now drives economic development. And the biggest piece of the talent pipeline is K-12 public education.

Arkansas Learns is the Voice of Business for excellent education options - including industry-relevant career pathways - for all students, no matter their culture, economic status, or ZIP Code. The business member-supported 501(c)6 organization advances the core principals of student-focus, transparency, accountability, rewards and choice in public education.

The son of a public school superintendent and a guidance counselor, Newton’s public education advocacy began with his own children’s journey in the Little Rock School District. Faced with an absence of secondary school options in the only growing area of Little Rock, Newton was instrumental in the approval of an open-enrollment 6-12 public charter school which became the catalyst for creation of the Little Rock School District’s Pinnacle View Middle School.

An eighth generation native of the Arkansas Ozarks, Newton attended public schools in Mountain Home, Fayetteville and Lebanon, Missouri. A graduate of the University of Arkansas, from 1983 to 1988, he served as executive vice president of the then-Greater Little Rock Chamber of Commerce. In his combined twelve years with the Chamber, he was instrumental in the creation and implementation of enduring Chamber initiatives, such as Leadership Greater Little Rock, Create Little Rock, and the Arkansas Production Alliance (arfilm).

He is a graduate of the Institute for Organization Management, University of Oklahoma Economic Develooment Institute, and is a Certified Chamber of Commerce Executive (CCE).

Newton spent 17 years in the entertainment industry in New York and Los Angeles. In 2013, he and his partners - Daniel Campbell and Graham Gordy - created Mortuus Pater Pictures, LLC, which just completed its first feature film, 'Antiquities.'

Shari Pash works with Chambers of Commerce, non-profit organizations, and associations in over 23 states and throughout Canada. Through her hands-on work she is changing the culture and way organizations approach membership recruitment, engagement, and retention. She provides a customized multi-step process and program with proven success. Client outcomes continue to excel through the implementation of foundational tools and reports that have proven success with measurements for growth. In addition to this work, Shari conducts board of director orientation and strategic planning sessions.

Shari is an active conference presenter for many national associations including Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE), National Home Builders Association (NAHB), Institute for Organization Management (IOM), Canadian Chamber of Commerce Executives (CCCE), Canadian Home Builders’ Association, and many state and provincial conferences across the U.S. and Canada.

Prior to starting Strategic Solutions for Growth in 2010, Shari built her career at Michigan State University, the Kellogg Center, managing and working with the Association market for over 20 years. Success in revenue generation, new market identification, and business development earned her industry awards of excellence. Following her career with MSU, she was appointed Vice President of Sales for the Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Ann Petersen is a Senior Director, Business Incentives Practice and brings over 10 years of experience in economic development and financial incentive negotiation.

Ms. Petersen’s primary responsibilities include researching state and local economic development programs, coordination of state and local economic development programs, coordination and negotiation with state and local economic development officials, and implementation of incentives. She assists with all project negotiations.

Ms. Petersen provides complex financial analysis to her clients which includes 10 year P&L cash flow modeling of each project. In addition, Ms. Petersen utilizes her legal background to provide creative savings solutions to her clients through legal analysis, tax legislation and letter rulings.

Prior to her current position, Ms. Petersen worked at Jones Lang LaSalle in the Business and Economic Incentives practice. She also worked at KPMG, LLP with the State and Local Tax Practice/Strategic Relocation and Expansion Services Division.

Ms. Petersen holds a Juris Doctor from Hamline University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Hamline University.

Governor Asa Hutchinson appointed Mike Preston executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission in March 2015. Preston is widely regarded as a leading advocate for economic development.

Before joining AEDC, Preston served six and a half years as the Vice President of Government Relations for Enterprise Florida. During his tenure at Enterprise Florida, he was part of the team that helped create more than 147,000 jobs paying an average wage of $56,437 and generating $10.07 billion in capital investment.

Since joining AEDC (January 2015), Preston and Governor Asa Hutchinson have made business recruitment trips to Japan, China, France, Germany, Israel, Cuba, Mexico, New York City, United Kingdom, and Silicon Valley. The trips continue to play an important role in the state’s economic development efforts and have led to more than 300 companies signing agreements with AEDC to locate or expand in Arkansas. These companies are investing $6.8 billion and creating more than 11,200 new jobs.

A 2005 graduate of the University of Florida, Preston and his wife, Anne, are Florida natives but are proud to call Arkansas home.

Jamie Rayford serves as the Chief Operating Officer of the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce and a Community Resource Partner to ForwARd Arkansas, a public-private partnership established by the Arkansas Department of Education, the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation to serve their shared strategic interests to achieve an order of magnitude increase in student achievement, wage growth, and economic prosperity for the state of Arkansas. BACC has a multi-faceted approach to economic development that includes business advocacy and community development.

Rayford holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies with a minor in Leadership Studies from Arkansas State University and a master’s degree in Higher Education Administration Leadership from the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville.

Roger Rich has served as Superintendent of the Southside School District for the past nine years. Before taking his role as Superintendent, he served as Assistant Superintendent at Southside for eight years. Other roles that he has served in his 27 years in Education are as follows: High School Principal of the Mammoth Spring School District, Teacher/Coach in the Valley View, Biggers/Reyno and Salem School Districts.

He received his Bachelor’s, Master’s and Specialist Degrees from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He is on the Advisory Boards for the following organizations: Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce, White River Medical Center, Future Fuels of Arkansas, North Central Arkansas Education Services Cooperative, Arkansas Public School Resource Center, Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators and Independence County 4-H Foundation.

Roger is married to Lisa Rich (who is the High School Counselor at Southside) and they have three children. Brittany, lives in Conway, AR where she is employed as a Title Analyst, Kaylee lives in Jacksonville, Florida and is employed by the University of North Florida and Koby is a Senior (12th Grade) student at Southside Charter High School.

Kuma Roberts currently serves as the Executive Director of Talent Attraction, Retention & Mosaic at the Tulsa Regional Chamber of Commerce. Prior to taking on her new role, Kuma served as program manager for education aligning the business community to the resource needs of our public school system. It was in this role that Kuma developed her desire to work in the realm of social justice and business development.

In her role as Interim Executive Director Kuma identifies the needs and programs for growing, retaining and attracting a skilled and diverse workforce to achieve the Tulsa region’s short and long range business development objectives. She serves on various local boards including: Chair- Workforce Tulsa Youth Council, Leadership Tulsa, TAUW Women’s Leadership Council Education Co-Chair, Tulsa Area Human Resources and Girl Scouts of Eastern Oklahoma. She is a proud member of Leadership Tulsa Class 51 and was recently appointed to the inaugural City of Greater Tulsa African American Affairs Commission. Kuma is passionate about education, equity, social justice and her community.

Mike Rogers is Senior Director of Maintenance and Refrigeration for Tyson Foods. His first 20-year career in industrial maintenance and refrigeration, prepared him for the next 20-year career as a high school agriculture and industrial maintenance teacher. These two careers overlapped for 15 years. His current position aligns both previous careers and has proven to be both challenging and rewarding. Tyson Foods is a great company that invests in their team members with training and experience.

He holds six additional teaching licenses with the Arkansas Department of Education, including: a technical permit for post-secondary instruction, HVAC, advanced manufacturing, industrial equipment maintenance, machine tool technology, and welding. Rogers is an NCCER Master Trainer and has 3 craft skill licenses. His time in industry and education, afforded the opportunity to acquire numerous industrial skills, as follows:

Hydraulics, pneumatics, refrigeration, HVAC, and plumbing systems. Agricultural, residential, commercial, and industrial electricity. SMAW, Oxy/fuel, MIG, and TIG welding process. Structural repair, preventive maintenance, and construction. PLC, CNC programming and operation, electronic troubleshooting, and repair. Drafting, AutoCAD, PlasmaCAM, and CorelDRAW design. OSHA, NEC, SCBA, RETA, and EPA training. Arkansas forklift, AutoCAD, and refrigeration certifications. Trained in lock out/tag out, fall restraint, confined space, hot work, arc flash, and other related safety compliance articles. Small power, forklift, tractor, heavy equipment, and machinery diagnosis and repair. Carpentry, sheetrock,concrete and masonry work, electric motor repair, wiring, installation, and control, blueprint, flowchart, and schematic reading,measurement, calibration, and instrumentation reading.

Jodiane Tritt joined the AHA executive team as Vice President of Government Relations in 2010. Tritt represents the AHA in all state legislative and regulatory activities. Prior to joining the AHA staff, Tritt most recently served as Executive Director of the Center for Clinical and Translational Research (now known as the Translation Research Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Prior to that position, she was Director of Community Support for the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH). In her work at ADH, she played an integral role in public health policy development and was responsible for the agency’s legislative agenda.

A board member of the Arkansas Society of Association Executives, she is Past-President of the Arkansas Society of Professional Lobbyists, a member of the South Central Telehealth Resource Center Advisory Council, and on the Advisory Board of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Public Health. She also serves as the Chair of the State Association of Government Relations Officials for the American Hospital Association.

She is a graduate of Hendrix College and holds a JD from William H. Bowen School of Law.

An Arkansas native, Carl Vogelpohl serves as the campaign manager for Arkansans for Jobs and Justice which is a broad coalition of individuals and organizations working to pass common-sense lawsuit reform through Issue 1 on the November ballot. He is President of Split Rail Consulting, an Arkansas-based firm he founded in 2004 that provides political campaign strategy, management, analytics, data modeling, and innovative digital engagement for clients.

Carl served as Chief of Staff to Attorney General Leslie Rutledge from her historic victory in 2014 until he returned to the private sector in October of 2017. His prior public service was as the Chief of Staff to former Congressman, and now Lt. Governor, Tim Griffin (AR-2), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. He played a prominent role advising on both Griffin and Rutledge's successful bids for office, as well as other local, regional and statewide races.

As a managing director in the consulting practice within Newmark Knight Frank's Global Corporate Services group, Christian Volney leverages his 11 years of real estate experience to advise clients on their global location strategy, site selection and corporate real estate strategy.

Prior to joining Newmark Knight Frank, Mr. Volney spent more than four years as a consultant with Savills Studley's Occupier Services group, where he helped corporate space users identify opportunities to increase cost savings and create efficiencies on the portfolio level. He also served as a client-facing project manager at the real estate advisory firm Robert Charles Lesser & Co., where he oversaw the execution of various consulting engagements and research assignments related to real estate and economic development. Typical projects included market and financial feasibility studies, economic and demographic forecasting, market opportunity analyses and development advisory.

In 2018, Mr. Volney was accepted as an emerging leader with the prestigious Site Selectors Guild, the only association of the world's foremost professional site selection consultants. Mr. Volney was also named a Newmark Knight Frank "Rising Star," which recognizes the company's next generation of leaders.

Mr. Volney earned a master's degree in city and regional planning with a specialization in real estate and community development from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He also holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in both urban studies and economic geography from Boston University.

Sam Walls, III is COO/President of Arkansas Capital Corporation group (ACCG). He is responsible for managing and overseeing the companies that make up the group. ACCG works to provide capital to businesses as well as promote entrepreneurial development. ACCG lending companies are leaders in Arkansas in utilizing the SBA 7a and 504 programs as well as the USDA guarantee program. ACCG partners with banks to meet the individual capital needs of businesses.

Through their New Market Tax Credit company, Heartland Renaissance Fund, ACCG has deployed $265 million in federal New Market Tax Credits through four allocation rounds and consulted on an additional $191 million of allocation. Their EB-5 regional center, Pine State Regional Center, is currently raising $200 million in EB-5 capital to support a rural, manufacturing project. Through the 501(c)(3) non-profit company, Arkansas Economic Acceleration Foundation, ACCG promotes entrepreneurial education and have reached nearly 10,000 students from 5th grade through graduate school. In total, ACCG has deployed in excess of $1.7 billion dollars to businesses. Walls is on the national board for the New Market Tax Credit Coalition and a member of the National Association of Business Development Companies. He is also on the board for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Foundation.

Randy Zook is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and the Associated Industries of Arkansas. Prior to taking the helm of the State Chamber/AIA, Randy was the Deputy Director of Administration and Finance for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. For 34 years, he worked for Atlantic Envelope Company of Atlanta, Georgia, a $200-million manufacturer of custom-printed envelopes and business products, serving as President and CEO of the company from 1989 to 2004. He is currently serving on the boards of KIPP Schools in Helena-West Helena, Economics Arkansas and McGehee Farm & Real Estate Co. He and his wife, Diane, have three grown children and five above-average grandchildren.