Jack Stephens
CEO 1956-1986
Upon his graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1947, Jackson
T. Stephens came to Little Rock and joined his brother Witt
Stephens in the municipal bond business. The two formed the
firm Stephens Inc. on a handshake partnership that lasted for over
forty years, until Witt’s death in 1991. Witt was a gregarious
and shrewd businessman and a great salesman. Jack was quiet,
thoughtful, and equally astute. While Witt ventured into
politics and running the local gas utility, Jack began to expand
the investment business into the sales, trading and underwriting of
corporate securities. He also began making direct
investments in private companies for the firm’s account, predating
by decades the private equity endeavors of Wall Street
firms.
The expansion of the firm’s activities under Jack’s leadership in
the 1950s and 1960s led to the firm becoming the largest investment
banking firm in the country (measured by capital) located off Wall
Street, and one of the top ten firms overall, along with the likes
of Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs. Jack was
instrumental in providing capital and investment banking services
to an array of Arkansas companies that became large and successful
enterprises: Wal-Mart Stores, Tyson Foods, J.B. Hunt
Trucking, Alltel Corporation. He also invested in a number of
community banks around the state, culminating in the purchase of
Little Rock’s Worthen Bank, ultimately sold to what is now Bank of
America.
His private investments were spectacularly successful. Three
of them generated more than one billion dollars each in profits:
Stephens Production Company, Systematics, and Donrey
Media. Jack Stephens can lay claim to being one of the finest
investors of the 20th century. His acumen as an
investor was combined in remarkable fashion with his ability to
form enduring personal relationships with his partners. Several
generations of Arkansas companies and business leaders came to know
Jack as not only a smart investment banker but as a loyal and
reliable friend as well. Jack’s influence grew well beyond
Arkansas to the boardrooms of corporate America and to the halls of
Washington D.C.; his opinions were constantly sought by investors,
CEOs, and politicians. In 1991, Jack’s trustworthiness and love of
the game led him to be selected as the fourth Chairman of Augusta
National Golf Club.
In the decade prior to his death in 2005, Jack began to step up his
charitable activities, and today there are ample reminders of his
generosity, at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, in
Little Rock, and at the Medical School; at the Arkansas Arts
Center; and at public and private schools around the
state.
The ongoing business activities and reputation of Stephens Inc.,
now run by his son Warren, are largely the result of Jack Stephens’
personal attributes: thoughtfulness, quietness, graciousness, and
reliability.