Don was a driving force behind Wal-Mart’s rise to greatness. He was Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer and ultimately became Senior Vice Chairman as Wal-Mart rose to become the largest company in the world. Known as the “Keeper of the Culture” after Sam Walton passed away, Don firmly believes that business ethics are not a luxury, but an essential element in creating a high-performance organization; he also knows that the responsibility for creating an ethical organization belongs to its senior leaders.

Don received his BA degree in Business Administration in 1955 from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. He was awarded Honorary Doctors Degrees from Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri, from John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, and from Judson College in Elgin, Illinois. In 1990 he received the Outstanding Business Leader Award from the Northwood Institute in Palm Beach, Florida, and in 1996 Don was inducted into the Retailing Hall of Fame.

He currently serves on the Board of Directors & Trustees of ARVEST Bank, Salvation Army, NWA Community Foundation and John Brown University, where he is also a past chairman.

In addition to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., he has also previously served on the board of ServiceMaster, Inc., and served on and was a past chairman of the boards of the International Mass Retail Association, the Children’s Miracle Network and Steward’s Ministries.

In 1998, John Brown University created the The Soderquist Center for Leadership and Ethics (SCLE) in his honor. As an Executive in Residence, Don provides direction and inspiration to the SCLE team. The Center provides ethical leadership training for corporate, not-for-profit, and student organizations around the world. Don also serves on numerous local charitable boards.

S. Truett Cathy is founder and chairman of Chick-fil-A, Inc. Cathy started the business in 1946, when he and his brother, Ben, opened an Atlanta diner known as The Dwarf Grill (later renamed The Dwarf House). Over the years, that restaurant prospered and led Cathy to further the success of his business. In 1967, Cathy founded and opened the first Chick-fil-A restaurant in Atlanta’s Greenbriar Shopping Center. Today, Chick-fil-A is the second-largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain in the United States based on annual sales.

Currently, there are more than 1,250 restaurants in 37 states and Washington D.C. Remarkably, Cathy has led Chick-fil-A on an unparalleled record of 38 consecutive years of annual sales increases.

Cathy’s approach is largely driven by personal satisfaction and a sense of obligation to the community and its young people. His WinShape Centre® Foundation, founded in 1984, grew from his desire to “shape winners” by helping young people succeed in life through scholarships and other youth-support programs. The foundation annually awards 20 to 30 students wishing to attend Berry College with scholarships up to $32,000 that are jointly funded by the Rome, Ga. institution. In addition, through its Leadership Scholarship Program, the Chick-fil-A chain has given more than $20 million dollars in $1,000 scholarships to
Chick-fil-A restaurant employees since 1973.

As part of his WinShape Homes® program – a long-term care program for foster children – 14 foster care homes have been started in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Brazil that are operated by Cathy and the WinShape Foundation. These homes, accommodating up to 12 children with two full-time foster parents, provide long-term care for foster children with a positive family environment.

Another core component distinguishing WinShape programs is WinShape® Camps. It was founded in 1985 as a series of two-week summer camps at Berry College to help boys and girls build self-esteem through physical and spiritual activities. Nearly 1,800 campers from throughout the country attend WinShape® Camps sessions annually.

In 2003, Truett helped his son and daughter-in-law, Bubba and Cindy, celebrate the opening of WinShape™ Retreat, a high-end retreat and conference facility also located on the Mountain Campus of Berry College. The multi-use facility hosts marriage-enrichment retreats along with business and church-related conferences, and in summer months, houses the girls attending WinShape® Camps.

In 1996, Chick-fil-A announced a multi-year title sponsorship agreement with the Peach Bowl – becoming the Bowl’s first-ever title sponsor. For the ninth-straight year, a sellout crowd watched the 2005 Chick-fil-A Peach® Bowl, which took place on December 30, 2005, in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome. The sold-out game continues to lead in charitable donations, including WinShape Homes®, scholarships and other charities. Presently, Chick-fil-A holds the sixth-longest continuous title sponsorship among the 28 current bowls, and this year, Chick-fil-A reinforced their sponsorship commitment. Atlanta’s college football bowl game will change its name to the Chick-fil-A Bowl® beginning n 2006.

Cathy is a devoutly religious man who built his life and business based on hard work, humanity and biblical principles. Based on these principles, all of Chick-fil-A’s restaurants operate with a “closed-on-Sunday” policy — without exception. When not managing his company, Cathy donates his time to community efforts and teaches a Sunday school class to 13-year-old boys, as he has done for nearly 50 years..

Cathy has received countless awards over the years including: Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Poultry & Food Distributors Association (2005); Norman Vincent & Ruth Stafford Peale Humanitarian Award (2003); Catalyst Lifetime Achievement Award from Injoy/John Maxwell (2003); Georgia Sports Hall of Fame – Chairman’s Award (2003); the Ernst & Young- Entrepreneur of the Year – Lifetime Achievement Award (2000) and Horatio Alger Award – Horatio Alger Association, Washington, D.C. (1989) He is also the author of Eat Mor Chikin: Inspire More People (Looking Glass Books, 2002), It’s Easier to Succeed Than to Fail (Thomas Nelson Publishing, 1989), and It’s Better to Build Boys Than Mend Men (Looking Glass Books, 2004), and he is co-author of The Generosity Factor with Ken Blanchard (Zondervan Publishing, 2002).

Most recently, Cathy celebrated 60 years in the restaurant industry with friends, family and business associates at the original Chick-fil-A Dwarf House restaurant in the Atlanta suburb of Hapeville, Ga., where his restaurant career began. The event commemorated his 60-year legacy that is as much about values as business success. In honor of his 60-year accomplishment, Georgia Governor Sonny Purdue proclaimed Tuesday, May 23, 2006 “Truett Cathy Day” throughout the state.

In addition to presiding over one of the most successful restaurant chains in America, Cathy is a dedicated husband, father and grandfather. His two sons, Dan and Don (”Bubba”), have both followed their father in learning the business from the ground up.

Dan became president of Chick-fil-A in June 2001 and Bubba is senior vice president of Chick-fil-A, Inc., and president of the Chick-fil-A Dwarf House division. His daughter, Trudy, is the youngest of the three children. She and her husband, John, have returned to the United States from Brazil where they served as missionaries. Cathy and his wife Jeannette have 12 grandchildren and more than 150 “foster grandchildren.”

Dr. Elmore has worked alongside and been mentored by Dr. John C. Maxwell since 1983 .

He has authored twenty-one books, including the bestselling Habitudes, Images that Form Leadership Habits and Attitudes and Nurturing the Leader Within Your Child (Thomas Nelson Publishers).  Dr. Elmore has appeared on ABC’s Family Channel and on national radio broadcasts.

He is committed to developing young leaders on every continent of the world.

Tim lives in Atlanta with his wife, Pam, and his two children, Bethany and Jonathan.

He’s also the unofficial spokesman and chief cheerleader for the 30 million people in the car hobby as the host of Car Crazy Television, Car Crazy Radio, CarCrazyCentral.com, and is the sponsor of more than 5,000 car hobby events.  Barry Meguiar, chief executive of Irvine-based car care products maker Meguiar’s Inc., flies around the world interviewing “car guys”–both women and men who have gone gaga over cars.

He’s been married for 43 years to his college sweetheart…and their two daughters have given them six grandchildren. Most importantly, he was raised in a family whose life was centered in the church…which prepared him for leading the family business through its third generation of growth by using the Bible as his road map.

He is the director of Church Relationship Ministries for the Center for Relationship Enrichment on the campus of John Brown University. He is also an assistant professor of marriage and family studies at John Brown University.

Dr. Smalley is the founder and board member of the National Institute of Marriage, a marriage ministry located in Branson, Missouri.

Specializing in working with couples with marital problems, Dr. Smalley seeks to listen to and aid couples in crisis or on the brink of divorce.  Dr. Smalley also helps lead marriage seminars around the world and helps train pastors, professionals and lay leaders how to effectively work with married couples.

He has appeared on both television and radio programs, including Focus on the Family and Hour of Power. He is the author or co-author of eight books including The DNA of Relationships for Couples, The Marriage You’ve Always Dreamed Of, The DNA of Relationships, The DNA of Parent and Teen Relationships, Men’s Relational Toolbox, Life Lines: Communicating with Your Teen, Winning Your Wife Back, and Winning Your Husband Back.

Greg, his wife Erin, two daughters, Taylor and Maddy, and son, Garrison live in Siloam Springs, Arkansas.

After serving for seven years in the United States Army, Pat spent seven years in the Philadelphia Phillies organization, two as a minor league catcher and five in the front office. He also spent three years in the Minnesota Twins organization.  Since 1968, he has been affiliated with teams in Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, including the 1983 World Champion 76ers, and now the Orlando Magic which he co-founded in 1987 and helped lead to the NBA finals in 1995.  Twenty-three of his teams have gone to the NBA playoffs and five have made the NBA finals.  In 1996, Pat was named as one of the 50 most influential people in NBA history by a national publication.

In his NBA career, he has traded Pete Maravich, traded for Julius Erving, Moses Malone, and Penny Hardaway, and won four NBA draft lotteries, including back-to-back winners in 1992 and 1993 and most recently in 2004.  He also drafted Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney and Darryl Dawkins and signed Billy Cunningham, Chuck Daly, and Matt Guokas to their first professional coaching contracts. Twelve of his former players have become NBA head coaches, while seventeen have become assistant coaches.

Pat and his wife, Ruth, are the parents of 19 children, including 14 adopted from four nations, ranging in age from 21 to 34. For one year, 16 of his children were all teenagers at the same time.  Pat and his family have been featured in Sports Illustrated, Readers Digest, Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, The Wall Street Journal, Focus on the Family, New Man Magazine, plus all of the major television networks, The Maury Povich Show and Dr. Robert Schuller’s Hour of Power.

Pat helps teach an adult Sunday school class at First Baptist Church of Orlando and hosts a weekly radio show.  In the last 11 years, he has completed forty marathons, including the Boston Marathon 11 times, and also climbed Mt. Rainier.  He is a weightlifter, Civil War buff, and serious baseball fan.  Every winter, he plays in Major League Fantasy Camps and has caught Hall of Famers Bob Feller, Bob Gibson, Fergie Jenkins, Rollie Fingers, Gaylord Perry, Phil Niekro, and Tom Seaver.

Pat was raised in Wilmington, Delaware, earned his bachelors degree at Wake Forest University, and his master’s degree at Indiana University. He has a doctorate in Humane Letters from Flagler University.  He is a member of the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame after catching for the Deacon baseball team, including the 1962 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship team.  Pat is also a member of the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame.

As CEO, Andy has been involved in strategic planning and direction for the Center.  He serves as an executive coach to senior leaders as well as facilitating and leading sessions with our customers.  He also speaks on behalf of the Center at a variety of functions as well as spending time teaching in both the Advance Degree and Master’s Degree programs at John Brown University.

Prior to his tenure with the Soderquist Center for Leadership and Ethics, Andy spent 25 years as an innovative leader at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. He dedicated more than 10 years as Vice President and Officer of Store Operations, supervising over 100 stores and 10,000 associates in the Southern, Southeast and Western regions of the United States.  Most recently, he served for 6 years as Vice President of People Division (HR) for all domestic store operations, including over 700,000 associates and management staff.  He assisted in Succession Planning, HR People Measurement Systems, Training and Development, Compensation and Benefits Systems and executive Coaching.  Andy speaks globally on the issues of Leadership, Ethics, Retail Store Operations and Human Resources.

Currently Andy Wilson serves as the Executive Leader of the Ministry and Operations at the First Baptist Church in Springdale and the Church at Pinnacle Hills in Rogers, AR.  He is head of the Communications department at these churches and his missional vission matches that of the church in that his goal is “to reach Northwest Arkansas, America, and the World for Jesus Christ.”

A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Mr. Peterson grew up in Chicago.  He graduated from Loyola University of Chicago with a master’s degree in science and industrial relations.  He also serves on the Board of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Advisory Board of the University of Florida Retail Institute, President’s Advisory Board of Florida A&M University, Board Director at Northwest Arkansas Community College, and Board Director of National Academy of Human Resources.  He is a life member of Kappa Alpha Psi and Sigma Pi Phi fraternities and also a member of the National Council of La Raza.

Mr. Peterson received the highest recognition within the human resource industry when he was inducted as a Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources.  He is a past recipient of the Society of Human Resource Management’s highest recognition: The Award for Professional Excellence.  He recently received the National Conference of Community Justice’s Humanitarian Award.

“Coleman Peterson brings a wealth of industry expertise to our Board along with his extensive individual accomplishments and career experiences with outstanding organizations.  He will definitely add value and creative thinking to our company as well as disciplined governance and guidance to the Board,” stated Wayne Garrison, Chairman of the Board.  “We are extremely pleased to have Cole on board.”

He is well respected for his initiatives in Wal-Mart’s retail developments as well his efforts in strategic succession planning.  Under his direction, the People Division of Wal-Mart flourished as it focused on basic “People Needs” of getting, keeping and growing great associates and diversifying the workforce.

Today, Cole is president and CEO of Hollis Enterprises, LLC, of Bentonville, a consulting group he formed after his retirement from Wal-Mart.  He is using this new platform to continue consulting and speaking on the long-term strategic importance of recruitment and selection; organizational effectiveness; leadership development and diversity achievement.