The Arkadelphia Rotary Club is happy to celebrate personal achievements, professional or otherwise, with members. Please join with us in congratulating Lori Ross, current Arkadelphia Rotary Club Foundation co-chair and former club president, on her promotion to  Arkadelphia Market President at Bank of the Ozarks. 

Read more: http://www.siftingsherald.com/article/20140620/News/140629958#ixzz35DLFd11T

CONNER ELDRIDGE serves as United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas. Conner was appointed by President Barack Obama on September 29, 2010 and confirmed by the United States Senate on December 10, 2010. He was recommended for the U.S. Attorney position by United States Senator Blanche Lincoln and United States Senator Mark Pryor. Conner is currently the youngest United States Attorney in the country. As U.S. Attorney, Conner serves as the chief federal law enforcement officer for the Western District of Arkansas. He is responsible for the prosecution of all federal crimes in the District and the litigation of civil matters in which the United States government has an interest. The Western District includes 34 Arkansas counties separated into six divisions: Texarkana, El Dorado, Hot Springs, Fort Smith, Fayetteville, and Harrison. The U.S. Attorney's office is based in Fort Smith, Arkansas and has a satellite office in Texarkana, Arkansas that it shares with the Eastern District of Texas. Under Conner's leadership, the United States Attorney's office has made significant strides in prosecuting a wide variety of federal crimes in all areas of the district, including child pornography offenses, violent crime, large-scale drug trafficking crimes, white collar crime, and many other offenses.

Prior to becoming United States Attorney, Conner served as a Special Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in the 9th (East) Judicial District of Arkansas in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. In this capacity, he prosecuted state offenses ranging from attempted murder to misdemeanor offenses. He also served as a federal law clerk to the Honorable G. Thomas Eisele, a Federal District Judge in the Eastern District of Arkansas. Following the clerkship, Conner held several positions at Summit Bank and Summit Bancorp in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. During his last two years at Summit Bank, Conner served as Chief Executive Officer. Earlier in his career, Conner worked as a legislative aide to United States Senator Blanche Lincoln and United States Congressman Marion Berry, both of Arkansas.

Conner is a native of Lonoke and Augusta, Arkansas, where he grew up working on his family's rice, soybean, and wheat farm and in his family's farm equipment dealership. He graduated from Lonoke High School, Davidson College (B.A.) and the University of Arkansas School of Law (J.D.). During law school, Conner was a note and comment editor with the Arkansas Law Review and worked for the Washington County, Arkansas Prosecuting Attorney's office. Conner and his wife Mary Elizabeth have three children, Will, Henry, and Tull. 

Andy Hodges is the general manager for Southwest Arkansas Media, based in Arkadelphia and owning and operating radio stations there, in Hot Springs, Malvern and Benton. A native of Warren, Ark., he is making his first appearance at a Rotary function since 1975 where, as a Junior Rotarian, he was banned from returning to future Rotary functions due to the amount of food consumed at the buffet and the length of his talks (although he promises this one will be much, much shorter).

Hodges began his media career in 1969 at the local radio station in Warren and first covered Arkansas Razorback games in 1971, where he became a regular in the press boxes and sidelines at sports events across the state. He has worked the Arkansas Gazette, the Benton County Daily Democrat in addition to being sports editor briefly in Malvern before going to Dallas in 1981. In Dallas he was a sports columnist with The Dallas Times Herald, hosted radio shows and television shows for various media outlets. He has covered over 30 Super Bowls, 18 NBA Finals, 23 Final Fours, 26 World Series and too many big college football games to count.

In 1991 he founded an internet company based in Dallas, ATJ Media, Inc., that grew rapidly into hosting over 4,000 websites in addition to bandwidth allocation across the western United States, merging with UUnet and StarWave, companies primarily owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. In 1993, he was part of an investment group that included Skip Bayless and Mark Cuban that started The Ticket, which was the third all-sports radio station in the country. Hodges sold his internet investments in 1998 in an ill-fated attempt to improve his golf handicap and attempt retirement. All of that failed within three months and he was back writing for various publications, including USA Today and Sports Illustrated in addition to doing radio and television work across the South along with various hosting for nationally syndicated radio networks like ESPN and Sporting News Radio, primarily overnights as his strong southern accent was found to be a little overwhelming for listeners outside of the South.

He was a key in founding the National Radio Group, that syndicated national talk and sports programming such as Dr. Laura, Dave Ramsey and others before getting back into radio station ownership in 2004, taking over 14 stations in Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas. Before coming to Arkadelphia in July 2013, he was editor of Hog Country Online, an online and print publication covering Arkansas sports. With SWARK Media's purchase of three radio stations in Arkadelphia and Malvern from Noalmark, Hodges has been involved in a total makeover and rebuilding of all of the stations in addition to building a new station, ESPN WPS, covering Hot Springs and Central Arkansas.

He and his wife, Wendy, have a total of five children, and live in Arkadelphia.

PERCY MALONE, former state senator, served in the Arkansas Senate representing the 26th Senate District, which included all of Clark, Dallas, and Nevada Counties, and parts of Columbia and Ouachita Counties. Senator Malone served as Chairman of the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee, Chairman of the Administrative Rules and Regulations Committee and Chairman of the Task Force on Abused and Neglected Children.

He also held membership on numerous other committees and subcommittees including the Joint Budget Committee, Arkansas Legislative Council and the Senate Insurance and Commerce Committee just to name a few. He also served as State Representative for House District 36 from 1995 to 1999, which included parts of Clark and Nevada Counties. In this capacity, he served as Co-chairman of the Joint Budget Committee and as a member of the Insurance and Commerce Committee, the Public Health and Welfare Committee, and other important committees and subcommittees.

After receiving his pharmacy degree in 1965, Senator Malone began working with I.B. Fuller in Arkadelphia. Mr. Fuller became a mentor for his community involvement, which has ranged from serving on the Board of Directors of the Arkadelphia Chamber of Commerce, to serving as a delegate to Arkansas' Constitutional Convention in 1980, to being a member of the State Board of Pharmacy.

Senator Malone was named one of Arkansas' Top 10 Legislators by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in 1999 and 2003. Throughout his legislative career, he has worked to support public education and health care initiatives, protect Arkansas consumers, and provide opportunities for economic growth. Professionally, Senator Malone is President and Owner of W.P. Malone, Inc., which includes a chain of Allcare Pharmacies across Arkansas. Senator Malone and his wife, Donna, are members of Third Street Baptist Church in Arkadelphia. He has two adult daughters, Amy Malone Norcross and Emily Malone Ervin, and five wonderful grandchildren.

JASON WATSON serves as sheriff of Clark County, Arkansas. A certified law enforcement officer since 1996, Sheriff Watson was sworn in to his first term in office on January 1, 2011. In May of 2014, he won re-election to his third term, which will begin in January 2015.

Sheriff Watson has attained nearly 2000 hours of basic and advanced training from some of the top law enforcement trainers in the Country.  Former and current organizations include International Homicide Investigators Association, International Crime Scene Investigators Association, National Safe Schools Association, Arkansas Crisis Negotiators Association, Arkansas Tactical Officers Association, Arkansas Safe Schools Association, and the Group Six Narcotics Board.

Since being elected he has been recognized by the United States Marshall’s Office and the National Sheriff’s Association. Sheriff Watson has a strong relationship with the school districts in Clark County, working with them in developing safer schools and on anti-bullying programs for all ages.

Jason and his wife, Amy, have a daughter, Hannah.