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TRANSCRIPT

Jarod Wickliffe:                

This is Jarod Wickliffe, project manager with Arkansas Economic Development Commission.

Jack Pillow:                        

This is Jack Pillow, project manager with AEDC.

Olivia Womack:                

This is Olivia Womack, project manager with AEDC, and you're listening to the Arkansas Inc. Podcast.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Welcome to the Arkansas Inc. Podcast. This is Clint O'Neal. I serve as Deputy Director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. This is the final Arkansas Inc. Podcast of 2022. Today, we're looking back at some highlights of what has been a great year in economic development. We began this year with the largest economic development project by capital investment in the state's history, when U.S. Steel announced a 3 billion investment in its next generation steel mill in Osceola and 900 high-paying jobs.

This year, we've seen companies announce projects in the food and beverage industry, timber and forestry products, technology, outdoor recreation, metals, and other industries, businesses expanded all across the state in Russellville, Batesville, Little Rock, Emerson, Arkadelphia, Searcy, Urbana, Blytheville, Lowell, and Camden, just to name a few. But today is also an opportunity to introduce you to the business development team and three of our project managers who are all making their Arkansas Inc. Podcast debut. We have Jarod Wickliffe, Jack Pillow, and Olivia Womack. Guys, welcome to the Arkansas Inc. Podcast.

Jarod Wickliffe:                

Yeah, thanks, Clint. Thanks for having us. We're excited.

Olivia Womack:               

Happy to be here.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Not only a debut to the Arkansas Inc. Podcast, but any podcast, right?

Olivia Womack:                

This is true. I am a podcast listener, but never a podcast as a participant.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Okay, long time listener. First time caller.

Olivia Womack:                

Yes, exactly.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Okay. Well, today it's going to be a mix of getting to know you three, getting to know you as professionals and how you made your journey into economic development, and a look back on these projects, many of which you've had a hand in and contributed to. So, before we talk about projects, let's start by pulling back the curtain on what goes on inside AEDC and economic development, a little inside baseball. And Jack, I'm going to start with you. You're the newest member of the team. You're no stranger to competing and to leading after your time on the football team at Ouachita Baptist, but now you're in economic development. So, question for you, what do you tell your friends and family that you actually do?

Jack Pillow:                        

It's hard to quantify it, but I would say roughly half of my friends have no idea what I do. Some of them have joked with me and asked if I work for the FBI or the CIA because they just have no idea what economic development is in general. But as far as what's it like working at the AEDC, they all know that I love what I do. And a lot of times if my friends played football with me or grew up around sports, I tell them it's similar to my experience at Ouachita, like you mentioned, just the team atmosphere. Every day's a little bit different. We're able to lean on each other and get things done.

Clint O'Neal:                      

So Olivia, you're next. Feel free to add onto that because one thing we're doing here with the Arkansas podcast and highlighting our business development team, we need to grow our team. So, let's get people interested in this. It's a wonderful profession. Last night, my 13-year-old daughter showed me a list of about 40 potential career options that she's considering. Economic development was not on the list, I have failed there. Need to get that one on the list for her and all that are in the pipeline. But give us your thoughts on economic development and what a typical week might look like for you.

Olivia Womack:                

Yeah, yeah. I'll first just touch on what Jack said. I really like the team atmosphere that we've built. I'm really proud of that. I think sometimes, especially being a project manager, it's easy to get into this lone wolf mentality of, these are my projects and I'm just going to work my projects. But I'm really proud of how we've come together and supported each other on various projects and gotten advice and help and encouragement in that way.

So, I'm very thankful for the team represented here, and then also those that are back at the agency. As far as economic development in general, it's been a great career field so far. For me, even though I'm very recent into the field, it's really fun because each day is very different. You never know if you're going to be out at a site riding around on ATVs, looking at a site with some project engineers, or if you're going to be in a conference room wearing a suit. I would say tie, but I don't wear ties in a more professional setting. So, it's a great career and I would encourage anybody that's interested in the field to definitely think about being a project manager at AEDC.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Great. Jarod, you're next. You came from a background of recruiting a pipeline of students to attend the University of Central Arkansas, Go Bears, and now you're in economic development. What surprised you about coming into this profession?

Jarod Wickliffe:                

Yeah. Thanks, Clint. Big shout out to the University of Central Arkansas, Go Bears, as you mentioned, shout out to their team and Courtney Bryant. They had the second largest freshman incoming class for the state. So, always proud alumnus and former employee of the university. But one thing that I really enjoyed about working in higher education and working with prospective students was that you would be able to have an opportunity to highlight what they can do in regards to goals for second steps post high school, whether that was a two-year university, a four-year university, going into the military and serving or to go off into the workforce and to be able to have a sense of equity across the board and providing opportunities. That really provided me a sense of purpose. And one thing that really surprised me about coming into the economic development world, to Jack's point, I just assume economic development organically happened, or they were involved with getting the Chick-fil-A down the street from my house.

But there's a lot of work and teamwork that goes involved with that. And for me, learning that we can be able to work with prospective companies, existing industry, to be able to create opportunities for higher paying jobs, to increase the quality of life, that same sense of purpose that I had recruiting high school students has transferred over and maybe a family that we may have not had an opportunity to ever meet, but to have an impact and create a higher paying job to increase quality of life pieces. That's something that's really rewarding and may not necessarily be in all the press releases or jobs announcements, but something that really provides me a simple sense of purpose moving forward. So.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Well said. I really appreciate that. At AEDC, we try to stay on mission, and our mission is to raise the per capita income of Arkansans to provide better opportunity for Arkansans, for more and better jobs. And the way that we do that is we win projects, we partner with communities, we give communities the opportunity to compete for projects, and we provide the best support we can at the state level to help communities close deals.

At the end of the day, all economic development projects are local and they are won or lost at the local level. And when we win projects in partnership with our local communities, they create great jobs for communities. So, let's go behind the scenes and talk about what companies are looking for. What are the top factors? What drives some of these decisions? And what were the winning factors on a handful of these projects that we had the opportunity to have a hand in in 2022?

Jack, let's start to you. Name a project that comes to mind and give us some background on it.

Jack Pillow:                        

I would say this answer's easy, but I don't want to call it my favorite project. I don't feel like we can do that so, but this was definitely a good one by anybody's standards. It's BPS Inc. in Helena, Phillips County. Really cool story. So, just little background, they were incorporated in 1960 and they had two main locations. One of them was in Helena already, and then another was in New Jersey. And Allen Bartlo, who is a part of the leadership structure, but also the family that owns BPS, was located in New Jersey. And this whole process started with me and John Edwards sitting down with two local folks from the existing facility in Helena.

And then, a short month later, I got in touch with Allen and we hit the ground running. So, it's a long story with a lot of details that aren't worth it for here, but it was just a great, everybody came together, Mayor Smith in Helena, John Edwards, like I mentioned, if J.D. Lowry's listening to this, just want to apologize. I looped him in pretty late on the electricity side, but they ended up making the decision to move all of their production from their New Jersey facility to Helena, which we're kind of talking about at a macro level what it's like working at the AEDC. And that really, it made it come full circle for me whenever Allen actually said that this decision was easier because of what we were able to do at the local and the state level. So, just a really cool project, great story, and we're happy to have him here.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Big win for Helena-West Helena, the community leaders there. So, congrats to you and John Edwards and J.D. Lowry all involved. So, Helena-West Helena one, New Jersey zero is the scoreboard on that one, right.

Olivia Womack:                

Economic development's a team sport.

Clint O'Neal:                      

That's right. Okay. Olivia, you're next. Take us behind the scenes on a project.

Olivia Womack:                

Sure. I'd like to talk about Preformed Line Products in Rogers, Arkansas. I am from Rogers, and this was a cool project both professionally and personally, because I actually went to middle school at Kirksey Middle School, go Cougars, right down the street from Preformed Line Products, their facility in Rogers. And so, it's pretty cool that growing up, I drove past this building basically every day and then had no idea what went on inside that building or just the great impact that they have on both the energy and telecommunications industries, making critical products for those industries. And then also just the impact that they have on the community and the state as a whole. And so, that was cool to look back and think, wow, in when I was in PE class and we had to run the mile, which I think is a form of child abuse, making children run a mile, but we would have to run past the Preformed Line Products facility and just thinking like, wow, I had no idea what went on inside that building.

Jarod Wickliffe:                

Yeah. I agree, Olivia. Runner's high is a myth. No sense of pleasure in that physical activity. So-

Jack Pillow:                        

What is running?

Olivia Womack:                

Yeah, so overall, it was a great project. They're investing $16 million to expand their facility, add more warehousing space, more production space. And as of last year, they had created 75 jobs, and then by the end of this year, they'll create another 50 jobs. So, just a really great project and kind of cool personal tie there.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Thanks Olivia. I'm sure your hometown appreciate your efforts there. So, Olivia, what is your best mile time?

Olivia Womack:                

Oh, it was terrible. It was like 12 minutes. I think I walked half of it.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Okay.

Olivia Womack:                

I was like, "This is dumb. I don't want to do this."

Clint O'Neal:                      

Plenty of time to see the company, right?

Olivia Womack:                

Exactly. Yes, yes. I was doing, I was just doing some reconnaissance beforehand, before I even knew about economic development.

Jarod Wickliffe:                

So, 12 miles is considered a bad time.

Olivia Womack:                

12 minutes for a mile. Yes, I would say so.

Jarod Wickliffe:                

Okay. Do we noted?

Olivia Womack:                

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Clint O'Neal:                      

All right, Jarod, let's see if you can take us behind the scenes on a project that was more successful than yours or Olivia's marathon here.

Jarod Wickliffe:                

Thanks, Clint. Yes. So, one of the projects that really comes to mind for me is Arkana Laboratories or Arkana Labs in West Little Rock. I know some people get that confused. That's actually just a description of Little Rock. It's actually not a city. In regards to Little Rock and North Little Rock who are two different cities, I try to explain that to a lot of folks. I'm a resident of North Little Rock in Dogtown, but Arkana Labs, this is the largest renal pathology lab in North America, which is crazy to think about that. It's services such an area within the United States here in our back door of Little Rock for kidney biopsies, something that is super relevant in regards to turning around those results. For doctors to be able to review those and provide treatment for their patients, something that is a huge benefit.

And that was something that 75 high paying jobs here locally that you can be able to see the benefit. But one of the things that I really enjoyed about this project, and Olivia mentioned earlier about economic development being a team sport. This was an existing company that saw the value within the central Arkansas market, and they reached out to our partners in Little Rock, and then they touched base with the state. We were able to go and tour that facility, learn more about their trade, their craft, and how we can partner to ensure the success of choosing to do business in Arkansas, choosing to do business in Little Rock, and then for them to be able to expand and purchase their facility. That was something that I really enjoyed working with Jack Thomas and his team at the Little Rock Chamber.

Olivia Womack:                

And for all of you listeners, there is a whole episode with our Arkana Labs and our very own Chelsea O'Kelley. So go and listen. If you'd like to learn more about renal pathology.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Very good. A lot of smart people out there. Well, to wrap up projects in 2022, we've seen a lot of success with communities around the state who develop the right ingredients to win projects. And a lot of that comes down to four basic ingredients. You have to have the real estate, you have to have the workforce, you have to have the right deal structure, and you have to have the willingness, the state, and community support. And so, as we look at these projects, whether it be U.S. Steel or Tractor Supply, or Phoenix Innovations in Russellville, Hostess Brands in Arkadelphia, it came down to having all four of those elements.

Jarod Wickliffe:                

Say, Clint, can we flip the script on you and hear more about the U.S. Steel project?

Clint O'Neal:                      

Sure. So, U.S. Steel in particular, they looked at those four pathways just like all of these projects do. US Steel had very good real estate options across the country, did an extensive search. With a project like this, you have to have hundreds of acres, river access, rail access, all the infrastructure. And so, they had that in Mississippi County. Clif Chitwood and the team in Mississippi County has created an initiative. Cotton to Steel is where they're looking to take their economy. They've had so much success with Nucor, Nucor-Yamato, Big River Steel, a second project with Big River Steel. So, when BRS was acquired by U.S. Steel, U.S. Steel knew that there's something special going on in northeast Arkansas. And so, having that real estate option is not the end all be all, but it has to be there. And there was good real estate, great infrastructure there.

Next, they look at workforce doing an evaluation of are the workers in the area up to the task? Do they have the skills? Is there a pipeline of skilled trades? Is there a university or two year colleges that provides that certainly is in Mississippi County. And so, they've proven that with the workforce at the steel mills, hard work, skilled workers definitely checks the box second to none, puts them above the competition. And then, you look at the deal structure, look at the base of taxes and what we've done in Arkansas to reduce taxes. Just in the last eight years in the Hutchinson administration, individual income taxes have gone from a top end rate of 7% to now down to 4.9%, a similar drop in corporate income taxes, and then the incentives provided by the Arkansas legislature, the support of the state for the steel industry, and the growth of high paying, very high paying jobs in northeast Arkansas.

So, these 900 jobs that were announced in Mississippi County, average wage of over $100,000. So, a lot of hardworking men and women getting American made products out the door. Something that we can all be very proud of. And obviously, that fourth category was there with the support from the county, from local officials, from state, AEDC, the legislature, the community college, a very good project and one that we can all be very proud of. Moving on to trends in Arkansas in 2022. Let's look at a couple of specific industries. Jarod, I'm going back to you for the food and beverage industry, not just because you are a consumer of food and beverage, as you like to say, and have tried a lot of products, but tell us about the industry in Arkansas.

Jarod Wickliffe:                

Yeah, Clint. So, we've got some specific industries that the project managers on the team try to be subject-matter experts in. And I know there's a lot of consideration and planning that goes into determining which of the project managers will be in charge of a targeted sector. And I like to think that me as a consumer of these products, but also physically, I'm the largest project manager. So, this just made sense as the perfect fit for me in regards to sectors and trying to be a subject-matter expert within that field. But one of the things that I like to... Or really blew my mind whenever I started to dive into the food and beverage industry within the state of Arkansas, is that, I mean, we are a large agricultural state: 49% of the rice in the United States is produced here in Arkansas. That's something that just blew me away.

But we're homegrown to Fortune 500 companies that have built a business model around food and beverage, whether that's the largest protein producer in the United States. Those are things that really define our ecosystem. But also, many of the community partners have developed a hub for our ecosystem for food and beverage, whether that is building out infrastructure for abundance of water, wastewater capacity, viable land, because those are all things that make it cost efficient and beneficial for food and beverage companies to do business in a specific site.

And that can be really shown outside of just utilities in the logistical infrastructure and advantages. But one of the things that can really be highlighted over this past year about those expansions, one of those being Hostess Brands, in that they had an announcement in Arkadelphia that they're going to be producing the powdered donuts. Everybody likes to, we were talking about our breakfast regimen, and I know I probably consume one too many of those powdered donuts every morning-

Jack Pillow:                        

And dinner.

Jarod Wickliffe:                

And dinner throughout. We have a snack drawer within the office that I know I tend to double-dip in quite often.

Olivia Womack:                

And I would just like to set the record straight that if you were at the Hostess event and you didn't see Jarod or Pillow, it was because they were at the table with all the donuts. They were just over there the whole time.

Jack Pillow:                        

No comment.

Olivia Womack:                

So, it's just... Yeah.

Jarod Wickliffe:                

Say we wore extra large jackets. That way we could line our pockets with some of the complimentary items that they provided. That was off the record though.

Olivia Womack:                

Yeah.

Jarod Wickliffe:                

But another really cool project that we had an opportunity to work with an existing industry is Bryce Corporation in Searcy, Arkansas, White County. And this is one that you may not necessarily think about in regards to food and beverage, because a lot of times you'll focus on the production side, but this is going to be really the flexible packaging. So, if you think about your favorite brand of chips and the specific work that goes into place for them to be able to produce that bag, salty, sweet, they have a pretty robust options in regards to their portfolio. So, if you've eaten a bag of chips within the past couple of days, I'm sure you have utilized the Bryce Corporation product.

And then, another great one is going to be Tyson Foods. They had a large corporate expansion and relocation over 800 jobs to Northwest Arkansas. Those are going to be high paying and kind of more of the corporate headquarters focus. And then, another one is going to be Independent Stave, a stave mill for barreling in Independence County or Batesville. So, if you are getting ready for the holidays and you enjoy the occasional libation or spirit, they will produce mini barrels for whiskeys, wines, some household staple names, Maker's Mark, Barefoot. So, those are all different companies that have a great place within the Arkansas business climate and that you may not necessarily know that really have an impact on your daily consumption.

Olivia Womack:                

And on Independent Stave, they landed an Independence County, Arkansas, but that was their name beforehand. They're an existing company, so kind of meant to be.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Well, thanks Jarod. And coming back to you on our lightning round with favorite food and beverage product made in Arkansas. So, you've got a couple minutes to think about that one. But speaking of products made of timber. Jack, tell us about the timber and forestry products industry and the trends over the last year.

Jack Pillow:                        

Yeah, I started in February, so it's been roughly 10 months, but I have absolutely spent the most of my time on the timber and forest products industry. And a lot of that was somewhat shadowing Jack Thomas on the Independent Stave project. But 60 jobs, 30 million investment in Batesville. That's going to make a big difference. And an exist, a great existing company that also expanded is Canfor right outside El Dorado. They're going to invest 130 million in their facility. And all of that is to increase the production and the output of the mill that they already have.

And that speaks to the “wood basket” that Arkansas has. But it is, it's prominent, it's well known. Arkansas has over 19 million acres of forest land, which covers 56% of the state's area, which I thought was cool. And if we're getting into the numbers, we're also number one in the South for hardwood seedlings grown, which just is a testament to the continued growth. And then, it's not a non-economic development announcement, but it's not a company that's expanding. But UAM introduced their Arkansas Center for Forest Business, which is going to also help sustain and support the industry in our state and the surrounding states.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Another trend we've seen over the last year, over the last few years coming out of the pandemic is remote work and the opportunities to really evaluate where you want to live, whether it be remote work or not, quality of life has become more and more important as people look at the priorities of their life and think about the time that they're spending with their friends, with their family. And Arkansas has a great story to tell. Olivia tells more about the quality of life and some changes we've seen in the last year.

Olivia Womack:                

Yeah, I think as you mentioned, especially during the COVID, kind of pandemic and coming out of that, we've seen people and communities really focus on the quality of life piece. And I think Arkansas is in a great position. You have the best of both worlds. You can have a really great high paying job with a good quality company, and also have that good work-life balance and quality of life. And I feel like we throw quality of life around as a term a lot of the time without really saying, "Well, what does that mean? Because that kind of means different things to different people." But I think it's just the availability and the ease of access to a lot of amenities that people would want. Arkansas, we have wonderful state parks, we have great museums throughout the state. We have a lot of communities that are doing work to revitalize their downtown to add bike trails, just to name a few.

And I hate to name communities because that leaves some out. But every community's doing great work. But I know especially this year, Clarksville, Morrilton, Magnolia, Searcy County, Paragould, they've all done a lot of great work to really try to make their community a place that people want to come and live and spend their time. And I think especially during COVID, a lot of tech companies, tech workers were looking up, they were working remotely now, and they look up and they are in their shoebox apartment in a giant city having to fight traffic.

Everything's very expensive. And they had a moment of reflection of, wait a minute, why am I doing this? I never see a tree. I never see grass. Why am I doing this to myself? And I think Arkansas is in a great position. I know I've worked with companies and I know Jack and Jarod have as well, smaller companies, and it's maybe an owner and their family, and they're like, "Why do I have this business here in these other locations when I can come to Arkansas?" And so, I think we've been a great beneficiary in that, and I think quality of life has been a big piece of that, especially for people interested in outdoor recreation and being outside, being in The Natural State.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Thanks, Olivia. Okay, listeners, don't give up on us. Now, last part of the podcast is our lightning round questions. This may be the most fun. We'll have some insights on you as a professional and some just keeping you on your toes, seeing how you answer these questions. So popcorn style, I'm going to start with Jack Pillow. And your question is, what's the worst job you've ever had? And so, for the sake of our industry, please don't say your current one.

Jack Pillow:                        

No comment. Just kidding. Definitely laying sod. That's by far the worst thing I've ever done.

Clint O'Neal:                      

All right. Olivia, best dressed colleague in the office.

Olivia Womack:                

Ooh, I'm going to have to say Cory Ingram, our new incentives manager. He always looks very dapper, has suspenders, bow, tie, the whole deal. So, I expect Jack and Jarod, you'll need to start modeling your outfits off of that. No more of these vests, that kind of stuff.

Jarod Wickliffe:                

Lesson boot game is strong.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Being called out. Okay. Jarod, favorite movie or book?

Jarod Wickliffe:                

Ooh, let me see. So, I am a huge Quentin Tarantino fan. Love all of his work. If he's going to be producing a movie, I'm most likely going to be watching it on repeat, so I'd have to go with Pulp Fiction. Don't tell Christopher Crane that. I know he is our film guy dubbed in the office, but I'm going to have to go with Pulp Fiction.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Okay. Filmed in Arkansas?

Jarod Wickliffe:                

It is not, don't tell Christopher Crane again. Actually, we should mention it to Christopher because he should have done a better job of recruiting Pulp Fiction to be filmed within the state.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Wow.

Jarod Wickliffe:                

Okay.

Olivia Womack:                

Called out.

Jarod Wickliffe:                

Yeah.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Okay. Olivia, back to you. What is one habit that makes you better at your job? Daily habit, or-

Olivia Womack:                

I carry a notebook everywhere I go and write everything down. I also carry water everywhere I go. Stay hydrated friends. That's important.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Very good. Jack. Economic developer around the state with the best hair.

Jack Pillow:                        

Oh, no. I mean, I can't say Brad Lacy, right? I might have to redo this with one. He does have good hair though.

Clint O'Neal:                      

No, I think we have our answer there.

Olivia Womack:                

I think this needs to be the next poll-

Clint O'Neal:                      

Yeah. That's the good one.

Olivia Womack:                

... the next weekly poll in the office. Who has the best hair?

Jack Pillow:                        

Do we keep that?

Clint O'Neal:                      

Yeah, we're keeping it. We're keeping it. Okay. Jarod, if you were not in economic development, you had to do something else with your life, what would you do?

Jarod Wickliffe:                

So, for listeners and those that don't know, I have a twin brother. His name's Jacob. I'm Jarod, the alliteration. Our parents ruined us in regards to that, but he and I, we grew up first jobs working in the service industry, and we even worked at a restaurant in central Arkansas that there's a pizza on the menu named after us. It's a Wickliffe twin creation. So, I think I would endeavor into the entrepreneurial space of owning an own restaurant bar jointly with my brother. He's an attorney, so he can work out all the legalities and I'll just be behind in the scenes in the kitchen. So, I think that would be kind of that, if I wasn't in economic development.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Okay. Back to the passion of food and beverage.

Jarod Wickliffe:                

Oh yeah. It drives most of my conversations. And I know three meals a day, I try to have at least six or seven.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Okay.

Jack Pillow:                        

I think this is a good time to go on the record too. I've grown a reputation of being the snacker in the office. I just want to make sure that everybody knows that, that Jarod is the snacker.

Olivia Womack:                

Now, who won the pizza eating competition? I think that the people need to know this.

Jarod Wickliffe:                

I'll let them win handedly.

Jack Pillow:                        

How long have you been in the office or the agency then? What? A couple months. I couldn't just come in there and smoke the new guy. I mean, eat 17 slices of pizza.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Okay. Staying on topic. Olivia. Favorite restaurant in Arkansas?

Olivia Womack:                

Oh, in Arkansas. See, this is tough. Yes. I would have to say, well, first off, Jarod and Jacob's imaginary restaurant, very excited to go there. But I would also have to say Tavola in Bentonville, very good food, and it's been cool to watch them grow over the years.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Okay, very good. Jack, we've talked today about momentum and economic development and a good year in 2022. What are you most excited about for Arkansas and for AEDC and the opportunities out there in 2023?

Jack Pillow:                        

I think in general, just professionally, I'm looking forward to our team, seeing what we can do, because for me, I didn't necessarily start a lot of these projects. Some of them ended up finishing, but I'm excited for opportunities to work with new companies and see it all the way through. I think Arkansas is in a great place for success. We are extremely busy. I feel like we say that a lot anytime we're in public, so that's never a bad thing either, but just excited to keep going.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Jarod, you knew this one was coming. Favorite food and beverage product made in Arkansas.

Jarod Wickliffe:                

So, I mean, just going on record, I love all foods and all foods produced across the state, but if it is a chip and it ends in the letter O, it's up there in my top rankings for chips. So, I'm going to have to go with Cheetos produced by Frito Lay in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Whether it's the puffy Cheeto or the crunchy Cheeto or the hot Cheeto, I'm going to eat it.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Okay.

Olivia Womack:                

So, if you see Cheeto dust on any of your incentive paperwork, any documentation from Jarod, you'll know why.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Okay. Last lightning round question. This is for all of you. This is a lightning round, so you can't really expand. Just give an answer. There's controversy in the office. The business development team at one time had a bit of a... How would you call Chadwick a-

Olivia Womack:                

Beloved.

Jarod Wickliffe:                

A symbol of the BD team.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Yeah. Okay.

Olivia Womack:                

Yes, beloved mascot-

Clint O'Neal:                      

A mascot.

Olivia Womack:                

... and friend. Really.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Mascot and friend who is there no longer because Chadwick the Camel has been kidnapped. And so, listeners not familiar, feel free to reach out. It's quite a story, and these folks can tell you about it. But lightning round answer. Who's behind the kidnapping of Chadwick?

Jack Pillow:                        

Tyler Hale.

Jarod Wickliffe:                

I'm going to go with Chelsea O'Kelley,

Olivia Womack:                

Clint, I'm looking at you.

Clint O'Neal:                      

Okay. More to come on that. Well, that's it for the Arkansas Inc. Podcast today. Thank you for listening in. I've been talking with Jack Pillow, Jarod Wickliffe, and Olivia Womack. Guys, thanks for being a part of the show today.

Jarod Wickliffe:                

Yeah, thanks for having us, Clint.

Olivia Womack:                

Thanks, Clint.

Jarod Wickliffe:                

It's a lot of fun. Hopefully we'll get the invite to do. Do a second one at some point.

Clint O'Neal:                      

More to come on that. You've been listening to the Arkansas Inc. Podcast. This is Clint O'Neal, Deputy Director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. You can subscribe to the Arkansas Inc. Podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, and other podcast apps. For more information about AEDC and to sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit arkansasedc.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Thanks for tuning in and happy holidays.