John L. Conner Jr.: Arkansas Business Hall of Fame
John L. Conner Jr.
President
Holden-Conner Company
John L. Conner Jr. was born in 1948 in Newport, Arkansas. He and his siblings were raised on the 8,000-acre farm their parents and grandfather owned and operated.
After high school, he followed both parents and a grandmother to the University of Arkansas. Earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 1970, he returned home to help manage Holden-Conner company farmlands.
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The following year, Conner purchased his own 520-acre farm. In the 1970s and 1980s, he realized the need for cash-flow producing businesses to support expansion.
Investing in John Deere dealerships, he grew Greenway Equipment to become one of the top three franchisees in the world with 32 dealerships in Missouri and Arkansas with 700 employees.
Conner also invested in fuel and propane distribution companies in Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana as well as construction, title, real estate, retail, fertilizer, car dealerships and grain elevator companies.
His farm operation of more than 125,000 acres in Jackson, Woodruff, Poinsett and Lawrence Counties is one of the largest private family land operations in the nation. While most of his time is devoted to his business, Conner supports his state, university and hometown.
Honoring his mother, he funded the Mary Alice Holden Conner Memorial Park in Newport. The park has seven playgrounds, zip line, dog park, basketball court and pavilion.
Conner is a member of the Dean’s Executive Advisory Board at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. He has served on the boards of Unity Health in Newport, NEA Hospital in Jonesboro and Moving Jackson County Forward.
He has supported the university’s Northeast Rice Research and Extension Center, Walton College Advance Arkansas Scholarships, Sigma Chi Fraternity, Old Main renovation, Family Life Center at Newport First Baptist Church, Newport Community Improvement and Newport Parks and Recreation.