Photos provided by AEDCE
Arkansas Economic Developers & Chamber Executives, an affiliate of the Arkansas State Chamber/Associated Industries of Arkansas, annually recognizes outstanding individuals and their contributions across both volunteer and professional sectors within community and economic development in Arkansas.
The four awards, presented in August at AEDCE’s annual conference, celebrate honorees’ leadership, professionalism and measurable positive impact in Arkansas communities.
Arkansas Money & Politics joins with AEDCE in congratulating this year’s distinguished slate of winners.
Maria Haley Lifetime Leadership for Economic Development
Raymond Burns
Raymond Burns CCE
President/CEO
Rogers Lowell Chamber
Raymond Burns, a certified chamber executive, has served as president and CEO of the Rogers Lowell Chamber for the past 38 years. The chamber is a Five-Star Accredited Chamber, the highest certification of quality available in the industry. Only 149 of 7,022 chambers nationwide have earned the honor.
Actively involved with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., Burns served on the Chamber of Commerce Committee of 100 and the accreditation board. He is a past chairman of the SMU Institute for Organizational Management; the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives Certified Chamber Executive Commission; and the Arkansas Economic Developers & Chamber Executives. Burns currently serves on the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce board and executive committee.
Burns also sits on the board of Bikes, Blues & BBQ in Rogers and served an eight-year board term for the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport Authority.
A member of Rotary International and Central United Methodist Church of Rogers, Burns and his wife, Katie, have four children and five grandchildren.
Outstanding Economic Developer
Danny Games
Danny Games CEcD
Vice President,
Business and Economic Development,
Entergy Arkansas
Danny Games is vice president of business and economic development at Entergy Arkansas. Based in Little Rock, Entergy’s team of economic development professionals focuses on assisting the state and local communities in becoming more competitive for attracting new businesses and supporting existing businesses throughout the Entergy Arkansas service territory.
Games has more than 22 years of economic development experience at state and local levels, including management positions with BHP, Chesapeake Energy and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, where he served as the executive vice president of global business under then-Gov. Asa Hutchinson before joining Entergy Arkansas.
He has a Master of Science degree in economic development from the University of Southern Mississippi; earned his Certified Economic Developer certification from the International Economic Development Council; and earned an Economic Development Finance Professional certification from the National Development Council.
Games currently serves as a board member for Goodwill Industries of Arkansas and co-chairs the Department of Commerce Career Education and Workforce Development Board.
Outstanding Chamber Exectutive
Gary Troutman
Gary Troutman CCE, IOM
President/CEO Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce and Metro Partnership
Gary Troutman was named president and CEO of the Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce and Metro Partnership in August 2017 after serving on the group’s board of directors and executive committee the past several years.
A former president of Arkansas Economic Developers & Chamber Executives, Troutman previously served as vice president of First Security Bank in Hot Springs after spending 14 years with WEHCO Media, where he served as classified advertising director at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock and, later, as general manager of The Sentinel-Record in Hot Springs.
A sample of his board service includes the Arkansas State Chamber/Associated Industries of Arkansas, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Winter Institute, Fifty for the Future, The Oaklawn Foundation in Hot Springs, National Park College Foundation in Hot Springs, Southern Economic Development Council and AEDCE. He was president of the Hot Springs National Park Rotary Club during their centennial year from 2016 to 2017 and was named HSNP’s Rotarian of the Year for 2017 to 2018.
A native of Hot Springs, Troutman graduated from Lakeside High School in Hot Springs and the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. He and his wife, Michelle, have one daughter, Shelby, a labor and delivery nurse at CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs.
Volunteer of the Year
Darryl G. Treat
Col. (Retired) Darryl G. Treat
Darryl G. Treat, who since 2013 has served as executive director of the Greater Searcy County Chamber of Commerce, has led his all-volunteer chamber of commerce to great heights and much recognition during his tenure.
Under Treat’s leadership, Searcy County became the first county in north central Arkansas to achieve certification as an ACT Work Ready Community, and in 2016, the organization was recognized with the Bootstrap Award denoting an individual, organization or community that has achieved significant success “on a shoestring” budget.
After graduating from Marshall High School in 1979, Treat served 27 years in the United States Air Force as a master navigator, retiring in 2010 with the rank of colonel. In 2011, he started his own business in Leslie, the Elk & Eagle Trading Post, which operated for 11 years. He has also worked as an evangelist for the Church of Christ in Fox and Marshall since 2013.
Treat, an eighth-generation resident of Searcy County, and his wife, Dana, have four children and seven grandchildren.
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