There may be no brighter-shining example of financial success and institutional integrity than Stephens Inc. The Little Rock firm is synonymous with building wealth, be it of the individual, corporate, institutional or community variety, and the company imprint can be found on some of the greatest success stories in Arkansas and beyond.
Chief Operating Officer Curt Bradbury is well-acquainted with this legacy of success, having worked here from 1972 to 1985 and then in his current role from 1995 to the present. He’s at home in this environment, matching his own deeply rooted belief in the opportunities that can be divined from the bleakest of circumstances by hard work, faith and the meritocracy of a capitalistic, free market system.
“The myth about capitalism is that it is about money and greed. It’s not,” he said. “I believe it’s about human achievement. It is about realizing dreams and building successful businesses that offer good jobs and the opportunity for personal fulfillment on one side of the equation, and offering returns on investment and wealth creation, in the broadest sense, on the other side.
“It is the system that offers the most personal autonomy and freedom — freedom to create and be rewarded. What we do at Stephens is at the very heart of capitalism, and we are capitalists. We care about others, about job creation and providing the dignity of a job for all people. Capitalism is the best way to achieve all of that.”
Born in Little Rock in 1949, Bradbury grew up through the public school system at Wilson Elementary, Southwest Jr. High and Central High School. Attending the University of Arkansas, where he would earn a degree in finance in 1971 and a master’s in economics in 1972, he formed the foundation for his calling in life.
“In Dr. Robert Kennedy’s sophomore level investments class at the U of A, I read the chapter of the text that described what an investment banker does,” he said. “I said to myself, ‘That’s what I want to do for a living.’ I’m one of the lucky ones who got to do exactly what I wanted to do.”
Not only that, but Bradbury got to ply his trade from the beginning at arguably the most prestigious firm outside of New York, Stephens Inc. There, he melded the theoretical elements learned in the classroom with the real-world responsibilities that come with dealing in other people’s futures. And he was guided by the best.
“There were several people who had an early influence on me, but to condense it to one, I would say Jack Stephens,” he said. “One of the many important lessons he shared with me was the value of being direct and candid, of saying what you think, even in the most difficult situations. Companies and relationships built on truth persevere.
“The one thing that has not changed over the 50 years I’ve been here is that you must make a profit to survive and prosper. And it is no less true than it was then that you can make a profit with respect for customers, employees, shareholders and the law of the land.”
Bradbury’s legacy with Stephens Inc. alone would have been impressive enough, but the detour he made into banking in 1985 cemented his hall of fame credentials. That year, he left the firm to join Worthen Banking Corp. to help rescue the company from the brink of insolvency touched off by a cataclysmic $52 million loss associated with the implosion of New Jersey-based Bevill Bresler Schulman Asset Management Corp.
Named Worthen’s Chief Executive Officer in early 1986, Bradbury looked to undo the damage of an accumulated $235 million in shaky loans, many by the corporation’s flagship Worthen Bank & Trust, which seriously impaired the ability of the bank to survive. A challenge of monumental proportions, the march back from the precipice would be slow and painful, a slog for which Bradbury drew fortification from two stellar examples of leadership from his youth.
“I learned most about leadership from my football coach, Mike McGibbony, at Southwest Jr. High,” he said. “What I have observed about leadership over the years is that you can’t wait for an engraved invitation to be a leader. Either you step into the breach or you don’t.
“My dad served in the U.S. Navy in World War II. From him, I learned the most important lesson is to do your duty. Show up, do the work, and do more than is expected of you.”
Under this guidance, Bradbury surrounded himself with management talent and got down to business. Selling off affiliate banks and cutting staff reduced expenses while tranches of substandard loans were uncovered in excruciating detail. Operations soon became known for austerity, adopting a tightly conservative attitude toward lending and spending.
The tactics worked. By 1989 Worthen posted across-the-board profitability from its family of banks for the first time in five years. Worthen Banking Corp. posted net income of $10.4 million in 1988 and net income of $11 million in 1989. When Worthen sold in 1994 to St. Louis based Boatmen’s Bancshares (eventually to become part of Bank of America) it culminated one of the biggest turnarounds in Arkansas banking history, to this day a source of great personal satisfaction for Bradbury.
Returning to Stephens Inc., Bradbury rapidly became one of the most recognized and respected figures in the national financial community, contributing not only to the firm’s fortunes and that of its clients, but to the industry as a whole. He helped found The American Securities Association, an investment banking trade association for non-Wall Street firms, serving as its inaugural chairman of the board.
He has served three terms on the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association Board of Directors and is a former member of the American Enterprise Institute’s National Council. He formerly served on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority District 5 Conduct Committee, is former advisory director of the Export-Import Bank and a former director of the American Bankers Association.
To that list of accomplishments, add induction into the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame, where he joins longtime mentors, the late Jack Stephens and Jack’s son, Warren Stephens.
“I am grateful for the honor,” Bradbury said. “I’m in awe of those who have received it before, and am humbled when I think of their accomplishments and what the combined impact of their work has had on the state, our country and the world.
“My ambition was to work at the very heart of capitalism, to be an investment banker, and to do so at Stephens for the last 50 years seems to have worked out. I am proud of my lengthy tenure at Stephens and the opportunity to work with multiple generations of the family. I would say that apart from my own family, my wife, Charlotte, and our sons, it has meant everything to me.”
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