Peel away the business suit and corner office and there's still a lot of dairy farmer in Steven Warren.
The head of a four-state region for BKD, one of the biggest accounting firms in the country, Warren got his first taste of work rising early to milk cows on his family's farm in southwestern Missouri.
"It's a pretty good way to grow up," he said. "You think about time responsibly."
Warren, 54, hasn't wasted much of that commodity, moving up through the ranks of BKD while still finding plenty of time for his family and the community. He helped start the Children's Protection Center, which assists survivors of child abuse and their families in Pulaski County, and now chairs its board. He has served on the boards of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre and Junior Achievement of Arkansas.
On Saturday, Warren and his wife, Marci, will chair the Arkansas Heart Ball, chief fundraiser for the American Heart Association in central Arkansas and one of the state's premier social events.
He'll fit in with the black-tie crowd -- just like he does on 800 acres he still owns back in Missouri, Marci said.
"Even though he does well in the city and is a businessman, I think he is still a country boy at heart," she said.
And as with many a country boy, it takes a bit of prying to get Warren to talk about himself. He's eager to talk about BKD, its client service, employees and their involvement in the community -- less forthcoming when it comes to his own accomplishments.
The view from his office on the 25th floor of the Regions Bank building takes in part of the Arkansas River, the state Capitol and Little Rock stretching south. It's a long way from his parents' dairy farm, where the work was "constant, unending. We didn't really take family vacations."
He isn't complaining. Warren and his four siblings were Future Farmers of America kids, raising and showing cattle. With 50 kids in his graduating class, his high school was the kind of place where he could play first-chair tenor saxophone and captain the football team. Warren's two brothers still farm in the area. One sister is a music teacher, the other an expert on dairy cows. "Each of them are just really good at what they do," he said.
Warren spent a year at Drury College in Springfield, Mo., thinking he might become a dentist, before transferring to Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, where he took his first accounting course and found it "easy."
A professor noticed and recruited Warren into the accounting program, for which he remains grateful. He drove a flatbed truck during the summer, delivering oil pipe and other materials around the country.
"They earn their pay," Warren said of truckers. "I think I've had a lot of different experiences."
After graduation, Warren went to work for BKD in Joplin. Founded in 1922 and headquartered in Springfield, BKD, formerly Baird, Kurtz & Dobson, today has about 2,350 employees in 15 states.
"By 10 o'clock on the first day I was in a bank in Baxter Springs, Kan., working on a bank audit."
Warren spent seven years in Joplin as a certified public accountant and manager specializing in financial institutions, a period of "tough times in that industry" because of the savings and loan debacle.
In 1991 he was bumped up to the Springfield headquarters, where he worked as associate director of accounting and auditing for the whole firm.
"I was a go-to person for high-level help," he said. "You got exposed to high-level issues from everywhere."
He rotated out of that position to become director of accounting, auditing and the financial institutions group for the Springfield practice, one of BKD's biggest. He made partner in 1994, the goal he'd set for himself. There are 261 partners in the firm, and each gets a vote on significant matters that affect the firm.
"It was a big deal to me," he said. "That means you own a piece of it."
TAX SEASON
Like many accountants, Warren dates important events in life -- moves, new jobs -- to a certain time of year.
"It's always 'right after tax season,'" Marci Warren says with laugh.
That includes their marriage in 1996 and their move to Little Rock two years later.
"People say, 'What's the first thing you noticed about her?'" Warren said of his wife, who's a native of Pittsburg, Kan. "I'd say, 'Holy cow, she's so gorgeous.' But there's a lot more to her. She's really intelligent and fun."
"He has this crooked little smile that's just adorable," Marci said. "I know it sounds silly, but it's true."
The couple have two daughters -- Delaney, 17, and Sydney, 15, who followed in her sister's footsteps as a Heart Association Sweetheart this year.
Marci calls her husband "very dedicated" to his job but said he makes equal time for his family. She said her husband likes to remind his children not to procrastinate and to approach tough tasks one piece at a time.
"I've heard him say many times, 'How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.'"
Coincidentally, their family vacations sound like episodes of Wild Kingdom. They've swum with dolphins and sea lions, ridden elephants in Zimbabwe and cuddled baby black bears as part of state wildlife conservation programs.
"I guess we all like animals, although I like hunting and fishing, too," Warren said.
The Warrens also head to the desert each year -- after tax season, naturally -- for a golf trip with friends.
Little Rock adman Larry Stone, a frequent golf partner, called Warren a "straight arrow" on and off the course.
"He's the kind of guy, you know, at the end of the day, his score is actually his score. He hasn't pencil-whipped his scorecard."
In 1998, Warren was promoted to managing partner of BKD's Arkansas practice.
"It was just a tremendous opportunity for me," he said. "I've had so much good fortune and good mentors."
Warren has played a key role in BKD's expansion since then, starting with the acquisition of a Little Rock investment firm, part of BKD's entry into that business (today it has $2 billion under management). The Arkansas practice now has 142 employees in Little Rock, Pine Bluff and Rogers, up from about 75 when he started. A decade after coming here, Warren was named manager of the newly restructured southern region, which also includes Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas. Warren was also lead partner in the acquisitions of firms in San Antonio, Waco and Dallas. He now oversees about 600 employees and is a member of the firm's 11-member governing board.
PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
"My role is to find like-minded people practicing in our business that could do better being part of our firm and make us better," he said.
Partners are also expected to bring in clients. Warren said he is currently focused on building BKD's practice in the energy sector, such as utilities and oil and gas producers. Warren said his sales pitch starts with listening to what the client needs and "seeing if we can bring them value."
Warren is a cheerleader for BKD's corporate culture and his profession in general.
"The stereotype is that CPAs sit at their desk all day crunching numbers," he said. "That is not what I do at all. My job is almost constant interaction with people. It's pretty fun."
And yes, he has seen many times what it takes to rise up the corporate ladder.
"I attribute it to the blessings of the Lord, but I understand we have to take his gift and do something with it. I do think personal responsibility and having a great attitude is so important. You give me somebody that has a good attitude and wants to be successful, you can do a lot with that individual."
Warren had another goal when he came to Little Rock -- increase the firm's role in the community, which he said is an important part of BKD's culture. Last year, BKD employees in the southern region contributed 7,000 hours of community service and sat on the boards of 21 nonprofits, including the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Arthritis Foundation, Humane Society of Pulaski County, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Arkansas and more.
Warren has done his part, receiving the diabetes foundation's Living & Giving Award in 2008 and helping start the Children's Protection Center the year before. Last year, the center served more than 250 suspected survivors of child abuse and their families, and also trained 1,000 people in the community.
"He is just a fantastic guide and counselor as far as helping the center move forward, especially with sound business practices," said Jennifer Long, the center's executive director.
A nonprofit, the center operates with a combination of private and public money. Warren has helped raise some of that money and also wrote the center's financial policy, which Long said goes a long way toward giving the facility credit with all of its funding sources.
"A lot times accountants have this reputation that they're all square," she said. "There's definitely that part to him, but he's also someone you can warm up to."
Warren and BKD have been sponsors of the American Heart Association since he moved to Little Rock. Tammy Quick, the central Arkansas association's Heart Ball director, said there was little doubt Steven and Marci Warren could pull off another successful event, which requires raising hundreds of thousands of dollars.
If that's true, Warren says, it's because "everyone knows someone who has benefitted from the tremendous progress in treating heart disease and stroke."
That includes his father, 79, who Warren said is still living thanks partly to bypass surgery. And it includes Steven Warren, who said he had surgery by Dr. Tom Wallace for a heart rhythm problem two years ago. Warren said he has talked to few people about the surgery but mentioned it for this article to highlight research funded by the heart association that "has been instrumental in the treatment progress over the years."
High Profile on 02/01/2015