Delta Dental chief plans to step down
Ed Choate, the president and chief executive of Delta Dental of Arkansas, announced Friday he would step down from the post in January 2022.
In the more than 20 years under Choate, the company has quadrupled membership, revenue and assets, according to the announcement. Delta Dental provides insurance coverage to more than 800,000 members in Arkansas through its commercial dental and vision insurance plans, Medicare Advantage dental plans and as one of two insurance providers managing benefits for the state's Medicaid dental program.
Also during Choate's tenure, the company's philanthropic arm, the Delta Dental of Arkansas Foundation, has distributed $25 million in grants to improve oral health.
The company board chairman, Wayne Callahan, said a deliberate approach will be taken to choose Choate's successor.
"Our board, together with Delta Dental's senior leadership team, is identifying the skills and experiences needed in the next CEO based on the company's long-term strategic plan," he said. "This is a critical step in the process for the board in selecting the next leader to allow time for a smooth leadership transition."
-- Noel Oman
Amazon to NLRB: Reconsider mail vote
Amazon.com is asking the National Labor Relations Board to consider having workers vote in person -- rather than by mail -- on a proposal to form a union at an Alabama warehouse.
The company formally requested a postponement of the vote so the labor regulator can reconsider its earlier ruling. Under the current plan, workers will have most of next two months to vote by mail.
A group of workers at Amazon's Bessemer, Ala., warehouse filed paperwork in November for an election to decide whether to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a rare step for workers at a company whose U.S. workforce isn't unionized. The labor relations board, which oversees union votes, earlier this month said the vote would be conducted by mail, citing standards set up during the pandemic to keep workers and staffers safe.
In documents dated Thursday, Amazon objected to that decision, saying the board had unfairly dismissed the company's argument that the safety of its facility should be considered separately from the surrounding Jefferson County and the wider state of Alabama, where the covid-19 positive test rate this month rose above 20%.
-- Bloomberg News (WPNS)
Arkansas Index ends week on a high note
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, closed Friday at 525.30, up 3.82.
Shares of Bank OZK rose 5.52% Friday to lead the index. Home BancShares Inc. shares rose 5.17%.
Murphy Oil Corp. shares fell 3.77%. PAM Transportation Services Inc. shares fell 2.38%.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.