Jeff Collins recently announced his resignation as director of the Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas.
He said he had personal and professional reasons to leave, but there was speculation that he was upset because the UofA forced him to decline an invitation to join the Bank of Fayetteville’s board of directors.
In the latest edition of the Fayetteville Free Weekly, the Daddy Warbucks column expands on those rumors (via thefiveforty.com, one of our favorite Northwest Arkansas blogs):
Daddy W. and folks in the financial district were not surprised to hear that Jeff Collins is leaving the UA. Daddy’s wondering if the tiff over Collins being put on a bank board, only to have the UA tell him to get off might have something to do with the departure….A while back, Collins, the director of the UA’s business and economics forecasting arm, was asked to serve on the Bank of Fayetteville board. Rumors were floating that Arvest bank, which supplies funding for the Skyline Report, complained, so Collins, at the urging of some of the UA officials, turned down the BOF offer. Next, comes the new dean of the Walton College of Business and lo and behold he’s named to another bank’s advisory board—and you guessed it—the right one. So nothing was said….Collins, Daddy W. has heard, is leaving on his own terms, but still he’s leaving.
In simple terms, the Waltons own Arvest Bank. The Walton College dean can join an Arvest board. Jeff Collins can’t join the Bank of Fayetteville’s board.