Warren Stephens

Warren Amerine Stephens (born February 18, 1957) is an American businessman. He is the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Stephens Inc., a full service, privately held investment bank.^[1] He lives in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Early Life and Education

Stephens was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, the son of Mary Amerine Stephens and Jackson T. Stephens, a successful investor and financier. Jack Stephens was partners with his brother, Witt Stephens, in the investment firm, Stephens Inc.^[2] Stephens began his education in Little Rock, and in 1975 graduated from Trinity Presbyterian High School in Montgomery, Alabama. He graduated from Washington and Lee University in 1979 with a B.A. in Economics, and he received his MBA from Wake Forest University in 1981.^[3]

Career

Early career

Upon graduation from Wake Forest, Stephens joined his father and uncle in the investment banking business in Little Rock, which had a total number of 139 employees. At that time, the firm resembled and operated much like one of the old British merchant banks, investing the firm’s and family funds in various businesses and ventures, and it still operates the same way today. Stephens Inc. is noted for handling the IPO of Wal-Mart Stores in 1970.^[4]

Stephens began work as an associate in the Corporate Finance Department, concentrating on oil and gas. He became head of the Corporate Finance Department in 1983 and focused a lot of his time on Mergers and Acquisitions. On February 18, 1986, Stephens was appointed President and CEO of Stephens Inc.^[5]

CEO

In 1990, he was the Senior Advisor to Tyson Foods in their acquisition of Holly Farms in a 9 month takeover battle that Tyson eventually won.^[6] He is only the third Chairman, President and CEO in the firm’s more than 80 years of operations since 1933. In 2006, Warren Stephens acquired 100 percent of the outstanding shares of Stephens Inc. from his other family members.^[7]

Stephens Inc. operates on a very flatly managed organizational structure with a team of eleven division heads.^[8] Stephens has a total of 700 employees in Little Rock and offices across the country, including New York, Boston, Chicago, Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Columbia, Atlanta, St. Petersburg, Nashville, Memphis, Jackson, Shreveport, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, San Francisco, and Wealth Management Offices in strategic markets, primarily in the Southeastern United States^[9] In September 2014, Stephens Europe Limited commenced operations in London.^[10]

In the almost three decades that Warren Stephens has guided the firm, it has continued in the tradition established by his father: building personal relationships that establish a sense of trust. Stephens Inc. takes a long-term perspective in evaluating opportunities for clients. As a result, the firm is known as good investment partner that has grown because it has performed.^[11]

Substantial resources have been committed in every major division, expanding the firm’s activities in all areas, including Equity Capital Markets, Public Finance, Research, Trading, Sales, Asset Management and Private Wealth Management. Stephens Capital Partners, the private equity investing group, continues to grow by investing the family’s own funds in private small to mid-size companies. SCP currently has investments in 30 different companies.^[12]

Leadership Style

Warren Stephens firmly believes that the turmoil in the financial markets beginning in 2008 created a unique opportunity for a firm like Stephens Inc.^[13] “Dad and Uncle Witt told me one of their corporate goals was to be in business the next day. We are under no illusion that anyone would ride to our rescue so you cannot ever take a risk that could jeopardize the ability of the firm to survive,” Warren once told employees.^[14]

Stephens, an economist as well as a capitalist, is known to express his opinion in the financial press regarding the state of overregulation of our country’s financial system and the obstacles it has created for growing companies ability to raise capital. As well, Stephens has written that the effect of Dodd-Frank and its favored treatment of the “too big to fail” is a basic threat to our economy.^[15]

Personal life

Warren Stephens currently serves on the Board of Directors of Dillard’s and Washington and Lee University.^[16][17] Stephens and his wife Harriet are the benefactors of countless organizations, most notably the Episcopal Collegiate School and the Arkansas Arts Center, both located in Little Rock.^[18][19]

References