Aaron worked for 13 years with Dallas-based financial services firm, VAR Technology Finance. He held several senior management positions, including executive vice president, and he helped grow the firm from $30MM to nearly $300MM in revenue before being sold to People’s United bank in Connecticut. He led the teams that built financial services programs for Apple, Cisco, Ingram Micro, and more than one dozen other Fortune 1000 technology companies. He also managed joint partnerships with Wells Fargo, US Bank, and other major banks that led to the development of technology platforms that supported over $100Billion in new originations.
In 2019, Aaron decided that he wanted the next chapter of his career to focus more on impacting his local area, so he transitioned into community banking. He accepted the senior vice president role at First Western with the mandate of helping the bank improve its strategic operations and to prepare it for the next generation of community banking. So far, he has worked on more than 20 projects, most of them focused on digital banking and employee development. He was recently appointed to the Arkansas Bankers Association COVID-19 Response Task Force, where he is helping banks throughout the state to craft a strategy for dealing with the pandemic.
Aaron holds an MBA from PSU, and a BBA in Management and Entrepreneurship from UALR. He is also a certified PMP and has amassed more than 5,000 hours of professional project management experience. Aaron has committed himself to contributing to the community, and in just the last 12 months he’s volunteered with 10 different community organizations located throughout the bank’s market areas including Northwest Arkansas Children’s Shelter, Rogers Frisco Fest, United Way of Fort Smith, and South Logan County Fair Association. He was recently named to the Northwest Arkansas 40 under 40 class by the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal.
Throughout his career, Aaron has also been involved with entrepreneurship programs for collegiate and high school students, and has served as an organizer and mentor for international non-profit Startup Weekend’s events in 3 states.
Aaron and his wife Kelli both grew up in the Pine Bluff area and they have been together since high school. Kelli is the Vice President of Community Finance for Mercy Hospital in Rogers where she leads all financial operations for the hospital and clinic locations throughout Northwest Arkansas.
