Jerry Adams is President and CEO of the Arkansas Research Alliance (ARA), an economic development non-profit with the objective of accelerating Arkansas citizens’ ability to compete in a 21st century economy. Before joining the ARA, Mr. Adams worked for 34 years at Acxiom Corporation, retiring in 2007 while serving as Corporate External Relations Leader.
Mr. Adams serves on the boards of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, the county and state boards of the Arkansas Community Foundation, and the Southern Technology Council, a group comprised of professionals in the science, technology and economic development fields seeking to strengthen the Southern economy through innovation and technology.
Also involved in and passionate about education reform, he has served on the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Committee for Higher Education. He currently is serving on the Arkansas Department of Education’s Accountability Council, the Board of Visitors at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the University of Central Arkansas’s Advisory Board for the School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, and recently has served on the University of Arkansas’s Walton School of Business Dean’s Advisory Board. Governor Beebe recently appointed Mr. Adams to the Governor’s Healthcare Roundtable.
He also is founding board chair for the Conway Interfaith Clinic, which provides medical and dental services to underserved segments of the community. Mr. Adams has served as chair of Accelerate Arkansas, as well as for the EAST initiative, a technology-based, project learning, secondary school program active in over 200 schools in Arkansas and six other states.