James Hendren Steps Down as Board Chair of The Venture Center After More Than a Decade of Leadership

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (January 15, 2026) — James Hendren stepped down from his role as Chair of the Board of Directors at The Venture Center at the beginning of this year, marking a significant transition for one of Arkansas’ long-standing entrepreneurial support organizations after more than a decade of leadership.

Hendren served as Board Chair since The Venture Center’s founding in 2014, helping guide the organization from its earliest days into a cornerstone of Arkansas’s startup and innovation ecosystem. His leadership helped shape The Venture Center’s mentorship-driven model and its long-term focus on building scalable, high-growth companies.

According to Hendren, The Venture Center was created to address a critical gap in Arkansas’s economic development landscape—supporting early-stage companies and founders at a time when the state lacked a centralized organization focused on entrepreneurship, mentorship, and company growth. Hendren played a key role in the ecosystem-building work that led to its creation, including efforts such as Accelerate Arkansas, Innovate Arkansas, the Arkansas STEM Coalition, and the Arkansas Research Alliance. These initiatives helped establish statewide pipelines for education, research, mentorship, capital, and entrepreneurship.

Mentorship was central to The Venture Center’s approach. Under Hendren’s leadership, the organization hosted weekly founder gatherings, built a large trained mentor network, and launched intensive accelerator programs that required founders to spend extended time in Arkansas—helping companies grow while anchoring talent locally.

“We realized things really weren’t going to happen if we just wrote reports and walked away,” Hendren said. “You have to build the companies. You have to build the systems around them. And from the beginning, mentorship was at the core of that work — that’s what set The Venture Center apart, and it still does.”

During Hendren’s tenure as Board Chair, The Venture Center supported hundreds of founders, helped launch and grow startups across multiple sectors, and played a central role in shaping Arkansas’s entrepreneurial infrastructure. While programs and funding models evolved over time, the organization’s commitment to mentorship and founder support remained consistent.

“James is truly a pioneer in  Arkansas’ entrepreneurial history, and his impact goes far beyond the creation and early growth of The Venture Center,” said Arthur Orduña, Executive Director of The Venture Center. “From his own successful high-tech start-ups to championing critical legislation for venture investment, James has worked tirelessly not only for his own initiatives to succeed but also to help others realize their own success. It’s been an honor working with him, and I look forward to his continuing support as a mentor to Venture Center members.”

The Venture Center’s Board of Directors appointed Ray Dillon, former President and CEO of Deltic Timber Corporation, to serve as Interim Board Chair at the beginning of the year. Hendren will continue to support the organization as a mentor and advisor.

“I just want it to grow and continue to be successful, and for us to be changing Arkansas,” Hendren said.

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About The Venture Center
The Venture Center is a globally recognized Arkansas-based Entrepreneurial Support Organization (ESO) that helps entrepreneurs turn their start-ups into viable, high-growth businesses. By leveraging the expertise of a world-class team of mentors, intensive programming, and introductions to the investor community, The Venture Center serves as an engine for economic growth in Arkansas and beyond.