I like to think of Arkansas as the Silicon Valley of the South. Arkansans have invented technology that has changed the world — and we’re not finished.

Financial technology, which has been disrupting banking and finance since at least 1968, was born in Little Rock when a fellow named Walter Smiley recognized that the high cost of data-processing software was hurting small banks. He founded Systematics, Stephens Inc. backed him and he filled a niche.

In 1990, a little company called Alltel — maybe you’ve heard of it? — bought Systematics and in 2003, Alltel sold it to the company that has become Fidelity Information Services, which is known as FIS.

But our tech success extends far beyond the financial world. Raye Jean Jordan Montague, an African American woman who was born in Little Rock in 1935, used a computer to singlehandedly revolutionize the design of U.S. Navy ships. She taught herself to operate and code the UNIVAC I, the first commercial computer made in the U.S. She went on to design the first U.S. Navy vessel created entirely by a computer.

Hugh Randolph Wilbourn Jr. and Charles Beverly Miller started their careers as construction crewmen for Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. in 1934. From that humble start, they learned the fledgling business of telephones, started their own company and helped more than a hundred rural Arkansas telephone companies. As they grew, they named their company Allied, and eventually merged with a company that became known as Alltel, one of the highest-tech companies in the world.

Freeman Harrison Owens, born in Pine Bluff in July 1890, was a pioneer cinematographer who held 200 patents. His inventions included slow motion for motion picture cameras and projectors in 1920. On Aug. 17, 1920, he filmed Babe Ruth in slow motion as he struck a home run when the Yankees played Cleveland.

That’s just a few of the Arkansans who created technology to make our state a better place to live and work. Arkansas is the land of entrepreneurs. That’s as true today as it was when communications pioneers were stringing telephone wire.

Asa Hutchinson
Governor of Arkansas

Tech-y Questions for Our Governor

Q: Why should young people consider careers in tech?

A: “You could be the next Walter Smiley, Raye Jean Jordan Montague, Freeman Harrison Owens, Hugh Randolph Wilbourn Jr. or Charles Beverly Miller and invent world-changing technology. The demand for tech jobs grows by the year, and those jobs pay good money.”

Q: How does technology play a role in your day-to-day life as Governor?

A: “I couldn’t function without computers, smartphones, guidance systems, mapping software and the cybersecurity that protects all of our systems.”

Q: Do we rely on any special tech to keep Arkansas secure?

A: “Yes, and at a great expense to the state. We must hire world-class computer scientists and buy insurance policies. Failing to protect our infrastructure is not an option. Cybersecurity is a public safety issue and an economic issue.

"Arkansas is a target-rich state for cybercriminals because we provide about 90% of the technology and financial software for banks in the United States and about 60% globally.

"A third of the U.S. power grid and 65% of national food distribution runs through The Natural State. As more farmers migrate to smart equipment for everything from moisture content to harvest schedules, our agriculture industry is inviting more attention from cyber-disrupters.”