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Scott Ford ascends at Alltel: third generation takes reins at Arkansas'' telecom giant.

Article Excerpt
FOR SCOTT FORD, JOINing Alltel Corp. of Little Rock in 1996 had more to do with the chance to help Dad than professional ambition.

Beginning Monday, Ford, 39, officially takes over as CEO of the nation's sixth-largest telecommunications company, which posted $7.6 billion in revenue last year and is among the strongest companies of its kind in its crowded, competitive industry.

Ford's father Joe, 64, leaves his post after 15 years as CEO. But he'll continue with the company as chairman of its board of directors.

By the time he went to work for the company that his mother's father helped found, Scott Ford had spent about 10 years working with one of the legends of Arkansas business, lack Stephens. At the Stephens Group, he worked in private wealth management. And his background in mergers and acquisitions from his previous years at Merrill Lynch came in handy when he served as the point man for Stephens' 1993 acquisition of the Donrey Media Group, which was recently renamed Stephens Media Group.

"And I was perfectly content to work in that area," Ford said.

But he didn't remain there much longer.

Stephens, a major Alltel stockholder, suggested. to Joe that Scott could succeed as an executive in the growing rural telecommunications company.

When the elder Ford asked his son to come aboard, Scott Ford recognized the significance of the moment and thought it too good to turn away.

"[H]ow many times does your father come to you, with a real belief -- and you can see it in his eyes -- that you could help him?" Scott Ford said.

So Scott left Stephens and joined Alltel as executive vice president for communications businesses and corporate staff functions. He arrived just in time for the turbulence wrought by that year's historic...

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