The JB Hunt and UP.Labs team create Logistics Venture Lab | Arkansas Democratic Newspaper

JB Hunt Partnership

for logistics start-ups

On Wednesday, J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. and UP.Labs announced the creation of the Logistics Venture Lab, whose task will be to support innovations in logistics and freight transport.

Shelley Simpson, president and CEO of JB Hunt, said the company has been on a path of innovation since its founding in 1961.

“Our collaboration with UP.Labs will continue this journey as we look for new ways to disrupt, adapt and accelerate the entire transportation industry,” she said.

Over the next three years, the new lab will debut six freight transportation startups that will aim to solve key strategic challenges in the industry.

The first startups are expected to launch in 2025, according to a press release, and will be inspired by opportunities to increase efficiency and solve common problems faced by freight and logistics service providers.

John Kuolt, founder and CEO of UP.Labs, said he is excited to partner with the Lowell-based company.

UP.Labs is a venture laboratory, part of the UP.Partners system, cooperating with Porsche AG and Alaskan Airlines.

—Dylan Sherman

Murphy Oil appoints

Hambly as next CEO

Eric Hambly, president and chief operating officer of Murphy Oil Corp., has been appointed by Murphy Oil’s board of directors to replace Roger Jenkins as president and CEO of the company, effective Jan. 1, the company said Wednesday in a news release.

Hambly will also join the board of directors.

The press release said Jenkins will leave the board at the end of the year and “will remain with Murphy in a non-executive advisory capacity until his retirement on December 31, 2025.”

Hambly has more than 26 years of experience in the oil industry and began working for Murphy Oil in 2006, the company said. In 2020, he was named executive vice president of operations and assumed the position of president and chief operating officer in February 2024.

“On behalf of our Board of Directors, I am pleased to congratulate Eric on his appointment as Murphy’s next president and CEO and member of the board of directors,” said Claiborne Deming, Murphy’s chairman of the board. “Eric’s exceptional leadership and deep understanding of our business and industry make him an excellent choice to lead Murphy.”

In 2020, Murphy Oil moved its headquarters from El Dorado to offices in Houston.

—Arkansas Democratic Newspaper

The state index closes at

875.55, down 20.10

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies headquartered in the state, closed Wednesday at 875.55, down 20.10 points.

“Shares rose, led by the energy sector, as crude oil prices rose amid ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East,” said Leon Lants, managing director of Stephens Inc.

The index was compiled by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of December 30, 1997.