30 Apr 2012 Stephenson and Standridge to deliver commencement addresses at CBC

Dr. Jeff Standridge and the Rev. Ed Stephenson will deliver Central Baptist College’s commencement addresses on Saturday, May 5, in the Burgess Auditorium.

The Professional Adult College Education graduation will be held at 10:30 a.m. with Standridge, vice president of business operations for Acxiom Corporation, as the speaker. The commencement for traditional students will be held at 1 p.m. with Stephenson, senior pastor of Springhill Baptist Church in Greenbrier as the speaker.

This year, CBC celebrates its largest graduating class with 131 students. The class includes 61 PACE graduates and 70 traditional graduates.

Standridge is directly responsible for the management of Acxiom’s South American unit located in Brazil. He was also responsible for developing Acxiom’s Global Workforce Strategy, including the start-up of two Global Service Centers (GSCs) located in Poland and China. From October 2003 to April 2005, Standridge served on special assignment in Europe, where he was responsible for the integration of multiple mergers and acquisitions across Europe and the United Kingdom. While on this assignment, he also led the development of Acxiom’s international human resource and organizational development functions across multiple countries in Europe, Australia, Japan and China.

Stephenson was born in Russellville, Ala. At an early age, his family moved to Kalamazoo, Mich., where he graduated from Portage Northern High School in 1966. He moved to Conway to attend Central Baptist College, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in Bible.

He served on the teaching staff at CBC for two years (1979-1980) and helped to establish the office of development. In this position, he was involved in recruiting and fundraising.

He announced his call to the ministry at the age of 15 and is now in his 49th year in the ministry. He has preached in more than 400 revival meetings and has participated in many Bible conferences. He has pastored for 40 years and served four years as director of state missions for the BMA of Arkansas. Since 1999, he has served as the senior pastor of Springhill Baptist Church. He is also the president and founder of Exalt Him Ministries. He also serves as the first vice president of the Baptist Missionary Association of America.

He and his wife, Sarah, have been married 44 years and have two sons. Eddie and his wife, Amy, live in Little Rock with their two daughters, Madison and Savannah. Chad and his wife, Jai, live in Searcy and have a daughter, Harper.