Jeff Hankins
Vice President of Strategic Communications
2012 - present
Education
- BS, Arkansas State University
jhankins@asusystem.edu
Jeff Hankins is Vice President for Strategic Communications and Economic Development for the Arkansas State University System.
He joined the ASU System in November 2012 after spending 19 years with Arkansas Business Publishing Group in Little Rock, where he was president and publisher. During his tenure, he guided the company into the digital media era and was a frequent speaker at national media conferences on niche media trends. The company won multiple national awards for both its print and online products.
A native of Pine Bluff, Hankins received his Bachelor of Science degree in community journalism from Arkansas State in 1987 and was a Distinguished Service Award recipient. He is a 1986 graduate of the Institute on Political Journalism at Georgetown University.
He became editor of Arkansas Business in Little Rock in 1993, was promoted to publisher in 1996 and became president of Arkansas Business Publishing Group in 1999. He was the founding publisher of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal in 1997 and led the startup of a variety of other publications and websites such as Arkansas Next: A Guide to Life After High School, arkansasbusiness.com and Jonesboro Occasions.
His 31-year journalism career also included work at the Arkansas Democrat, the Pine Bluff Commercial, the Pocahontas Star Herald and the Northeast Arkansas Tribune. He also made regular television appearances on KTHV, Channel 11, and KATV, Channel 7, in Little Rock and on AETN’s “Arkansas Week.”
In 2017, Gov. Asa Hutchinson appointed Hankins to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Task Force. Hankins is a past president and board member of the ASU Alumni Association. In 2004, he served on the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Committee on Higher Education. He is also past president of the international Alliance of Area Business Publications and a past member of the board of directors of the international Parenting Media Association and the Baptist Health Foundation Board of Trustees.
