Biographical Summary

The oldest son of the retail pioneer who founded the Dillard's department store chain in 1938, Dillard was groomed from an early age to run the family business, based in Arkansas and now consisting of approximately 290 stores and 15 clearance centers across 29 states. He joined the Company in 1968 after graduating from Harvard Business School and in 1973 made Dillard's one of the first retail chains to go high-tech when he computerized its purchase orders. Since becoming CEO in 1998, he's made the largest acquisition in company history with the $3.1 billion purchase of Mercantile Stores and launched a private label line of products in stores years before it became a common practice.