Bob Osborne, founder of Southern Coating & Nameplate, Inc., was born in 1938 in Batesville, Arkansas. He was the son of a local farmer. He graduated with a B.A. from Lyons College, where he now sits on the President's Advisory Council. Bob has always had an entrepreneurial spirit. Bob began work as a high school math teacher and athletic coach, and was always driven to achieve lofty goals. Once he decided every household needed a couple of good American made brooms - so Bob became a broom maker. Later he said "that was the most expensive broom ever made" with a smile on his face. Maybe broom making wasn't his calling. Soon he landed a salesman position with Avery Label, allowing him to travel and meet a lot of people. After marrying his college sweetheart, they settled down in Sherwood, Arkansas wtih their two sons, Sloan and Mark.

Always striving to achieve the American dream, Bob founded Southern Coating & Nameplate, Inc. in 1970. Bob started with two employees and grew to seven within one year. Bob was building the future of the business on manufacturing metal nameplates for the home air-conditioning industry. in 1975, with twenty employees, the Housing Market crashed almost putting his young company out of business. Bob quickly realized diversification was the key - and began placing his eggs in several baskets. He secured contracts to manufacture product identification decals and nameplates for Timex, Waterloo Mechanic Tool Boxes and Zebco Reels. Teamed with Zebco he made a fish weight scale that was shipped to 3rd World Countries to weigh newborns at birth. Diversification became SCN's greatest assett for continued success. Now 37 years later with over fifty-five employees and 44,000 sq. ft of production facility SCN is stronger than ever. Continuing his career in 1988, Bob acquired stock in a local bank and soon acquired controlling interest. The bank started with only two branches and now it serves nine banking locations. He took the bank from 28 million in assets to 200 million in assets in 2006. VISIT National Bank of Arkansas.

Today: In 2008 Bob is very active in printing, banking, playing with his granddaughters, fishing, hunting and farming. Check out Bob below in his 1972 Corvette originally purchased in 1971.