2017 40 Under 40 Yearbook: Jim Batten, 54

Then: CFO, O’Reilly Automotive Inc.
Now: CFO, International Dehydrated Foods Inc.

Jim Batten knows finances. And Springfield’s big corporations know him.

In the 2000 class of the 40 Under 40, Batten was well into a 14-year career with O’Reilly Automotive Inc. (Nasdaq: ORLY). The chief financial officer then moved to AG Financial Solutions as chief operations officer, followed by nonprofit Convoy of Hope as an executive vice president.

He’s now CFO for Darr family companies International Dehydrated Foods, American Dehydrated Foods, IsoNova and Food Ingredients Technology Co.

The largest of the budgets he’s managed was O’Reilly’s $2.3 billion in sales in 2007. Auto parts sales were $110 million when he started.

“It was a wild ride. And it’s still going,” says Batten, who still is an ORLY shareholder. “I’m still a diehard O’Reilly guy, but wanted to do something a little more directly helping people.”