Ozarks Profile

Vice president of finance and chief financial officer, O'Reilly Automotive Inc. O'Reilly Automotive is one of the largest specialty retailers of automotive aftermarket parts, tools, supplies, equipment and accessories in the United States. Founded in 1957 by the O'Reilly family, the company operates stores in Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska and Illinois. Prior to the company's initial public stock offering in 1993, at which time O'Reilly operated 110 stores and had sales of $110 million, Batten joined O'Reilly as finance manager. Batten became CFO and treasurer in 1994, and vice president of finance and CFO in 1997. O'Reilly Automotive now operates 533 stores, plans to open 100 more stores in 2000, and is estimated to have $750 million in 1999 sales. Batten is a member of the Missouri Society of CPAs, Leadership Springfield Class VII and Leadership Springfield Alumni Association. He serves on the United Food Link Advisory Board and the KWND The Wind FM operational board. Batten is a past president of Big Brothers, Big Sisters of the Ozarks, a past allocation panel member of United Way of the Ozarks and a past member of the Project Graduation Finance Committee for the Springfield Schools.

Age: 37

No. of years in Springfield/area: Batten grew up outside of Bolivar and moved to Springfield in 1986.

Education: Batten graduated from Marion C. Early High School in Morrisville in 1980 and went on to receive a bachelor's degree in accounting from Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg in 1984. He passed his Certified Public Accountant examination in November of that year.

Early career: "My first jobs were chores on the family farm, mowing yards and janitorial work at our church. My first real job was at age 15 at the O'Reilly store in Bolivar, where I cleaned out the back room, stocked merchandise, swept floors and did other odd jobs." In high school, Batten worked at a nursing home, hauled hay and worked for Mattingly's, a general retailer. In college, Batten worked in food service and was student manager of a dormitory cafeteria. After receiving his degree in 1984, Batten joined the Kansas City office of Deloitte, Haskins + Sells as staff auditor. In 1986, Batten returned to the Springfield area as a senior accountant with Whitlock, Selim & Keehn, later becoming audit manager and performing the financial statement reviews and audits of O'Reilly from 1986 to 1992, joining O'Reilly in 1993.

Current projects: "I'm building the accounting and finance team to accommodate O'Reilly's planned growth, overseeing the review of all financial systems and overseeing the implementation of a new budgeting system."

Management philosophy: "My management philosophy is that of O'Reilly: We take pride in our team, customer service, work ethic and performance. Hire the best team members possible, and empower them to do their jobs. We believe in doing the right things in addition to doing things right."

Spare-time pursuits: Batten spends time with family, coaches youth soccer, water skis, plays golf and softball, and rides motorcycles. He also sings, plays the bass guitar, drums and trumpet, and is involved in various church activities at Calvary Temple, where he is treasurer and is assisting with plans for a renovation project.

Family data: Batten has been married to Lorna (Hitchcock) Batten of Bolivar since 1985. They have three sons: Tyler, 9[[In-content Ad]]