by Paul Gatling ([email protected] ) March 11, 2020 3:19 pm 1,799 views  

Modern Fence of NWA owners Mike McFarland, from left, Ed Poe and Rick Barrows. Mobile House

Longtime Springdale business Modern Fence of NWA has expanded its ownership group.

Company owners Mike McFarland and Rick Barrows said Ed Poe is now also a part owner of the business. Poe joined the company in September 2018 as a commercial salesman. In addition to the ownership, Poe is now the company’s president and general manager.

“We have a stellar team of builders and a great management team in place that includes a collective talent of over 250 years’ experience in the fencing industry,” the company said in a statement. “Currently, every crew has a foreman with at least eight years of experience.”

McFarland, a retired bank executive, and Barrows, president of Multi-Craft Contractors in Springdale, bought Modern Fence in 2017 from the Milligan family. Vernard Leroy Milligan started the company in Fort Smith in 1950 before opening an office in Fayetteville in 1955. The company soon relocated to Northwest Arkansas and operated from Fayetteville until moving in 2005 to a much larger facility in the Springdale Industrial Park off Highway 265.

In 2017, Modern Fence merged with Accent Fence Co. of Springdale, previously owned by Don and Steve Langston.

Modern Fence has about 35 employees. A company spokeswoman did not disclose sales figures from 2019.

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