Alumni & Friends
John O’Dell, Jr., named Northark’s Distinguished Alumnus for 2008
John O’Dell, Jr., of Harrison, owner of the Christian Book Outlet stores, CBO Distribution, and 
Inspire4less.com, has been selected as North Arkansas College’s Distinguished Alumnus for 2008. He will be honored Oct. 14 during at brunch at the annual Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges Conference in Rogers.
O’Dell says he was unsure about what he wanted to do with his life after graduating from Harrison High School. “What a blessing it was to have all areas of study at North Arkansas College, right here in my back yard,” he says. “I was able to take a variety of classes and get great counseling without the huge expense I would have incurred going away to college.
“After getting a taste of various fields, it was the business classes that came naturally for me,” he continues. “My study at Northark more than prepared me to complete my undergraduate business degree at College of the Ozarks.”
O’Dell, who graduated from Northark in 1988, began working with his family in 1982 at the Christian Bookstore. He and his wife, Maribeth, purchased the Harrison business in 1997, relocated the store, and changed its name to Christian Book Outlet. They now have seven CBO stores. Other CBO locations include Fayetteville, Rogers, Conway, Mountain Home, and two stores in Branson, Mo.
After expanding their Christian bookstore business, the O’Dell’s purchased the former Cicero Bible Press, a 30,000-square-foot building, as a distribution center. Recently, they added the Inspire4less.com business on the Internet.
O’Dell, a graduate of Harrison High School, credits his father, John O’Dell, and retired North Arkansas College business instructor Jerry Wheaton with inspiring in him “a drive and aspiration for the business world.” O’Dell was a student in Wheaton’s marketing class at Northark.
John and Maribeth have two children, Trey and Breanne, and are members of the Eagle Heights Baptist Church in Harrison.