CHAMPAIGN – Longtime Hobbico President Wayne Hemming has succeeded Clint Atkins as chairman of the company's board of directors.

Atkins – founder of The Atkins Group in Urbana – co-owned Hobbico with Bruce and Jeri Holecek until November 2005, when they sold it to an employee stock ownership plan. All three remained on the board of the company until Dec. 22 of last year, when they resigned.

Named to replace them on the Hobbico board are Ken Cutler, the company's executive vice president, and Daniel Bayston, managing director of Cognient Group, based in Chicago.

Cutler, who has been with Hobbico for 26 years, is responsible for the company's wholesale hobby and mass-market divisions. He was vice president-branch manager for United Model for 12 years in Chicago before Hobbico acquired that company in 2001.

Bayston, a University of Illinois alumnus in finance, joined Cognient Group in 2009 after 25 years with the financial services and investment banking firm of Duff & Phelps. He is also CEO of Cognient Group's broker-dealer affiliate, Cognient Securities.

Bayston also serves on the board of Herff Jones Inc., which has a cap-and-gown facility in Champaign.

Continuing to serve on Hobbico's board are Hemming, who is now chairman and CEO, and Bill Muirheid, the company's chief financial officer.

Hemming said Hobbico plans to expand the board by one or two additional outside directors soon. Specifically, Hemming said he's looking for candidates with expertise in the areas of distribution, retail and mass market or with some international experience.

Hobbico sells hobby products directly to consumers through its Tower Hobbies retail division; to hobby retailers through its Great Planes Model Distributors wholesale division, and to mass-market toy and hobby retailers through its United Model mass-market division.

Among mass-market retailers United Model serves are Michael's, Toys R Us, Hobby Lobby, Meijer, Target and Walmart.

Atkins formed Hobbico in 1986 by combining Tower Hobbies and Great Planes Model Distributors, which he had acquired in 1984. Tower Hobbies was founded by the Holeceks.

Hobbico employs about 700 people, according to the Top Employers Directory compiled in 2010 by the Champaign County Economic Development Corp.