GENA BUMGARNER
VICE PRESIDENT CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT WALMART, TYSON FOODS Gena is originally from Hot Springs and moved to Northwest Arkansas when she came to college at the University of Arkansas, where she had the opportunity to play collegiate golf. She fell in love with Northwest Arkansas and has been here ever since. She has been married to her husband, Matt, for 12 years. They just had their first baby boy in August 2021 and have two puppies, Rufus and Willis. From a professional perspective, she started at Tyson as a marketing analyst in the business units after graduating from college. From there, she spent nine years on Tyson’s McDonald’s business, then almost four years on the K-12 Government business before moving into her current role on the Walmart team.
Education: B.S. Business Management, University of Arkansas
When did you know what you wanted to do? As I grew my career at Tyson, I began to understand aspects of roles I enjoyed and where my skills were the best fit. This evolved over time, and I have been afforded opportunities to stretch myself that enabled me to continue on my desired career goal/path. I think the key is continuing to learn and focus on developing yourself through classes, mentorship, stretch assignments and networking.
What changes have you seen within your workplace in regard to empowering women? We continue to focus on empowering all team members at work with the goal of creating a workplace where we can be our “best selves.” We have amazing business resource groups, like our Women’s Business Resource Group, that allows team members to be involved, be in leadership roles and provide feedback to the organization. Within our commercial organization, we have continued to focus on mentorship for team members as well as career planning, which is focused on the team member’s desired career goals.
What nonprofits are you involved with and why? I am on the board for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Arkoma. When I worked on our McDonald’s business, I had the opportunity to learn about this organization and their mission in supporting families around the world and helping them access the medical care and resources they need. Here locally, I got to see this work firsthand. RMHC creates an environment for families to remain close to their little ones when they need it most. We have so many team members that have personally stayed at a Ronald McDonald House and hearing their stories of how impactful it was to stay so close to their child during a stressful moment made me want to take action and be a part of this amazing organization. I started by volunteering to assist on committees for different fundraising events then grew into my current role on the board.
Advice you'd give to other working women/moms: Be inclusive. We have all had help to get to where we are. Pay it forward and bring others along the journey with you.
How do you stay motivated? I self-reflect A LOT and always find things that I can do better. I also seek out feedback. I am a very competitive person and the athlete in me knows there is always something to work on. I take my self-reflection and feedback and find ways to continue to strengthen my strengths and work on those things that need improvement.