University of Arkansas alumni Kelly and Steve Barnes of Dallas have made a $500,000 commitment to the university’s Sam M. Walton College of Business to create the Kelly & Steve Barnes Health & Wellbeing Innovation Fund.
The fund will promote collaborations between the health care and business disciplines.
The Barnes’ gift will also support Campaign Arkansas, the university’s $1.25 billion capital campaign focused on advancing academic opportunity.
The new fund will be used to activate multidisciplinary design teams that will focus on developing new models of delivery, services, products and policies in the health and wellness industry, with key priorities guided by an advisory council of experts, startups and industry.
Teams will be equipped with workshops and experiential learning opportunities.
“Access to health care is so important,” Steve Barnes said in a news release. “If you have the education, tools and access to care, you can be healthy.”
Kelly Barnes said in the release, “As health care evolves, there’s a missing element of engaging patients as consumers. It will take a melding of business knowledge and clinical knowledge to affect changes in health and well-being and to spark innovation.”
Kelly (Easter) Barnes earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in accounting and a master’s degree in accounting from the Walton College.
She is the global and U.S. health industries leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers and has been with the firm for more than 30 years.
Kelly Barnes also serves on the Walton College’s dean’s Executive Advisory Board and is a member of the Women’s Giving Circle.
Steve Barnes graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the Walton College and earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Texas Woman’s University. He worked as a registered nurse for Parkland Hospital for more than 20 years.
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