As CEO of Arkansas Foodbank, Rhonda Sanders will replace Phyllis Haynes, who joined the organization in 1999 and recently announced her retirement. Sanders will oversee major Foodbank operations and will continue to increase aid to hungry Arkansans across the state.
Sanders earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Ouachita Baptist University and received a master’s in public health from the University of Arkansas Medical School’s College of Public Health. She later served as director of the Child Health Planning Project at the Arkansas Department of Health from 1989 until 1994 and went on to Arkansas Advocates for Children & Families, where she worked as director of health policy and legislative affairs for 14 years.
An original member of the Natural Wonders Partnership Council at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Sanders also co-wrote the organization’s first annual report in 2007. More recently, Sanders has served as director of the Arkansas Home Visiting Network at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, where she has worked to create and expand a statewide network of preschool home-visiting programs. During her five-year tenure on the Child Health Advisory Committee, many state nutrition and physical activity standards were adopted by the Arkansas Department of Education. Sanders was also instrumental in working to implement the Body Mass Index Project.
