Chambers Appointment to USA Truck Board Product of Search for Gender Diversity, IT Experience

Susan Chambers

Readers of Arkansas Business know by now that USA Truck of Van Buren has added a second woman to its board, Susan Chambers, who retired from Wal-Mart Stores in July after nine years as the Bentonville retailer’s chief human resource officer.

Chambers joins retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Barbara Faulkenberry, who was named to the board in January.

Well, now Whispers can share the back story on Chambers’ appointment.

The transportation company retained Cameron Smith & Associates of Rogers, the executive search firm that built its business on supplying talent to the almost 1,400 vendors doing business with Wal-Mart.

“They were interested in gender diversity as well as somebody with an IT background,” said Cameron Smith, the founder of his namesake firm. “They really didn’t think we would be able to do it. And Denise Natishan, who manages that for me, she did an incredible job. She sourced four or five very, very strong candidates, and Susan was the candidate of choice.”

Chambers, 58, retired as the EVP and chief human resource officer for Wal-Mart, where she was responsible for compensation, recruiting, development and retention initiatives as well as benefits and communications for more than 2 million Wal-Mart employees worldwide. Before being promoted to chief human resource officer in 2006, Chambers held executive positions in a number of roles, including risk management and information technology.

During her tenure, she was named to Fortune magazine’s list of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Business” five years in a row. She joined Wal-Mart in 1999 as vice president of application development-merchandising and supply chain systems.

Cameron Smith & Associates has made the placement of women on corporate boards a priority, and Natishan — there are no titles at the firm — is one of the leaders of the initiative.

Smith said his firm played no role in the Faulkenberry appointment, announced in January.

The firm’s gender-diversity initiative is going well, Smith said, though he can’t really talk about ongoing searches. “It is it where I’d like it to be? No, but we’re certainly making a name for ourselves out there with the gender-diversity side of it.”

And that is something his company is uniquely qualified to do. “Especially in northwest Arkansas, there are some amazing female executives that have come in and out of Wal-Mart or the supplier community.”