Rosalind Brewer Becomes Northwest Arkansas Council Co-Chair

Rosalind Brewer was named the co-chair of the Northwest Arkansas Council for 2014-15 on Wednesday.

The president and CEO of Sam’s Club has taken over as co-chair of the Northwest Arkansas Council for 2014-15.

Rosalind Brewer took over the position Wednesday at the council’s annual meeting at 21c Museum Hotel in Bentonville.

She takes over for one of the council’s founding members, Mark Simmons, who is also chairman of Simmons Foods in Siloam Springs. Simmons served as co-chair since June 2013. 

Brewer is the third Wal-Mart executive to be co-chair of the council, which was founded in 1990, following Lee Scott and Jim Walton. Alice Walton was the council’s first chair and served until 1993. 

Other past co-chairs — a practice that began in 2006 — for the council include John White, Kirk Thompson, David Gearhart and John Tyson.

Brewer joined Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville (NYSE:WMT) as a regional vice president in 2006 after 22 years at Kimberly-Clark Corp. She later became division president of the southeast and president of Wal-Mart East. She joined Sam’s Club, a division of the Bentonville retailer, in 2012.

Brewer earned $11.7 million in the fiscal year that ended Jan. 31, including a base salary of $843,544, stock awards of $9.2 million and a cash incentive of $1.3 million.