Shelley Simpson, president and CEO of Lowell-based J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc., quickly put into perspective the significance of being a Forty Under 40 honoree.
“It’s a big deal,” she said.
Simpson, a member of the 2009 class, was the keynote speaker for the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s 29th annual Forty Under 40 luncheon Tuesday (Aug. 12) at Embassy Suites in Rogers. More than 350 people attended the event, which is sponsored by Intrust Bank.
Link here to read the profiles for the 2025 Forty Under 40 class.
Simpson has worked for J.B. Hunt for 31 years and has served 18 years in executive leadership roles. A graduate of the University of Arkansas, she joined the company in 1994 as an hourly customer service representative. Simpson became CEO when John Roberts III retired July 1, 2024. She was appointed to J.B. Hunt’s board of directors in April 2024 and started as president Aug. 1, 2022.
In her remarks Tuesday, Simpson told the 2025 Forty Under 40 class that they are 40 among the more than 1,100 people who’ve been named to the awards program over the years. She said to think about the size of Northwest Arkansas and that “there’s only 1,100 of you that have been able to have the experience that you’re having that can say, ‘It’s a big deal.’”
Simpson recalled the words that stuck with her the most when Lee Scott, former president and CEO of Bentonville-based Walmart, was the keynote speaker for the 2009 class. The words were, “It’s a big deal,” Simpson said. She said Scott’s words reminded her of something J.B. Hunt’s co-founder, Johnnie Bryan Hunt, used to ask often.
“Is it big yet?” Simpson said.
She said his point was “to take you from being where you were at in the moment, celebrating your Forty Under 40 accomplishment and making sure that you knew you had done good work, but actually stretching our imagination into what he believed would always be possible.
“See, Mr. Hunt was a dreamer,” she said. “And he always had big ideas.”
Simpson said Hunt’s wife and J.B. Hunt co-founder, Johnelle Hunt, “was who demanded excellence.”
Simpson said someone believed in her enough to nominate her for the Forty Under 40 class, and she wanted to ensure she’d “prove them right.”
“It’s my recognition, but it’s actually a challenge,” she said. “It’s your call to step into your next phase. It’s your call to step into that leadership that everyone’s expecting from you.”
Her challenge to honorees was not just to be the best in one’s field, but to “be the best in your community.” She also discussed the region’s growth, noting it has happened because of leaders like the Forty Under 40 honorees. She said when she’s traveling, she tells people she’s from Northwest Arkansas.
“We never say our city,” she said. “We recognize that as a community, we’re much stronger when we’re together. We’ve become a hub for innovation, for retail, for logistics, for the arts. We’ve become a hub for innovation with health care and technology and food manufacturing, but we have done it all without losing our small town character.”
Simpson provided honorees with three commitments to strive for on their leadership journey. Lead with courage during challenging times, use one’s platform to uplift others, and enhance and protect the culture one builds for future generations.
“You’re always going to get tapped to be courageous during very tough times — as some of my defining moments were when I said, ‘Yes,’ even when I didn’t have it all figured out,” she said.
On uplifting others, she said, “Everyone starts somewhere. Everyone has someone that has helped them to succeed. Your influence, it’ll grow directly how proportionate it is to how much you help other people succeed.” Regarding culture, she explained the importance of making an impact on J.B. Hunt’s 33,000 employees, the 100,000 people in their families, and the “hundreds of thousands of people that have trusted us and invested in us, whether they are actual shareholders or customers.”
Something she said she didn’t know in 2009 was that “people will watch you… I don’t know that I knew the weight of responsibility of the people that will watch you: your family, your co-workers, your competitors. It feels like pressure — should feel like energy. It should feel like natural caffeine that’s pushing you to really move forward to take what has been given to you by the responsibility to lean in into Northwest Arkansas and into your company.”
Before the keynote, Roby Brock, CEO of Natural State Media, the parent company of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal and Talk Business & Politics, led a breakout session with the Forty Under 40 honorees, focusing on leadership and community involvement.
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