The Bentonville Beacon

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell chats with Sandi Macklom, the Founder and Owner of Sandi Sue’s Gluten Free Bakery. This shop caters to the Northwest Arkansas community with gluten-free breads, pies, cakes and custom orders. After adopting a gluten-free lifestyle, Sandi found it challenging to discover tasty gluten-free alternatives. Being an avid baker, she decid...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell sits down with Jessica Keahey, Owner of Sweet Freedom Cheese, Arkansas’s first cut-to-order cheese shop, offering a curated selection of artisanal cheeses, cured meats, wine and complementary gourmet food. Since its opening in 2018, Sweet Freedom Cheese has been featured in many notable publications, including Culture Magazine, Tas...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell sits down with Dr. Debbie Jones, Superintendent of Bentonville Schools. Previously, Dr. Jones served as Assistant Commissioner for Learning Services at the Arkansas Department of Education where she led its largest unit, which worked to enact educational legislation. Additionally, James is joined by Teresa Hudson, Immediate Past Di...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Randy Wilburn, Founder and Host of I am Northwest Arkansas , a blog and podcast that covers business, culture, entrepreneurship and everyday life in the Ozarks. Randy is also a consultant who teaches business leaders how to podcast at a high level, as well as Chief Encourager at Encourage Build Grow, a leadership devel...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Tim Hall, Co-Founder of Simporter, a company providing software that automates new product research, including white space exploration, pre-launch forecasting, marketing simulations and product monitoring. After decades of working in consumer packaged goods (CPG), Tim recognized the potential of artificial intelligence...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Michael Paladino, Co-Founder and Chairman at RevUnit, a technology studio that helps companies supercharge their supply chain operations with technologies built specifically for them. RevUnit has been named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies four times and the Entrepreneur 360 list of America’s...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Jeremy McGhee, Founder of The UNPavement, a movement that’s helping everyone get off the pavement and into the wild to heal our hurting culture of Nature Deficit Disorder. Jeremy is also Founder of JPM PRO, the US distributor of Sport-ON, off-road handcycles, providing adaptive mountain bikes and accessories to disable...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell sits down with Andrea Allen, US Barista Champion and Runner-Up World Barista Champion. Andrea is Co-Founder of Onyx Coffee Lab, a world-renowned café and roastery dedicated to the art and science of coffee, with a mission focused on the pilgrimage seeking quality, truth, and accountability in coffee. Since its founding in 2012 with...

Summary In this special two-part series of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by several founders in the inaugural Fuel for Your Health Accelerator cohort, plus Grace Gill, Fuel’s Operational Manager. Fuel operates a family of accelerators in Bentonville that are operationally focused. The program provides growth-stage companies with knowledge and opportunities to interact with ente...

Summary In this special two-part series of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by several founders in the inaugural Fuel for Your Health Accelerator cohort, plus Tom Douglass, Fuel’s Entrepreneur In Residence. Fuel operates a family of accelerators in Bentonville that are operationally focused. The program provides growth-stage companies with knowledge and opportunities to interact w...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell shares the studio with Harry Hill, Founder of Minority Mountain Bikers (MMB), an organization dedicated to increasing and highlighting diversity in mountain biking. This episode spotlights the third annual Minority Mountain Bikers Bentonville Bike Week, comprising several days of rides, skills clinics, cultural events and community...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host Allie Johnston welcomes back to the show Kris Adams, Director of the Northwest Arkansas Technology Summit. The NWA Tech Summit is the Heartland’s premier technology conference, and it serves to further enhance, diversify and catalyze the economy of Bentonville and the Northwest Arkansas region. Throughout the episode, Kris breaks down what it...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, regular host James Bell takes a seat in the guest chair to be interviewed by his intern Allie Johnston, who was matched with Bentonville Economic Development through the University of Arkansas' Venture Intern Program. The Venture Intern Program connects undergraduate students from the university with startups, entrepreneurs, support organizations...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Cat Hutchings, a jewelry e-commerce rockstar with two shops ranked in the top one percent of all Etsy stores, Through SpotLight Jewelry and Moonlight Supplies, Cat has made more than one hundred thousand sales and more than one million dollars in revenue. And she announces a new Etsy store, WonderLight Jewelry, during...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Kenny Belaey, Founder and CEO of Bentonville Bike Fest, a festival that celebrates and champions everything bike related in Bentonville. Originally from Belgium, Kenny is a globetrotting mountain biker who holds the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) record for most podium spots at a world championship in the discipli...

Summary On this special episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by the innovative women who make up the inaugural cohort of FemHealth Founders. FemHealth Founders is a women-led, women-centric innovation hub that provides validation, mentorship and investment for female founders offering solutions to women’s health-related issues. With FemHealth Founders recently concluding it...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Natalie Shew, Co-Founder of FemHealth Founders, an innovation hub catalyzing and supporting women-led companies that offer solutions to women’s health-related issues. With over eleven years of experience in nonprofit and for-profit management, Natalie is also the Founder and CEO of EmployWell, a healthcare engagement p...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Tyler Dunbar, President of Central Standard Talent, a technical talent and recruiting agency that specializes in helping US businesses assemble and retain high-performing software development teams. Although Central Standard Talent is based in the epicenter of the Mexican Silicon Valley, it has recently announced the o...

Summary On this special episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Cyrus Sigari, who was appointed by former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson as Chairman of the Arkansas Council on Future Mobility (ACFM). The ACFM recently released its Arkansas Future Mobility Report, which provides a bold, visionary and specific plan to ensure the state’s leadership in advanced mobility. Cyru...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Mike Malone, Vice Chancellor for Economic Development at the University of Arkansas. Mike has nearly three decades of experience building coalitions and partnerships to advance community and economic development opportunities. Previously, Mike had served as the CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Council, where he led the cr...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Josh Duntz, President of Metova, a full-service technology mobile software and user experience agency that builds products, services and custom experiences for early-stage companies and global brands. Metova recently relocated to Bentonville, where its new headquarters is located in the Ledger building. Josh is also th...

Summary This Bentonville Beacon episode is part two of a bonus series that highlights the third cohort of the Greenhouse Outdoor Recreation Program (GORP). James Bell is joined by Brent Robinson, Founder of Greenway Bike Co., Alex Huesing from Cloud Pad, Marley Blonsky, Co-founder of All Bodies on Bikes and Eliot Jackson with Reggy. GORP is a Bentonville-based business incubator focused on the dev...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Aayush Thakur and Deme Yuan, a husband and wife team who co-founded FR8relay, where Aayush serves as the CEO and Deme is the COO. Aayush is also a board member for the Arkansas Association of Asian Businesses and a council member on the Forbes Business Council. FR8relay is a technology company working to create a more...

Summary This Bentonville Beacon episode is part one of a bonus series that highlights the third cohort of the Greenhouse Outdoor Recreation Program (GORP). First, host James Bell is joined by Phil Shellhammer, who was recently appointed by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders to the Natural State Advisory Council. Phil is Director of Business Incubation for the Office of Entrepreneurship and I...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Angie Bailey, the Co-founder and CEO of Best In Class Suppliers, a team of retail experts dedicated to helping businesses navigate the processes and challenges of working with major retailers. Angie also serves on the City of Bentonville Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Community Task Force as well as the Bentonvi...