Forty Under 40: Steve Proffitt

Steve Proffitt, 38, grew up in Indianapolis, Ind., and went to work for an optical firm in Toledo, Ohio.

In 1991, he landed a job in Wal-Mart’s Crawfordsville, Ind., optical lab, where he managed 150 employees and helped expand the operation from a 6,000-SF facility to 12,000 SF.

Last year, Proffitt moved to Fayetteville to serve as assistant manager of the company’s 45,000-SF lab, which is located in a building that previously housed a Wal-Mart discount store near the intersection of Interstate 540 and U.S. Highway 62.

“We’re going to serve over 1 million customers this year,” Proffitt said of the Fayetteville facility, which has 282 employees.

Wal-Mart has three optical labs in the United States to serve about 1,000 stores that have Vision Centers where customers can purchase glasses with a prescription. The third lab is in Dallas.

Proffitt was the primary person responsible for standardizing all computer lab processing for the labs in Crawfordsville and Fayetteville. He also helped set up the quality assurance/maintenance teams in those labs.

Proffitt coached a junior high school football team and has worked with Wal-Mart’s Children’s Miracle Network and Prevent Blindness, both of which are programs that assist needy children.