Forty Under 40: Jo Person LaFayette
by January 1, 2005 12:00 am 111 views
Jo LaFayette, 38, planned to go to graduate school after receiving her psychology degree in 1991 from East Carolina University. But the opportunities at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. lured her from her job at a store in Greenville, N.C., to the home office in Bentonville.
LaFayette moved to Northwest Arkansas in 1994 to be a training coordinator at Wal-Mart headquarters. She worked in several areas including operations, training and development, recruiting and human resources.
While personnel director, she was responsible for the HR functions of 106 Sam’s Clubs within a seven-state division. She was known around the home office as Jo Person in the People Division.
As director of employment practices and processes for the Sam’s Club division, LaFayette’s primary responsibility now is to ensure that Sam’s Club is in compliance in all corporate HR functions.
LaFayette said her co-workers are her primary motivation.
“It’s going to be something new and different every day when I go to work,” she said.
LaFayette is a member of Zeta Phi Beta sorority and the Society of Human Resource Management.
Her advice to young people is “be open to trying new things.”