Forty Under 40: Beth Graves

In college, Beth Graves started a pre-med route but she quickly realized that career wasn’t the right fit. Now fitting the right people with the right job is one Graves’ primary day-to-day responsibilities.

For the last year she has managed recruitment, placement and succession planning of employees at nine Arvest locations in the Siloam Springs market — not an easy task for the super-banked Northwest Arkansas region.

But Arvest makes the job manageable, she said, because the bank recognizes the human resources department as a true partner in its overall success.

Born in Coco Beach, Fla., Graves moved all over the U.S. as a child, but she considers Siloam Springs home because she graduated high school there.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in human resource management from the University of Arkansas in 1989 and has worked mostly in human re-sources since.

She’s had a seven-year stint with Staffmark where she oversaw eight on-site HR managers outsourced to other companies, as well as time at the Siloam Springs Chamber of Commerce and Consumer Testing Laboratories.

To be a success in HR Graves said, “Understand your company’s profit centers and how to align your HR goals with the rest of the company’s goals.”