Forty Under 40: Karen Sue Gresham

Karen Gresham was looking for a change. The Pryor, Okla. native had been living in central Arkansas and had worked in several different industries over the years.

In Hot Springs she was a project manager for Xerox, scanning thousands of documents and putting them onto disc to help companies such as United Health Care and Enterprise Rent-A-Car go paperless.

She moved to Northwest Arkansas in 2004 to be closer to her family. About a year later, she answered an ad for an assistant manager position at Mans-field Properties and was hired. Gresham was only at that position for three months, though, and wasted no time working her way up to her current position.

Gresham feels the biggest achievement of her career is working for Mansfield. “I love what I do and I love this company,” she said, adding that Rexanne Mansfield has been great not only as a boss, but as a friend and mentor.

The highlight of her life outside of work has been raising four children. Gresham loves to read and has passed that on to her kids. She also volunteers for the Muscular Dystrophy Association Lockup every year.

The most important thing one can do for his or her career is to pursue education, she said.