Profiles with Clay: Whitney Yoder

Editor’s note: Profiles with Clay is intended to provide information about those in the Fort Smith region who find themselves — purposefully or via promotion — newly engaged in a business or civic leadership role. Furthermore, they have demonstrated the capacity and willingness to improve some aspect of their community, and have expressed a desire for regional leadership that is more active, aggressive and accommodating.

story and interview by Clay McKinney

If you have been a part of any activities or events put on by the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce in the past year and a half, chances are you are familiar with Whitney Yoder. She serves as the vice president of program development and implementation. Simply put, Yoder plays a vital role in keeping the Chamber membership active and engaged through these events.

Yoder was raised in Elkhart, Kan., a small town of 2,000, located in the southwest corner of the state just eight miles from Colorado. After earning her bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State in 2004, Yoder moved across the state to Parsons, Kan., and began her career with the Parsons Chamber of Commerce. She knew virtually no one in Parsons but as she said she goes where the road takes her and the job in Parsons just felt right.

During her tenure with the Parsons Chamber, Whitney met Blake Benson who served as vice president at the Fort Smith chamber before taking over as president of the Pittsburg, Kan., Chamber of Commerce. Parsons was a mere 30 miles from Pittsburg and the staffs of the two chambers worked together on a regular basis.

In mid-2008, Benson heard of an opening at the Fort Smith chamber and passed the word on to Yoder. After a visit to Fort Smith and some deliberation Yoder felt her three and a half years in Parsons was enough and it was time to move on. Just as in Parsons, Yoder knew no one in Fort Smith, which made the transition that much more difficult.

Her first visit to Fort Smith left Yoder feeling underwhelmed. As she put it, Fort Smith was lacking “curb appeal” and was somewhat aesthetically unappealing. She said Fort Smith has grown on her since her arrival but that the city definitely did not give a good first impression, not necessarily that it was bad but simply lacking. But professionally the chamber position was a great opportunity and since her move, Yoder has come to enjoy the city, especially the downtown area.

The last thing on Yoder’s mind after the move was the social aspect of Fort Smith but she said, in the beginning, this was very difficult. After discussing the issue with others who had moved to Fort Smith she knew she was not alone. It was hard to break though the established social scene. Apparently, we have not done a good job of welcoming new citizens to Fort Smith and if we are seeking growth this is something that must be addressed. First impressions are vital. Do we really want those new to our region to feel like a stranger in the crowd?

Yoder said everyone has been friendly and helpful since her move but at first no one seemed to take their friendship to a level beyond a cordial introduction. Luckily, Yoder has settled in to a group of friends and her beginnings in Fort Smith are but a memory,  but we should take note of her experience.

Yoder is a past participant in the Citizen’s Academy and a member of the Young Emerging Leaders group of the Chamber. She is a member of the current class of Leadership Arkansas, one of only two from the Fort Smith area.

THE INTERVIEW
Clay McKinney: What would you say a young leader’s role should be in our region?

“The easy answer would be; if you want to be a young leader or help move the city forward you need to run for city director or something like that. The issue with that is many of these young people have kids and a career and the time issue can be difficult. What I’m seeing right now is this huge undercurrent of 30-somethings that want to be here, want to live here, want to make change kind of at a grass roots level. They’re trying to get more involved as a citizen. Maybe not trying to run for city director or any of those things but becoming more educated, following what the city council is doing, just becoming more educated on the issues. They are listening, keeping their finger on the pulse, being an active participant in what’s going on. I think it all starts small, even if you’re getting more active in your church that will breed more activity in other things.”

CM: Some might say there is an underlying ‘old vs. young’ theme around here. Do you believe it exists and what are your thoughts on bridging this gap?

“I think there are a couple of dynamics that go along with that. The first, I think is the size of Fort Smith. To me, this is a big town. I came from a town of 2,000, so to me it’s big but I feel (Fort Smith) has still got a small-town mentality. We don’t treat ourselves like the second-largest city in Arkansas. That’s one dynamic that I think goes hand-in-hand with the old versus young issue. The second dynamic is the old, so to speak, are looking for the young to step up to these traditional leadership roles, and I think it is a generational thing, it’s not as important to the young to wear that hat. But I think the younger generation is just as concerned but it’s just not as important to them to have the title of mayor or whatever it may be.”

CM: A lot has been said over the past few years about the importance of keeping young professionals in our region and its pivotal role in the future success of our region. What are your thoughts on this?

“Well, I definitely think keeping young professionals anywhere is important. I don’t think it is just an issue for Fort Smith. Any community you go to they are talking about the ‘brain drain.’ The fact is we’ve been a manufacturing community for years and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I know everyone is always saying we need more high-tech industries, and yes, of course we would like that but we are a manufacturing community and it has served us well. But along with the manufacturing come a lot of professional jobs. We have a lot of headquarters here and that brings the professional type jobs here. But we are not going to keep the young professionals here if the opportunities aren’t here.”

CM: Some believe that the young leaders’ needs to lie in the political arena in order to bring about change. Do you believe this to be the case?

“I think change comes when people get passionate about something and rally around it and make something happen. Do you have to be in an elected position to do that? No. For example, recently there’s been talk of a sports complex (at Ben Geren) and that was just a couple of younger people who are traveling to these tournaments elsewhere and thought, ‘Hey we can do this in Fort Smith. Why don’t we do that?’ They aren’t in an elected office yet they’ve rallied support (for the project). So, no, I don’t think you have to be political to enact change.”

CM: Our region has a long history in manufacturing but many would like to see us move away from this. How do you feel about this and what do you feel are our obstacles?

“The manufacturing of today is nothing like the manufacturing of 1960. As manufacturing evolves, it all becomes more high-tech. Do I think we can attract more high-tech jobs? Yes, but do I think we turn our heads away from other opportunities? No, because we’ve got the supply chains in place. We’ve got the transportation. We’ve got the infrastructure already in place. But the manufacturing of today requires a higher level of skill just because of the technology involved now. Manufacturing is our base and our foundation, it’s who we are.”

CM: Some say the young leadership groups within our community are simply social groups and that they really don’t have a productive function, what is your reaction to those who say this?

“Well, I think it’s all about expectations. For me, being someone new to Fort Smith, the social aspect of some of those groups was a welcome sign for me. Just being able to know that a group is going to a baseball game and everyone is welcome, come on let’s go. Okay I don’t know anyone, that sounds fun. I need to get out and do something and meet some people. Also, I think when groups are new they struggle to find themselves and figure out what their niche is and the social aspect is the easy piece. As you get a core group of people doing the social thing you find common interests that can lead to change. It definitely is a struggle to find that. But like I said, the social stuff was a welcome thing for me when I first moved here. I think those groups are vital to provide an outlet for the younger generation when the typical civic clubs may not fit them. So I guess I don’t understand why there’s such pressure for such a young organization to be this political powerhouse. It just takes time.”

CM: If you were “King for a day” what one thing would you change about our region, and why?

“Fort Smith is great, but we possess so much potential.  Ask anyone and they’ll tell you that they feel like we are at a turning point. If I were king for a day I’d fast forward 10 years to show the citizens what Fort Smith could look like if we take the leap and develop some of the initiatives that everyone’s been “talking” about for years now. My thought is, things would look a lot different not only in our economy but in our quality of place as well and that we are acting like the second largest city in the state of Arkansas instead of a small town.”

About Clay
Clay McKinney is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He’s lived in Fort Smith since 1999 with his wife and two daughters. His short story, “Duplicity,” placed third in the National Writer’s Association Short Story contest in 2007. He’s working on a book with an attorney friend about an arbitration case against the New York Yankees.

You can reach Clay at [email protected]