Fast 15: Rebecca Kingree

Before she started at DaySpring Cards, Rebecca Kingree was looking for a place to better integrate her faith and work, and the Christian greeting card company was “founded on some really strong values,” she said. “That really spoke to me at the time.”

In 2013, she started at DaySpring, a subsidiary of Hallmark, and has since been promoted twice. She started in product development and helped drive the growth of a seasonal card program, which grossed $10.2 million in top-line revenue. She planned and pitched a product line that was placed in Wal-Mart stores, leading to a $3 million opportunity for the company. She also helped the company save 20% in its journal costs.

In summer 2016, the Maryland Heights, Mo., native moved to the supply chain team as program implementation manager. In March, she became a certified supply chain professional.

Kingree also leads the company’s sales and operations planning, which allows the company to make more informed decisions.

“Right now, I’m very happy where I am,” said the married mother of two.

In December, her daughter, Sally, was born, and she was on leave with her baby through February. She also has a 2-year-old son, Mack.

Before DaySpring, she worked in marketing for PMMI: the Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, a manufacturing trade organization.

Previously, she worked in politics for about three years, handling communications for U.S. senators and representatives and the Missouri Secretary of State.

“Working in [Washington,] D.C., is an incredibly unique experience,” Kingree said. Not only did she meet the man she would marry, but she also learned how things work and how best to do them. “Work and how you get things done is all about relationships. Politics is all about relationships.”

She also learned she didn’t want to work in politics the rest of her life. She said it was very draining, and oftentimes the work “feels like you are spinning your wheels.”

In 2011, she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri.

She co-leads DaySpring’s Women’s Leadership Forum, a group of women engaged in leadership development, and is active in the Junior League of Northwest Arkansas and the Workmatters Institute. She’s also working with city and state government to establish a crosswalk on a highway near her neighborhood in Bentonville.