Fast 15: Alex Worley

Eggs are a tremendous source of protein. For Alex Worley, they are also a tremendous source of pride.

Noble Foods is the largest egg company in the United Kingdom, and one of its largest free-range brands is The Happy Egg Co. The brand launched in the U.S. in October 2012, and now and can be found in about 5,200 stores nationwide, about 1,000 of which are Walmart Inc. stores. As of this month, the eggs are available in Northwest Arkansas Walmart stores.

Worley joined the company’s Rogers vendor office this past August as director of sales, and has so far delivered nearly 500% growth on profit.

Aside from the bottom line, Worley has quickly learned the ins and outs of the company, and eagerly talks about the social responsibility and care that goes into humanely raising free-range chickens.

Happy Egg contracts with 31 small family farms mostly in Missouri — but a few are in Arkansas — that, combined, have a little more than 600,000 hens that produce an average of 3.6 million eggs per week.

Worley’s pride in his job can be found at those farms, which he frequently visits.

“I am passionate about helping entrepreneurs, and you can’t get more entrepreneurial than a farmer,” he said. “That’s the most basic entrepreneur in the country.”

Worley, a Missouri native, graduated from Southwest (Mo.) Baptist University in 2011 with a degree in finance and economics, and later earned an MBA in ethics and leadership from John Brown University in 2015.

He came to Northwest Arkansas immediately after college to work for Walmart, initially as a project manager in the company’s Information Systems Division (ISD).

He made the leap to commodities in May 2013 when he joined the dairy merchandising team at Walmart. One year later, when a dairy buyer he worked with at Sam’s Club took another job, Worley was hired to take her place, based on her recommendation. In January 2016, he was one of the youngest merchants in Sam’s Club history to earn a promotion to senior buyer.

Not only does Worley enjoy working with entrepreneurs, he’s one himself. He and a business partner are developing a grocery pickup application called PIKT. It’s expected to hit the Apple Store in the next few weeks.

Worley is married with two young daughters.