Bentonville chamber official takes job with Alice Walton-backed Whole Health Institute

Jordan Carlisle has resigned from the Greater Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce and accepted a job as director of technology for the new healthcare organization ramping up in Bentonville, called Whole Health Institute (WHI).

Alice Walton, billionaire philanthropist and Walmart heir, announced the formation of WHI in January at the Northwest Arkansas Council’s winter meeting in Bentonville. She said Dr. Tracy Gaudet would be WHI’s executive director. Gaudet was previously the executive director of the Veterans Health Administration’s National Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation.

Additional details like locations, costs and other specifics about the new institute have not yet been disclosed.

The Bentonville chamber hired Carlisle as vice president of economic development and entrepreneurship in June 2018. Chamber President and CEO Graham Cobb said filling the vacant position will be a gradual process.

“We are grateful to have worked and learned alongside Jordan,” he said. “I am taking on pieces of the role as are others on the team. We’re looking at what we have done well, what we can do better and researching people and programs to not just maintain momentum but to elevate our exit from COVID-19 and maximize the opportunity for Bentonville as the creative, cultural and economic heartbeat of the Heartland.”