Susan Upchurch joins Excellerate Foundation as CFO

Former Tyson Foods Inc. director Susan Upchurch is the new chief financial officer at Springdale-based nonprofit Excellerate Foundation.

“Susan brings decades of experience across a wide set of finance disciplines, including audit and financial reporting, both of which are important to our foundation. Further, her many years of experience in operations finance will be key as we become a foundation with far more emphasis on driving lasting change,” Jeff Webster, president and CEO of Excellerate, said in a statement.

Upchurch spent the past 21 years working at Tyson Foods, most recently as director of revenue management. She led a team that increased top-line revenues and profitability for the Fortune 100 company in addition to multiple years of experience in customer finance, transaction services, the accounting and controls group and external financial reporting.

Before working at Tyson Foods, Upchurch was an accountant with Ernst & Young LLP in Little Rock.

“I am so excited about joining this amazing organization and about the collaborative work it is doing with other community leaders,” Upchurch said. “I cannot wait to contribute what I have learned during my career and to learn even more from the great people of Northwest Arkansas how we can best help our friends, family, and neighbors.”

The Excellerate Foundation, a regional nonprofit organization working to fill gaps in social services, rebranded earlier this year from its former name: Endeavor Foundation.