Dr. Marta Loyd to retire from Winthrop Rockefeller Institute at end of March

Dr. Marta Loyd, executive director of the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, will retire on March 31, 2022, the nonprofit announced Monday (Dec. 6).

A search for a new executive director/CEO has begun.

“Marta is committed to the idea that the most effective problem solving is accomplished through collaboration,” said Dr. Stephanie Gardner, provost and chief strategy officer at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and chair of the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute’s Board of Directors. “That commitment embodied Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller’s legacy and became the guiding vision of this Institute. Her impact on the Institute’s work and on the organizations that looked to the Institute for assistance is significant and lasting.”

Loyd joined the Rockefeller Institute in 2014. Under her leadership, the institute’s mission has been clarified and strengthened to focus on the Rockefeller Ethic, a unique approach to collaborative problem solving as modeled by Gov. Rockefeller. According to a release, she and her staff have strengthened external partnerships, doubled the number of program offerings, and implemented an evaluation system to measure impact.

In 2018, Loyd secured a gift of over $100 million from the Winthrop Rockefeller Charitable Trust to establish the Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller Endowment. The University of Arkansas Foundation holds and manages that endowment which funds a significant portion of the institute’s operations.

Before joining the Rockefeller Institute, Loyd spent 17 years working at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, 12 of those serving as vice chancellor for university advancement and as executive director of the UAFS Foundation. Prior to taking the helm of the UAFS Foundation, Loyd, a former dental hygienist, led the effort to start the dental hygiene school at then Westark College.

“Dr. Loyd has been an integral part of developing, promoting, and deploying Gov. Rockefeller’s vision for the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute for many years,” said Dr. Donald R. Bobbitt, president of the University of Arkansas System. “Her first-rate leadership skills and the wonderful team she’s built around her are the epitome of the Rockefeller spirit of collaboration and transformational change, and their impact on the state and within this System are immeasurable. She will be missed and I wish her all the best as she moves toward other mountain tops in her career and life.”