New CEO appointed at Walton brothers’ Runway Group

The Walton brothers’ holding company in Bentonville, Runway Group, had a quiet leadership shuffle several weeks ago. Chad Yoes, the CEO since early 2019, resigned in mid-October. The company promoted Chris Seay, formerly the COO, to replace Yoes.

Seay is a Bentonville native and worked as COO for two years. Before joining Runway Group, he worked in various legal, business and real estate jobs in Bentonville and elsewhere.

“His experience will continue to bring valuable strategy and leadership for our long-term success,” the company said in a statement to the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal.

Runway Group is a business team led by Steuart Walton and his younger brother, Tom Walton. They are grandsons of Walmart founder Sam Walton and the sons of Jim Walton, chairman and CEO of Arvest Bank Group Inc.

The diversified holding company makes strategic investments in Northwest Arkansas in real estate, hospitality, outdoor initiatives and aviation.

Yoes, a Louisiana native who had a long corporate career working for Walmart, is now working for a cryptocurrency investment fund, Centurion Crypto Fund 1.0.

“Our mission is to make crypto markets simple for investors to understand, easy for investors to participate in while mitigating individual risk and exposure, and to allow investors to join at the early stages of emerging markets,” Yoes said. “We have investors from Northwest Arkansas and throughout the country.”

Yoes said he is still living in Northwest Arkansas.