Forty Under 40: Bethany Freeman

Bethany Freeman is entrepreneurially minded and has a background working for a large consumer packaged goods (CPG) company. That experience is ideal for her work at Harvest Group, advising small- to medium-sized clients navigating the Walmart universe.

“I see the small to mid-sized companies able to move much more nimbly; they hear an opportunity or see a trend, and the turnaround time for responding is incredible. It’s thrilling and sometimes terrifying and fun to be a part of and to advise throughout the process,” Freeman says.

Her aggressiveness in pursuing excellence, humility and kindness allowed Freeman in eight years to progress rapidly into her leadership role over the firm’s largest division, Walmart and Sam’s Club.

Freeman is a Bentonville native. Her father moved the family around the country while working as a Walmart store manager, and he recently retired. She has childhood memories of the family pitching in to help her dad stock shelves and put away shopping carts during the holidays. They returned to Northwest Arkansas when she was in junior high.

She swam at the University of Arkansas while earning a bachelor’s degree in marketing and accounting and completed an MBA focused on entrepreneurship and supply chain management.

Freeman was drawn to Hershey Co. at a career fair and worked there happily for seven years, learning the foundational aspects of GPG companies. She draws upon that experience daily to advise clients as a critical member of Harvest Group’s executive leadership team.

Freeman focuses on faith and family. She and her husband are expecting their third child. They have a side venture with her mother building homes and operating Airbnb properties.