Forty Under 40: Jacob Arnold

Jacob Arnold’s grandparents, Frank and Barbara Broyles, influenced his decision to seek a nonprofit career.

“I think my grandfather was the greatest fundraiser in Arkansas history as the former athletic director at the University of Arkansas,” said Arnold. He added that his grandmother was a charter member of the Ozark Literacy Council starting in 1964. “It took me a long time to identify public service/nonprofit work as my career path, but when that proverbial lightbulb went off, there’s been no looking back for me.”

The Fayetteville native started his nonprofit career at 27 and worked for the Broyles Foundation, Northwest Arkansas Food Bank and Hope Cancer Resources before joining Veterans Future Foundation this year.

Veterans Future Foundation recently rebranded from FitOps to help more veterans nationwide and expand the pathways to more vocations. The national nonprofit invests in nontraditional education for vocational upskilling and certification processes.

“Our veterans deserve help with their transition from the uniform to their civilian lives,” he said. “By getting ahead and participating through their transition, we will mitigate or eliminate some of these downstream issues like experiencing homelessness, food insecurity, mental health challenges … that ultimately leads to the suicide rate of 22 veterans taking their lives each day.”

Arnold hopes to make Northwest Arkansas the U.S. home for veteran transition and have nationwide remote operations.

The UA alumnus is attending graduate school at the Clinton School of Public Service for the Executive Master of Public Service program and expects to graduate in early 2024. He’s a board member of the Ozark Literacy Council and the Rotary Club of Downtown Fayetteville. He’s also a mentor for the Future Women Business Leaders at the UA.