Fast 15: Morgan Stewart

Morgan Stewart is one of those folks not comfortable being comfortable. The COVID-19 pandemic has her, like many people, working and staying at home. She’s a bit restless in the four walls.

“I’ve already changed two bedrooms during the quarantine. I have to stop,” she said with a laugh.

She was hired at ArcBest in 2018, a year before graduating with a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership from the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith in 2019. In February 2020, she was promoted to planning analyst in the managed transportation segment for ArcBest. Her job is complicated in terms of all the methods goods can be shipped up and down the supply chain, but Stewart offers succinct analysis of the work.

“What’s the best way to get their [customer’s] freight from point A to point B? That’s a big part of what we do,” she said, adding that each customer has a unique supply chain need.

Stewart’s path from high school to college to work was unique, but nothing like moving from point A to point B. She graduated from Van Buren High School in 2010 and began pursuing a career in dental hygiene at UAFS. With the program only taking 15 students a year, it took time to get accepted. She did get a job as a dental assistant and began to believe her passion was not in the work. An adviser suggested in 2017 she begin work toward an organizational leadership degree. She also took time away from college when her father, a Van Buren police officer, was diagnosed with cancer. He died in February 2019.

Outside of work, Stewart says she’s proud of being on the board of the Junior League of Fort Smith after being a member for only two years. The volunteer work addresses various societal issues and helps her put to more use her organizational leadership passion.

The loss of her father, the planned and unplanned life changes between high school and completing college are also important in what she says is her passion to help organizations and people reach their potential.

“Success is a long journey of failures, but sometimes you have to just keep going,” she said.