Fast 15: Lindsey Sullivan

After graduating from college in 2014, Lindsey Sullivan’s goal was to pursue a career in the nonprofit world.

Three years ago, however, she leaped into the business world and hasn’t looked back.

In addition to fulfilling general marketing and communications strategies for the company, Sullivan leads communication programs for J.B. Hunt’s innovation initiative, called Elevation. The application gathers, processes and prioritizes ideas and input from all across the company. It generates thousands of innovative concepts, ranging from cost improvements and enhanced services, and the company takes action on hundreds of them.

That’s where Sullivan comes in. She manages a portfolio of projects from conception to implementation, supporting multiple business leaders across the company. She also develops and gives regular training that shares insight on the power of creativity and innovation in the workplace.

Sullivan’s desire to further diversity efforts at J.B. Hunt is unmistakable. Before finishing her first year at the company, she was unanimously selected to join the board of the company’s employee resource group, called GROW (Growing and Retaining Outstanding Women). Sullivan said the group has impacted and inspired her career.

Sullivan later founded the company’s International Women’s Week Event. It launched in March 2019 initially as a one-day event. This past March, it grew to a week-long experience. Sullivan led a committee of six women who planned and executed the programming, packed with networking, panel discussions and leadership engagement.

Sullivan grew up in College Station, Texas, before attending the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. She graduated in 2014 with degrees in French and German and a minor in social work. Her first job after graduation was with the Springdale School District, tutoring migrant students. After one year, the Salvation Army of Northwest Arkansas offered her a job as a public relations director.

Sullivan said she loved working in the nonprofit arena, but the idea of a new challenge helped seal her decision to accept a job offer from J.B. Hunt. It’s advice she would recommend to other young professionals who are beginning a career.

“Make a plan and go after it, but if other opportunities come, be willing and open to taking those, she said.

Sullivan is an avid reader, averaging about 40 books each year. She maintains a vegetable and herb garden and loves to be outdoors and active.