Forty Under 40: Willie Hansburg

As a teenager, Willie Hansburg visited Northwest Arkansas to compete in a summer basketball tournament. The trip made an impact on Hansburg, a young man of humble means living in the rural Arkansas Delta.

“I told myself then,” he recalled. “‘When I finish college, Northwest Arkansas is where I want to live.’”

After earning a bachelor’s degree in 2013 from Henderson State University (HSU), Hansburg did just that. With uncertain prospects, he initially lived in a Springdale motel while working as a sales manager trainee at Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Bentonville. But he caught the attention of a Walmart Inc. executive who encouraged him to submit a resume.

That led to a job leading an overnight crew at a Neighborhood Market. He eventually became the store’s assistant manager, and the promotions haven’t stopped. Sam’s Club, Walmart’s warehouse club subsidiary, hired him as an inventory coordinator in 2015. The following year, he started a replenishment and supply chain career at Walmart’s home office, becoming a senior manager in early 2020.

Navigating the pandemic taught Hansburg the importance of agility and collaboration.

“You’ve got to be creative in finding ways to do what’s in customers’ best interests,” he said.

Earlier this year, Hansburg returned to Sam’s Club, focusing on improving the warehouse division’s e-commerce business.

Hansburg said servant leadership, surrounding himself with the right people and paying it forward are essential aspects of his life. He has organized a back-to-school drive for school supplies benefiting area districts and canned food drives benefiting the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank.

Hansburg is an advisory council member for the HSU School of Business and an Arkansas Immigrant Defense board member.