Focus on Suppliers Starts New Season With Neile Jones

8th & Walton, a growing company focused on serving suppliers to Wal-Mart Stores Inc., has launched its third season of television programming with a bang.

Formerly known as “Saturday Morning Meeting for Suppliers,” “Focus on Suppliers” kicked off its 2015 season with more than one well-known face. 

Seventeen-year broadcast veteran Neile Jones is back in the area serving as host and executive producer of the show, which airs on local NBC affiliate KNWA-TV at 6:30 p.m. Saturdays and 5 a.m. Sundays.

Jones says it’s a role that is both familiar and new.

“This is an opportunity to merge corporate insight with consumer and supplier needs,” she explained. “We really have a unique landing spot for folks wanting to learn more from their peers while simultaneously appealing to consumers. It’s an exciting opportunity for all of us.”

Jones left her position as evening news anchor for KNWA in the fall of 2014. She moved back to her hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, to focus on her immediate family.

While at KNWA, Jones, a member of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 class in 2008, was known for her work for nonprofits and, in particular, working to raise awareness for breast cancer.

During her time at the station, she earned the Susan G. Komen For the Cure Foundation Cameo Award for Volunteerism and the Domestic Peace Award from the Arkansas Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

She also earned a Mid-America Emmy Award for reporting while evening news anchor for KNWA.  

Jones said the opportunity to return to the area and work with KNWA just made sense.

“I am a person who believes when you stop learning you’ve stopped living,” she said. “‘Focus on Suppliers’ is teaching me about the supplier community, entrepreneurs and consumer needs. It’s this great place where forward cognitive thinking, the C-suite and teamwork come together. You end up with this eclectic mentoring program that encourages success for everyone.”

Viewers of the show will be welcomed by Jones and other regulars including Jeff Amerine, Loria Oliver and Andy Schuch. Each segment will focus on a category, as well as trends the show’s experts are seeing in the ever-evolving retail industry.

Guests range from corporate executives to young entrepreneurs and celebrities.

One of the first guests this year was Burt Ward, co-star of the classic “Batman” television series of the 1960s. Ward is now billing himself as the “Canine Crusader,” marketing his own brand of dog food, Gentle Giant.

The premiere show focuses on the growing market for pet products as well as Ward’s career as Batman’s young sidekick, Robin.

Future guests scheduled to appear on the show include Brian Hogate of Spectrum Brands and Jennifer Necessary of the ALS Arkansas Chapter. A segment called the Saatchi & Saatchi X Millennial Minute will also help round out the program with elements Jones is known for — people, giving and a special place called Northwest Arkansas.

“Focus on Suppliers” is taped at the 8th & Walton headquarters at the Bentonville Plaza office building, across the street from the Walmart Home Office.