Arvest Bank CEO and leadership

Buddy D. Philpot is the foundation’s executive director overseeing all foundation operations, grant making, research and evaluation, and communications. Prior to joining the foundation, Buddy spent more than 20 years in community banking, joining the Walton family owned Arvest Bank Group in 1987. He served for more than 10 years as president and CEO of the Springdale, Arkansas, Arvest bank.He joined The Walton Family Foundation as executive director in 2001. Buddy holds banking degrees from the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas and the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University.

Experienced Chief Pilot with a demonstrated history of working in the airlines/aviation industry. Skilled in Management, Customer Service, Flight Safety, Airports, and Aerospace. Strong operations professional graduated from Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology.

Laura Andress is a Chief People Officer at Arvest Bank. She has worked as Exec Dir:Group Human Resources at Arvest Bank.

Rodney Shepard is a Sales Manager at Superior Federal Bank and Chief Customer Experience Officer at Arvest Bank and is based in Arkansas Area, Fort Smith. He has experience at Wells Fargo and Norwest Financial and has worked as President & CEO:Missouri Ops at Arvest Bank and Branch Administrator at Superior Federal Bank. Rodney works or has worked as President/CEO at ARVEST INVESTMENTS INC and Exec VP:Banking Ops/Sales Mgr at Arvest Bank. He attended Carl Albert State College between 1986 and 1988, Louisiana State University - LSU, and Webster University between 2001 and 2003.