As director of global logistics-delivery for Walmart, there’s no better feeling for Morgan (Goates) Jackson ’12 than watching her team succeed.
Jackson, who graduated from University of the Ozarks in 2012 with a degree in business, leads a team at Walmart that supports and manages the movement of containerized goods — merchandise, food, and perishables — from overseas through ports and terminals to the Imports Distribution Centers. Her team also manages movements of containerized goods from mainland U.S. to Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
“I enjoy seeing my team take a complex problem, breaking it down, and finding solutions that no other team can,” Jackson said. “You have to be able to trust your team. Everyone focuses on building a high-performing team. Do that and then give them the runway to do amazing things. They need to know they have space to be creative, to fail, to succeed, and to be an owner of their business.”
Jackson, who went on to earn an MBA from Arkansas State University after graduating from Ozarks, has worked for Walmart almost six years, advancing her way up from a senior procurement manager to supply chain management.
“I enjoy getting to see, experience, and learn about other areas of the business at Walmart,” Jackson said. “This would not be possible at most other companies. There are very few companies where a person can spend their entire working life with and change careers three or four times.”
Earlier this year, Jackson was named the recipient of the prestigious End2End Leadership Award at Walmart’s Year Beginning Meeting for 2024. She is also a member of the National Shipper Advisory Committee under the Federal Maritime Commission and serves as secretary for the Arkansas Trucking Association 40 under 40 council.
She said the key to being an effective manager is learning to listen.
“Being able to really listen to associates and hear their feedback, concerns, and excitement is so important,” Jackson said. “You can hear a person and never really listen to them. A leader who can turn off the need to be thinking about how to respond while someone is talking will be a successful people leader.”
At Ozarks, Jackson played softball and was an assistant residence hall director and a member of the Student Foundation Board.
“My time at Ozarks taught me how to think outside of the box, be a problem-solver, and collaborate with those around me,” Jackson said. “The group work and environment prepared me well to be in a corporate setting where cross-functional partnership is essential to success.”
Jackson lives in Northwest Arkansas with her husband, Hunter, associate director of major gifts at U of O. They have twin daughters, Anna and Eleanor.
Topics: Alumni Stories