About Alliance for Rural Impact

The Alliance for Rural Impact is a nonprofit organization serving rural and tribal communities across America.  We are a collective partnership of technical assistance experts focused on community equity for rural and tribal regions. Our team is solutions-focused and adept in financial stabilization and growth, strategic planning and analysis, capacity building and long-term implementation of priorities. Our ultimate goal is to bring about positive changes that result in community prosperity.

The Alliance for Rural Impact is designed to provide all aspects of the community and economic development process utilizing unique and comprehensive delivery methodology.  We identify a community’s foundational assets and drive progress until outcomes are achieved.

Areas We Serve

Jordan Wimpy, President

Jordan is an attorney with the Little Rock law firm of Mitchell Williams Selig Gates &Woodyard, PLLC. A native of Arkansas, Jordan earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Jordan studied law at Vermont Law School and received both his juris doctor and Master of Environmental Law & Policy degrees with high honors in 2012.Prior to joining Mitchell Williams, Jordan practiced law with Gill Ragon Owen, P.A., in Little Rock, and the Budd-Falen Law Offices, LLC, in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Jordan’s practice focuses on environmental, agricultural, energy, natural resource, and property law, with a particular emphasis onagricultural operations and local governments.Jordan also provides advice and counsel to landowners and local governments regarding land use, environmental mitigation/reclamation standards, federal land management, and complex regulatory matters.

Sanaz Arjomand, Vice President

Sanaz currently serves as a Legislative Affairs Specialist at the United States Department of Agriculture Farm Production and Conservation mission area. Previously, she worked as the National Young Farmers Coalition’s federal policy director, leading the Coalition’s legislative strategy and implementation. Prior to this role, she spent three years at the helm of the federal policy team at American Farmland Trust. She has also managed a rural school garden as a service member for Arkansas GardenCorps and worked as a farmer’s apprentice at Full Sun Farm in western North Carolina. Sanaz holds an MS in Environmental Policy from the Bard College Center for Environmental Policy and a BA in Political Science from the College of Charleston.

Jim Shenep, Treasurer

Jim is a native of Pine Bluff, AR. He is a graduate of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville with a B.S. in Business Administration, American Bankers Association Graduate Trust School, Cannon Trust School and College of Certified Financial Planning. Jim managed the Trust Department of Delta Trust & Bank from 2000 – 2014, until it was acquired by Simmons First National Bank.

Brian Kelsey

Brian is a manager in EY’s Economic Development Advisory Services practice. He has more than twenty years of experience in economic development, serving in executive-level positions at the local, regional, and federal levels. Prior to joining EY, Brian’s career in government included roles as chief strategy officer in Nashville, Tennessee, assistant city manager in Edinburg, Texas, and senior advisor at the US Economic Development Administration in Washington, DC. Brian is based out of EY’s Fort Worth office, but spent many years in Austin, managing a consulting firm called Civic Analytics and teaching at the University of Texas at Austin.

Bytha Mills

Bytha Mills currently serves as Vice President of Human Resources for E. Ritter & Company. She has over 25 years of progressive experience in the field of Human Resources. She is involved in strategic planning, program development, recruiting/talent management, labor/employee relations, training, employee benefits, and directs day-to-day operations. Prior to joining E. Ritter in 2015, she was VP of Human Resources for Luvata’s Heat-Transfer Solutions (HTS) Corporate from 2011-2015, and Director of Human Resources at the division level. From 2009-2011 she was President of Mills HR Talent Consulting, LLC, an Executive Recruiter/HR Consultant. From 1997-2009 she was VP of Human Resources for Intermet Corporation, a publicly traded global tier-one manufacturing supplier to the automotive industry that transitioned to privately held company. Intermet Corporation employed up to 5,000 employees at 18 manufacturing plants in the U.S. and International.

Bytha graduated from Arkansas State University with a B.S. in Accounting and later received a M.S. in Human Resources from Indiana Wesleyan University. Bytha and her husband, Chris, currently live in Hernando, Mississippi and have one son and two grandchildren.

Justin Burch

Justin Archer Burch is the President & CEO of Delta Compass. He was formally the National Director of Workforce & Small Business at Rural Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). He works to build equitable rural work and entrepreneurial ecosystems across the country in 45 states and 2 U.S. territories. Justin has built a career at the intersection of economic development and philanthropy. Prior to joining Delta Compass, Justin was previously the Director of Programs for the Delta Regional Authority, which is a Federal Economic Development Commission that serves the eight state Delta region. Justin was also the former lead of community development at the Foundation for the Mid-South which serves Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Justin serves as an advisor to the Rework America Alliance for Markle Foundation, the Aspen Institute – Community Strategies Group, the Southern Economic Development Council, the Alliance for Rural Impact, and Jobs for the Future’s Southern Equity Group. He is a former fellow with W.K. Kellogg Foundation; a former Delta Entrepreneurship Network Fellow; was named one of the top men doing good work in Jackson, Mississippi; was named a top twenty nonprofit professional in Little Rock, Arkansas; serves as an advisor to the Mississippi Reentry Council, the racial equity learning committee for Appalachia Funders Network, and the steering committee to the Delta Philanthropic Network.

Justin has a B.A. in political science from the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), and an M.S.S. in social science from Mississippi College. Justin has also earned certificates in leadership management from the Kennedy School at Harvard and nonprofit leadership from the Lily School of Philanthropy. Justin lives in Little Rock, Arkansas with his wife Cameryn Miller Burch, daughter Catherine Lawrence, and son Archer Henry where they are active within the community and the Methodist Church.

Jennifer G. Watkins,Director of Operations

Jennifer G. Watkins is the co-founder and Director of Operations for the Alliance for Rural Impact (ARI), a mission-driven nonprofit and emerging CDFI based in Northeast Arkansas. The organization is designed to assist rural and tribal communities with implementation by providing needed resources such as expertise, capital and a vast network of partners and advocates from across the nation. The ARI team is solutions-focused and adept in financial stabilization and growth, strategic planning and analysis, capacity building and long-term implementation that brings about positive changes and community prosperity. Jennifer leads project and program development efforts on behalf of ARI, along with curriculum design, implementation, research, resource identification and fundraising.

Jennifer is a strong advocate for rural communities, spending her entire career of over 20 years working to improve the economic and quality of life conditions of small towns and tribes around the country. Implementation has always been a focus of her work. For rural communities, this requires creative thinking, partnership development and unrelenting determinedness, all skills Jennifer has honed and now brings to ARI.

Prior to founding ARI, Jennifer worked for a small consulting firm conducting strategic planning efforts in over 35 communities across the country. She served as the lead consultant for a $4 million, 12-county regional planning effort for the East Arkansas Planning & Development District, a project that introduced her to the Delta region. It was this project – in a place where rural poverty is rampant – that inspired the development of ARI.

Before embarking on her consulting journey, Jennifer served for thirteen years as a local practitioner in her hometown in rural eastern Oregon. Jennifer worked with local businesses to develop sound business plans, access financing, diversify their products, reach larger markets and plan for their futures. She also completed several multi-million-dollar projects, developed successful economic development campaigns, facilitated long-range planning processes and secured millions of dollars in grant funding. She has served on dozens of boards and committees in her community, all with the mission of improving the economy and livability for its residents.

Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Eastern Oregon University, with a concentration in Leadership, Organization & Management.