Staff

Dr. Marta Loyd has served as executive director of the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute since 2014. Under her leadership and guidance, the Institute’s mission has been strengthened and clarified to focus on the Rockefeller Ethic, a unique approach to collaborative problem solving as modeled by Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller. As a team, she and her staff have strengthened external partnerships, nearly doubled the number of program offerings, implemented an evaluation system to measure impact, instituted core values into the organization and secured the Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller Endowment which will fund operations for the Institute.

Prior to joining the Institute, she spent 17 years working at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, 12 of those serving as vice chancellor for university advancement and as executive director of the UAFS Foundation. During her tenure at UAFS, she led the effort to raise gifts and pledges totaling $57 million, increasing total assets of the foundation from $20 million to nearly $80 million. Prior to taking the helm of the UAFS Foundation, Loyd, a former dental hygienist, led the effort to start the dental hygiene school at then Westark College.

Dr. Loyd holds a Master of Education degree from the University of Arkansas and a Doctor of Education degree from the University of Missouri. She also completed the Institute for Educational Management at Harvard University. In her community, Dr. Loyd has served as board member for the Morrilton Area Chamber of Commerce and the Petit Jean Mountain Community Association, and recently completed her term on the Federal Reserve Board of St. Louis’ Community Development Advisory Council. She serves on the Board of  Directors for Healthy Active Arkansas and is a member of Rotary Club 99 of Little Rock.

Janet Harris joined the Institute staff in January of 2016. She is the creator of the Institute’s Walks with the Governor program and speaks frequently on the legacy of Winthrop Rockefeller. Before joining the Institute, Harris spent 20 years as a public administration professional in Arkansas, holding several executive leadership roles in state government. Harris holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and a Bachelor of Science in public administration from the University of Central Arkansas.

Dr. Joyvin Benton joined the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute in November 2018. Previously, she served as the Director of Development for the Arkansas Public Policy Panel. She was named a top “20 Over 20” nonprofit leader by the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network and in 2018 she was selected for the Independent Sector’s American Express Next Generation Fellowship for emerging leaders in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors.

As a dedicated and detail-oriented accounting professional, Mandy Osburn has just under twenty-five years of accounting and foundation experience. Prior to joining the Institute in 2020, Mandy served as the Director of Foundation Finance and Operations at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith Foundation since October 2012, overseeing the finances and operations of the foundation and its assets.