Théres Stiefer

Théres has over 25 years of experience in change management, higher education, strategy and innovation, appreciative inquiry, adult and lifelong learning, design thinking, positive psychology, career development, and ethnographic research.

She began her career in higher education where she served as Director of Career Services in OK and at the University of Arkansas, Walton College of Business. After several years of unprecedented growth in the use of the Walton College Career Center, she was asked to lead Walton College Executive Education and Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development. During this time, she also served as an adjunct faculty for graduate students in the College of Education in Workforce Development and Adult and Lifelong Learning at the University of Arkansas and the University of Louisville.

Théres decided to make a complete career switch and joined Walmart, Inc. in the area of Talent Development and Compliance in 2014. She quickly moved to the Strategy and Innovation team where she became the company cultural anthropologist studying associate behavior to provide real-world grounded theory based research. She joined the Talent Development team at Sam’s club in 2018 and the Learning and Development team in 2019.

In 2021, she made another move to the Walmart Finance Digital Transformation team where she is currently focused on Finance associate leadership and development, expanding associate knowledge management, and organizational change management. Théres served as the president of both the Oklahoma and Southwest Associations of Colleges and Employers. She also served on the National Association of Colleges and Employers and has been a faculty member for the past decade in the NACE Management Leadership Institute.

Théres continues to deliver consultation, workshops and keynote speeches across the United States and Canada about living the “uncommon life.” She is an avid community servant and her passions include everything from disaster relief and animal rescue to little league coaching. She has served as a volunteer for the Red Cross Disaster Relief, PGA, LPGA, Bentonville Film Festival, Salvation Army, Mother’s Against Drunk Drivers, and the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.