Two new Bentonville School Board members were appointed Thursday, June 26, to replace members stepping down due to employment opportunities outside the state.
Two finalists for the positions – Rachel Nutt and Bill Akins – were selected by school board members from a pool of 97 applicants before the meeting, according to a district spokesperson. Each was given 10 minutes to speak and answered questions from board members before their appointments were approved unanimously.
Nutt, a Bentonville native, is replacing Joel Dunning as the Zone 1 representative. She graduated from Bentonville High School in 2003, earned a business degree from John Brown University, and has primarily worked at her family’s companies.
Nutt has two children in Bentonville Schools — one will attend Old High Middle School next year, and the other will attend Thomas Jefferson Elementary School. She has volunteered with the PTO at Thomas Jefferson. Her father, Randy Lawson, previously served on the school board.
“I just have a passion for students and for my kids to have the opportunities that I had, but also make them better,” Nutt said.
Akins, a longtime Bentonville resident, is replacing Kelly Carlson in an at-large seat. He has worked for Walmart vendors as well as being an executive at the company.
“I started here in 1999 as a Walmart supplier, thought I was only going to be here one year — I’m one of those classic stories — yet ended up absolutely loving it,” he said.
Akins now teaches at the University of Arkansas and works in AI innovation at Chick-fil-A, where he is also an aspiring franchisee. He currently serves as president of the board at the Amazeum.
He has two children in Bentonville Schools — a rising seventh grader at Washington Junior High School and a rising junior at Bentonville High School. He said he views the board’s role as one of oversight, not micromanagement.
“We have a very effective superintendent, a wonderful CEO that runs the day-to-day, and being a part of this board and helping us set the direction, helping us set the policy … to be a part of that is super exciting, and for me, it’s just kind of a natural extension of what I’ve already been involved with,” he said.
When asked, both Nutt and Akins said they’re interested in running for the seats when the terms expire in March 2026.