Johnele Hunt

J.B. Hunt Transport Services

In 1961, Johnelle Hunt and her late husband J.B. (d. 2006) sold their home and took out loans to start a rice hull packaging operation. Eight years later, the couple bought five trucks and seven trailers to launch trucking firm J.B. Hunt Transport Services.The Lowell, Arkansas, business went public in 1983 and is now one of the biggest transportation companies in the nation, with $12.2 billion in sales. Hunt, who stepped down as corporate secretary in 2008, remains the firm’s largest individual shareholder, with a 17% stake.Hunt was a part of the 11 inaugural inductees to the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame, which opened in 2015. She donated $5 million to the J.B. and Johnelle Hunt Family Ozark Highlands Center, which opened in Springdale, Arkansas in December 2020.

Year appointed: 1961