Karen Minkel (Walton Family Foundation) Karen Minkel resigned as director of the Home Region program for the Walton Family Foundation after nine years with the organization. Minkel said in an email to Arkansas Business that she left the foundation to "reflect and explore several possibilities." Minkel joined the foundation, led by family members of late Walmart Inc. founder Sam Walton, in 2012. She was picked to lead the Home Region in 2015, replacing Rob Brothers, who retired. "Leading the foundation's work in Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta has been an extraordinary opportunity, and I leave feeling humbled and inspired by the work of the program's many grantees and my colleagues across the organization," Minkel said.