LaTricia Hill-Chandler

Southern Bancorp, Inc., Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer

LaTricia (LaTreeSa) Hill-Chandler is the first Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer for Southern Bancorp, bringing more than 27 years of experience in the field to the mission of Southern. 

Before joining Southern, she served as the DEI Officer for Arvest Bank. In this role, LaTricia was the first primary subject matter expert and architect of the bank’s diversity, equity, and inclusion and cross-cultural relations plans and programs. This position led the identification, development, implementation, and evaluation of the initiative across the organization’s four-state footprint. Prior to this role, LaTricia was a Senior Strategy Manager II for Diversity and Inclusion Development in the Global Culture Diversity and Inclusion Office at Walmart Stores Inc., located in Bentonville, Arkansas. There, LaTricia was responsible for creating strategy and implementing the inclusive leadership initiative, an enterprise-wide diversity and inclusion initiative focused on increasing inclusion awareness through education and training for Walmart’s global leaders and associates. LaTricia also developed and facilitated Unconscious Bias Training throughout multiple divisions of Walmart and Sam’s Club in North America. In 2015, under her consulting firm, The Dadden Group, LaTricia was privileged to facilitate diversity and inclusion training to 25 military officers at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Before that, LaTricia was the National Manager for Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Relations for Veolia North America, located in Indianapolis, Indiana. In this role, LaTricia supported Veolia nationwide in creating policy and strategies to increase sustainability within diversity and inclusion, community relations, and utilization of minority, women, veteran, LGBTQ+, and small, disadvantaged businesses in local communities. Before joining Veolia, LaTricia was the Director for Supplier Diversity with the Indianapolis Public Schools and the Central Indiana Educational Service Center, serving 22 districts, where she created the first Supplier Diversity program for any public school district in the state of Indiana. LaTricia also held the position of Director of Business Diversity and Compliance Programs at Indiana University, the first of this role for any higher education institution in the state. LaTricia’s experiences also extend to Cummins Inc. as the corporate Diversity Procurement Manager in Columbus, Indiana, and Memphis, Tennessee.

LaTricia holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from LeMoyne Owen College, an HBCU, and a Master of Science in Management from Indiana Wesleyan University. LaTricia has also earned credentials as a Certified Diversity Executive from the Institute of Diversity Certification, as well as a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion certificate from the University of South Florida Muma College of Business. LaTricia is a graduate of the Stanley K. Lacy Executive Leadership Series (Class XXXVI) and has won numerous awards, including: Champion of Diversity, presented by the Indianapolis Recorder and Indiana Minority Business Magazine; and the Indianapolis Choice-Avatar of the Year, presented by the National Association of Women Business Owners-Indianapolis Chapter. Most recently, LaTricia received the Leading with Excellence Corporate Trailblazer Award from Compassion Fayetteville. Additionally, LaTricia served as a panelist for the nation’s largest multi-cultural event, the 40th annual Essence Music Festival’s EmpowerU conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 2020, LaTricia delivered the keynote address for the Woman of the Year awards, hosted by The Journal Record in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 

LaTricia currently serves on the Arkansas Bankers Association Board of Directors, the Executive Committee Strategy Council of The Conference Board, and the Board of Directors of TASC (Teen Action & Support Center) NWA. LaTricia is also the co-chair of the Walton College of Business, Dr. Barbara Lofton Office of Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board at the University of Arkansas, as well as an Advisory Board Member with Bentonville Together, a group of community leaders led by Mayor Stephanie Orman to create a more inclusive community.

A highly energetic and sought out speaker, LaTricia’s multi-industry experiences, coupled with her passion and authentic style of delivery for diversity, equity, and inclusion topics has helped bring awareness and bridge the gap for many people.

LaTricia has one daughter, Dyllan, who is a middle blocker for the 14-USA Elite NWA Storm Juniors volleyball club and Kirksey Middle School. LaTricia is also a dog mom to a 9-pound Morkie, Bentley. 

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