Donald Bland attended St. Mary’s High School for three years before transferring to Roosevelt High School for his senior year, graduating in 1958. He was on the basketball team and a member of the Speech club. Mr. Bland then attended Drake University and graduated from Harris Stowe State University with a BA in Elementary Education in 1964. Harris Stowe honored him with the Distinguished Alumni Award in May 1999.

In 1967, after three years teaching in the St. Louis Public Schools, Mr. Bland was recruited to join the new Target Stores Inc. in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was the first African American management trainee in the company. Mr. Bland held several store management positions prior to promotion to manage his first store in University City, MO.

Mr. Bland held other store manager positions with JL Hudson of Detroit and officer positions with Lechmere in Boston, MA. Over the next six years, Lechmere grew from six to eighteen stores with sales of $750 million. Target, JL Hudson, and Lechmere were all divisions of the Dayton Hudson Corporation. Mr. Bland was then recruited to Montgomery Ward and served as store and district manager in the Chicago area in the early ‘70’s to early ‘80’s.

Mr. Bland was then asked to lead the startup and expansion of Home Quarters Warehouse in the Boston area and later Aikenhead’s Home Improvement Warehouse in Toronto, Canada as Vice President of Operations.

In 1993, Mr. Bland joined Wal-Mart as Vice President and Merchandise Manager for their Lawn and Garden centers. Mr. Bland was promoted six months later to Vice President, Regional Manager overseeing all one hundred stores in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas. He held three different regional assignments before being promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for all their stores in Canada, adding twenty-five stores becoming Canada’s number one retailer with 40% market share.

Following three years in that assignment, Mr. Bland served as President and CEO of Wal-Mart Argentina to turn around their struggling stores. Following Argentina Mr. Bland returned to Walmart’s Headquarters to lead growth and development of the specialty departments in all the International countries.

Mr. Bland retired from Wal-Mart in 2005. He was asked to join the faculty of the University of Arkansas’ Sam M. Walton College of Business where he taught Principles of Marketing. In 2006, he became the Senior Managing Director of Outreach. In this role he supervised 13 Centers in the business school and was a member of the Business School Executive Committee and the Diversity Committee of the University. In 2010, Mr. Bland retired from the University and relocated to the Phoenix area.

Mr. Bland was a member of the Board of Advisors of the NPD Corporation, a New York-based consumer research company. In addition, Mr. Bland served on the Chancellor’s Board of Advisors at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and is a member of the Foundation Board at Washington Regional Hospital in Fayetteville. He previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of Scottsdale Leadership and on the Advisory Board of the Diamond Youth Foundation. Mr. Bland has also served on the Board of the Ozark Guidance Center and the National Conference for Community and Justice, both in Springdale, AR.

Mr. Bland is a life member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. He received the 88^th Elder Watson Diggs Award of Achievement in 2009, Kappa Alpha Psi’s second highest award in recognition of his professional career accomplishments and contributions to the fraternity.

Mr. Bland currently serves as Chair of the Kappa Alpha Psi Foundation signature fund raising event.

Mr. Bland is also a member of Sigma Pi Phi (Gamma Mu Boule) Fraternity where he previously served as President. He currently serves on the Grand Board of Directors of Sigma Pi Phi.

Mr. Bland and his wife of 59 years Yvonne, reside in Scottsdale, AZ. They have three sons and five grandchildren.

Mr. Bland’s many accomplishments in business and civic affairs are prime examples of excellence. He is a credit to the Roosevelt High School community. The Alumni Association welcomes him to the Hall of Fame.