What does it take to be a Visionary Woman? They're smart, motivated and community-minded. They teach, create and employ with an eye toward improving the lives of others. Well, the Former Walmart executive, Claire Babineaux-Fontenot—now CEO of the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization and second largest U.S. charity- is JUST that!
A Louisiana native, Claire was born in Opelousas in 1964 where she grew up with her parents, Warren and Mary Alice Baineaux who cared for over 100 children through a combination of birth, adoption and fostering. She attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Southern University Law Center and Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law.
Prior to joining Feeding America, Claire spent 13 years as a part of Walmart’s leadership team, with her most recent role being Executive Vice President and Global Treasurer. In this role, she had global responsibility for tax, treasury operations, capital markets, investor relations, global risk management, casualty and self-insurance leading teams across 28 countries and over 1,000 associates worldwide. Here is where she came to the table with her own experiences and recognized that the people she was serving needed to be at that table.
Claire Baineaux- Fontentot believes that it is possible to end chronic hunger and food insecurity in America and has set out to feed America one family at a time! She started Feeding America in October 2018 which is the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization. Feeding America is a nationwide network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meals programs. Together, this network has provided more than 4 billion meals to more than 46 million people across the United States and supports programs that improve food security for the families they serve.
