Building a Stormwater and Floodplain Framework and Implementation Plan to Support Resilient Growth
Shane Leis
City of Bentonville — Mayor's Office
Born and raised in Rogers, Arkansas, Shane Leis has spent his career and his life rooted in Northwest Arkansas – a region he’s watched transform into one of the fastest-growing areas in the country. After nearly 30 years at Walmart’s Corporate Home Office spanning Information Systems, Real Estate and Pickup and Delivery, Leis built deep expertise in Business Architecture, site selection and large-scale complex project delivery. Leis led a team of Business Architects that transitioned a division with over a dozen departments to a project management system utilized for over a decade. Most recently, as an independent consultant, Leis worked with truck brokers, medical complexes and a high-end exotic car modification business. Now, Leis is excited to bring his private-sector experience back to the community that shaped him.
Project
The City of Bentonville and FUSE are partnering on a two-year fellowship to turn the city’s rapid growth into safer neighborhoods and more resilient infrastructure. FUSE Executive Fellow Shane Leis will lead cross-departmental work to build a citywide stormwater and floodplain framework that ties together infrastructure planning, land use, parks, and regional coordination. Year One centers on discovery, framework development, and early implementation, while Year Two focuses on capital planning, a stormwater utility approach, and embedding long-term watershed management. The goal is a Bentonville that manages stormwater proactively rather than reacting to floods after they happen.