Nazdar is pleased to announce that Anissa Elsey, Vice President of Human Resources, has been named a 2014 Women Who Mean Business Honoree by the Kansas City Business Journal. Twenty-five women throughout various industries in Kansas City were honored on August 1st. According to the Kansas City Business Journal, a panel of judges that included previous Women Who Mean Business honorees selected this year’s class from 126 of the qualified applicants. To qualify, the applicant must be an entrepreneur, a top-ranking corporate woman in the Kansas City region, or a partner leading a practice group or serving on an executive committee. Judges considered applicants’ past accomplishments, plans to grow their companies and community involvement.
One of Anissa’s outstanding business accomplishments is transforming Nazdar’s Human Resources department into a strategic business partner within the organization with a hands-on, process oriented approach. Some of the initiatives Anissa has overseen are in health and wellness, recruitment and leadership coaching. She is passionate about people and says it is important to remember the human side of human resources.
Anissa also serves the community as one of the founders of the Executive Women’s Network, Vice Chairperson for the UMKC Bloch School HR Advisory Board, a Patient Ambassador of the Shriners Organization and past President for the Kansas City chapter of the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM-KC).
She lives by the motto “Because I Can” as a tribute to the Shriners who gave her the ability to walk. Elsey said, “I was born with hip dysplasia and we had no insurance. The Shriners turn no child away. I wasn’t supposed to walk, but I’m healthy and now I can run. I run because I can.” She hopes to encourage others to exercise because they can. Her goal is to raise $2 Million for the Shriners during her lifetime.
