Lisa Ann, 35

Lisa Ann’s passion is helping others find their place. It’s evident in her involvement with The Springfield Dream Center, among other volunteer organizations, and in her role at American National Insurance where she helped to start a company-wide volunteer program.

Although she finds the time to volunteer at The Springfield Dream Center and also The United Way, Convoy of Hope, HOPE Connection, the Ozarks Food Harvest and Ronald McDonald House’s Tooth Truck, she understands that others have difficulty finding the time to do the same.

In March 2018, Lisa Ann sat down with three other human resource professionals on her team to brainstorm how they could get their employees involved with the community. “I feel that many people in the community would love to volunteer or give back if they could,” she says. “Sometimes there are other things that tend to prevent people from having the time to do so. Things like work [and families] tend to put a strain on [our ability to] provide support to those in need.”

The solution they developed was a company-wide volunteer program designed to encourage every employee to use a full workday to volunteer anywhere in the community. In just the first year, Lisa Ann and her colleagues were wowed by the results of the program.

“We launched it March of 2018, and we anticipated at least 15 percent of employees to participate, and we exceeded that,” Lisa Ann says. “We were around 25 percent or more in the first year, and that’s enterprise-wide for Texas, New York and Missouri.” Through her exhaustive work, she is connecting others to volunteer opportunities and igniting in others a passion for giving back each and every day.