Jan Ayres

Director of Projects

Jan Ayres IMS

Greatest Professional Accomplishment: 
To have been a mentor to others who now make a positive difference in our world through their personal and professional lives.

Passionate About: 
Exceeding expectations in everything I do.

Dream Job: 
To create and deliver programs which enhance individual self-worth and personal skills of others and myself.

Personal Philosophy: 
To be the best that I can be and to encourage the very best in others.

Best Attributes: 
Strong work ethic reflected in follow through, timeliness and high work standards. Positive attitude that sees the bright side and looks for possibilities. Genuine concern, acceptance and empathy for others.

Key Strengths: 

  • Organizing and systematizing just about anything to an unmatched degree of detail.
  • Planning, developing and implementing specialized marketing projects and business operations for clients.
  • Identifying opportunities for organizational improvement and implementing new systems to improve efficiency.
  • Developing and managing start-up programs and projects including trade show programs which included scheduling, planning, budgeting, promoting and logistics.
  • Developing and delivering professional skills programs.
  • Building long-term relationships with clients through empathy and understanding client needs.
  • Learning, assuming new challenges and delivering immediate results.
  • Evaluating problems and developing viable solutions, fast.
  • Speaking on a variety of topics in the business, education and volunteer sectors.
  • Fostering a spirit of cooperation and managing teams.

Biography:
Born and raised on a dairy farm in northeast Kansas, as you can imagine, my strong work ethic got established early—both at an early age and early in the morning. From the time that I was five years old, I was assigned farm chores before leaving for school. My mother helped with the dairy operation so as I grew older that meant caring for my brother, cleaning the house, preparing family meals, mowing the yard, tending the baby calves and working the garden. I didn’t complain because even when I was a kid I knew one simple truth about my lot in life: it was better than milking cows!

Where I grew up, one-room schoolhouses were a reality and I attended one through eighth grade. That’s such a foreign experience to most people, but looking back, it was a community where everyone helped each other. My sense of responsibility and service was nurtured there as much as it was on the farm. And yes, it’s true, I actually lived the “walking two miles through a foot of snow” story that other parents may use only for drama. As you probably surmised, during my childhood, responsibility was not optional.

Leadership came naturally to me, and through my community service I developed a love of public speaking. Giving 4-H presentations then later representing the American Dairy Association as the Kansas Dairy Princess speaking, teaching, educating, encouraging and inspiring became a true passion in me. In the process, the researching, organizing, developing and presenting of information became a process I truly love to this day.

As I grew older, my excitement about learning, growing and developing personal and professional skills in myself and others continued. I earned my private pilot’s license when I was 25 and served on more local, state and national boards than I can count with a chair or leadership role on each of them. Three national boards where I felt I accomplished the most: Council for Advancement and Support of Education, National Membership Chairman; Mortar Board, Inc., National Officer for Programs; and K-State Alumni Association, National Chairman.

I also spent a number of years as a management consultant and business presenter on subjects including sales and human management to name a few; managed operations for a publishing company and its printing subsidiary; and ran alumni programs nationwide for a major university. All the while raising two boys and leading a rather full home life. Multi-tasking is a strength as well.

My wealth of lifetime experience and intrinsic sense of service and responsibility culminate in the work I do for clients. Is putting this much of my heart into what I do hard work? Maybe, but you know what…I can honestly say, it's way better than milking cows.