LaVonne Brooks, Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director

LaVonne Brooks serves as chief executive officer and executive director of HSI. The vision of empowering challenged individuals in the community while serving businesses began in 1977 when HSI opened its doors as a small sheltered workshop, employing 25 people. She took the helm in July 2000 and led the organization to new heights. HSI now supports over 190 local citizens with disabilities in the Reno, Sparks and Fallon programs. In the past four years, HSI has almost doubled their gross revenue and increased employee pay by 70 percent.

LaVonne has more than 14 years of experience in business consulting and prior to joining HSI, owned a training and development consulting practice. Her experiences working with business, educational and governmental organizations have made her an expert in reengineering business processes to improve performance.

Active in the northern Nevada community, she is a member of several boards and organizations including the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Truckee Meadows Tomorrow. In August 2002 she became the first female of Hispanic decent to be appointed to the City of Reno Planning Commission. She is a member of the Secretary of State's taskforce to implement the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and past vice chair of Governor Guinn's Strategic Planning Taskforce dealing with provider rates for people with disabilities.

A published author, in 1996 Brooks contributed to the book "Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers" with Dr. Robert Kriegel and Dr. David Brandt about developing change ready people and organizations. She also co-authored an article on implementing total quality management systems in the United States with Dr. Ken Matejka, Dean of Dusquene University. The article appeared in the prestigious "Management Decision", published by Cambridge in London.

Brooks earned a bachelors and masters business degree from the University of Phoenix, New Mexico campus. She graduated as the honored student of the year when she received her master's degree.

CONTACT: LaVonne Brooks, HSI, 775-829-7400, or via Email