Jackie Fliss

Jackie Fliss, a repeat finalist in this category, has led Independent Living Services at Conway for the past 10 years, during which time its revenue has almost tripled from $2.2 million to $6.4 million and its payroll grown to 375 employees.
ILS was founded in 1970 as an alternative residential option for mentally handicapped men who had outgrown the Children’s Colony’s program. But over time, and with Fliss at the helm, that mission has found new forms.
ILS serves about 250 people a year, and it is the smallest nonprofit in Arkansas to become nationally accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.
Fliss started her career more than 30 years ago at Easter Seals of Arkansas. She was working on an accounting degree at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and she used that degree as a public accountant for a few years.
But she missed the nonprofit world.
“This career field hooked me after I met a mute man who stood over my office desk, trash can in hand, waiting patiently for me to throw away my adding machine tape. He was fascinated with me, and I with him,” Fliss said.
At ILS, she has been a relentless builder — of the staff, of the mission and of the physical plant, including two apartment buildings.
“I always promise our executive staff that I will not undertake anymore building projects, and then I do it,” she said.
In the past year, ILS purchased and renovated an industrial building in order to consolidate both its day program and its Profiled Productions recycling program, which employs 40 ILS clients and diverts tons of paper from the waste stream.
Fliss is closely watching the outcome of the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit against the state’s human development center in Conway. “If the institutions close, the community providers will need to provide those services to individuals and institutions,” she said. “It seems like families would choose a provider in their area.”

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