Meet Jim Hanophy | President and CEO, Volunteer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jim Hanophy and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jim, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
Most people do not realize the services for adults with intellectual and other developmental disabilities are underfunded. The vast majority of people with these disabilities do not have access to any services . In the two largest Medicare Waiver Programs, there are over 150,000 people on the waiting list for those programs. Most people think that the government will handle care for these folks. The contracts we have with the state to provide services only cover 71% of the cost it takes to operate. The other 29% has to come from grants, donations and special events.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
When I was in college, I knew that was destined for a career where I had a positive impact on peoples’ lives. I explored the career in Social Work as an option. By happenstance, I became good friends with a student who had a significant physical disability. He introduced me to the head of the Office for Students with Disabilities. She also had disability and had a Masters Degree in Rehabilitaion Counseling. Rehabilitation Counseling focuses on removing or mitigating the impediments to employment for people with disabilities and helping them go to work. I earned my Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling and went work in a partial hospitalization program in central West Virginia. After four years working there, I was contacted by a recruiter about an administrative position in West Texas and took that position. From that point on, I have advanced through leadership positions to the top levels. At one point I was the Assistant Commissioner for a large state agency. For the past 11 years, I have held the position of CEO with large non-profit organizations. I believe is my role to lead this agency to excellence in serving people with disabilities

My advancement in my career has been relatively easy and also challenging. Because I had an impressive work history and prepared well for and interviewed well for positions, I mostly got the positions for which I was competing. However, each advancement level came with a steep and unanticipated learning curve. While I had the skill for those positions, I had to learn to control and adjust my temperament to be an effective leader. I had to develop emotional intelligence. I also had to learn and balance the role as a manager and the role as a leader, depending on the circumstance.

My volunteer work plays a significant role in my life as well. I volunteer at a local animal shelter as a trainer and also am a board member for an equine therapy program. I enjoy that I get to be hands on in my volunteer role and I can see an immediate impact

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My best friend would know what we could do for the week. During the day, we would spend our time volunteering in one of two places. At the animal shelter , would walk the dogs and help clean. We would take a couple of dogs out in the community wearing “Adopt Me” vest to hopefully meet someone who would adopt. At the equine therapy program, we would help clean and help as “side walkers” to ensure the rider’s safety. At night we would find a local craft brewery to sample their offerings. We would also catch a Mavericks basketball game and a Lone Star Brahmas. At the Hockey game, would order Chicken Parmesan from Zurromas Bar and Grill and eat it during the game

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have benefited from the guidance of some great mentors. There have been a few messages that have stuck with me over the years and that I remind myself of frequently. One that really stuck with me was ” Staying busy is easy…making money is hard”. Another mentor continually referenced having ” Professionally Mature Conversations'” regardless of setting and the personnel involved. The one that sticks with me the most, especially working health and human services industry is ” For every complex problem, there is a simple and obvious solution …and it’s always wrong”

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