Polly began her career as a physical therapist, studying at the University of Missouri, where she also met her husband Eric. While she maintained a passion for healthcare, she quickly learned that direct healthcare delivery was not where she wanted to focus her career. She joined Harcourt Health Sciences as a medical sales representative in 1999 and realized she had a passion for sales. In 2001 she joined Cerner Corporation in the healthcare consulting practice. Polly spent nine years working at Cerner Corporation, utilizing her clinic experience to help optimize clinical process utilizing technology and implementing Cerner’s onsite health center for employees. In Cerner’s executive development program Polly held a variety of roles including consulting, international assignments and led the organizational change management group of 150 clinicians focusing on changing healthcare delivery in her last position there. Her most proud accomplishment at Cerner was creating and implementing their onsite health clinic for employees. Polly joined CBIZ an employee benefits consulting firm, as a benefits consultant in 2009 and has held several positions in the company. In September of 2016, Polly was appointed President of the Kansas City CBIZ Employee Benefits practice, a division of CBIZ Benefits & Insurance Services, Inc. During her tenure with CBIZ, Polly created the national onsite clinic consulting practice and assisted many clients with developing comprehensive total reward programs that retain and attract talent. Her current focus as President of the Kansas City Employee Benefits division is organizational culture, growth strategy and client retention.
Polly and Eric have two children, Ella and Owen and recently a puppy named Mae, or Mary Puppins as Ella and Owen like to call her.
Alicia Hooks is the Director of Technology & Workforce Development at the Kansas City Kansas Community College serving the communities of the Greater Kansas City area, Wyandotte and Leavenworth Counties. When originally tasked with creating an Entrepreneurial program/center for area businesses and entrepreneurs, over 300 entrepreneurs were assisted in the first 3 years. In October of the following year, she was given the additional responsibility of the Workforce and Career Center. Since then she has initiated innovative programs and services with business and industry resulting in being asked to be a contributing author in a revised training text for workforce leaders.
Jy’Juan Maze (better known as Jy) is the President of Maze Freight Solutions. She has been in transportation and supply chain management for over 10 years. Her sales success with large and small companies, along with the lack of diversity in the industry, led to the founding of Maze Freight Solutions in 2017. The company, which emphasizes integrity, quality, and superior customer service, has experienced phenomenal growth since its inception.Prior to founding Maze Freight Solutions, Jy worked as a Freight Broker for Freightquote.com, an award-winning software-based freight solutions company. For half of her almost decade long career there, she led the sales team and still holds the record for highest full truckload freight sales. Her resiliency and keen ability to connect with, and solve the problems of her customers continues to contribute to her success.
A native of Raleigh, North Carolina, Joni and her indisputable southern accent arrived in Kansas City almost 10 years ago after leading initiatives within state and federal government as well as advocacy organizations. In her eight years with the mayor’s office—the majority of them spent as Chief of Staff—Joni has proven herself as an accomplished political strategist, communications expert, and organizational leader. She directed public policy initiatives, communications tactics, and administrative decision-making during her tenure, all while promoting women’s leadership and empowerment issues. An artful negotiator, Joni helped steer Sly’s major development projects in Kansas City while raising the city’s profile at the national and international levels. Her front-row seat at city hall shed light on how local government is still very much a man’s world, and this motivated her to create a first-of-its-kind women’s empowerment initiative, which has been implemented in several major cities.
