On February 4, Tiffani Olsen, Shangri-La’s director of residential service for individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD), was awarded the Leadership Excellence Award by the Oregon Resource Association (ORA) during its annual Excellence Awards presentation. Tiffani received the award for her significant contributions to improving the services and quality of life for people with disabilities, as well as her superior team leadership and positive role modeling.
Tiffani was nominated for the award by her supervisor, Shangri-La’s CEO Janet Yousey. In the nomination, Janet highlighted many of Tiffani’s accomplishments which included restructuring her department to offer improved quality assurance, developing and managing intensive COVID-19 reporting requirements during the pandemic, reducing program turnover to an industry low, and her continued advocacy for individuals with disabilities.
“Tiffani is so deserving of the ORA Leadership Excellence Award,” Janet said. “She is a fierce advocate and protector of the amazing people Shangri-La supports and of her team. She’s gritty in the best ways possible. She will out try everyone when it comes to getting something done when it serves the people she supports.”
“Being a person that does not exactly thrive in the spotlight, my first instinct was to crawl under my desk,” recalled Tiffani when she first heard the news about her award during a manager meeting.
Held virtually, the Excellence Awards presentation was attended by many in IDD provider community, and featured videos about and speeches by award winners in several different categories.
During her acceptance speech, Tiffani said she felt honored to have received the award, thanked those that contributed to her success, and that she was earnestly grateful for the recognition.
“It fills me up to be recognized as the leader I don’t necessarily see myself as,” Tiffani said, “but that I strive to be and have been awarded for.”
You can view the full ORA Excellence Awards presentation at: ORA 45th Excellence Awards.