Wayne Elsey

Wayne Elsey is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, social activist and author. He is the founder and former CEO of Soles4Souls, a Nashville-based nonprofit organization that collects shoes from footwear companies and shoe drives. Career

Elsey began working in the shoe industry as a teenager, initially at a local branch of GallenKamp Shoes in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Not long after graduating from Stafford Senior High School in 1983, he started working for Stride Rite, and where he became a regional vice president at the age of 25.

From 1999 to 2004, Elsey was the president and CEO of Footwear Specialties International. Later, he managed growth and development in the occupational footwear market with Nautilus, Skidbuster, Third Watch, and Avenger. He also worked at EJ Footwear LLC (formerly known as the Endicott Johnson Corporation), Iron Age and Lake of the Woods. In 2000, Elsey was promoted to CEO/president of Nautilus Footwear. In March 2005, Elsey was named President of Kodiak-Terra USA Inc. He left Kodiak-Terra in April 2007 to work full time on Soles4Souls. As of 2007, Soles4Souls gave away around 2.5 million pairs of shoes distributed through 35 countries.

In March 2012, Elsey stepped down from his position at Soles4Souls and established Elsey Enterprises, a branding and marketing firm based in Orlando, Florida. In 2013, he founded Funds2Orgs, a social enterprise for helping nonprofit organizations raise funds.

Business career

Soles4Souls

In 2009, the Soles4Souls' board allowed Elsey to take a series of $900,000 loans from the Changing the World Foundation, a sister charity to Soles4Souls, and refinance his Florida condos, which was ruled illegal under Tennessee law. In 2010, Elsey published his book Almost Isn’t Good Enough about his experience with nonprofit organizations.

Funds2Orgs Funds2Orgs collaborates with partner organizations to collect gently worn, used, and new shoes, which are then shipped to micro-entrepreneurs in countries such as Haiti, Guatemala, and Cambodia. These individuals sell the shoes at affordable prices as a means of establishing and sustaining microbusinesses. Partner organizations are compensated by Funds2Orgs based on the weight of the shoes collected, typically receiving between $0.40 - $0.50 per lb.

Funds2Orgs collaborated with several nonprofits, schools, and businesses to organize shoe-drive fundraisers, including Green Bay Press-Gazette, Oconomowoc High School, Lakewood High School, League Education and Treatment Center, the East Clinton Band Boosters, Pennsylvania's Beth El Congregation, Congregation Shir Tikvah, Great River Rescue, Monastery of Christ the King and West Rowan Elementary.

Publications

Elsey, Wayne (2016). Almost isn't good enough : the human connection changes everything.