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un ay, c . , as ern a o us ness os egs er
By Krysten Bullock
[email protected]
fer graduating rom Idaho StateUniversity, Liza Leonard wantedto
work or a company where she
could grow in her career aspirations.She earned a bachelors
degree in busi-
ess administration with an emphasis inarketing and was looking
or a job thatould allow her to really be involved.She ound that
with Ball Ventures in
Idaho Falls.Being a part o Ball Ventures and
Snake River Landing is a pretty excitingpportunity and a great
place or me to
ork on my career, Leonard said.Ball Ventures is a real estate
invest-ent and development company that
wns Snake River Landing. Te companyalso owns and manages other
companieshroughout the country.
Leonard started out in sales with Ballentures, and over the past
two years hasorked as the marketing manager. Sherimarily does
marketing or Snake Riv-r Landing, but also markets other
Ballentures properties.
I looked at companies that gave me thepportunity to really be
involved, Leonard
said. Where people can have a lot o op-ortunities to do very
diverse things.
Working or Ball Ventures also affordsLeonard the opportunity to
be more in-
volved with the community.I eel really lucky to work or a
com-
pany that gives me the opportunity to do
so many things in the community, Leon-ard said.
According to Leonard, Ball Venturesworks with a variety o
non-prot organi-zations to help in whatever way they can.
We try to support a diverse group o
nonprots and school organizations tomake a big impact, Leonard
said.
Most recently, Leonard is working onChristmas on the River,
which is set orDec. 6. Tat event is held in conjunctionwith Coats
or Kids. According to Leon-ard they collect coats and other items
andgive them to Eastern Idaho CommunityAction Partnership to
distribute to chil-dren in need.
Leonard is also on the committee orRelay or Lie in Bonneville
County.
Teres a lot o money raised in thiscommunity and Im happy to be a
part othat organization as well because it does
a lot o good, Leonard said. It not onlyraises money or cancer
research, but alsoreally tries to involves cancer survivors,their
amilies, and people who have lostamily members to cancer and really
triesto bring some hope and a bright spot tothat whole experience.
People are work-ing toward the cure and there is a wholenetwork o
people behind you to helpyou through that tragedy.
Leonard is married and has two chil-dren. She and her husband
were both bornand raised in Idaho and love the area.
Idaho Falls is a great location or usboth to do what we love in
our careers,Leonard said.
Krysten Bullock/[email protected] Leonard is the
marketing manager for Ball Ventures which owns and operates Snake
River Landing.
Growing careerBall Ventures helps Leonard grow personally,
professionally
By Casey [email protected]
Nancy Torsen is the own-er o a lot o different col-
lections. Her home is likea museum, lled with collectionsthat
represent her lietime o trav-els, accomplishments and experi-
ences. Among her collections areteddy bears with wooden
aces,Princess Diana gurines, obyJugs, pieces o Waterord
Crystal,delicate china, artwork by Ida-
ho artists, oriental dolls and ocourse, hats.
Torsen is commonly knownin Idaho Falls as Te Hat Lady
because othe years shespent duringher career asa REALOR
wearing adifferent hatevery day. Acloset in herbasement islined
withs o m e w h e r ebetween 800and 900 pieceso headwear.
P e r h a p smore impres-sive how-ever, is thecollection oyears
o vol-unteer servicethat Torsen has accumulatedthroughout her
lietime.
Since she arrived in Idaho Fallsin 1980, Torsen has dedicatedher
time to a variety o volunteeropportunities, including her po-sition
as Friends o the LibraryPresident, Idaho Falls SymphonyBoard
member, Civitan Presi-dent, Idaho Volunteers Presidentand Habitat
or Humanity Fund-raising Chair. She has also beenrecognized with a
variety o di-erent awards or her efforts.
I have always believed in twothings: what goes around
comesaround, and you have to pay orthe space you take, said
Torsen.I you are beneting rom thecommunity you need to give backto
the community. I have been anavid volunteer all my lie and I
al-ways believe in giving back.
Torsen was the top REAL-OR in Idaho Falls or manyyears and she
said she loved her
job at the time. In recent years
she retiredrom her ca-reer and isnow concen-trating her
efforts onher positionas the IdahoFalls SisterCities
Presi-dent.
I d a h oFalls SisterCities is anorganizationthat involvesc o o
r d i n a -tion betweenmembers inIdaho Fallsand in okai,Japan.
Tese
two cities are ar apart rom oneanother on the globe, but close
to-gether in a variety o ways. Both cit-ies are involved in nuclear
research,Idaho Falls grows russet potatoesand okai grows sweet
potatoes,and both locations were alreadysending engineers back and
orthwhen the program was started in1981. Torsen was deeply
involvedrom day one and has now beenpresident or our years.
Both cities organize youth andadult trips so members o each
location may visit their sister city.Besides the trips, the
cities eachsend generous gifs to one an-other. Torsen said the gifs
romJapan are displayed at several di-erent locations in Idaho Falls
sopeople can enjoy the treasuresthat have come rom okai.
o help celebrate the 30th yearanniversary a ew years ago,
okaisent two giant, concrete, Japaneselanterns as a gif to Idaho
Falls.
See Torsen, page 12
The Hat LadyThorsen
has several
collections,
including her
famous hats
Nancy Thorsen
943ICC1013
