Promoting Ability; New Chairman wants to increase awareness of EnableUtah’s offerings

Standard Examiner; February 12, 2012; by JaNAE FRANCIS; Standard Examiner Staff

This article was published in the local northern Utah newspaper but due to elimination of servers and storage, it is no longer available on their search tools online. This is being posted here so that the article can be searched and found.

New chairman wants to increase awareness of EnableUtah’s offerings

By JaNAE FRANCIS Standard-Examiner staff jfrancis@standard.net

OGDEN — If your company would benefit from an economical manufacturing process or service, Jason Tonioli has an idea for you.

Hire workers with disabilities.

Tonioli is a champion for EnableUtah, an Ogden nonprofit organization with the mission of providing services and products that meet business marketplace standards while employing those with disabilities.

His efforts this fiscal year as chairman of EnableUtah’s board of directors have centered on gaining exposure for the company and getting more businesses to benefit from its contract services.

“People need to know that it’s here,” Tonioli said. “There’s a great opportunity in the community and a great need to help people with disabilities. They are very capable of giving back to society.”

Tonioli said he continues to be amazed at the achievements of employees at EnableUtah.

“When you put their mind to it, they are capable,” he said. “It’s amazing what they can accomplish.”

At 32, Tonioli is the youngest chairman of the EnableUtah board in its 44-year history. His youthful energy, officials say, has brought new life into the business.

Janet C. Torgerson, president and CEO of EnableUtah, said Tonioli’s presence has assisted the organization in moving forward into the future.

“Jason Tonioli has been very involved throughout his term as a board member and now chair of EnableUtah’s Board of Directors,” she said. “His expertise in marketing has been in an area where we have been weak.”

Torgerson said EnableUtah’s marketing efforts have succeeded, thanks to Tonioli’s direction and support.

“His heart is in our mission,” she said. “He truly cares about people with disabilities and in assisting in improving their economic independence.”

Tonioli was excited in December and January when EnableUtah received grants totaling $56,500 for phase five of the Improved Work and Safety project.

The grants came from The Daniels Fund, The George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation, Ralph Nye Charitable Foundation and America First Credit Union.

Tonioli relates to the employees themselves.

He has organized a series of open house events where EnableUtah hosts community members and business leaders to show off the daily work efforts of the 250 employees with disabilities there.

“It’s neat to bind the business and the non-profit world together,” he said.

But Tonioli also recognizes his ability to be a role model to young businessmen his age and to promote their ideas to successful businesses. He said young executives have the ability to change business perspectives for the better.

“I’m right on that Gen X, Gen Y cutoff,” he said. “We grew up in that tech era. We’re used to computers. We’re able to see things differently.”

But sometimes young people don’t realize their potential for positive impact, he said.

Tonioli recently spoke at a Weber State University business school event.

“I said to those students ‘Go volunteer and get experience,'” he said.

Tonioli recalls starting at Bank of Utah as a marketing intern while he still attended classes at WSU.

“I was thrown into a lot of projects I didn’t know I could get done,” he said.

Now, Tonioli is the vice president marketing manager at the Bank of Utah.

And he said it’s his employer who has thrust him forward into leadership at EnableUtah.

“The bank encourages us to volunteer in the community,” he said. “They allow me to spend time in the community each week to do this.”