This award recognizes an industry woman, considered a newcomer to the industry, who has demonstrated her own personal leadership style and has become accomplished in both her job and in her working knowledge of the cable and/or telecommunications industry. Nominees must exhibit the Touchstones of Leadership and meet one of the following requirements: have been in the industry less than five years, recently changed career paths in the past two years or received a promotion within the last year to the manager level.

Congratulations, Anna Jankord!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anna is passionate about creating and facilitating exceptional learning and leadership development opportunities that create a sense of belonging and purpose for those she impacts. With nearly 15 years of leadership education and training experience, Anna now lives her passion at Midco as the Operations Training Manager. In her role, she oversees a team of Trainers and Training Coordinators who collaborate across boundaries and build team member talent through an autonomous learning strategy. She leads her team in developing unique self-paced, digital training environments that create resource experts across a variety of Midco’s departments. She enthusiastically facilitates Midco’s orientation and onboarding program called myStart/myJourney as well as serves on Midco’s Women’s Leadership Program planning committee.

Anna received her bachelor’s degree in Corporate Environmental Management with an emphasis in Leadership from the University of Minnesota. She received her master’s degree in Leadership in Student Affairs from the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Prior to starting at Midco, Anna was the Director of Student Group Operations and Leadership Minor Instructor at the University of Minnesota. Her passion for leadership education transcended state boundaries when she moved home to Sioux Falls, South Dakota where she served as Recruitment and Outreach Specialist at the University of South Dakota.

Anna has been a member of The WICT Network since 2019. In 2020, Anna graduated from the Premier Management Development Series and has volunteered in several roles since then. She currently serves as The WICT Network: Midwest Social Media Chair.

Outside of work, Anna is actively involved in her community and has held leadership roles in a number of organizations. Anna is currently the Chair of the Sioux Empire United Way Emerging Leaders Program, Steering Committee Member of the Great Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Network, and serves on her sororities 150th Anniversary Celebration planning committee.

The most important role of all is mom. Anna and her husband, Brad, live in Sioux Falls with their 5-year-old daughter, Grace, and 2-year-old son, James.

What her nominators have to say about Anna

Chris Garhart
Director of Operations Training, Midco

“Anna has a great deal of self-awareness; she understands when she needs help and when to take risks. When faced with a challenge she will seek understanding from the employee, her manager, or a peer to insure we reach the best solution. She is not afraid to share ideas or have a challenging conversation.”

Lisa Rahja
Training Coordinator, Midco

“Anna is living the WICT Touchstones of Leadership in her daily actions. She is truly a role model for her team and others at Midco. She has earned this award because she was completely new to the telecommunications industry but didn’t hesitate to make a huge impact that positively changed the way Midco trains employees. We would not be as successful today without the Autonomous Learning program that Anna lead.”