Wayne Elsey is the founder and former CEO of

Soles4Souls Soles4Souls is a non-profit headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. It receives shoe and clothing donations from individuals, community donation drives, and retailers. Then, Soles4Souls distributes the donated items to various programs around the ...

, a

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

-based

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

that collects shoes from footwear companies and shoe drives. After leaving Soles4Souls in 2012, he established Elsey Enterprises, a branding and marketing firm. In 2013 founded Funds2Orgs, a social enterprise for helping nonprofit organizations raise funds.

Career

Elsey began working in the shoe industry as a teenager, initially at a local branch of GallenKamp Shoes in

Fredericksburg, Virginia Fredericksburg is an independent city located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,982. The Bureau of Economic Analysis of the United States Department of Commerce combines the city of Fredericksburg wi ...

. Not long after graduating from

Stafford Senior High School Stafford Senior High School (colloquially known as Stafford High School and often called South Stafford High School) is a State school, public Secondary school, high school in Stafford, Virginia, Stafford, Virginia, United States. It was establi ...

in 1983, he started working for

Stride Rite Stride Rite, formerly the Stride Rite Corporation and stylized in all lowercase, is an American children's footwear company. The company markets Stride Rite products globally through brand licensee Vida Shoes International. History Founding a ...

, 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 The Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company ("E-J") was a prosperous manufacturer of shoes based in New York's Southern Tier, with factories mostly located in the area's Triple Cities of Binghamton, Johnson City, and Endicott. An estimated 20,000 people ...

), 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.

Charity work

In 2004 Elsey founded Soles4Souls, a nonprofit organization that sends shoes to recovering communities struck by natural disasters. Soles4Souls became one of the USA's fastest growing charities, but faced criticism over claims that a $1 donation would provide a pair of shoes to someone in need, since the used shoes they received were resold to wholesalers that then sold them to small businesses in developing countries instead of directly shipping them abroad. One shoe company donated new shoes but the charity resold them and they ended up sold in discount stores in the USA. In 2010, Elsey expanded Soles4Souls to Clothes4Souls and in 2011, he added Hope4Souls. In 2010, Elsey published his book ''Almost Isn’t Good Enough'' about his experience with nonprofit organizations. After leaving Soles4Souls, he started Elsey Enterprises, a branding and marketing company. During his tenure at Soles4Souls, he was accused of misusing charity funds for personal needs by borrowing $900,000 to refinance his personal property which was ruled illegal under Tennessee law. Elsey later repaid the money in full and refuted that he had mismanaged the funds, saying that he was safeguarding the funds during the economic downturn. In 2016, Elsey Enterprises acquired Shoes With Heart, a shoe drive fundraising business based in Southern California.

References

External links

books by Elsey in the worldcat database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elsey, Wayne 1965 births American philanthropists Living people People from Arlington County, Virginia Businesspeople from Virginia