By Andrea Bruner
Patience, organization and a passion for serving others are just a few qualities Amanda Bledsoe put to work in her first career, and when she switched jobs, it turned out she would need all those things in her next.
Bledsoe, who is now director of Human Resources and Public Relations at Network of Community Options, Inc. (NCO), has added a new role to her list of accomplishments: President of the North Central Arkansas Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Board.
Bledsoe, who grew up in Izard County, graduated from Mount Pleasant School District and went on to attend Ozarka College in Melbourne. There, she earned a general associate’s degree as well as an associate’s in teaching and finished her teaching degree from Arkansas Tech in Russellville.
“I taught at Mount Pleasant Elementary, first grade for two years and second grade for three years, and then became the preschool director. The following year, we moved the preschool to Melbourne, and I was the preschool director and federal programs coordinator for Melbourne School District for several years.”
But after many years in the school district, Bledsoe said she felt it was time for a change.
“I still wanted to be in a role where I could help serve people,” she said.
She found herself at NCO, Inc., in a part-time position that only stayed part-time for three weeks.
That was in 2021, and within less than a year, she became the HR director, and shortly after that she joined SHRM, as she put it, “just to get a feel for some extra knowledge about the HR field.”
SHRM bills itself as the world’s largest HR association, with nearly 325,000 members in more than 165 countries dedicated to creating better workplaces and advancing the practice of human resource management.
Arkansas has seven chapters: Northwest Arkansas, North East Arkansas, North Central Arkansas, Central Arkansas, West Arkansas, West Central Arkansas, and South Arkansas.
Bledsoe joined North Central Arkansas SHRM two years ago, and in 2024, served as Communications Chair and was then elected as president of the board for 2025.
She was also selected as Decorations Chair for the state SHRM committee, which means she will oversee the decorations for next year’s Fall Conference in Rogers.
She said she has found several benefits to participating in SHRM and attending meetings.
“SHRM hosts an annual conference in the fall, and that is a great opportunity to learn, network, and grow with other HR professionals, and in the spring, SRHM hosts an Employment Law & Legislative Affairs (ELLA) Conference.
“You get to network with other people in your field, but we also have a different speaker every month at our local chapter meeting. These might be representatives from the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and you stay up to date on laws that are changing, as well as rules and procedures that may be changing as well,” she said.
“For HR, we’re here to protect our employees and their interests but sometimes it’s good to hear from other people who are in this on the legal side of things.”
Bledsoe said going into this job she thought what many think about HR, that it’s “managing people, but it’s really not. It is also a big servant’s role. The biggest surprise for me was how much people depend on you to help them make decisions about their benefits, their retirement, and more. I just assumed people would tell me what they wanted and they would not need my feedback. We have roughly 350 employees and in some way communicate with all of them pretty regularly. That was also surprising to me – that we communicate with them that often.”
A typical day means Bledsoe is ensuring that the HR team at NCO, Inc., which includes HR Coordinators Sonia Estes, Robert Stephens, and Julie Francis as well as Training Coordinator Christopher Laws, are meeting all state and federal compliance regulations while doing the best they can to serve clients, employees and families.
“I also try to be as involved as I can in the community representing NCO,” she said.
She said she served as an Ambassador with the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce for two years and enjoyed meeting people who work in different businesses and industries across the community.
Most recently, she was part of the Leadership Batesville program, and in 2023, she was also part of the BACC’s Supper Club, a monthly gathering that not only exhibited unique experiences and delicious food and drinks, but also invaluable community connections.
“We always had games and activities where we got to kind of mingle with other people, and Leadership Batesville was just the next step. I thought it would be more of the same – mingling with other professionals, and it is but I’ve learned a lot of leadership skills. They teach a lot of leadership and development. I worked in administration (at the school district) for many years, but they taught us things I’d never thought of. It’s been very beneficial – I’m really going to miss it.”
Bledsoe and husband Raymond have two children, Blake and Kelsie, and attend Sage Baptist Church. They enjoy traveling and being outdoors. “As long as I’m with my family, I’m happy.”
Image provided by NCO, Inc.
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