by Ellen Cavacini, Program Director, Leadership Fort Wayne

Back in 1993, when Leadership Fort Wayne started the youth program, I was the Guidance Director at Concordia High School and one of my duties was to nominate students to YLFW. I thought it was a great program and a great organization and I always told our administrative assistant that if a job at Leadership Fort Wayne came open I was going to apply for it. Well, much to my surprise a few years later I read in a Leadership Fort Wayne alumni newsletter that they were looking for someone to direct the youth program. That was in September of 1999 and as the saying goes the rest is history.

It has been my privilege to direct both the youth and adult programs of Leadership Fort Wayne over these last twelve years. And because I love the mission of LFW, it was very difficult to decide to retire at the end of June. I will truly miss the relationships that I have developed with each class member and with so many community leaders.  Albert Schweitzer said: “At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” I am so thankful for all those wonderful people who rekindled my light on days when the stress of daily living put it out.

I will always remember and be thankful for:

• a high school student who lacked self-confidence but who later told us that it Youth Leadership Fort Wayne helped him find his voice and because of finding his voice he decided to become a teacher
• all the LFW road trip teams and their often funny and fun-filled power point presentations
• all the LFW class project teams, including the airport mural team, the Study Connection spelling bee team, the Greenbuild Coalition team, the Project inFill sustainable home team, the Urban League kitchen team(s), the railroad overpass team(s) and so many others that worked so hard to make our community a better place
• the public servants, economic development leaders, educators, health and human services providers, public safety leaders, and so many other dedicated servant leaders who always said yes when I asked them to share their expertise with our classes
• the student who used what he learned in LEAD and YAR to help him lead student government at his large public university
• the student who wrote an unsolicited recommendation for me on LinkedIn
• all the employees and board members of non-profits who willingly gave of their time to teach our adult and youth class members the true meaning of servant leadership
• all the other LFW program participants who are too numerous to mention, but who took what we taught to heart and are making our community better

After almost thirteen years I’ve heard a lot of leadership theories, but the most important thing I’ve learned about being a good leader is that it’s not all that much different than being a good person. If you want to be a servant leader remember that it’s not about you and like Robert Greenleaf said the best test (and I’m paraphrasing here) is whether or not the people you lead are more likely to become leaders themselves. And one last thing to remember is to use these four simple sentences generously: I was wrong. I’m sorry. I don’t know. I need help.

Be yourself. You’ve got a leader in you.

Please extend your congratulations to the Youth Leadership Class of 2012.  Graduation was held on May 6th.

Ismael Aldave, South Side High School

Catherine Bledsoe, Homestead High School & Girl Scouts of Northern Indiana Michiana

Timothy Clay, North Side High School

Joseph Decker Corbat, Carroll High School & Allen County 4-H

Daniel W. Gabbard, Snider High School

Lucille Galliher, Canterbury High School

Brandon Gernhardt, Bishop Dwenger High School

Rachel Griebel, Heritage Jr. Sr. High School

Leah Harding, Leo Jr. Sr. High School

Theodore Hesterman, North Side High School

Jordan M. Hogue, New Haven High School

Kendrell Hopson, Cornerstone College Prep School

(Anna) Ying Jiang, Northrop High School

Duncan Justice, Bishop Luers High School

Morgan Kinniry, Bishop Dwenger High School

Brooke Mayer, New Haven High School

Aye Moe Than, Leo Jr. Sr. High School

Madison Newman, Snider High School

Joshua Paff, Blackhawk Christian School

Margaret Caroline Reecer, Homestead High School

Alexander Michael Renbarger, Carroll High School

Patrick Rittenhouse, Homestead High School

Cayla Sellers, Northrop High School

Lily Smith, Heritage Jr. Sr. High School & Cornerstone Youth Center

Taylor Sparks, Concordia High School

Garrett J. VanBrocklin, Woodlan Jr. Sr. High School

Paul Wiedeman, New Tech High School

Kelsey Williams, South Side High School

Katelyn Yeager, Carroll High School

On May 17 the following individuals joined the ranks of over 1000 adults who have successfully completed LFW’s nine month leadership development training program. LFW challenges its graduates to be aware of the critical issues facing our community and enlists their talents in service to the greater Fort Wayne community. If you know any of these new alumni or meet them when out in the community, please extend your congratulations, but more importantly please include them in your areas of service and offer them opportunities to help make our community and region grow and improve.

We give our best wishes to the Leadership Fort Wayne Class of 2012:

Frederick Bean, Business Development

Northrop Grumman Corporation

Patrick Buesching, Director Workforce/Economic Dvlpmt

Ivy Tech Community College

Craig Crook, President/CEO

ShareGAIN, LLC

Jason Daenens, General Manager/CFO

Commercial Filter Service, Inc.

Tracy Duncan, Communications Manager

American Red Cross

Cynthia Elick, Director Purchasing & Support Services

IPFW

Michael GeRue, NeuroScience Service Line Administrator

Parkview Health

Carrie Gillenwater, Controller

Northeast IN Regional Partnership

Mary Jo Hardiman, Outreach Director

YWCA Northeast Indiana

Brian Heck, Partner

Beckman Lawson, LLP

Brian Heflin, Principal Business Relationship Manager

Wells Fargo

Carol Hicks, TCS & Fort Wayne Site Finance Lead

Raytheon

Garien Hudson, Asst Dir of Admissions – Multicultural Outreach & Recruitment

IPFW

Katrina Kay, Professional Devlpmt Director

Upstate Alliance of Realtors

Emily Schwartz Keirns, ELL Coordinator

Fort Wayne Community Schools

Eric Looper, Chief Executive Officer

St. Joseph Hospital

David Lorenz, VP Corporate Partnership/Sales/Management

Fort Wayne TinCaps

Angela Mapes Turner, Metro Reporter

The Journal Gazette

James McAtee, Director for Career Services

IPFW

Melissa McConnell, Executive Director

Carson Boxberger LLP

William Murphy, President/General Manager

Northeast Indiana Public Radio

Sara Nelson, Special Events Director

Embassy Theatre Foundation

Daniel O’Connor, VP, Chief Information Officer

STAR Financial Bank

Alisa Pearson, General Counsel/COO

Alpha Rae Personnel Inc.

Stanley Pflueger, Deputy Director of Operations

Allen County Community Corrections

Sharon Pohly, CEO

Girl Scouts of Northern Indiana-Michigan

Darren Renier, Finance Specialist

City of Fort Wayne

J. Douglas Roth, Director of Financial Reporting

Do It Best Corp

Christopher Rouse, Director of Resource Development

United Way of Allen County

Nabila Safdar, Project Manager

Do It Best Corp

Karlee Schultz, VP, Market Exeuctive

PNC Bank

Holli Seabury, CEO

McMillen Center for Health Education

Bradley Skarie, Asst. VP

Lincoln Financial Group

Jean-Paul Spagnolo, Director of Admissions

University of Saint Francis

Roscoe Spencer, Jr., General Manager

Frontier Communications

Ashley Steenman, Senior Development Officer

FW-AC Economic Development Alliance

Robert Sturtz, District Manager

AEP/I&M

Brian Ternet, Asst VP

Tower Bank & Trust Co.

Crystal Thomas, Elementary Principal

Scott Academy

Susan Trent, Attorney/Partner

Rothberg Logan & Warsco, LLP

Pone Vongphachanh, Government Affairs Director

Upstate Alliance of Realtors

Brian White, Executive Director

Allen County Education Partnership

Timothy Wiggins, VP of Operations/CIO

The Medical Protective Company

Written by Anne Duff, Program Assistant, Leadership Fort Wayne

Youth Leadership Fort Wayne (YLFW) has been training young people in Allen County to become actively involved in their communities for over 15 years. We teach our youth that leadership isn’t a skill that they either have or don’t. Leadership can be developed; it just takes courage to sometimes step out of one’s comfort zone and take steps towards personal development and self-awareness.

We teach our youth that there are many types of leaders and many different leadership styles. We encourage them to develop their own leadership style with the tools they take away from the YLFW program. Three of the most important tools include communication, social awareness, and personal relationships.

An effective leader needs to keep lines of communication open and clearly communicate with his or her team. Knowing the ways his team communicates is important. Verbal and written communication is essential, but broadening communication to text messages and social networks can enhance and expand those people a leader wants to reach.

Social awareness is vital in making an impact as a leader. At YLFW we expose our youth to what is happening in city government, how different social services impact the lives of many people and how to serve our community. From these experiences we hope that our young people learn that contributing to the betterment of others and our community can make an impact not only to those in need, but it will enhance the quality of life for everyone in our community.

Developing good personal relationships is essential for a young leader. Whether these relationships are with teachers, friends, classmates or other adults, we teach the youth that it is important to foster these relationships. The more positive connections a young person can make, the more successful he or she will be as a leader. Having strong personal relationships will help a leader motivate others and will build trust within the team.

Our YLFW program has made an impact on over 500 youth in Allen County. Here’s what some of them have said about our program.

“Youth Leadership Fort Wayne changed my life. When I came into the program, I was a quiet sophomore at Carroll High School. YLFW, LEAD, YAR (other youth programs through YLFW), and my involvement with the ACUYS (Allen County United Youth Summit) helped me break out of my shell. I have utilized the valuable skills in a variety of organizations in college.”

“Every day I apply something I learned in Youth Leadership Fort Wayne. I always volunteer to help people, I am more committed to group projects, I even am more open- minded when it comes to other people’s ideas.”

“Being in Youth Leadership helped me gain a better understanding of the awesome things that Fort Wayne has to offer. Its helped me want to be more involved in community service.”

Twenty-six NINA Emerging Leaders received their Certificates of Completion of the six full day session classes at the final class day on Thursday, April 26. The leadership training involved the topics of ethics and integrity, interpersonal skills development, critical thinking skills, nonprofit finances and fundraising, program development, management and measurement, and team-building and presentations. Throughout the seven month span, class members arranged job shadowing with agencies of their choice took part in a formal 360 evaluation of their abilities, prepared presentations through team work and participated in transferrable skills discussions.

For the morning of the final day, the class requested the return of one of our consultants to introduce them to the method of discourse called “Open Space”. The morning was spent learning the process, understanding how it works best and how they can use the idea within their own staffs. The rest of the day was devoted to team presentations of their interpretation of one of the six NINA Guiding Principles of their choice. The end results were professional, passionate, and well executed as each team used video and/or power points to explain how the six Guiding Principles of NINA should be defined within organizations.

At NINA, we want to thank our agency executive directors who nominated their emerging leaders, those executive directors and their management staff who helped train the class (Ruth Strawser of Girl Scouts, Misty Woltman of Easter Seals ARC, Rachel Tobin Smith, Executive Director of SCAN) and our friends and consultants who helped make this a very special year (Ian Rolland, Denny Howard, Craig Crook, Tammy Zonker, and Mike Stone.) We so appreciate the space that agencies allowed us to use and we thank those agencies for continuing to support NINA: The Carriage House, the Girl Scouts of Northern Indiana-Michiana, Northeast Indiana Innovation Center, Easter Seals ARC, Turnstone and the Fort Wayne Museum of Art.

Those who completed the NINA Emerging Leaders course are:

Sheila Anderson, Big Brothers Big Sisters;

Heather Barth, Girl Scouts;

Danielle Blake, Easter Seals ARC;

Russell Borkosky, Park Center;

Rachael Caslow, Girl Scouts;

Tabitha Durham, YMCA;

Stephanie Feldman,YWCA;

Tiffany France, Mad Anthony’s Children’s Hope House;

Lauren Gardier, Fort Wayne Philharmonic;

Lynne Isenbarger, Rescue Mission;

Angela Keppol, Early Childhood Alliance;

Chanda Lichtsinn, Turnstone;

Sarah McClure, SCAN;

Veronica Mertz, CANI;

Jessica Patton, Fort Wayne Center for Learning;

Danielle Peterson, Vincent Village;

Tammy Pifer, CANI;

Chariee Reason, Erin’s House;

Diane Richardson, Rescue Mission;

Daniel Richardville, Consumer Credit Counseling;

Lisa Rommel, Easter Seals ARC;

Jennifer Rutkowski-Smith, SCAN;

Heidi Sims, SCAN;

Julie Tutwiler, Science Central;

Paige Wilkins, CANI;

Randy Wolf, Goodwill Industries.

Leadership Fort Wayne, Inc. is accepting applications through June 30, 2012, for the 2012-13 Leadership Fort Wayne (LFW) program year. Now in its 30^th year, LFW is a locally, nationally and regionally recognized community leadership development program. Each between 40-50 participants are selected to participate in the nine-month program. Click here to see our brochure for more information. Click here for an application.

Future community leaders learn how to enhance their leadership skills and effectiveness while developing new skills and confidence to help improve Fort Wayne and Northeast Indiana. Participants gain a greater understanding of the importance and impact of corporate community involvement as well as individual civic engagement, philanthropy and service.

The nine month adult leadership development program offers a unique opportunity for a diverse group of individuals to develop personal leadership skills and network with an equally diverse group of professionals and community leaders. Participants learn about the community and how to get engaged through a variety of opportunities.

Leadership Fort Wayne was founded in 1983 by the Northeast Indiana Corporate Council and Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne with support from the Lilly Endowment to identify, motivate, develop and train future community leaders.  Its mission is to train, prepare and inspire individuals to positively impact the community and region through civic leadership engagement.

A limited number of designated seats, (applicants are guaranteed a position in the class) are available to the business community annually through corporate sponsorships.

Leadership Fort Wayne and the High Performance Government Network recently completed Phase One of the Best Practices Neighborhood Initiative.  Neighborhood Leaders worked in teams of four, representing eight Fort Wayne neighborhood communities to gain leadership skills, new knowledge and tools to engage residents in identifying strengths and improvement opportunities.

Participation in the program provided insights and lessons for working together to revitalize and improve Fort Wayne neighborhoods and resulted in the development of a Neighborhood Operations Manual for each neighborhood community.  Thirty- three volunteer leaders representing eight neighborhoods participated in an Appreciative Inquiry Treasure Hunt in their neighborhoods, practiced consensus building skills and developed and implemented resident surveys aimed at addressing specific community needs as part of the Phase One curriculum. The program started in October 2011.

The Best Practice Neighborhood Initiative provides training and tools to help committed residents and neighborhood leaders work successfully with community development agencies, developers and local government for the benefit of their neighborhood and ultimately the entire community. Training is designed to provide the framework, insights and lessons for working together to revitalize and improve Fort Wayne and Allen County neighborhoods.

Neighborhood leaders from each of the participating neighborhoods developed a survey instrument to reach out to residents to identify neighborhood needs and possible improvement projects.  Based on the surveys the neighborhood teams developed and submitted project proposals. The proposals will be reviewed and two will be selected for funding through the CDBG grant proceeds awarded to Leadership Fort Wayne.  The High Performance Government Network will work implement Phase Two of the Best Practices Neighborhood Initiative.

The following neighborhood associations participated in the inaugural leadership development program:

Bloomingdale

Creighton Home

East Central

Hoagland Masterson

LaRez, Oxford, Pontiac Place, Renaissance Pointe

Oxford

West Central

Williams-Woodland Park

Leadership Fort Wayne congratulates all of the participants of Phase One of the Best Practices Neighborhood Initiative. We thank you for sharing your valuable time, talent and commitment to our neighborhood communities.

Congratulations to the women who have been nominated for the 2012 ATHENA Award.

The ATHENA Award program celebrates exceptional individuals who have achieved excellence in their profession, have served the community in a meaningful way and have assisted women in their attainment of professional goals and leadership skills. The 2012 nominees are:

• Jill Perillo, Economic Development Manager, Indiana Michigan Power (Leadership Fort Wayne class of 2004)
• Denise DeMarchis, Founder and CEO, Matilda Jane Clothing
• Christine Hootman, Managing Director, Baden, Gage, & Schroeder, LLC
• Susan Makofka, Programming Engineering Analyst, Raytheon Co.
• Sherry Myers, Paralegal at Pantello, Morris, James and Logan; Outreach Coordinator at Huntertown United Methodist Church; and Volunteer, Women’s Bureau
• Glenna Raber, Senior Engineer II with Honors, Raytheon Co.
• Sharon Simmons, Board President, Francine’s Friends, Inc.

The last three winners of the ATHENA Award are alumnae Leadership Fort Wayne Alums they are:

2011 Co-Award Winner, Marilyn Moran-Townsend (class of 1983)

2010 Award Winner,  Irene Walters (class of 1992)

2009 Award Winner,  Kathleen Randolph (class of 1997)

Congratulations as well, to the ATHENA Young Professionals who have been nominated this year:

• Denice Beights, Executive Director, Fort Wayne Children’s Choir(Leadership Fort Wayne class of 2007)
• Katy Silliman, Regional Alignment Director-Vision 2020, Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership (Leadership Fort Wayne class of 2009)
• Kassie Bowman, Software Engineer II-Team Lead, Raytheon Co.
• Allison Dowe, Proposal Analyst II, Raytheon Co.
• Julia Feichter, Founder, Lendingahand.net
• Rebecca Preston, Solution Integrator and Six Sigma Lead, Raytheon Co.
• Christen Shiman, HR Business Partner, Raytheon
• Lisa Updike, Attorney, Barnes and Thornburg, LLP

Leadership Fort Wayne salutes the the Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce for presenting the ATHENA Awards and recognizing the significant contributions of women in our community.

For many, many years Leadership Fort Wayne classes have worked in teams on community projects and in the last LFW newsletter we reported on the community projects being developed by the current class of 2012. In the fall of every year when LFW class members get together to develop a vision for our community and begin to dream about what they can do to make a difference, there are always those little nagging questions in the backs of their minds: are we taking on too much, will we be able to complete this project, can we get funding to make the dream a reality, are there others out there who will help us make this happen, and so on and so on. Sometimes those questions keep teams from believing the impossible is possible. But thankfully more often than not Leadership Fort Wayne project teams don’t let those questions stop them and there is one team from the class of 2011 that is making their dream a reality.

Project:INfill is a sustainable house that is currently under construction at 5510 Buell Drive in Fort Wayne. It is a partnership with a project team from Leadership Fort Wayne and Fort Wayne Habitat for Humanity. As describe on their website, project:INfill is intended to be a built discourse on the state of housing in this city and our environment. It is a demonstration tool to start discussion about the ways we build and the impacts that our decisions make. It is a design study on appropriate, sensible, sustainable and environmentally responsible design. Project:INfill is about environmental awareness, quality of life, use of material, respect, understanding and education. It is about new thoughts and ideas intended to move the city forward. It is about our community and its future.

The LFW project team that is bringing this dream to reality is comprised of: Mike Altendorf from Do It Best, Jeff Clark from Raytheon, Mike McCaffrey from the University of St. Francis, David Michael from Michael Kinder & Sons, Shelly Miller from the Orthopaedic Hospital of Lutheran Health Network, Luke Squires of 1^st Source Bank, and Adam Weesner from MSKTD Design. To see photos of the house under construction, to read about its conception and design, and to see the partners and supporter please visit their website at http://www.projectinfill.com. For general inquiries please contact Luke Squires at squiresl@1stsource.com and for architectural inquires please contact Adam Weesnser at ajweesner@gmail.com. To volunteer to help contact Habitat for Humanity’s volunteer coordinator,Kory Stucky at 260-422-4828 or kstucky@fortwaynehabitat.org.

Creating opportunities for busy people with unending responsibilities to learn new leadership skills that quickly transfer into the workplace is one of the main goals of NINA’s 2012 Emerging Leaders class.  Watching that happen is a joy.

In January, the 27 members of the class spent four hours with a consultant to learn about Appreciative Inquiry, a methodology to create a positive culture in which to approach small and large goals. The class was provided many practical tools, including an explanation of “Open Space”, the method developed by Harrison Owen of hearing all voices and opinions on important issues.

As is our practice at the first of each monthly full day session, the class is asked to relate how the last month’s presentation was translated into their workplace. Many hands shot up when asked that question in the February session about Appreciative Inquiry. Some of the responses were:

• Instead of always asking, “what went wrong”, the questions used with staff were “what went right” and new ideas came from that method.

• The open space idea was used so successfully that as one class member used it with her direct reports, those people went back to their groups and used the method with their own direct reports. The effect of listening in a positive manner was invading her agency.

• One class member noted that she even tried it on her daughter who stopped her crying and whining when her mom asked her, “So tell me one really good thing that happened today!”

Transferable leadership skills not only help the individual attending Emerging Leaders, they improve the capacity of the agencies that sponsor the participants. It is a “win-win” for everyone!