"If you think you know Springfield, wait until you experience Leadership Springfield. I learned more about this city in the last year than I could hope to know in a lifetime of living here. The most encouraging aspect of the experience was knowing that my dynamic fellow classmates would be stepping up to take leadership roles now and in the future. I consider Leadership Springfield an essential component of my professional experience and growth."
-Marc Maness, director of community development and grants, Springfield Public Schools, Class XIX
Message from the president
Springfield is on the cusp of greatness. We are in a period of evolutionary change, where making the most of opportunities is critical for our future. I believe that future generations will look back on this one as a significant period where key decisions were made that define this place. Recognizing this is why I have chosen to make Springfield my home, now living here longer than I lived in my own hometown.
It is for these reasons that Leadership Springfield exists. Others before us established this program realizing that a great community needs not only great leaders but committed citizens. Citizens committed to the betterment of their own lives, yes – but also the betterment of others’ lives as well. Call it servant leadership, if you like, but it is the understanding that improving the lives of others pays dividends by improving your own life in return.
Leadership Springfield operates at the community level, working to inspire, connect and develop citizens to be engaged in their civic responsibilities. As the incoming President of Leadership Springfield, I want to respectfully issue a challenge to every graduate of our program over the course of the last 25 years: Attend at least one continuing education event. These events are tremendous opportunities to network with other committed citizens while learning something about our community or even yourself. But the challenge doesn’t stop there. The real challenge is to apply that experience to improve our community. Future generations will thank you for it.
Andrew Wells
President, Leadership Springfield