Dear LT Family:

Leadership Tomorrow has been cultivating courageous leaders for nearly 40 years! Each year, we seek to identify the next cohort of leaders who will work together to serve the greater good with curiosity, humility, and commitment to a region where everyone thrives.

Please help us recruit candidates for this amazing program. As you know, the 10-month Flagship Program offers class members opportunities to:

• Expand their leadership potential and explore how they want to make an impact.
• Build lasting, life-changing relationships with motivated leaders outside of their industry and sector.
• Strengthen their connection to Puget Sound by learning about the interconnected challenges and opportunities that shape our region. 
• Deepen and practice their racial equity skills. 

Our website has everything potential applicants need to know about attending information sessions and why/how to apply. LT’24 will be the 40th class, and it will be a special year! We need your help to identify fabulous candidates – you can nominate them here. 

As alumni, we can continue to expand our leadership potential, build lasting relationships, and deepen our racial equity skills by attending the Alumni Racial Equity Retreat and Workshop on March 3. It will be a day of joy, connection, and learning. I hope to see you there!

In community,

Sue Bennett, LT'94

Executive Director

Written by: Felicia Ishino, LT'21, Executive Director, Sankofa Impact

In March 2022, Sean Goode, former Executive Director of CHOOSE 180, was one of our guest speakers during Leadership Tomorrow’s Health and Wellbeing Challenge Day. I was privileged to facilitate a conversation with Sean and Dr. Ben Danielson about the power of turning problems into possibilities. We continued our conversation after the Challenge Day, identifying our organizations' shared goals and missions, and a desire to support each other’s work. One outcome was a shared trip to learn from history by traveling together to Germany and the American South. 

I have often reflected on the way Germany asks its students to learn and interrogate what happened during World War II. The Stolpersteine project, in Berlin especially, means one can scarcely walk a block without being reminded of the past by the small plaques that detail the lives disrupted because of the Holocaust. This has been largely driven by a mix of public and private sector interest and government mandated curriculum changes. 

We wonder how things might look in the United States if we were to approach our shared history in a similar way? What if, instead of banning books and AP classes, our young people were required to visit places like Montgomery? What if we sought to memorialize the loss and family separation of Black people in America? How might reconciliation and reparation look if we all shared a common memory? Of course, we wonder what role organizations like Sankofa Impact, CHOOSE 180, and Leadership Tomorrow can play in all this? The answers to these questions are within all who choose to ask them. We must be the force that drives change for good. For what is right. It is our responsibility to ensure the liberation of all people.

These journeys through Germany and the South with CHOOSE 180 were hugely impactful. I am proud of our partnership with Sean and CHOOSE 180 and grateful to Leadership Tomorrow for bringing our two organizations and missions together.

This article has been condensed. Read the full article and more details about their time in Germany and the American South here.

Written by: Jessica Paul Werner, LT'05, Founder and Principal, Moon Snail Consulting

18 years after my Mid-Year Retreat as a member of the LT'05 cohort, it was a privilege to help plan and support the class of 2023’s Mid-Year Retreat on Leadership for Racial Equity and Social Justice. Being on LT's Curriculum Committee has been a practice in collective leadership, just as we move to center collective leadership in the curriculum. While many nonprofit organizations (in particular) have recognized that having a single executive director is often not a sustainable role and have developed co-director structures, there are countless less formal ways to ensure that leadership doesn’t completely fall on the one person with the most positional power. Some of the skills we have focused on this year include creating a shared vision and navigating conflict. I believe that if you’re working in a group, there’s an opportunity for collective leadership.

Here are three takeaways I had from the retreat:

Move slow to go fast – the richness of conversations held during open space was possible because of the trust and connection the cohort has built during the first five months of the program.

Plan tight, run loose – as a Curriculum Committee, we work hard to build engaging days full of possibility and learning. And sometimes an agenda needs to be thrown out in service of what is needed in the room, similar to one of open space’s rules, "whatever happens is the only thing that could happen.”

Place matters – Owen Oliver’s Indigenous Walking Tour on campus was a highlight for many folks at the retreat, solidifying the importance of acknowledging the land and the people who came before us – and are often alongside us – in the places we now live and work.

This is my first year on the Curriculum Committee with the program back in person. I'm looking forward to the rest of the Flagship Program and watching the cohort collectively lead the way forward with a focus on racial equity and social justice for the wellbeing of all.  

Stay connected with the LT community at our alumni events and programs:

LT Alumni Conversation: 10-Month Flagship Program Update

March 1, 2023, 12:00-1:00 p.m. | Zoom

Learn more and register here.

LT Alumni Second Annual Racial Equity Retreat & Workshop

March 3, 2023, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. | El Centro de la Raza

Learn more and register here.

Conversations with LT Leaders: Michael Brown, LT'98, and Ted Schneider, LT'12

March 13, 2023, 12:00-1:00 p.m. | Zoom

Learn more and register here.

LT Networking & Recruitment Event for BIPOC Candidates and Alumni

March 20, 2023, 5:30-7:30 p.m. | In person at TBD location

Learn more and register here. This event is exclusively for LT alumni of color and candidates of color.

LT Alumni Community Impact Projects: Proposals Due February 27, 2023

If you work or volunteer for a nonprofit, public sector, or community organization and have a project or idea that could benefit from working with LT alum(s), please submit a proposal by February 27, 2023. Projects can range in size from just a few hours to a maximum of 40 hours. Projects must be completed from April-June 2023. This is an opportunity for alumni to collaborate with local organizations, volunteering their time and expertise to complete projects, such as developing a marketing plan, assisting with strategic planning, advising on HR best practices, helping identify ways to measure impact, and more.

Help us Recruit our Next Cohort of Leaders

It's that time of year again...it's time to recruit for next year's class! We are now accepting applications for the LT Class of 2024. Nominate folks whom you think would benefit from LT, and we will follow up with them.

Interested in Board Service?

Read our February Leaders on Board Newsletter, which features 28 nonprofits looking for leaders to join their boards of directors. Make sure your information in the LT Alumni Database is accurate so we can match you with future opportunities.

LT Alumni Nominations for Speakers and Celebration of Civic Impact

Help us identify inspiring alumni to feature in our upcoming alumni events and communications by nominating yourself or other alumni using this form. We review nominations regularly to find speakers and facilitators for our alumni programming, as well as alumni to feature in our newsletters, website, and social media. 

Read the updates below to see how folks in our community are growing in their careers and fostering changes to make our region a place where people from all communities and identities thrive. If you have an update you would like to share with the LT community, email Megan.

LT'86: LueRachelle Brim-Atkins is leading a delegation of 12 citizen diplomats to Cape Town, South Africa to attend the Africa Region Sister Cities Summit. LueRachelle is co-president of Seattle Limbe (Cameroon) Sister City Association (SLSCA) and has been invited to speak on the health initiatives SLSCA has provided in Cameroon and other parts of Africa.

LT'92: Karen Jones was selected to join the Casey Family Programs’ Board of Trustees.

LT'03: Troy Hutson was promoted to Director Energy Equity at Puget Sound Energy.

LT'05: Jessica Paul Werner left a 20-year career in nonprofit leadership and has launched Moon Snail Consulting, working with mission-focused organizations to support strategy development and improved partnerships within and across organizations. 

LT'09: Chris Killian was promoted to Senior Vice President at Turner Construction Company.

LT'09: Ronald Moore received the 2021 Seattle Federal Executive Board Public Service Recognition Award for diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. He also received the 2022 Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of Program Operations and Local Engagement Office Performance and Leadership Award for developing one-on-one relationships with Region 10 underheard communities. He was selected as Chair of CMS’ African American Employee Resource Group in 2022 and 2023.

LT'13: Deva Hasson started a new position as President at Laird Norton Properties.

LT'16: Jamila Conley was promoted to Vice President, Global Talent Acquisition at F5.

LT'17: Kate Morrison started a new position as Director, State Government Affairs at Maxim Healthcare Services (Home Care).

LT'17: Radhika Nair started a new position as Principal Urban Planner at Seva Workshop.

LT'17: Jon Scanlon announced he is running for Whatcom County Council. Learn more here.

LT'17: Heather Stewart (Lewis) started a new position as Vice President, Membership & Strategic Partnerships at TechNet: The Voice of Innovation Economy.

LT'17: Amberine Wilson started a new position as Director of Workforce Development at FareStart.

LT'17: Janice Zahn announced she is running for re-election for Bellevue City Council. Learn more here.

LT'18: Derrick De Vera was promoted to Senior Counsel at Washington State House of Representatives.

LT'18: Lynda Hall was promoted to Senior Director, Policy & Government Relations at Treehouse.

LT'18: Rob Saka announced he is running for Seattle City Council. Learn more here.

LT'19: Sofia Voz started a new position as Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Goalbook.

LT'20: Erin Gagnon started a new position as Chief of Transformation at DTG Recycle.

LT'20: Governor Jay Inslee appointed Marcus Glasper to serve as Director of Washington State's Department of Licensing.

LT'21: Sam Cho was selected to serve as Port of Seattle Commission President. He's the first person of color, first Asian American, first Korean American, and the youngest person to serve as Commission President.

LT'21: Kennard Noyes started a new position as Associate General Counsel | Deputy Director at Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

LT'22: Michael Furze joined Governor Jay Inslee and Washington State Department of Ecology Director Laura Watson for a media briefing to introduce new climate strategies. This includes the Climate Commitment Act and Clean Fuel Standard now in effect in Washington.