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New Putnam County Leadership Academy cohort graduates
Being the third cohort since it was revived in 2020, the Putnam County Leadership Academy graduated a new set of professionals representing various companies and organizations Wednesday.
The short ceremony closed 11 weeks of discussions in which the group tackled leadership needs, communication, industry, government, education and community needs, as well as going out and learning more about Putnam County as a place to live and work.
As Facilitator Karen Nelson Heavin provided in remarks on the occasion, the curriculum is designed to make an impact on a participant’s community, work life and home life. With a range of topics, each session, she said, allowed for personal experiences to be shared, different viewpoints to be expressed, beliefs to be challenged and for them to go outside their comfort zone.
Much of the experience was about personal development and learning about themselves and each other as professionals and as people. However, community immersion, and as such learning about different organizations and their needs, is a major component.
“They say it takes a village to raise a child. It also takes a village to properly manage the Putnam County Leadership Academy,” Heavin said in recognizing many of its partners, including Area 30, DePauw University, Dollars for Scholars, Ivy Tech Greencastle, Purdue Extension and the Putnam County Community Foundation, which has sponsored the program.
Heavin noted that 10 out of the cohort’s 13 members represent organizations which have previously sent others to participate in the program. As such, they come from different counties including Putnam, Hendricks, Johnson, Parke and Vigo.
Heavin said she was “somewhat shocked and humbled” to have a full class this time after the 2021 program graduated last November. This is as the academy has graduated 30 since the 2020 cohort, which was led by former Montgomery County Leadership Academy Facilitator Lynn Ringis.
With Ringis having stepped away from her leadership work, Greencastle/Putnam County Development Center Executive Director Kristin Clary said Heavin was the “ideal candidate” when she took on the Putnam County program last year. This, Clary said, was because Heavin knew not only leadership, but the county as a whole. However, she emphasized that there would be no program without employers recognizing its value and encouraging people to participate.
“Part of the commitment is the students who come, but it’s also their employers that come and keep sending us students,” Clary said. “That is what makes us so strong as a community and as a program, so we’re very grateful to them.”
The Putnam County Leadership Academy’s new graduates include:
• Randy Bee, Wesley Bratcher, Joe Grove and Steve Williamson - Crown Equipment Corp.;
• Madison Cooper – Parke County REMC;
• Beth Evans – Putnam County Community Foundation/Purdue Extension;
• Emily Hammell – Hendricks Power Cooperative;
• Courtney Lake and Jess Nikolai – Ascena Retail Group;
• Heather Milbourn – Putnam County Comprehensive Services;
• Madison Pershing – Ivy Tech Greencastle;
• Dalton Smith – North Salem State Bank; and
• Carlie Webster – Indiana Professional Management Group.
As the ceremony wrapped up, Heavin issued a challenge to the cohort as a graduates of the program.
“Putnam County is a great place to live and work, but we must continue to develop and foster leaders who are devoted to seeing Putnam County continue to prosper,” she said. “You are skilled and you are prepared to lead. Do so. Go out and make your workplace, your home and our community a better place.”
The 2023 program of the Putnam County Leadership Academy is set for next spring.