Board Members
The ALP Board of Directors represents a broad spectrum of membership representing communities across the nation.
Christopher has been the Chief Executive Officer of Leadership Austin since 2014. He has served three tours on the Leadership Austin Board and was Chair in 2013, then interim CEO for eight months and then he was asked to serve as CEO. Christopher Kennedy is a community engager focusing on building the interpersonal and communication skills that forge successful working relationships with clients, consumers, boards, public-private partnerships and community leaders. He is the CEO of Leadership Austin and is a small business owner. Before starting his businesses and working at Leadership Austin, he had a 22-year career at the Lower Colorado River Authority responsible for managing all administrative functions that supported the public utility needs in the 58 county Central Texas service area. He serves on the advisory councils for the Austin Young Chamber, Young Women’s Alliance of Austin and the Junior League of Austin, a member of Austin Area Research Organization (AARO).
David Sachs grew up in Baltimore, moved to MA for college and stayed for nearly 20 years. During that time, he married, went to graduate school and began a career in leadership development. He moved back to Baltimore in 2005. David's passion is to create transformational learning experiences. He has pursued this professional passion in higher education (Harvard Business School, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Johns Hopkins University, and the Maryland Institute College of Art) and the corporate sector (T. Rowe Price).
Our program is a single program equivalent to the flagship or core programs offered by other organizations. 10 months in duration. While we meet for a day/month similar to other programs, we supplement those full-days with a variety of field experiences (e.g. police car ride-a longs, overnights at transitional housing shelters, visits to key social service providers and economic assets), evenings at cultural institutions and lunches with civic leaders. The programs objective is to help participants become more effective civic leaders in Baltimore by helping them to develop a better understanding of the regions challenges and assets, building a network of authentic collaborative relationships, and strengthening their civic leadership skills.
Dr. Baginski joined Leadership Lake County in January 2012. She has over 35 years of experience in communications, marketing and management in public, private and nonprofit organizations.
Dr. Baginski was Laketrans first Director of Public Relations and Marketing from 2000 through 2010. During that time, she earned numerous national awards for communications and was an annual presenter at the American Public Transit Associations Marketing & Communications conference. Prior to Laketran, she was the Director of Development for Society for Rehabilitation, a nonprofit rehabilitation agency for children and adults with disabilities. She has also served as an adjunct professor at Cleveland State University in the College of Education.
She has been a long-standing and active member in the Mentor Chamber of Commerce, the Ohio Governors Council on People with Disabilities Youth Leadership Forum, and Leadership Lake County. She is a graduate of Leadership Ashtabula 1996 and Leadership Lake County 2004. Dr. Baginski graduated from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program in May of 2016.
Dr. Baginski earned her Associate of Arts in Business from Lakeland Community College in 1996; Bachelor of Arts in Management at Ursuline College in 2000; her Master of Arts in Education from Marietta College in 2008; and her Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education with a specialization in Leadership and Life Long Learning from Cleveland State University in 2011. Her dissertation was a narrative study the lives of students serving in New Orleans in the weeks following Hurricane Katrina and the role community service played in preparing them to be there.
She is a member of Lakeland Community Colleges Hall of Fame. In 2008, she received the Maureen Fitzgerald Leadership Award from Governors Council on People with Disabilities for positively impacting the lives of students with disabilities. In 2014, she was a recipient of Lakeland Community Colleges Woman of Achievement Award.
In Cheri Gangers' role as director of community programs, she is responsible for the Chambers community engagement programs, including Leadership Twin Cities and the Minnesota Keystone Program. She also provides support for the Chambers Executive Womens Council and Small Business Committee. Prior to joining the Chamber, she held positions with the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce and Saks Incorporated. She studied Political Science and Latin American studies at the University of Iowa.
Executive Director, Leadership Institute of Acadiana, LA - A South Louisiana native, Ashley earned her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. As a student, Ashleys passion for developing leaders inspired her to develop and launch UL Lafayettes interdisciplinary minor in leadership studies. Upon graduation, Ashley joined the team at Girl Scouts of LouisianaPines to the Gulf leading their recruitment and retention efforts to build girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Leadership Institute of Acadiana, a non-profit designed to convene, build, and activate leaders in the Acadiana community. Under her Leadership, LIA has grown its programming, launched a new brand, and implemented its first strategic commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Yemi Akande-Bartsch is President & CEO of FOCUS St. Louis and Director of Leadership St. Louis. Recognized as an accomplished, innovative inclusion strategist, and visionary leader specializing in implementing strategic plans and organizational development, Akande-Bartsch has led FOCUS St. Louis since 2014. Akande-Bartsch spent ten years of her career in the Cleveland, Ohio where she held senior leadership roles with Cleveland Leadership Center as Senior Director of Civic Education, and Director of the Cleveland Executive Fellowship.
With a passion to educate emerging and established leaders and mentor them to achieve success, Akande-Bartsch has held key teaching positions at several universities including Assistant Professor, Communication at John Carroll University, Adjunct Faculty, School of Communication at Cleveland State University, and Adjunct Faculty, Communication Studies at Kent State University. As a leader in the community, Akande-Bartsch is affiliated with and / or serves in key roles with various organizations. Akande-Bartsch holds three degrees from the University of Oklahoma, including a PH.D. in Communications, Intercultural, Political and Organizational Communication, an M.H.R. in Human Relations and Organizational Development, and a Master of Arts in Public Relations, Journalism & Mass Communications. She earned her B.A. in Speech Communications from Southwest Baptist University.
Dr. Akande-Bartsch serves on the Board of Directors of The St. Louis Regional Chamber, The Sheldon Arts Foundation, Downtown St. Louis and the Integration Advisory Team of Greater St. Louis, Inc. She is a member of Urban Land Institute Advisory Committee (St. Louis), and Chair and a Commissioner of the Botanical Garden Sub-district. She is also a member of the Association of Leadership professionals and the International Leadership Association.
Barbara Boone has had the distinct pleasure to have worked with 2 community leadership programs in her career. First with Leade she serves as Executive Director. Her time at Leadership Jacksonville began when participating in LJ Class 1991 representing the Junior League of Jacksonville. She brought a history of working in the social work profession and volunteering in the community to the organization. For the next several years, she was able to learn firsthand about community trusteeship from some of the finest community leaders in Jacksonville, most notably from longtime LT ED Eleanor Ashby who passed away. She was later hired as Program Director for Leadership Tallahassee take the organization into the 21st century.
In 2013, Cathy was part of the team at Lipscomb University that created the first statewide leadership program in Tennessee and was named the program‘s Executive Director. Leadership Tennessee fosters collaborative, non-partisan dialogue on issues of state importance connecting a network of diverse leaders and engaged citizens. In 2015, Cathy successfully created the framework for a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant to expand the work of the program to broader audiences and more communities statewide. Cathy oversees the Signature Program and the community engagement work, including Vote TN and LT NEXT, traveling the state in an effort to bring collaborative conversations to rural and urban communities statewide.
Prior to her move to Middle Tennessee in 2011, Cathy served for six years as Executive Director of Leadership Blount County with a focus on educating local leaders on issues affecting Blount County and the East Tennessee region including education, sustained growth, health care and environmental issues.
Cathy has over twenty years of experience with the outdoor, leadership training and development company Mountain Challenge at Maryville College. Cathy‘s expertise in developing course outcomes and facilitating groups in ropes course and indoor, leadership exercises has given her the opportunity to serve a variety of corporate teams including companies and organizations such as ALCOA, Ruby Tuesday, Inc., Pilot/Flying J, TVA, Clayton Homes, Tennessee Department of Transportation, University of Tennessee, University of Memphis and various youth groups in East Tennessee. Cathy also served as Assistant Dean of Students at Maryville College in the 1990s and where she developed her passion for teaching and helping groups develop.
Kathy Coffey, Executive Director of Leadership Snohomish County (LSC), is known for her enthusiasm, generosity and authenticity. Just as she did with her TEDx talk entitled, Connect and Lead, How We Create Community, Kathy jumps in with both feet. She champions LSCs mission wherever she goes, seeking people and organizations to engage in her quest to strengthen and diversify community leadership. As a local leader who walks the talk, Kathy serves as a member of Lynnwoods Human Services Commission, is a South EverettMukilteo Rotarian and sits on the board of directors for the YMCA of Snohomish County.
Prior to joining LSC in 2014, Kathy spent 16 years in higher education. She was Assistant Director of Edmonds Community College Foundation and Development Relations Coordinator at Bastyr University. She was also co-owner of Pivot Edmonds, a community magazine, online marketplace and community engagement site.
Kasey Hill became the Chief Executive Officer of Greater Tucson Leadership in July 2016. Prior to that, she served as communications director for Develop Danville — a public-private economic development organization in central Kentucky. Kasey is a Kentucky native, and received recognition as a Kentucky Colonel in 2015. Kentucky Colonel is an honorary commission given by the governor of Kentucky to individuals noted for their public service and their work for the advancement of Kentucky.
She is a proud graduate of two community leadership programs, including Greater Tucson Leadership. She is a member of Women at the Top, and currently serves as Vice President of the board of directors for the Casa de la Luz Foundation. She also serves on the Leadership Council for the Arizona State University Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation and the board of directors for the Association of Leadership Programs. In May 2018, she competed in the Tucson Dancing with Our Stars fundraiser to benefit the Diaper Bank of Southern Arizona, and has danced in the Nutcracker ballet to benefit Dancing in the Streets AZ. She is a 2020 recipient of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber's 40 Under 40 awards.
Kasey graduated from Eastern Kentucky University in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She has since received certification as a Gallup®-Certified Strengths Coach. She has also received certification as a Travel Marketing Professional from the Southeast Tourism Society Marketing College in Dahlonega, Ga., and graduated from the University of Kentucky Institute for Economic Development in 2014.
Terence is a public service leader at the University of Georgia, where he has demonstrated exceptional abilities in curriculum development, facilitating leadership training, providing technical support to leaders in the state of Georgia, delivered multiple programs focused on strengthening communities and exceeded all expectations by aiding, building, and instilling leadership confidence in individuals to enable them to positively impact on their communities.
While at the Fanning Institute, Terence worked with several nonprofit organizations, community leadership programs, and youth to develop and deliver programs that advance leadership development in individuals and organizations. His expertise includes program start-up and development, large-scale systems reform, training, consulting, administrative support and coaching, board development, strategic planning, conflict transformation training, and executive coaching. He also has experience helping community leaders with performance issues and building healthier communities in underserved areas stricken with the challenges of poverty, poor education, and gangs.
Terence also worked on several Public Service and Outreach programs, including the PSO Facilitation Academy, Great Commitments Student Tour, and New Faculty Tour.
Since arriving at the Fanning Institute, Terence has received the 2019 Sisson Community Leadership Development Award and was named Vice President of Staff for the UGA Black Faculty and Staff Organization.
He serves as chairman of the elder board at MC3 Church, as well as president of the Men‘s Ministry. Other related civic affiliations include serving as a member of the board of directors for the Decatur-DeKalb YMCA, approved U.S. Chamber facilitator, Hephzibah Children's Home/Hephzibah International Ministries and National Youth Advocate Program, VP of the Tip Off-board at Parkview High School. He is also an active Rotarian and board member in DeKalb County, Georgia. He is a graduate of Leadership DeKalb 2009, Leadership Georgia 2010, and program chair for leadership Georgia 2012.
Terence has more than 30 years of experience as a leader in the public service arena.
Tami serves as the Director of Leadership Development for the Greenville Chamber working with Chambers Leadership Development programs. Tami has served as a State Examiner for the South Carolina Governors Quality Award and served on the Board of Examiners for the National Baldrige Performance Excellence Program. Her backgrounds in the education and corporate sectors combined with her passion for the community have intersected in her current role with the Greenville Chamber connecting individuals to their passions in the community by engaging and inspiring the current and future leaders of our community.
Nicole A. Morristell is currently the director of Leadership Lackawanna, (Scranton, PA) a 501(c)(3) charitable, nonprofit organization dedicated to community leadership and professional development. Its five programs - Tomorrow’s Leaders Today, Leadership U, Core, Executive and Welcome Scranton! - enhance the skills, connections, and knowledge of emerging and established leaders, enabling them to better serve in our communities, workplaces, and organizations. Established in 1982, Leadership Lackawanna has graduated more than 2,300 community leaders.
Nikki comes to Leadership Lackawanna from the local Girl Scout organization where she served in several positions over the years. She is a 1998 graduate of Tunkhannock Area High School, Tunkhannock, PA and a 2002 graduate of Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA.
Nikki is actively involved with The Nature Conservancy, Countryside Conservancy, Association of Leadership Programs, Supporters of Camp Archbald, and Haiti Partnership.
Training language instructors from multiple cultures while studying applied psycholinguistics in Mexico City sparked Mike's lifelong interests in human behavior and communication.
Over 25 years, Mike served as a Tri-lingual interrogator in the U.S. Army, established his first company by the age of 25, motivated people to excel at his fitness Boot Camps, and served as a Regional Manager for an international healthcare company based in the United Arab Emirates. A former on-call interrogation analyst for CNN, Mike has been interviewed hundreds of times for TV, radio, newspapers and magazines. He participated in nine documentaries in the past 15 years; "Songs of War" won an International Emmy.
Under Mike's leadership for the past 11 years, Leadership Rhode Island has received numerous accolades, including the Excellence in Public Service Award by Common Cause RI, two National Innovation Awards from the Association of Leadership Programs and three Community Outreach Awards from the RI Press Association for public forums in partnership with The Providence Journal and Rhode Island College. LRI’s innovative Make RI Stronger social enterprise is recognized by Gallup as an inspiration for the global strengths movement.
On the heels of serving as the Rhode Island Chairman for the Department of Defense Employer Support of the Guard & Reserve since 2012, Mike spearheaded the national transformation from an executive strategic subcommittee to ESGR's first board of directors since its inception in 1972. He was awarded the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service before being recruited to serve as President of the board of FORGE, a national nonprofit focused on decreasing veteran suicides through The Overwatch Project.
Mike is a board member for the Association of Leadership Programs and co-creator of the National Leadership Network representing 700,000+ community leadership program alumni across the country.
Andre Santiago, Vice President for Programs, oversees the development, implementation and evaluation of all programs at Leadership Greater Hartford as well as the organizations extensive consulting and training services. Having joined the staff at LGH in 2007 as a program assistant, he has risen through the ranks serving as Program Director overseeing youth programs and then as Senior Program Director. In the course of his tenure, he has had involvement with and/or provided leadership to most of the core programs offered by LGH. He has served as the LGH lead in numerous consulting and training contracts including Hartford Decide$ (the city-wide community engagement project in which the citizens identify and select capital projects throughout the city) and the Community Policing Leadership Institute now serving the fourth cohort of Hartford police officers. He is a certified Enneagram trainer and frequently is a facilitator in LGHs Consulting & Training services.
Andre has served on numerous boards and currently serves on the Board of InterCommunity, which provides physical, mental health and addiction services. Andre is a member of the 2016 class of Hartford Business Journals 40 under Forty, which recognizes outstanding young leaders in the region. He was recently elected to the national Board of Directors of the Association of Leadership Programs.
Ms. Taylor has dedicated her life‘s work to supporting the community. For more than 20 years, she has worked in service organizations, holding vital leadership positions within the Washington metropolitan area. She was the Executive Director of The Community Foundation, and served as a spokesperson for the Montgomery County office. In that capacity Ms. Taylor‘s focused on creating a philanthropic experience for donors to encourage continued participation and giving. Additionally, she worked closely with an advisory board of local community business people, leaders, and volunteers to promote local philanthropy in Montgomery County and throughout the region. Before joining The Community Foundation, she was the Executive Director of Interfaith Works. In that role, she made an immediate impact on the organization, creating their signature event, Empty Bowls.
She also worked to expand the organization‘s housing and vocational services and staffing. Prior to joining Interfaith Works, Ms. Taylor worked at Food & Friends. She held several key positions during her 13 years with the agency, the last being Director of Programs. She has been a member of many prominent community groups, including the Ryan White Planning Council and the DC Cancer Consortium and she continues to remain active in the community. She is a board member of the Nonprofit Montgomery Board, The Montgomery County Workforce Investment Board, Committee for Montgomery and Generation Hope. Ms. Taylor, a native Washingtonian, currently residing in Silver Spring.
Executive Director, Ottumwa Leadership Academy, IA.
Hollie was hired to launch Ottumwa Leadership Academy as its Executive Director in 2012. Hollie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from Central College and has a wealth of experience in leadership, strategic planning & marketing, public relations, and public speaking. She is also a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, a certified Speaker, Trainer, Coach with the John Maxwell Team and holds a Diversity & Inclusion certificate from Cornell University.
Prior to joining Ottumwa Leadership Academy, Hollie was the Program Director for the Wound Healing & Hyperbaric Center at Ottumwa Regional Health Center. Additional roles held earlier in her career include Communication Coordinator at Ottumwa Regional Health Center, Public Relations Coordinator at William Penn University, and Chamber Director for the Albia Area Chamber of Commerce. Hollie and her husband Dan have two children: Jessica and Carson.
Lisa Winkelbauer serves as the Director of Leadership Orlando, a program of the Orlando Economic Partnership. Her responsibilities include all program planning and execution for all Leadership Orlando programs, including two classes per year and the alumni association. She has been with the organization for 23 years. Prior to that, she was the Director of Leadership Osceola County. Leadership Orlando started in 1975. It is a regional program, covering seven counties in Central Florida.
Lisa‘s involvement with ALP has been a programming/content committee member for the 2019 Annual Conference in Tulsa and host of the 2022 Annual Conference in Orlando.
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At the Fanning Institute, Terence works with nonprofit organizations, community leadership programs and youth to develop and deliver programs that advance leadership development in individuals and organizations. His expertise includes program start-up and development, large-scale systems reform, training, consulting, administrative support and coaching, board development, strategic planning, conflict transformation training and executive coaching. He also has experience helping community leaders with performance issues and building healthier communities in underserved areas stricken with the challenges of poverty, poor education and gangs.
Terence also works on a number of Public Service and Outreach programs, including the PSO Facilitation Academy, Great Commitments Student Tour and New Faculty Tour.
Since arriving at the Fanning Institute, Terence has received the 2019 Sisson Community Leadership Development Award and was named Vice President of Staff for the UGA Black Faculty and Staff Organization. Terence has more than 30 years of experience as a leader in the public service arena.