Leadership Cleveland Class of 2013

I must admit that I was initially very intimidated.  I was accepted into the Leadership Cleveland Class of 2013 a year ago.  What I knew about LC was that it was a great experience and lifelong relationships were formed.  Once I found out who was in this year's class, I was even more intimidated.  Executive of Cleveland City Schools, Executive Director of United Way, Chief Admin Officer for Westfield Group, Chief Operating Officer at Sherwin Williams were some of the people in this year's class.  What I found out is that they intentionally put a variety of people from different areas such as corporate, non-profits, education, government, and small business (e.g. me).  There were 69 of us and we were the 35th class for LC. 

They put us together for a retreat right away in August and that broke the ice very quickly.   You get to know people pretty quickly when you are on their team for tug-of-war.  We were the Green Team.  Each month then we would have sessions focusing on a particular theme.  For example, Education, Quality of Life, and Economic Development.  I learned a lot about our city.  Yes, it has issues, but it is truly a great city and there is a lot going on right now.  I am also particularly proud that our classmate, Eric Gordon is leading a renaissance for Cleveland Schools.  Eric is a humble guy who has a passion for these kids.

Our end of year retreat was a visit to Nashville.  We learned about an up and coming city, but I think it also made us realize that we have similar assets here in Cleveland.  I am particularly proud to live in this great city and region.  But I think that the best part of Leadership Cleveland was the friendships that I built, friendships that will extend well beyond our class year.  Our class has adopted a mission of lakefront development and revitalization of the downtown corridor.  We also will continue to support the plan for Cleveland schools.

P.S. The picture above was by Hidden Moments (wife Debbie's photo biz).