By Lori Fulton, Leadership Washington County

Many people were unaware that Leadership Washington County (LWC) existed before these articles began appearing in last September’s Business Journal through the generosity of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce. Likewise, even fewer people are probably aware that there are seven leadership groups in the southwestern Pennsylvania region. Each leadership group represents the county in which they operate and include: Alle- Kiski; Butler; Community Builders of Greene County; Somerset; Westmoreland; and, Leadership Washington County. In addition, Leadership Pittsburgh, Inc. focuses on recruiting from the Pittsburgh business community.

All of these separate groups are joining forces on May 18, 2006 to present a Regional Leadership Conference that will be held at the Regional Learning Alliance in Cranberry Township, PA. The conference will address various topics of interest to anyone involved in policies/planning in the leadership groups, as well as business people who would like the opportunity to network with area leaders and review successful leadership practices.

The goals set for the Regional Leadership Conference include: focusing on best practices in community leadership programs management and exemplary models within the region; introducing participants to regional leaders, ideas and strategies; fostering professional development; and, creating opportunities for networking and promoting collaboration. These goals emerged from an initial meeting that was held with representatives from all of the groups in August 2005.

JW Wallace, who is Senior Director of Diversity Initiatives at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, will deliver the keynote address for the day. Mr. Wallace is a retired Major of the US Army and an accredited Registered Organizational Development Consultant (RODC). Following his military service, Mr. Wallace was employed with the Koppers Corporation and Weirton Steel before joining UPMC. He is involved in several local and national civic organizations and has presented at national conferences including the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) National Training Conference, International Steel Workers Individual Career Development Conference, and the University of Wisconsin’s Leadership Conference.

Leadership Washington County will be conducting an afternoon breakout session concerning their revised and improved curriculum standards. LWC’s success related to curriculum planning stood out during a discussion of various facets of leadership programs with the other regional groups. In 2004, LWC proactively approached the revision of their curriculum through the use of focus groups comprised of area business leaders and employers. The information gained in these focus groups was used to incorporate specific skills into each monthly session.

Additional breakout session options for the conference include the evaluation of the impact that leadership programs are making within their communities, successful leadership alumni programs, the importance of good administration, fundraising and, recruitment. Each of the region’s leadership groups will conduct a breakout session respective to their demonstrated successes.

It is hoped that this conference will facilitate sharing of information between leadership programs in southwestern Pennsylvania and ensure the continued success of the programs to ultimately benefit the standard of living in the entire region.