The 2020-2021 Leadership Springfield program year has come to a close and we are saying farewell to some incredible community leaders rolling off of our Board of Directors and a warm hello to the talented leaders beginning their board terms with us.
To the five individuals exiting our board, thank you for your service! We are extremely grateful for your leadership and all your hard work and dedication to Leadership Springfield over the years, and we can’t wait to see what you do next!
“As another LeadSGF year comes to an end, I have had time to reflect on my time as Board President, which has truly been an honor,” Mandy Anthes stated as she was asked to reflect on her time as Board President over the past year. “It has been a difficult year for all organizations – the words “pivot”, “fluid” and “flexible” have been exhausted. However, Leadership Springfield continued to raise the bar. This was not without countless hours of work and planning from our staff, board members, and committees. Thank you, it takes all to move the mission forward. Thank you specifically to our outgoing board members. Your time and passion for the organization has made us better and we will continue to serve our community using our pillars of inspire, develop, connect.”
Don Harkey, Past Board President
CEO of People Centric Consulting Group
Signature Class 29
What decision/action do you think made the biggest impact on the organization during your time with us?
“Every decision leading up to hiring Carrie and the rest of the team. It started with a couple of strategic planning sessions reaffirming who we are as an organization, where we want to go, and what we need to do to get there. We started laying out the plan and getting buy-in. We held a lot of difficult conversations and listened a lot. We took a calculated risk and then waited until we had the right person to lead the organization. It was a challenging road, but one of the most satisfying of my career.”
What are your plans going forward?
“Ha! It sounds like I’m retiring or something. We’re writing a book. We’re growing a company. We’re going to change the job market for “hard to hire” individuals. I’m also going to help facilitate Signature Class 41 and 42.”
Francine Pratt
Director of Prosper Springfield and Executive Director of Missouri College Access Network
Signature Class 27
What direction would you like us to take in the future?
“Stay the course and keep doing what you are doing even better. Leadership Springfield has been very intentional to stay current and fresh while recognizing all the various demographics of leaders and systems building in the community. I applaud the Board and I especially x 3, applaud Carrie and her leadership with a willingness to seek other points of view or lived experiences to become knowledgeable of approaches to take to create a program that truly enhances leadership in this community.”
Why did you choose our organization for a board membership? What did you enjoy most about it?
“I chose this organization because they were sincere about developing, enhancing, and growing leaders in this community by addressing the tough questions, and the truths, and the not so good stuff that has happened in this city to be better equipped to change from doing business the way they have always done business. They were willing to look at the changing demographics, besides race, so that leaders are better informed and provided more tools to develop bridging capital. What I enjoyed most, they listened to me and gave value to the lived experiences I brought to the Board without discounting my experiences in Springfield as a leader. They never tried to tell me that my experiences could not have been how I perceived them. They valued and saw me as a Black professional woman with many years of experience that could add value to the program. I will always have the highest level of respect for the framework that Don brought to Leadership Springfield to continue to evolve and enhance the 30+ years of this programs existence and Carrie’s leadership in driving it to excellence with the hiring of permanent staff!”
Jill Wiggins, Past Academy Class Chair
Director of Student Services with Missouri University School of Medicine Springfield Clinical Campus
Signature Class 27
What is your Favorite Memory from serving on the Board?
“My very favorite memory was sitting in the large board room at the Chamber during a board meeting in the spring of 2018. After years of discussion, the board had finally decided to take the leap to become an independent organization. The search was on to find the perfect Executive Director. Don Harkey announced at the meeting that the Hiring Task Force had narrowed it down to the top candidate and they were extremely impressed with the individual. When he announced the candidate was Carrie Richardson, I wanted to jump up and down and do a happy dance! I had known Carrie when I worked at Drury University, and she was a student. She had wowed me then, and I had enjoyed watching her excel in her career over the years since she graduated. I knew if we could hire Carrie as our first Executive Director it would be the biggest win for Leadership Springfield and our community!”
What does our organization do well?
“So many things…but I think the most incredible thing has been watching Carrie and her team successfully adapt during a pandemic. I also think implementing the Great Game of Business has been transformational for Leadership Springfield. And then of course inspiring, developing, and connecting so many leaders in our community who are serving in numerous ways throughout Springfield.”
Joelle Cannon
Director of Government Relations with Liberty Utilities
Signature Class 27
Why did you choose our organization for board membership? What did you enjoy most about it?
“Having never been part of a Leadership Springfield class, being part of the board enabled me to get the behind the scenes look not only at our community, but also insights into a very well-run nonprofit with staff working diligently to improve Springfield. Carrie and her team hold a true vision for Springfield’s future and being part of their work to propel today’s young leaders into this vision was an experience for which I am extremely grateful.”
What are your plans going forward?
“At the beginning of this year, I transitioned after nearly 20 years working in Congress, and joined the 417 business community. As the Director of Government Affairs for Liberty Utilities, I am now learning first hand the work Southwest Missouri businesses put in every day to serve our communities, and at Liberty this means creating jobs, providing reliable and low-cost energy for homes, hospitals, businesses and much more. I will continue to be active in the Springfield community and look forward to what our future holds together.”
Richard Russell, Past Board Treasurer
Attorney-CPA of Richard Russell Law
Signature Class 23
Thank you, Richard for your years of board service!
We are excited to welcome five new board members as we kick off the 2021-2022 program year! This group of leaders is dedicated to the mission of Leadership Springfield and eager to serve the Springfield community. Larry Stock, incoming Leadership Springfield Board President would like to help welcome our new board members to the team:
“Thank each of you, so very much, for agreeing to serve on the Board. We are extremely excited about your joining us. We look forward to your energy and ideas for the Board, committees and our ongoing efforts to continuously improve Leadership Springfield’s experience for new class members as well as the service to our community.”
Brad Coy
Co-Founder of Impact Recruiting Partners
Signature Class 39
What is your career background?
“I spent the better part of 13 years building a Supply Chain/Procurement Leadership career in complex Manufacturing companies like the Boeing Company, until my partner and I answered our entrepreneurial call and opened Impact Recruiting Partners, a professional search firm helping Manufacturing companies find and onboard top talent, in September 2019.”
How do you like to plug into our community?
“Always looking for new ways of course! Currently, I am serving as Chair Elect for the MSU Alumni Association Board of Directors, after serving 7+ years total on the board. I also serve as MSU Lady Bear Basketball – as a Support Staff Alumni – Golf Tournament Director, raising key funds for the program. Our family also enjoys supporting MSU Athletics as fans, especially our Lady Bears! I’m SUPER excited to serve on the Leadership Springfield Board for many reasons, but one is to help better – building on what my Class 39 experience did – identify more ways that use my strengths and would be passions of mine to plug in even more. “
Diana Tyndall, Signature Class Chair
Marketing Coordinator with Springfield-Greene County Park Board
Signature Class 32
What strengths do you believe you bring to the board of directors? What does leadership mean to you?
“Ideas! I always have ideas (ones that are great, and others that are meh). I love brainstorming to help find better ways to do things. That along with my Activator and Positivity and WOO can be a little much sometimes but I love to inspire and make whatever I’m a part of even better.
Leadership is creating footsteps that others would want to follow. It comes with humility, love, correction, praises, and respect.”
What drew you to participate in our board of directors?
“I’ve been involved as a co-chair for the Program Day Advisors and was looking for another way to get involved. I love what Leadership Springfield has done for me and continues to do for our community! Also, I’m so excited that you play the Great Game of Business. I’m eager to be part of that.”
Jana Greig
Systems Director of Marketing with Burrell Behavioral Health
Signature Class 40
Do you have a vision yet for what you would like to see Leadership Springfield do in the future?
“Leadership Springfield is doing incredible things for our community and has such a bright future ahead. I am joining the board to first listen and learn. I want to understand the vision for the future, any challenges facing the organization, and then roll up my sleeves to get to work! One challenge I know is near to Leadership Springfield’s heart is to continue efforts to increase the diversity of participants. This is important to me too. Solving community challenges and making Springfield the best town it can be will take all of us, from all walks of life and experiences. I think we can do this by working to understand any barriers that would prevent someone from applying to the program, creating additional community education and outreach, and working with the many wonderful DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) leaders throughout Springfield.”
Have you been a program participant? What is your experience with our organization?
“I am a recent Leadership Springfield graduate from Class 40 (#TheFutureis40!). Like many, I have lived in Springfield my entire life, but through this program I learned so much about our community that I had never learned about before. This includes the amazing things our community has to offer, as well as the issues and challenges that our community faces. My biggest takeaway from Leadership Springfield is to not look away from these issues. Choose to look, and then figure out how to plug in to help. As Burrell’s Dr. Shelly Farnan always says, we can do hard things, but we can do them better together.”
Dr. Nicole Holt
Deputy Superintendent of Academics with Springfield Public Schools
Signature Class 37
What is your favorite Leadership Springfield experience?
“Honestly, all of my experiences with the organization have been great. Signature Class 37 was likely my favorite experience. I loved the opportunity to connect with other leaders from different spheres within the Springfield community. Truly, I developed friendships from this experience that will be lifelong. However, Principals of Leadership was my introduction to the organization and that is what really hooked me in to be involved.”
What strengths do you believe you bring to the board of directors?
“With my number one Gallop Strength as Learner, I am looking forward to contributing to the curriculum design and development for program days. I am extremely passionate about leadership development and am excited to help shape experiences that support growth and development for leaders and professionals in our community. Additionally, I am a Springfield native and believe that I have context and knowledge about this community that will support the organization moving forward.”
Stephanie O’Connor
Vice President – Chief Information & People Officer with City Utilities of Springfield
Signature Class 34
What is your career background?
“My current position is Vice President – Chief Information and People Officer at City Utilities (CU) of Springfield, Missouri. My passion has always been enhancing the lives of others with a positive experience. I’ve been at City Utilities for nearly 30 years, starting as a co-op student in the information technology (IT) department in 1992. In 1994, I became a full-time employee and even though most of my career has been in IT, I spent a few years in human resources. This was a result of centralizing the utility’s training offerings, which allowed me the opportunity to teach computer courses and be active in assisting employees with their professional development goals. I had the opportunity to move back to the IT department, with my primary role focused on the technical and support sides of the department. I had a vision that I wanted to implement a centralized number for people to call for help or information from IT. When I was promoted to my first supervisory role in IT, I was able to turn that vision into a reality. We still have the support center today. It’s a key and critical component of IT. After taking on several other roles in the IT department, I was promoted to my current position in December 2017.
In terms of my responsibilities, I oversee IT at the utility, which includes cybersecurity and GIS. I also oversee the human resources department at CU and serve as a liaison to, and coordinating, the City Utilities’ Board of Public Utilities meetings.”
Have you been a program participant?
“Yes, I was a member of Signature Class 34-Ever 😊 and Access Class 2. In addition to having been a participant, I have also been a Signature Class Advisor. Leadership Springfield is an incredible program and is key in developing our community through people. Absolutely believe in the purpose of Leadership Springfield and excited to be part of the Board!”
