Lived here your whole life?
Think you know everything Springfield offers?
Think you are too busy?
After going through the Signature Class and jumping into service on the Leadership Springfield Board of Directors last year, Eric Lampe (Signature Class 34) wants to assure local leaders that there’s always room to grow and encourages alumni to look for ways to make an impact locally in their personal and professional life.
A lifelong Springfield resident, Eric graduated from Springfield Catholic High School in 2000 and went to Missouri State University. He has been involved in the public accounting world since 2005.
Currently, Eric is a Manager at The Whitlock Company where he takes cares of audits. Working on countless audits for nonprofits ultimately led him to learn more about how to get more philanthropic. “I was able to see all these nonprofits work together and I wanted to learn more,” Eric mentioned. He ultimately decided to take the class because of his wife’s passion for students and making an impact. “The reason I like not-for-profits is because my wife is a teacher,” Eric explained. “I see the work she does to mold young minds and grow this area. My job is to help people save money on taxes. So, I thought, how can I be more philanthropic with what I do?” The answer: apply for Leadership Springfield’s Signature Class and make an impact locally.
Eric’s biggest takeaways from his Leadership Springfield experience were the connections and camaraderie of the people he met through the class. “You see these people out in the community, but you don’t realize how connected they all are. Being in Leadership Springfield, you get introduced to those people and have them as a resource to refer to if you want to try and accomplish something or need help continuing to help grow the city of Springfield,” Eric shared.
In addition to the many classmates who have become friends and the variety of local leaders and speakers he met during his program year, Eric enjoys the community of Leadership Springfield alumni members. He said, “If I see someone in Class 1, and I’m in 34, we have that instant connection because we all went through the program, just different years.”
Because of the great experience Eric had in his class, he graciously accepted when asked to join the Board of Directors for Leadership Springfield. Last year, Eric was on The Great Game of Business Design Team to help implement open-book management at the nonprofit, and he currently serves as the Academy Class 30 co-chair.
Eric’s advice to anyone contemplating applying for Leadership Springfield: “I would tell them to not wait. I hear a lot of people saying they’re too busy in their personal life, too busy in their professional life, or they don’t have time. It’s not a real big time commitment and you learn so much. The earlier you can get more involved in the Springfield community, the more likely you are to stay here.”
Eric looks forward to Leadership Springfield’s growth for many years to come and has enjoyed being a part of a pivotal season for the nonprofit. “It’s a fantastic program and has done great things for 35 years now, and I hope we can continue to grow it.”
