The Leadership Springfield Board of Directors is thrilled to welcome two new board members. Each year, at least one member of each Signature graduating class are elected to represent that class on the Board.
Sarah DeGuire is the Director of Sales at the Oasis Hotel & Convention Center and celebrated earning the 2015 Ramada Worldwide Property of the Year in 2015 and the Wyndham Hotel Sales Team of the Year in 2012. She has served in a variety of community organizations, including as Sargent-At-Arms of Springfield Metro Rotary, part of the MO Society of Association Executives, Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce and Springfield Hotel Lodging Association. Sarah received her business and marketing degree from OTC, Dale Carnegie Training in 2005 and Master Connection Associates in 2018. Sarah’s top five strengths are strategic, individualization, connectedness, futuristic and competition. She enjoys outdoor fitness activities such as bicycling and kayaking as well as cooking and home canning for family and friends. Sarah looks forward to serving on the board of directors to provide advocacy for the organization as well as seeking future participants and matching their needs with the best program offered. Sarah is a graduate of Leadership Springfield Signature Class 35 and her favorite Leadership Springfield experience was the final impact retreat, as it was “the best way to put the wheels in motion.”
As System Director of Recruitment and Retention at CoxHealth, Celeste Cramer has a Bachelors of Business Administration from Evangel and was named one of Springfield Business Journal’s 40 under 40 in 2018. Celeste joined CoxHealth in 2016 and is focused on finding creative ways to address the current labor shortage. Her position also enables her to find ways to reduce turnover, engage employees, help build the employer brand and invest in building the workforce locally through partnerships with area schools, colleges and non-profit organizations. She received the CoxHealth Firestarter award in 2018. In addition to joining the Leadership Springfield Board of Directors, Celeste serves on The Network’s Leadership Council, the board for the HOPE Foundation and is on the advisory committee for the OTC Center for Workforce Development. Her top five strengths are competition, maximizer, strategic, futuristic and adaptability. Celeste enjoys the lake, sports and spending time with her family! Celeste is a graduate of Leadership Springfield Signature Class 36 and shared that the poverty simulation during her class experience was extremely impactful. She said “Seeing the stress of navigating everything as an adult made me realize that my experience was much different as a child going through it.” Celeste looks forward to getting involved on the board with diversity efforts as well as communication and advising the Signature Class.
Leadership Springfield’s 21 board members are critical to the long term success of the organization. The Board of Directors is responsible for the stewardship of Leadership Springfield; for setting its vision, mission, goals and objectives; for guiding its policies, curriculum, resource development, visibility, participant recruitment and selection; and for maintaining the financial well-being of the organization. We are thrilled to have Sarah Deguire and Celeste Cramer join the group of esteemed and passionate leaders on our board!
