Fifty-four civic and community leaders from across the state have been accepted to form the 2012-2013 class for Leadership North Carolina, the state’s premier leadership engagement program. Creighton Blackwell, Coastal FCU Manager of Business Development and Community Relations, is among those selected to attend.
Leadership North Carolina’s mission is to inform, develop, and engage committed leaders by broadening their understanding of and involvement in issues and opportunities facing North Carolina. The Leadership North Carolina Program cultivates a network of individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences who share a deep commitment to their state. There are more than 900 graduates of the program whose continued ties to LNC and to one another provide them with rich opportunities for serving North Carolina.
"I am very excited and honored to be selected to participate in the Leadership NC program," said Blackwell. "This program will allow me the opportunity to learn and engage other business and community leaders, and continue to discover other ways to demonstrate the tremendous impact that credit unions have in our communities."
Each year, though a rigorous selection process, LNC chooses a class of established and emerging leaders from across the state to participate in its acclaimed program. Over the course of six two-and-a-half day sessions LNC participants learn about issues critical to the state through discussions with top officials and professionals, field trips, and experiential learning activities. LNC’s sessions focus on five key areas: economic development, education, environment, government, and health and human services. Through LNC’s program, participants gain new insight into North Carolina’s strengths and challenges and develop their own action plans for ways they can improve and empower their communities and the state as a whole.
LNC sessions are held around the state, highlighting the social, geographic, and economic diversity of North Carolina. The members of Class XX will convene in Boone in October for their Orientation session, where they will be welcomed at a reception by Chancellor Ken Peacock of Appalachian State University. Chancellor Peacock is a former member of the LNC board of directors and an alumnus of Class I. The group will meet in Raleigh in November for the Government session and in Hickory in December for the Economic Development session. The remaining sessions for LNC Class XX will be held in Concord, Greensboro, and Wilmington.
Leadership North Carolina’s Class XX is made up of top leaders from the government, business, nonprofit, and education sectors.