Leadership Northeast Missouri recently held their 2019 graduation ceremony in Macon at the Missouri Army National Guard Armory.

A total of 13 men and women who live and work in northeast Missouri participated in the second year of the leadership development program. Over the last six months, participants traveled to Kirksville, New London, Edina, Louisiana, Kahoka and Macon to learn more about important economic development issues facing the region. Topics included: broadband, healthcare, transportation, workforce and navigating government systems.

Additionally, each Leadership Northeast Missouri session included lessons and discussion utilizing United States Army leadership curriculum. Each participant worked on a personal leadership action plan presented their plans at the culmination of the graduation celebration.

Graduates of the 2019 class of Leadership Northeast Missouri include: Wendy Brumbaugh, Bethel; Devyn Campbell, Stoutsville; Lucinda Clubb, Baring; Andrew Fajkus, Kirksville; Chris Farrell, Kirksville; Marla Greiner, Memphis; Diana Huckstep, Louisiana; Tiffany Krueger, Kirksville; Sheri Liebhart, Macon; Lindsey McCormick, Moberly; Darin Redd, Palmyra; Anastasia Tiedemann, Kirksville and Kayla Wittler, Palmyra.

Leadership Northeast Missouri is a leadership development program designed and launched by the Northeast Missouri Development Partnership (NMDP) to build, strengthen and inspire leaders through training and networking experiences. “We saw a need to bring leaders together to help them learn more about our area, the issues, and to connect them with other communities in order to grow together as a region,” said Carolyn Chrisman, executive director for Kirksville Regional Economic Development, Inc. and NMDP treasurer. “The program launched in 2018 and was very successful. We are thrilled to report that 2019 was another great program that truly built on the success of the first year. We are looking forward to continuing this important program for many years to come.”

Information about the 2020 Leadership Northeast Missouri program will be available in January.

Program planning committee members for 2019 include: Carolyn Chrisman, Kirksville Regional Economic Development, Inc.; Kami Mohn, Northeast Missouri Electric Power Cooperative; Shari Schenewerk, Missouri Division of Workforce Development; Sue Goulder, Macon County Economic Development and Justin Hirniak, Truman State University.

About Northeast Missouri Development Partnership (NMDP)

NMDP is the regional economic development organization in northeast Missouri. NMDP has been in existence for more than 10 years. The main goals of NMDP are to increase capital investment in the region, create jobs and market the region for new business recruitment as well as retention and expansion of existing industry. Members of NMDP work together on legislative initiatives, labor studies, leadership development and other local and regional economic development projects.