INDIANAPOLIS — A nonprofit is helping shape the minds of leaders across Indianapolis.
Leadership Indianapolis announced the 47th class of the Stanley K Lacy Executive Leadership Series this week.
Many of the participants are presidents and directors of organizations that may be familiar to you — IU Health, Planned Parenthood, the Indianapolis Airport authority to name a few.
“One of the great successes of our community is the work that is done between our private and public sectors. SKL is a unique program that provides its participants the opportunity to learn about this partnership, to hear from experts, and to make sure we think about our future," this year's moderator, Juan Gonzalez said. "It is a great honor to be selected to be the Moderator of this class, to be the first Latino Moderator and to be able to share with them my experiences in our community. I am looking forward to being part of this incredible journey."
Gonzalez immigrated to Indiana from Colombia more than two decades ago.
At that time, he says language was a barrier because there was very little translated into Spanish.
“The composition of our community today is very different than when I came 24 years ago," he said.
Gonzalez came to complete his masters degree and stayed to be a Hoosier.
He serves KeyBank’s Market President for Central Indiana and is a graduate of the program himself, having participated in SKL Class XXXII.
As Moderator he will lead the class in exploring a range of issues facing Central Indiana and the role leaders can play in strengthening the community.
“I want everyone to understand how that affects housing and governance and healthcare, non for profit giving. All of those things that are important to us as citizens," he said.
The 10-month long program provides knowledge, connections and incentive to address and confront the needs of Indianapolis.
25 people will participate in the program, organized by Leadership Indianapolis and the Lacy Foundation.
These emerging leaders come from a broad range of industries like art, architecture, finance and government.
“That is an opportunity to get people from very different backgrounds, different sectors, different experiences, different perspectives all in the same room to think about how do we come together to address issues in the city," Leadership Indianapolis President & CEO Rebecca Hutton said.
Hutton is also the SKL Program Director and says the goal is to make sure there’s always a robust pipeline of community leaders ready to step up and take action.
She says it’s important it be multi-generational, multicultural and collaborative.
“Somebody who is in an industry that is very right brained like accounting, right, the numbers, they’re gonna approach something very differently than somebody who is from a creative sector. And the best and strongest solutions come from having both of those minds working on the issue to make sure that we’re balancing all of those perspectives," she said.
SKL began in 1976 to honor recognized young professional and Hoosier Stanley K Lacy.
Lacy died in a car accident in 1973 when he was just in his mid twenties.
The SKL series is keeping his memory alive today.
Meetings will be monthly from September through June.
You can learn more here.
