President's Commentary

July 15, 2010
By: Bay Area Chamber of Commerce

Last week 25 business people and professionals graduated as part of the Leadership Bay County Class of 2010.

This was the 23rd class of Leadership Bay County, a program designed and managed by Your Bay Area Chamber of Commerce.

Leadership Bay County is a program designed to identify, inform and provide opportunities for aspiring leaders in our community.

Leadership Bay County aims to provide the knowledge and motivation needed to lead our community in the future. Knowledgeable and talented leaders are the vehicles by which positive change occurs in our community. They provide the vision, motivation and skill to plan for the future.

This exciting program begins in September with a two-day retreat at Higgins Lake. The retreat provides participants with a better understanding of leadership characteristics and the role of leaders. The Leadership retreat also provides participants an opportunity to learn a comprehensive system for understanding individual differences and tendencies, particularly participants own styles of leadership.

Full day sessions held during the ten month program included:

Agriculture in Bay County

History of the Bay Area

Human Needs & Services

Local & State Government

Economic Development

Education in Bay County

Public Safety & the Legal System

Arts & Culture

Natural Resources

Our keynote speaker at the Graduation Ceremony was Brad Kessel, Chief Operating Officer of Independent Bank and Chairman of the Board of Your Bay Area Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Kessel urged the graduating class to continue "to Learn, to Lead and to Serve."

He went on to say, "We have a choice to make, we can either shy away from the changing environment and challenges in front of us and let someone else address them - or we can take the lead and see these challenges and changing times as opportunities to make this a better community. To do that, you must take the knowledge you have gained thus far and put it to work. Now is the time to lead."
Congratulations to this great community's 25 new leaders!