Leadership Sandy Springs Kicks Off New Year

By Anne Boatwright

The Leadership Sandy Springs (LSS) class of 2015 launched its year of learning and connecting with a fiesta celebration on Sept. 3 at Heritage Sandy Springs with 125 alumni, board members, sponsors, staff, and founding member Ludovico “Ludi” Villanueva in attendance. Surrounded by this supportive presence, the 32 new class members came together to be welcomed at the kick-off event. Together, they represent diverse backgrounds with over 11 industry sectors.

Guest speaker Ann Cramer of Coxe Curry & Associates, a fundraising consulting firm serving nonprofit organizations, shared with attendees her insights from her vast experience on “building community.”

Following a long career as a corporate executive for IBM, Cramer has become well known for her leadership expertise in strategic planning, social responsibility and board involvement.

Her numerous accolades, both locally and nationally, include the prestigious “100 Most Influential Georgians” with Georgia Trend magazine and, more recently, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s first Business Civic Leadership Center Lifetime Award in Corporate Citizenship.

In her encouraging and inspirational remarks, she charged the new class to “Challenge the system through listening more closely, taking risks, asking hard questions and seeking new solutions, to collectively build a community that not only is caring but creates a future that we can believe in.”

The first event for the new class was a two-day, intensive retreat in the north Georgia mountains focusing on team-building, leadership style awareness, personality profiles, and problem-solving techniques. Robert Cahn of Cox Enterprises and Sara Curtis of The Leaders Lyceum led seminars, and the weekend concluded with a series of physical and mental challenges guided by North Carolina Outward Bound.

The class of 2015 members include:

• Josh Belinfante of Robbins Ross Alloy Belinfante Littlefield LLC
• Beth Boatwright of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
• Anne Boatwright of Leadership Sandy Springs
• Augustus Brown of Signature Bank of Georgia
• Craig Canedy of Muse for Life
• Ben Carlsen of Troutman Sanders LLP
• Alice Clark of Gas South
• Teri Eaton Cloud of Babush, Neiman, Kornman & Johnson, LLP
• Roxane Dimon of Cornerstone Bank
• Dr. Margaret Ehrlich of Georgia Perimeter College
• Stacey Hader Epstein, Community Volunteer
• Bret Giles of Georgia Power
• Tavia Holloway of Georgia State University
• Tammie Jenkins of HUBZU
• John Jokerst of Carter & Associates
• Jeff Lebow of The O’Keefe Group, Inc.
• Cheryl Lietz of Campbell-Stone Retirement Communities
• Brian Lunsford of Pond & Company
• Jack Misiura of ECI Group
• Mel Mobley of Lokey, Mobley & Doyle LLP
• Kristen Moody of Northside Hospital
• Rebekah Henry Murphy of Heritage Sandy Springs
• Sean O’Toole of UBS Financial Services
• John Paulson of Milliken Infrastructure Solutions
• Eddie Ruiz of North Springs Charter School of Arts and Sciences
• Pamela Smith of Smith Real Estate Services
• Ed Steele Jr. of Ebix
• Molly Welch of W Design Landscape
• Donald Willbanks of city of Sandy Springs Fire and Rescue
• Todd Williams of Georgia Property Group
• Kim Youmans of The Schenck School

(Photo: Leadership Sandy Springs class of 2015 at the completion of the ropes challenge of the retreat. Credit: Leadership Sandy Springs)