The Ottumwa Leadership Academy recently celebrated its third year of success with the annual graduation ceremony held on June 10th at the Hotel Ottumwa.  The graduation ceremony is the culmination of a year full of knowledge, networking and a lot of hard work.  Not only do participants attend a full day session each month for 10 months, they are also part of a team which works outside of class to develop a project which is presented in its final form at the graduation ceremony.

The keynote for the event was given by Randy Zorn (pictured left), Plant Manager for Cargill Meat Solutions, who provided graduates his personal insight on leadership and who further challenged them to take all that they have learned over the past year and go out and put it to use in their community.  Executive Director Hollie Tometich thanked outgoing Dean Sue Meadows for all her insight and commitment over the past year and announced that the Dean for the 2015-2016 year will be Tom Rubel.

The Ottumwa Leadership Academy is a 10-month, tuition-based academy that provides participants with a detailed over-view of Ottumwa and Wapello County with targeted leadership development strategies and skill development. With the mission to develop effective leaders for the betterment of our community, the organization strives to educate, empower, encourage and engage its participants in civic and community service and leadership.  Applications are now being accepted for next year’s class and can be accessed here: O.L.A. Application 2016 or for more detailed information about the program, please visit their website at www.leadottumwa.org.

Please join us in congratulating graduates from this year’s class (pictured below), which include:  Brent Baker, Dawn Benedict, Jill Budde, Leila Disburg, Sheila Fetter, Allie Gardner, Brandon Gee, David Howard, Ashley Johnson, Branndi Kraushaar, Wesley Krenz, Amanda McBirnie, Shane Molyneux, Ashley Noreuil, Barbara Sandstrom, Eric Sundermeyer, Stacy Wasson, and Mike Wright.