Leadership Pasadena Names New Executive Director, Announces Course for Veterans

L-R: John Chou, Kathleen O’Sullivan, Heather Brunold and Carrie Walker

 

Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse Pasadena hosted a private reception Tuesday night for Pasadena area leaders at a Leadership Pasadena event which saw several major announcements.

 

“Thanks to Ruth’s Chris Pasadena management we provided 50 area leaders important to LP a gracious reception conducive to dialogue and learning. Ruth’s Chris is a generous corporate citizen for Pasadena,” according to Board Member Cindy Bengtson.

 

L-R: Trity Pourbahrami, Cindy Bengston, Bill Bogaard, Carla Buigues, and Rodney D Wallace

 

Leadership Pasadena announced it has identified a significant opportunity to serve those in the Pasadena area who have demonstrated they are prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country — military service veterans.

In statement, Leadership Pasadena said it believes “there is a huge untapped leadership potential within newly returned veterans, Guard and Reserve personnel. The transition from active military duty to civilian life can pose unique and unexpected challenges- leaving many veterans without the resources to achieve their immense potential to lead and serve again. As a result, communities miss a tremendous chance to have a once service and mission driven population engage within the communities where they live and work.”

 

“We have a truly life changing opportunity to make a difference to our service members and in turn for that service member to make a difference to our community,” according to Leadership Pasadena Board member Lisa Raggio.

 

L-R: Tom Coston, Sarah Brandon, Caral Buiges and Tom Selinske

 

“We will partner with Leadership Pittsburgh  — identified as a ‘best practice’ program by the Department of Veterans Affairs — to bring their award winning Community Leadership Course for Veterans to the Pasadena area. Leadership Pittsburgh and the Heinz Endowment spent two years on targeted research and now have two years of actual implementation of their veterans program so we have an excellent model to follow. We are thrilled to have this amazing invitation to adapt their program to reflect the Pasadena community,” Raggio said.

 

L-R: Cindy Bengtson, Enrique Robles and Lisa Raggio

 

The Leadership Pasadena course is designed to increase the veteran’s knowledge and understanding of the Pasadena area; sharpen and deploy their existing leadership skills in service to Pasadena; open doors to expand and diversify their network which will help with career advancement and building a civilian social community. They will interact in meaningful ways with other local military veterans, who they may not have previously known; and increase their positive and productive community involvement and engagement.

 

In order to focus on enhancing the core Leadership Pasadena program, increasing funding for scholarships as well as build the new veterans’ course, LP Board Chair Martha Shenkenberg announced that Board member Cynthia Bengtson will become the volunteer Executive Director for Leadership Pasadena.

 

L-R: Carolina, Martha, Bill Bogaard, Cynthia Kurtz and Maurico Mejia