by President & CEO, Kris Valerio Shock

If you missed the LAA Holiday Party on Wednesday, December 15th at The Golf Club at South River, you missed a joyful and cozy evening of community leadership connections and celebration. 

Complete with festive holiday tunes by the Tritone Trio jazz ensemble (brought to us by FLG20 Eileen Mitchard) and presents under the tree for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County, LAA colleagues enjoyed festive fare and beverages and gathered inside and outside by the fire-pit. 

Nearly 100 attendees included 18 Lifetime Members, 14 Board Members and Maryland State Delegate Shaneka Henson. The current Flagship class was the class with the best attendance (22 present), followed by Flagship 2020 with 13 attendees.

Special thanks to Holiday Party Event Sponsors: 
Trustee Level – Deb Dillon (FLG16/ELS15, Board Member and Development Committee Chair) and Supporter Level sponsors – Hank Gundlach (FLG05, ELS10), Fidelity Investments (Perry Hepworth, FLG22), First Citizens (Patrick Cole FLG22 and John Goldthwaite FLG07)

Shout Out to the Event Committee: Trish Farrell (FLG17) and the FLG20 Trio: Kim Curry, Monica Rausa Williams and Eileen Mitchard. They are indeed a fun bunch.Why not join the Events Committee in the New Year?

As we wrap up the calendar year, we are at the midway point in LAA’s Fiscal Year. In this festive season, we pause briefly to reflect. We’ve launched a robust FLG22 Class with 46 Participants and received more than 30 NLA applications.  We will be confirming the class at the top of the year and kicking off the NLA Class of 2022 on January 22nd.

Thanks to all Collection Palooza Volunteers – The 2nd Annual Food Collection brought in nearly 3000 pounds of food, more than 200 sweaters and 16 successful blood donations (meaning up to 48 people will be impacted by the drive); Cash donations for #FeedAnne Arundel are still being tallied.

Special thanks to LAA Annual Leadership Partners:
Gold: Live! Casino & Hotel; Silver: M&T Bank; and Star: Severn Bank, Alta CPA Group, Liquified Creative, TMDL CPAs & Consultants

So the state of LAA is strong nearly two years into a global pandemic. Community leaders are needed more than ever and LAA is the critical nexus of community leadership in Anne Arundel County. There is much to be grateful for and much work to be done in the New Year. 

As we pause between calendar years, I hope you will consider how you might engage with LAA in the New Year. Whether you graduated from LAA years ago or you're thinking of applying for an upcoming class, there's a place for you in LAA.

If you're looking for a place to begin, join us for LAA101 on Friday, January 28th at 8:30am.   

The Next Signature Event is the New Leaders Breakfast – Save the Date: Wednesday, April 27th and stay tuned for the Call for New Leaders Nominations* early in the New Year. (*New in a leadership role in AA County – since April 2021)

If you are looking for an opportunity to expand your reach in 2022 with year-end funds, checkout the many Sponsorship Opportunities available here or contact us today to discuss sponsorship tailored to your specific passion for community leadership.

We look forward to working together in the New Year and in the meantime, we wish you great joy and some downtime over this holiday season. Stay safe!

Kris

Photos by Nyia Curtis (NLA21), Eye Opening Photography


Leadership Anne Arundel: Inspiring, developing and connecting local leaders since 1993.