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The mission of Leadership Fond du Lac is to assist in the preparation of a strong, diverse group of leaders qualified to represent our communities and willing to make responsible decisions affecting both the public and private sectors.


The Program
Class of 2010/2011 dates
Leadership Fond du Lac application
Leadership Fond du Lac Class of 2009-2010
Volunteer Resource Guide for 2010 pdf
Donald G. Jones Leadership Alumni Award


The Program
Leadership Fond du Lac is a community-based program that provides information and experience to individuals willing to make a lasting commitment of service to the city and county of Fond du Lac.

Qualified applicants begin the nine-month program in September with an overnight retreat. Right away, the class starts on team building skills, and discusses how they can have an impact on the community through their group project. The class meets once a month to learn more about the community, its unique challenges and strengths, through presentations, role playing, tours and other activities. Classes prepare the leaders to fill roles that will contribute to a healthier, more vital community for many years to come.

Leadership Fond du Lac Participants are a diverse group of individuals from all sectors of the business community, with big titles or no title at all. They share one thing in common: a desire and willingness to commit to serving their community and a dedication to the power of teamwork.

Topics of Focus:

  • Team building
  • Fond du Lac County history
  • State and local government
  • Human services, social issues
  • Health care
  • Education
  • Business, economic development
  • Arts, diversity
  • Media
  • Boardsmanship

Class of 2010/2011 dates
(3rd Wednesday of the Month - 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.)  
(topics subject to change)

2010
September 10 & 11 Retreat at Heidel House, Green Lake
October 20  Local government
November 17 Boardsmanship
December 15  Human services, social issues
 
2011
January 19 Education
February 16  State government day - trip to capitol
March 16  Health care
April 20 Business, economic development
May 18 

Arts, diversity (last meeting day)
Graduation dinner in the evening

  

Application Process

Participants in the program must be 18 years of age and live or work in Fond du Lac County. Attendance is required for all classes.

Tuition for the program is $1,200. Tuition must be paid in full, due upon acceptance into the program. (Limited tuition assistance may be available).

To apply contact the Fond du Lac Association of Commerce office for an application, or download the application and return to:
Lesley Manowske, Director of Leadership Fond du Lac, 207 N. Main St., Fond du Lac, WI 54935

An interview is part of the application. Qualified applicants will be contacted to set up an appointment. Application deadline is July 10, 2010.

Download Leadership Fond du Lac application in PDF format.


Leadership Fond du Lac Class of 2009-2010

Volunteer Resource Guide for 2010 pdf

This useful guide features the skills/experience, interests, and contact information for the Leadership Fond du Lac Alumni.

            

Carol Hyland
2010 recipient of the Donald G. Jones Leadership Alumni Award

The award was presented to Carol Hyland at the Leadership FDL Graduation on May 19, 2010, by AC Board Chairman Mark Lentz.

This award recognizes the efforts of a Leadership alumnus for his or her efforts to the Fond du Lac area through volunteer service and leadership.

Modest and self-effacing, the 2010 recipient of the Donald G. Jones Leadership Alumni Award is one of those people who are uncomfortable with accolades. Yet if you spend any time at all getting to know Carol Hyland, you realize that this is a woman who leads by example, sets a very high standard and quietly gets the job done.

The award has been presented annually since 2001, recognizing a Leadership grad for the work they’ve done to improve their community through volunteering and employing leadership skills. The award’s namesake is a former area businessman who played a major role in founding and supporting the Leadership Fond du Lac program.

Hyland is president and CEO of Consultants Laboratory of Wisconsin, a position she’s held since 1999 with an organization she’s worked for since arriving in Fond du Lac with husband Bob in 1972.

Hyland credits her year in the Leadership program – she was a member of the class of 2002 – for jump-starting her community involvement. Her Leadership team created the Children’s Museum – a massive project and major accomplishment.

“Before Leadership,” Hyland said. “I thought volunteering was for ‘all those other people.’ It made me realize – through learning about the community – that there was a lot that I could do.”

The Children’s Museum, in fact, opened Hyland’s eyes to just how much impact she could have by volunteering.

“I saw how things work, how to get things done, whose shoulder I could tap on,” she said.

Since then, Hyland jumped in with both feet, and then some. The ink was barely dry on her Leadership diploma before she was asked to join the board of FAVR. She was at the table when FAVR merged with Bethany House to become the Solutions Center.

“That was a lot of work,” Hyland remembers. “I learned quickly there are two kinds of boards – working boards and consulting boards. FAVR was definitely a working board.”

Today, the list of Hyland’s volunteer commitments is staggering. She’s on the Beacon House Foundation Board, the Hazotte Ministries Board (an arm of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Agnes), the United Hearts for Health Committee (as treasurer), member of the Women’s Fund Board and the Leadership Fond du Lac Board and fills in all those spare hours by helping out at St. Mary’s Springs Academy.

It was another AC connection – her years serving on the Association of Commerce Board of Directors, including serving as chair in 2007 – that Hyland says took her volunteer experience to another level.

“The AC board opened my eyes to the pulse of the business community,” she said. “I learned so much.”

When asked what advice she’d give to the Leadership Class of 2010, Hyland doesn’t hesitate:

“Get involved right away. What you’ve learned will mean so much more if you get out and use it. Fond du Lac needs young leaders. Your employers expect you to use this new knowledge.

“There is so much you can do,” Hyland said.

Spoken like a woman who knows what she’s talking about.

Former recipients of the Donald G. Jones Leadership Alumni Award are: Scott Wittchow, Action Advertiser; Paul Osterholm, Marian University; the Rev. Mary Council-Austin; Jennifer Walters, Aurora Health Center; Lindee Kimball, Solutions Center; Jim Neumann, RB Royal, Inc.; Lisa Mader, National Exchange Bank & Trust; and Kathy Strong-Twohig, Habitat for Humanity.

 

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