According to the Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce, the inaugural class of Leadership West Kentucky, a new regional leadership development program sponsored by the West Kentucky Chamber Alliance, was recently launched with 30 participants from throughout western Kentucky.
Members of Leadership West Kentucky live or work in the counties represented by the West Kentucky Regional Chamber Alliance including Ballard, Caldwell, Calloway, Carlisle, Christian, Crittenden, Fulton, Graves, Hickman, Livingston, Lyon, Marshall, McCracken and Trigg. All 14 counties have representation in the program, which was created to promote regionalism and build a network of informed citizens across community lines.
The desired outcome is to instill pride in the region and focus on encouraging participants to be active in their region and community, according to the chamber.
TVA is the presenting sponsor of the program. The Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce serves as the administrator for WKRCA and is coordinating this new leadership program through its Leadership Center. Curriculum will include leadership development, education on issues facing the region, relationship building and awareness of the attributes and uniqueness of each county.
Caldwell County is represented by Jay Campbell with Fredonia Valley Bank and Joe Pelletier with the Rogers Group.
“We hope the first class of participants of Leadership West Kentucky will return to their communities and companies with increased skills, knowledge, perspective and a new region wide professional network,” said Sandra Wilson, Paducah chamber president.
“These leaders will have the resources to be better prepared to be catalysts in their companies and communities to further the region. “
The class has a two-day orientation in Paducah in January and will meet monthly through May in locations throughout the region. The one-day sessions will focus on a featured community as well as regional topics such as transportation, education, economic development, quality of life, advocacy, agriculture and tourism. In February, the class will focus on Lyon/Caldwell counties, in March will meet in Murray, in April in Fulton/Hickman counties and will graduate at the final session to be held in Hopkinsville in May.
