2012 Leadership Summit – March 30

Leadership Blount and the Blount Partnership are proud to present the 9^th Annual Leadership Summit.  Titled “Ready Now” the Summit is a civic dialogue designed to identify ways to improve workforce resources by obtaining and maintaining a quality workforce through communication and collaboration with existing and prospective companies in Blount County.   

This year’s Summit will include:

Limited-attendance, half-day Summit, on Friday, March 30, 7:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., The Corporate Headquarters of Clayton Homes in the Jim Clayton Room located at 5000 Clayton Road, Maryville, TN.  Breakfast will be provided.

The Summit will begin with breakfast at 7:30 a.m. and move into a discussion on the various aspects of the importance, value and the challenges of obtaining and maintaining a quality workforce in Blount County. Attendees will then have the opportunity to break into groups to discuss the current state of our workforce talent,  what the talent needs are of existing employers, what ways can we be a more attractive “workforce ready” community for prospective and expanding employers and what can we do to improve the awareness of  our workforce talent.

Participation is by invitation only and attendance is limited to 75 participants.  To attend the 9^th Annual Leadership Summit, please complete the registration form below or email the information requested below to office@leadershipblount.com with “Leadership Summit” as the subject by 5:00 p.m., Monday, March 26, 2012.

Virginia Hardwick and Hannah Rials to receive the 2012 Leadership Blount Awards

Virginia Hardwick ’02 and Hannah Rials are the 2012 recipients of the Community Leadership Award and Youth Leadership Award. The Community Leadership Award was first instituted in 2000 by Leadership Blount. It recognizes individuals whose sustained actions and leadership reflect the commitment to life-long service that is promoted by Leadership Blount.  The Youth Leadership Award was created this year to honor an outstanding student-leader in our community.

Hardwick and Rials will be recognized at the annual Community Leadership Award Breakfast on Friday, April 20 at First United Methodist Church in Maryville. The breakfast will begin at 7:30 a.m.

Ms. Hardwick is an active community member inBlountCounty. She has spent a great deal of time working with such organizations as United Way, Habitat for Humanity, First United Methodist Church of Maryville, Leadership Blount, and the Maryville-Alcoa Rotary Club. Hardwick is currently serving as the Board Chair-Elect at the Blount County Chamber of Commerce.   She is a member of the Leadership Blount Class of 2002.

Although she has spent time with each of these organizations, her commitment does not end after her leadership roles are completed. She is very modest with her accomplishments and will usually talk about the cause that she is working towards before you will hear about her contribution. Her passion for these services keeps her involved in the community.

Throughout her local charitable, civic and religious sectors, she has taken on multiple leadership roles. Even in her daily work, Hardwick demonstrates her leadership skills. She is the area market development manager at StaffingSolutions. Nominated for the award by Candy Daugherty, she says that Virginiais “dependable, loyal, ethical, moral, honest, dedicated and a servant leader to those around her.” She has been a member of the President’s Club at StaffingSolutions numerous times. She is married to Doug Hardwick and has two daughters, Callie and Grace.

The inaugural recipient of the Youth Leadership Award, Hannah Rials, daughter of Tim and Becky Rials, is a sophomore at Maryville High School. She has been providing service to theBlountCountycommunity for the past 5 years.

Rials has worked with such organizations as New Hope Blount County Children’sAdvocacyCenterand Junior Service League. AtNew Hope, she was seen as a friendly, diligent worker who always had a positive attitude. While volunteering for Junior Service League, Hannah helped out with a couple of the fundraisers including Breakfast with Santa and the Pirates, Princesses, and Pals Breakfast. Her dedication to this service was seen through her interaction with the children and her willingness to dress up and join in on the festivities.

After being in girl scouts for 10 years, Rials was eligible to earn her Gold Award.  She organized Cirque Du Independence for The Gateway to Independence.  This was her second year to organize and host the dance for the Gate participants.  She said she could not have done it without the help of her wonderful and willing volunteers.

Hannah’s leadership skills do not only reachBlountCountybut they also have stretched to other parts of the country as well. After the hurricanes last year, a library in Upper Jay,New Yorkwas nearly destroyed including their children’s book section. In collaboration with New Hope Blount County Children’sAdvocacyCenter, Hannah helped put together a book drive. The money raised and numerous boxes of books were sent to the Wells Memorial Library to help restock their shelves.

Hardwick is the 13^th recipient of the Community Leadership Award, joining a distinguished list of previous honorees: Senator Doug Overbey, The late Harwell Proffitt, Tutt Bradford, Dean Stone, Dr. Sue Wyatt, Geraldine Upton, Joe Ingram, Gary Hensley, Joy Bishop, Fred Forster, Joe Dawson, and Rick Shepard.  Rials is the first recipient of the Youth Leadership Award.

To RSVP for the Community Leadership Award Breakfast, contact the Leadership Blount office at 984-9368, or email office@leadershipblount.com  before Friday, April 13, 2011.

Current Class Member Spotlight: Michael Hollenbach ’12

Michael Hollenbach ’12

What is your occupation? Financial Advisor at First Tennessee

What do you like to do when you are not working? Hopefully running to lose the extra weight I’ve gained during my winter hibernation!

Family? Kandi (my wife of 8+ years) Peter (6 years old) Lauren (4 years old)

How long have you lived or worked in Blount County? 7 years

What has been your favorite part of Leadership Blount so far? Nashville trip. This was my first time “seeing how sausage is made” and proved to be very fun.

What has been your biggest “WOW!” moment from your Leadership Blount experience so far? There have been a number of funny one-liners this year, but a recent favorite was when a female classmate started a conversation with David Lazar by saying “You were in my dream last night.” Let’s just leave it at that!

What one place should everyone visit in Blount County? Gregory Bald while the flame azaleas are in bloom

District Attorney General Mike Flynn ’02 to Speak on Meth Abuse Awareness

Blount County District Attorney General Mike Flynn ’02 (along with Joni Seratt from the Fifth Judicial Drug Task Force) are our speakers at a seminar on Meth Abuse Awareness, as part  of the Look, Listen and Learn – Blount County Substance Abuse Prevention Week at Pellissippi State Community College.

Friday, February 23

10:45 a.m.

West Auditorium, Pellissippi State Community College, Blount County Campus

Another Response to the Alumni Survey

60% of alumni who took the survey requested more alumni tours so the Alumni Committee got busy and scheduled one for this spring.

Alumni Tour of Coulter Grove Intermediate School

Thursday, March 1
4:00 – 6:00 p.m. 
  
A representative from Maryville City Schools will be on-hand.
Self-guided tour takes approximately 45 minutes. 
   
Post-tour Happy Hour at Aubrey’s   
 
Click here to RSVP

How to Start & Finance a Business to be at the Blount County Public Library

Starting a small business is one of the ways to provide employment if a person is without a job.  If you’ve wondered what types of entrepreneurial skills are required to start, finance and run a business, then you may be interested in a workshop offered by the Small Business Administration.

“How to Start and Finance a Business” will be presented by Jacqueline Merritt, Economic Development Specialist with the U. S. Small Business Administration, on Monday, February 13, at 7 p.m. at the Blount County Public Library.

Business planning is the foundation of starting a business, so the workshop will start with a pre business checklist.  To initiate the planning process, Merritt will introduce four main questions upon which entrepreneurs need to focus:

·         Where are you now?

·         Where do you want to go?

·         How do you plan to get there?

·         How will you know when you’re there?

These questions will revolve around the areas of money, management and marketing.

Characteristics of an entrepreneur will also be discussed, innate qualities that help to define success in starting and running a business.  Merritt will emphasize the importance of the team, and she will stress that individuals hire to their weaknesses as opposed to their strengths.  For example, everyone doesn’t need to be in sales because someone needs to be in the office handling payroll.

For Financing Your Business the SBA Way, the session will then transition into eligibility criteria for SBA loans inclusive of the 5 C’s of Credit (character, cash flow, collateral, capitalization and conditions).  After an overview of the SBA Loan Programs and the specific entrepreneurial need each one meets, the session will close with participants viewing a list of SBA lenders throughout the counties in Tennessee.

Jacqueline Merritt, the speaker for this workshop, has been employed with the Small Business Administration, since November 1989.  During her tenure with the federal government, Merritt served as a Business Opportunity Specialist for the 8(a) Business Development Division until February 2001.  In Merritt’s former capacity, she serviced East TN and Middle Tennessee 8(a) Companies.  Currently, Merritt is an Economic Development Specialist and is charged with marketing the agency’s programs and services in the East Tennessee area.

Free and open to the public, the program is at the Blount County Public Library, located at 508 N. Cusick Street, Maryville.

For further information about library programs or services, call the library at 982-0981 or visit the Web site at www.blountlibrary.org .  To sign up to receive a monthly calendar by email, type in your email address under “Programs and Events” on the Home Page.  Also check out Facebook at “Blount County Public Library” and Twitter at “Blount_Library”.

We asked. You spoke. We listened. Let’s act!

Leadership Blount sent a survey in January to all alumni about our program.

We asked.  You spoke.  We listened.  Let’s act!

Here is one great comment we received: Perhaps recognize any graduate for their accomplishments – either through social media, a handwritten note or emails.  (I realize this is more staff time – there just aren’t enough hours in the day.)

We agree!  Highlighting our graduates is so important!  We try to keep up with articles in the paper, etc., but you can help!

If you know of a graduate being honored, receiving recognition, doing great work, please email the information to katherine@leadershipblount.com.  We will re-post on our social media, send a note of congratulations, etc. to the best of our staff’s ability.