OUR FLAGSHIP PROGRAM

CURRENT CLASS

My hope for Knoxville is that it will be a place that has embraced its future while honoring its past through stronger innovation, infrastructure, and a community that still values its connectedness. Since moving here in 2022 I have been amazed by how well people know each other from across disparate parts of the city - and that is also its greatest opportunity. As it welcomes new people who are not from Knoxville, there is much opportunity in the coming years for its community leaders to intentionally create spaces where newcomers and longtime residents build relationships, share in the city's traditions, and shape its future together. If Knoxville can preserve its sense of community while broadening who feels they belong, it will not only continue to grow - it will become an even stronger, more welcoming city for generations to come.

Knoxville's ability to be a larger city that still feels intimate is its best kept secret, particularly as we see Nashville's rapid expansion. Its proximity to local attractions that don't cause you to leave the area creates the opportunity for people living here to go as far away as Pigeon Forge and still feel a small town quality that would be unknown to those looking from afar. There is something in this mountain-adjacent town that often feels unshakeable to people visiting. I see this particularly in the families that send their students here and often choose to either relocate or get a second home. What begins as a visit frequently turns into a lasting connection. Knoxville has a way of making people feel like they belong before they ever consider calling it home. That sense of place - equal parts welcoming, authentic, and enduring - is perhaps its greatest asset and its best kept secret.

My personal and professional pathways have always been grounded in what derives from places where community and connections can thrive. An experience like Leadership Knoxville is most notable to me for how it can facilitate either the start of relationships or deepen existing ones. I would like to utilize those relationships to be helpful in all aspects of how Knoxville advances towards its future: involvement in local initiatives, service to community organizations, being connected to people throughout all parts of Knoxville. I believe communities are strengthened when people intentionally bridge sectors, perspectives, and neighborhoods in pursuit of a shared future. My hope is to be someone who not only participates in Knoxville's continued growth, but also helps connect the people and ideas that will shape what comes next.

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

Early in my career as a newer professional I worked with a dean of students, Ed Cowell. Ed's advice and disposition was that decisions didn't always need to be made quickly - even if people want you to believe there's a strong sense of urgency. Given the role of a dean of students, and sitting in that role now, I can truly understand the value of that advice. That was helpful guidance for knowing the importance of having intention and being deliberate. It was the perfect primer for reading Steven Sample's guidance to never make a decision that can't be reasonably put off to tomorrow.

I'd tell myself you have no idea where you'll be in five or ten years - and how much you will grow...and who you will grow with. Essentially, what you think you've come to figure out about what lies ahead is only shaped by what you know now. Get ready for things to change and that will be completely okay.