Good News Friday!

For several years now, Imagine! has selected employees annually from across our organization to participate in a Leadership Development Program. The purpose of Imagine!’s Leadership Development program is to provide a coordinated platform that strategically develops talent within Imagine! to address the company’s leadership needs for the future.

The program is designed to educate employees (participants) about the complexities of the organization and to assist management in learning about people with talent that may be good matches for leadership roles. The Leadership Development program also allows participants to learn important processes, skills, and offers opportunities to develop and promote leadership skills.

We’ve just transitioned from the 2011 – 2012 Leadership Development Group (LDG) to the 2012 – 2013 LDG, so I thought today would be a good time to highlight both groups.

The 2011 – 2012 LDG finished their participation in the program with a bang, presenting to the Imagine! Executive Team their Business Proposal: "Is There a Place for Imagine!? Assistive Technology for Seniors." This was a very thought provoking presentation and business plan discussing the opportunities that exist to use technology to expand Imagine!’s services to include seniors, building on our already solid knowledge base and experience using technology to serve individuals with one or more developmental disabilities.

Thanks and congratulations to (pictured from left to right) Kari Devine, from Imagine!’s CORE/Labor Source department; Jeff Near, also from CORE/Labor Source; Jenna Corder, from Imagine!’s Case Management department; Amanda Ripley, from Imagine! Behavioral Health Services; and Erika Alvis, also from CORE/Labor Source. Your hard work, dedication, and new ideas are much appreciated.

And now the torch is being passed. Please join me in welcoming the 2012 – 2013 LDG (pictured from left to right): Molly Beyer, from Imagine!'s Family Support department; Claire Findlay, also from Family Support;  Nicole Bernard, from Imagine!'s Case Management department; Kim Holman, from Imagine!'s IT department; John Ripley, from Imagine!'s Innovations department; and Lindsay Hourigan, from Imagine!'s CORE/Labor Source department.

This year we had more applications to join this group than ever before, and the quality of the applicants was outstanding. The LDG reviewing team had some very difficult choices to make, and I believe they have selected a group of very strong participants. I am looking forward to another productive year!