Partnership revives leadership program for professionals
Focusing on mid-level and senior-level professionals, the program offers seminars and activities aimed at building awareness of key issues.
STAMFORD — An economic and community development nonprofit is relaunching its Leadership Fairfield County professional-development program that had been run by The Business Council of Fairfield County for 28 years until it shut down in the spring.
Officials at Stamford Partnership said they were reviving the program because of its popularity and due to a need to cultivate professionals who can lead economic and development efforts, as well as the local response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Focusing on mid-level and senior-level professionals, the program offers seminars and activities aimed at building awareness of key issues, including the economy, environment, education and transportation and developing skills such as leadership and problem-solving.
Cynthia Lyon, who has managed Leadership Fairfield County for the past six years, will return as its director.
“Any region needs to have a leadership program to make sure the people coming through their careers and who are going to have an impact on the region understand where they are,” Lyon said in an interview. “And there are a lot of unique characteristics to Fairfield County.”
Since its first class in 1992, Leadership Fairfield County has cumulatively served more than 450 executives from more than 165 companies, nonprofits and government agencies before the Business Council shut down in March.
Program alumni include eight Stamford Partnership board members. Vice Chairwoman April Condon, a real estate partner at law firm Day Pitney, will lead the committee overseeing the program.
“The training I received from Leadership Fairfield County prepared me to immediately and effectively serve various vital, nonprofit community organizations serving Fairfield County, including the Stamford Partnership,” Condon said in a statement. “The Partnership is very fortunate to be continuing the legacy of excellence and positive impact that the Business Council built with this program.”
Leadership Fairfield County is open for applications, with Lyon recommending that they be filed by the end of this month. Applicants must be nominated to be accepted. Each class generally includes no more than one person from a given organization.
“We are mindful to have a balance of perspectives in the class in terms of what firms people are coming from, so there’s as much as diversity and breadth that we can get in the class,” Lyon said.
Some of the area’s largest employers are nominating employees. Shipping-andmailing firm Pitney Bowes, which was one of the program’s original financial supporters in the early 1990s, has endorsed Esra Elshafey, associate manager of its global corporate citizenship and philanthropy initiatives.
“I am thrilled and grateful to be nominated for the 2021 Leadership Fairfield County program,” Elshafey said. “With our community facing critical needs this year, the program is an opportunity for me to learn about the regional issues that affect Fairfield County and Connecticut, to build connections that will expand my personal and professional network and to develop leadership and problem-solving skills to support and drive positive change in our community.”
Professional-services firm KPMG is among the other companies that plan to make a nomination.
“Leadership Fairfield County is an excellent program to build strong civic leaders who understand our market,” Allan Colaco, KPMG’s Stamford office managing partner, said in a statement. “The Stamford Partnership relaunch is particularly timely given the economy and the need to respond to and recover from COVID-19.”
A total of 30 applicants will be selected for the 2021 class, which is set to start in February. The program will restart virtually, with the goal of resuming on-site learning when it is safe to do so.
“For using Zoom, we can do team-building and spend more time working on personal-leadership development,” Lyon said. “We’ll be experimenting with how to add that into the program in the first few months and then carry that forward when we can get back to ‘real-life’ experiences. It will be an exciting time for the program.”