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Leadership Hoover welcomes 34 people into sixth class

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Photo by Jon Anderson

Photo by Jon Anderson

Photo by Jon Anderson

The Leadership Hoover organization today welcomed its sixth class in a meet-and-greet breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel.

The new class includes 34 people from a variety of fields and industries, including education, government, law, hospitality, health care, religion, advertising, financial services, real estate, nonprofits and utilities.

The goal of Leadership Hoover is to gather together a group of leaders and emerging leaders who are interested in expanding their leadership skills, deepening their sense of civic responsibility, becoming more involved in helping the community and learning about Hoover’s issues and needs.

The group typically meets once a month to explore different facets of life in Hoover, but first the new class will go through a team-building retreat in September at the McDowell Conference and Retreat Center in Winston County.

In October, the class plans to focus on public safety, likely hearing from leaders in Hoover’s police, fire and emergency communications departments and touring facilities such as a Hoover fire station, the Hoover Jail, the Police Department’s new Frank and Pam Barefield Training Center and the National Computer Forensics Institute.

In November, the focus will be on education (K-12 and postsecondary), and in December, the group will hear from city, county and state government leaders.

In January, the class will examine economic development, and then in February, the focus will turn to Hoover’s diversity with a “one community day.”

The class in March will examine small businesses and entrepreneurs and in April will analyze various things that add to Hoover’s quality of life, such as park facilities and the Hoover Public Library.

The nine-month effort concludes in May with a graduation ceremony and presentation of projects the various groups have undertaken. Each group typically by December must identify and have approved a project they want to tackle to help improve life in the city.

The fifth Leadership Hoover class took on projects dealing with fighting fraud, revitalizing a city park, supporting the Riverchase Career Connection Center, keeping residents informed of happenings, and building a database of amenities in the city.

Leadership Hoover’s executive director from last year, Lori Leonard, left in the spring to take a job as director of marketing for the Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau. Jennifer Whisenant, executive director for the Birmingham Automobile Dealers Association and a member of the Leadership Hoover board of directors, is serving as interim executive director for the Hoover group.

This morning, Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato welcomed the new class and gave a brief overview of some of the city’s current initiatives, including efforts to lure some type of health care facility to the former Sears building at the Riverchase Galleria and negotiations with the owner of the Patton Creek shopping center to potentially build a performing arts center as part of the planned redevelopment at Patton Creek.

Kenneth Cox, a 2020 graduate of Leadership Hoover, shared with the new class about what Leadership Hoover meant to him.

Cox, a Ross Bridge resident who is an associate athletic director at Birmingham-Southern College, said when he was first asked if he would be interested in being a part of Leadership Hoover, he didn’t understand why someone would have recommended him for it. He and his wife are from North Carolina and have not been in Hoover long, he said.

But he agreed that newcomers such as himself can contribute to the growth and development of the city and provide different perspectives.

Photo by Jon Anderson

Going through Leadership Hoover was an incredible experience for both him and his wife, who was in the Leadership Class of 2022, he said.

“Leadership Hoover allowed us to grow and broaden our experiences beyond what we could ever imagine,” Cox said. “That team helped push me to become a better version of myself. … This is a room full of incredible people that will help sharpen each other, that will help lift each other up, that will help push each other beyond what you can imagine.”

The 34 members of the sixth class of Leadership Hoover are:

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