Seattle, WA (May 12, 2011) – Seattle University’s Albers School of Business and Economics is echoing through the community once again by hosting the second annual Red Winged Leadership Award. What began as a humble celebration in the Business School’s auditorium has blossomed into a large scale event that will bring together community leaders, business leaders and academics to help generate awareness of the amazing work that is being done by people in the Seattle community.
The award ceremony is the culmination of the Graduate Leadership Formation Certificate (GLFC) program, which is a total immersion course made up of a select group of graduate business students that are committed to embracing the different theories of leadership and where they intersect. The goal of the GLFC is to identify individuals in the Seattle community that symbolize the principles of leadership and recognize the best of these citizens at the award ceremony to be held on Thursday May 12, 2011. The students of the GLFC feel a profound sense of honor and responsibility to find and celebrating unsung business leaders in the community. As the correlation between business and social leadership increases the importance of giving visibility to those individuals that demonstrate a heightened competence in leadership is extremely important.
To help determine the three individuals that would be celebrated at this year’s Red Winged Award Ceremony, the students worked with Business School Dean Joseph Philips’ office and University President Stephen Sundborg’s office to help recruit a remarkable jury made up of members of the business community. They discussed several individuals that were selected by the students and nominated the three finalists. The jury was made up of:
Carolyn Kelly, former President and CEO of The Seattle Times
Patrick Yalung, Regional President of Community Banking at Wells Fargo & Company.
Tobin Burgess, Co-founder Evergreen3 and Sr. Manager at Microsoft
Dr. Gail Lasprogata, Associate Professor at Seattle University
This year’s Red Winged Leadership Award ceremony will be celebrating three amazing community leaders (Chris Fontana, Shana Greene and Danna Johnston) who have championed the values of business acumen, social justice and humanitarian efforts. Each of these individuals has made an everlasting and continuously growing imprint on our community.
Chris Fontana – Global Visionaries, www.global-visionaries.org
Chris empowers youth to become global community activists by teaching students from Seattle and Guatemala about leadership and sustainability. Those students are then empowered to go to Guatemala, visits communities to learn about the problems they face and apply their knowledge and skills to help develop sustainable solutions to those problems.
Shana Greene – Village Volunteers, www.villagevolunteers.org
Shana’s mission is to create a just world for all by helping rid the world of poverty, hunger and disease. Village Volunteers works in partnership with rural village and capacity-building programs to support the development of sustainable solutions for community survival, education, and growth in Kenya, India, Ghana, Nepal and Belize.
Danna Johnston – The Danna K Johnston Foundation, www.dannakjohnston.org
Danna focuses her efforts on the issues that confront today’s youth and distracts them from achieving their potential success. Through programs and mentorships offered through this foundation, youth learn the importance of education and making positive lifestyle choices.
This is a unique opportunity to help celebrate and support future leaders with the character and competence to address rising global business and social challenges by attending the Red Winged Leadership Award on May 12th at Seattle University, Campion Ballroom 914 E. Jefferson Seattle, WA 98122. The event is open to the public and all are encouraged to attend. For more information visit, www.seattleu.edu/albers/redwinged or connect on Facebook, www.facebook.com/redwinged.
Established in 1947, The Albers School of Business and Economics at Seattle University is home to over 1,900 graduate and undergraduate business students. Albers offers students undergraduate degrees in business and economics. In addition to our MBA for working professionals, we also offer graduate degrees in finance, international business, and accounting, as well as the Leadership Executive MBA. An Albers education is values-centered and prepares students for ethical and socially responsible leadership. Our undergraduate, MBA, and LEMBA programs are all nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report. The MBA and undergraduate programs are also nationally ranked by BusinessWeek. Albers is accredited by AACSB International, a distinction earned by only 5% of business schools world-wide. For more information, go to www.seattleu.edu/albers.
Seattle University, founded in 1891, is a Jesuit Catholic university located on 48 acres on Seattle’s Capitol Hill. More than 7,500 students are enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs within eight schools. U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Colleges 2010″ ranks Seattle University among the top 10 universities in the West that offer a full range of masters and undergraduate programs.
