Leadership Development Program a Resounding Success
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“It exceeded all my expectations!”
“This program was incredible. I am so glad I was able to connect with my peers who are equally inspired and motivated. I love my new class and look forward to maintaining lifelong friendships.”
Over Columbus Day Weekend, SALDEF hosted its third annual Leadership Development Program (LDP), under its ground-breaking SikhLEAD initiative. This class of 18 talented and motivated young Sikh leaders was selected from an impressive pool of applicants from across the country. These SikhLEADers come from 10 different states. They are diverse in their life experiences and intellectual pursuits including law, politics, medicine, business, engineering, journalism, social justice, media and academia. Over the course of this first of the two long weekends of the program, the new class of SikhLEADers participated in a series of activities to help identify and articulate their passion, recognize their strengths, and build a stronger sense of identity as individuals and as a group. The program provides training and opportunities for participants to lead change, build partnerships and network with community leaders. In addition to the panelists and speakers otherwise, this year’s LDP class had the special opportunity to engage with Fauja Singh Ji, the world’s oldest marathon runner (102 years old!). He shared his inspirational story of perseverance and unity throughout the weekend with the participants.
See a Slide Show of LDP Participants!
“I am impressed by the talented pool of leaders we are developing through SikhLEAD”, said SALDEF Executive Director Jasjit Singh. “We are fortunate to have such passionate young minds working towards the progress of our community and we are excited to see the great things they will accomplish.” SALDEF would like to give a special thank you to Mr. Craig Bowman of Common Ground Consulting for his partnership with development and execution of the LDP program. SALDEF is indebted to several community leaders and pioneers who provided their valuable time to serve as panelists and guest speakers during the program, including:
- Sardar Fauja Singh, World’s oldest Marathoner
- Ms. Harmeet Kaur Dhillon; Managing Partner, Dhillon and Smith LLP
- Ms. Sona Rai; Director of Media Relations at CreativeFeed and SALDEF Board Member
- Dr. G.P. Singh, former CEO, Karta Technologies
- Dr. Jaideep Singh, published historian and SALDEF Co-Founder
- Mr. J.J. Singh; Legislative Advisor to US Senator Christopher Coons
- Dr. Prabhjot Singh; Director at the Earth Institute and Assistant Professor at Columbia University
LDP was funded through generous support of community members across the country and the following sponsors: Comcast, Ik Manzil, and Southwest Airlines. To learn more about how you can support the SikhLEAD initiative, click here.
