People’s Trust is proud to announce the 2021 cohort for its inaugural Emerging Leader Program. The Emerging Leader Program aims to provide high-caliber employees with the opportunity to engage in a high-touch transformational experience focused on career and leadership development at both the intrapersonal and professional levels. Through discovery, exploration, and development, participants will attain skills that will differentiate them as business professionals and leaders. On the topic of leadership, Interim President/CEO Steve Branstetter said, “It is critical to cultivate the leaders of tomorrow within the credit union movement and within People’s Trust. We aim to ensure that credit unions will be here providing high quality products and services to our members for generations to come.”
Six candidates were selected for the inaugural Emerging Leader Program including: Bridgette Calvillo, Director of Branch Operations; Maria Garcia, Compliance Representative; Keary Miller, Virtual Branch Expert; Tavia Solari, Virtual Branch Expert; Kilian Tolleson, Infrastructure & Security System Technician; La Kesha Wesley, Collector.
Applications were submitted by employees who have a desire to become leaders within the organization and were selected based on an essay, a letter of recommendation provided by their manager, previous appraisal ratings, and recognition received over the last year. Senior Vice President of HR & Education/Chief HR Officer, Ebony McGowen stated, “In my almost 14 years at People’s Trust, this program is the first of its kind. The Emerging Leader program has been created with the full desire of investing in our employees. I am grateful for being able to offer such a rich program that will result in positive credit union influencers. With a year in the making, the inaugural cohorts are destined to be our future leaders.”
The Emerging Leader Program will be run by Marsha Needham, Assistant Vice President of Education & Development, beginning this month, and will conclude in February of 2022. In developing the program, Needham said, “I am obsessed with learning and development because it drives strategy and culture.” She continued, “Developing and allowing potential leaders to be leaders gives them the ability to look towards the future. The program gives them tools to execute on tasks that are being asked of them and be the catalyst to change and improve the company's culture.”
The program will consist of monthly workshop sessions with coursework between sessions. The workshop sessions are meant to introduce participants to leadership concepts followed by open and honest conversations about putting them into practice. Coursework between sessions will be a practical application of the learned concepts, using them in their everyday work lives. Graduates will be showcased at the 2022 LEAD (Learn, Experience, Aspire, Develop) Annual Staff Meeting and the Emerging Leader Program will kick off for its second year.
