Fellowship Enhances Leadership Skills
By Kalei Stern, director of external relations for the Omidyar Fellows program
We live in a place where limited resources are a concern, but we are blessed with abundant talent and capacity for incredible leadership in the 21st century.
Launched in April 2012 by Hawaii Leadership Forum, the Omidyar Fellows program was founded to equip our emerging leaders with the skills needed to affect positive, lasting change in Hawaii.
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When Alexander & Baldwin purchased the Kawamoto properties in ruin along Kahala Avenue, the community was quietly grateful that the new owner was a locally owned company with a history of respectful development.
Omidyar Fellow Lance Parker, senior vice president at Alexander & Baldwin, was behind that deal, as well as the purchase of Kaneohe Ranch’s Kailua portfolio. Committed to his Hawaiian roots and with deep respect for our land, Lance’s leadership shapes not only the communities of Kahala and Kailua, but will reach all of us. His innate talents have been honed by Hawaii’s top emerging leaders through the Omidyar Fellows program.
This summer, Lance will take on unfamiliar terrain when he embarks upon an individual learning excursion as part of the Omidyar Fellows curriculum that challenges him to climb a mountain, both literally and figuratively.
The Omidyar Fellows program was founded not only to build better leaders, but also to cultivate, train, educate and provide them with the relationships necessary to make a positive, lasting impact in Hawaii. Each cohort, made up of 12-15 leaders in sectors that include government, nonprofit, business and more, follows a custom 15-month curriculum. Omidyar Fellows complete the program as a team of insightful, collaborative innovators; thus, the program beneficiary is not only the fellow and his or her employer, but our state as a whole.
Lance’s journey to Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro will challenge him, but more importantly, it will force him to set his sights on a goal and emerge a stronger leader, better prepared for the work ahead and helping to bring forth the next generation of leaders for our state. To join Lance as an Omidyar Fellow or to sponsor a Fellow from your organization, visit omidyarfellows.org. Applications for the third cohort are due June 30.
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