It seems to be the season for graduation and change, and it’s no different for the 2009 Leadership Portland class, who graduated into Alumni-hood today. I went to the event at NW Natural, who graciously hosted the event, and was sincerely blown away by the amazing community projects the class put together.

Broken up into 6 teams, the 34 member class was give the charge of benefiting a community nonprofit with a project. The nonprofits who garnered the support from the teams were Open Meadow, Hands On Greater Portland, Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland, Young Entrepreneurs, Friendly House and Sowing Seeds of Success. From generating marketing concepts to creating a program gives kids needed dental services, all the projects gave back to the community in a meaningful way.

Congratulations, graduates. Thank you to the Portland Business Alliance for continuing such an important program for leaders, and the member companies who sponsored the class participation. Also, a big thank you goes out to the Leadership Portland Program Committee, made up largely of past graduates, who help put on the program days throughout the year.

Introducing the Leadership Portland Class of 2009:

Mayra Arreola, OAME; Ann Berryman, OMSI; Jeff Borlaug, Norris, Beggs & Simpson; Kacia Brockman, Energy Trust of Oregon, Kristen Brown, NW Natural; Rebecca Brown, Comcast; Toni Carlo, United Way of Columbia-Willamette; R.J. Cervantes, Office of Multnomah County, Commissioner Deborah Kafoury; Bill Christensen, Portland Trail Blazers; Michelle Correll, Wells Fargo; Sarah Crooks, Perkins Coie; Shuki Einstein, CH2M HILL; Jennifer Ewell, Knowledge Learning Corporation; Lisa Fajardo-Faust, Pacific Continental Bank; Caroline Harris Cowne, Tonkon Torp LLP; Dana Haynes, Portland Community College; Margie Humphreys, Portland Center for the Performing Arts; Lisa Hylton, Willamett University for MBA Professionals; Craig Johanson, Hitachi Consulting; Leanne Johnston, Elliott Associates, Inc.; Brandon Kirkbride, Bank of America; Elizabeth Knight, Dunn Carney Allen Higgins & Tongue, LLP; David Lippoff, Edelman; Anthony Miller, Stepping Stone Solutions; Lexie Mobley, Consolidated Federal Credit Union; Stephanie Morgan, American Red Cross Oregon Trail Chapter; Kari Nordquist, ACME Business Consulting, LLC; Matthew Norman, Fortis Construction Inc.; Jeon Resvani, Con-way; Veronica Rinard, Travel Portland; Ryan Robinson, Oregon State University Foundation; Gregory Saliba, Capital Pacific Bank; Jeffery Savage, Wells Fargo, Stan Sittser, Portland General Electric; Dana Tierney, Regence; Cyrus Vafi, US Bank.