2012 Geneva College MSOL/Serving Leaders Conference

On April 19, 2012, over 480 folks from the Greater Pittsburgh area met together at the Marriott Inn North in Cranberry Township for this year′s Geneva College/MSOL Serving Leaders Conference. Among those in attendance were nearly 100 MSOL students and alumni. They all came to be challenged and encouraged to apply the principles of serving leadership in their lives and workplaces.

In support of that outcome, keynote speakers Dan Cathy, President of Chick-fil-A and Mark Miller, V.P. of Organizational Effectiveness at Chick-fil-A gave the audience two inspiring and thoughtful messages regarding their perspectives on serving leadership and how they implement it in their organization. John Stahl-Wert, President of Serving Leaders, along with colleagues Lisa Slayton and Rick Wellock, led two workshop sessions focused on developing values that align with personal and organizational goals.

Ms. Kim Tillotson Fleming, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hefren-Tillotson, Inc. received this year′s Serving Leader award. Upon receiving the award during the conference, Kim shared how important the principles and behaviors of serving leadership are to her and to the way in which her company operates.

The feedback from those in attendance was especially positive. The following are just a few of the many written comments that we received:

"Dan Cathy and Mark Miller made the concepts come alive for me. Hearing stories about how they did things and how they worked and didn′t work was very valuable."

"The speakers [were] engaging. I also appreciated the addition of the table activities and actionable takeaways."

"So much great stuff! My ‘light bulb moment′ was seeing that true values are a lifestyle, not a commitment of convenience."

"Dan Cathy and Mark Miller were superb. They provided a fresh, distinctly Christian perspective."

The purpose of this conference is "to serve individuals and organizations in Western Pennsylvania by equipping them in serving leadership and connecting them to like-minded partners."

We are so thankful for the opportunity to provide such an experience to such a diverse group of people and organizations. We are also very grateful to our corporate sponsors for their generous support without which the conference could not take place. We are already working on next year′s conference and trust that many more MSOL students and alumni, along with many others from the region, will be able to attend.

A Word From Dr. Dittmar:

If you haven′t done so already, pleasesubscribe to our MSOL Alumni listserv. It′s an effective communication toolthat deliversvaluable information such as job opportunities, networking events and timely announcements.

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Jim Dittmar, Ph.D., Chair
Department of Leadership Studies
Geneva College