The Closure of Leadership Victoria - Mark Crocker (ED)
I am writing to share significant news. The board of directors has made the difficult decision to close Leadership Victoria as a society. We are concluding our service to community leadership development effective June 30, 2022. This decision was finalized in response to significant financial and resourcing pressures our team faced due to the Covid pandemic.
First and foremost, I want to say how immensely honoured I have been to contribute to the long line of local leadership development by LV. We have graduated almost 400 leaders from our program over the past 22 years; I was thrilled to see our most recent celebration of local leaders at the 18th annual Victoria Community Leadership Awards. My conversations on the podcast with leaders from all 13 municipalities were a joy for me and I am grateful for the open rich conversations I participated in as a local leader. I met countless community leaders who were serving long before they intersected with our work and will continue serving long into the future.
I spoke with Mayor Lisa Helps this week and she shared some very kind words to honour our achievements:
“LV has had a tremendous impact on our community and has prepared so many leaders to navigate all the complex challenges we are facing as a community. My deep gratitude to all of those involved during this time."
- Mayor Lisa Helps
Lisa is but one in a long line of volunteers and I want to personally thank the countless people who have showed up to solve community issues in an open and collaborative way. Our program team, office volunteers, board support, podcast production, VCLA team members, writers, planners, facilitators, setter-uppers, and tear-down crew. To highlight one or two people is dangerous as I have so many people whom I appreciate, but I do want to share special thanks to Caroline Hudson who has supported our team well above and beyond her volunteer duties in countless ways.
To all our volunteers, you have inspired and encouraged me along the way, and I am grateful for your service to our community.
I also want to thank all our community partners. I know that community leadership stands at the interesting intersection of civil society, business, public service, and academia. I believe that complex community problems need to be owned by everyone and my interactions with countless community leaders from those sectors has only increased my belief in the collaborative nature of Victoria. It is important to me to highlight Volunteer Victoria and the Victoria Foundation who have been there with us from the beginning - I am so grateful for your generosity to me personally and your service to our community. We are all at one degree of separation from one another and that makes us stronger as a community.
Finally, I am so grateful to LV.
I have been given so much through this rich opportunity to lead local leadership and to connect with so many leaders. I have learned so much about leadership from my board chairs Curtis Smith and Sarah Hood – your leadership has influenced my own. Thank you for your generosity.
My life mission has been to help leaders grow and for many years I have said that leadership is often as simple as showing up first, working hard, having fun, and building community. We have so much to be proud of over our years of service in our community. I am so proud of our team, and I am grateful for the leadership legacy we have built for a stronger community.
I am looking forward to enjoying some time off this summer with my family. I hope you stay in touch. I welcome the opportunity for connection and collaboration.
Mark Crocker
Concluding ED of Leadership Victoria