Message from the Chair and President/CEO

Welcome to Leadership Arlington!

We work to develop trained leaders who are committed to building and strengthening our community. Initiated by the Arlington Chamber of Commerce in 1998 as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit, our organization fosters a sense of community, partnership, and collaboration that will motivate participants to become involved in Arlington’s future.

Leadership Arlington recently celebrated a completion of another banner year! The Class of 2009 was the 11th class to complete our Signature Program. The 40 graduates from the business, nonprofit, and public sectors will now be members of Leadership Arlington, which represents over 450 individuals and more than 400 area organizations. Each year, our members contribute more than 6,000 hours of service to our community.

Key milestones of our 11 years in the Arlington community include the following (for a full history, click here):

• 1998: Leadership Arlington is launched by the Arlington Chamber of Commerce as an independent nonprofit with a mission to enlighten, inspire, and connect leaders to strengthen the Arlington community.
• 1999: 32 leaders from business, industry, education, nonprofits, government, and civic organizations become the organization’s founding members.
• 2000: We plan for long-term sustainability by creating an endowment at the Arlington Community Foundation.
• 2003: On our fifth anniversary, with support from Freddie Mac and the Class of 2000, we launch the Leadership Arlington Youth Program.
• 2003: We create a strategic plan, which is updated annually.
• 2006: With the support of Verizon, we expand our program to include Ethics and Leadership.
• 2008: For our 10th anniversary, we introduce the ON BOARD! Non-Profit Board Member training program as a core component to our Signature Program, which helps train volunteer board members and maximize their effectiveness.
• 2009:  Leadership Arlington creates a Community Mind Trust in order to gather human capital in the Arlington community to help local organizations from all sectors--public, private and non-profit--weather the storm of challenging economic times.

Leadership Arlington is proud to celebrate leaders, like you, and we look forward to continuing to make a significant impact in our community. With the help of our members, we will continue to achieve our mission and to challenge others to become more active in Arlington ... one leader at a time.