The Fountain Hills Leadership Academy (FHLA) held its orientation and opening ceremony for its incoming Class 9 on Thursday, Sept. 11, at the Fountain Hills Community Center.

15 participants were selected for this class through a rigorous application and interview process.

The 2025 class is a diverse group of emerging and experienced leaders, all of whom truly desire to learn more about Fountain Hills and find where to add their skills to continue improving the town, according to a press release. The Class 9 participants are Mike Baumgartner, Dee Brown, Tania C. Brown, Phillip Caldwell, Susan DeGennaro, Julie Ewald, Rob Hanford, Steve Hedden, Kerri Lowber, Catherine Mirick, Payton Sears, John Skewes, Holly Tate, Laura Tiebert and Kyle Tolis.

The FHLA program is offered through the non-profit I Love Fountain Hills and is designed to develop better-informed citizens. The eight-week course is an immersion into the town’s governmental processes, civic and community services, public safety and environmental management.

Classes are on Thursdays from mid-September through early November and the program will conclude with a graduation ceremony on Wednesday, Nov. 12.

The Planning Committee for the 2025 program was made up of Class 8 alumni, and the committee co-chairs, Peter Gallagher and Kaye Baumgartner, hosted the opening ceremony. The highlights of the evening included speeches from Fountain Hills Mayor Gerry Friedel and the Founder of the Leadership Academy, Dori Wittrig.

The Leadership Academy challenges participants to bring forth their leadership skills to help improve the community. During the course, participants will identify an issue or challenge that affects the Town of Fountain Hills and develop a project proposal that offers a solution.

These projects will be presented at the graduation ceremony in November. Several projects by previous classes have been implemented and continue to benefit the town. Among them are the Town’s Traffic Safety Committee, Vision Fountain Hills, Blue Zones, the Economic Development through Tourism Packages and the Falcon Job Fair that offers opportunities for high school students to find internships.

To learn more about the program, go to ilovefountainhills.org/leadership-academy/.

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