Messer Presented With Leadership MT Award

The Elm event center, Bozeman MT, Leadership Montana presented Leslie Messer, Richland Economic Development Executive Director, with the Mike O'Neill Alumni Service Award on June 2. This award recognizes alumni service that supports the Leadership Montana program and/or alumni activities. The award recognizes a Leadership Montana Alum who uses their leadership skills, knowledge, and resources to benefit Leadership Montana. This year's awardee was nominated for her multiple acts of service to the organization this year.

Leadership MT overhauled the way they deliver the Gracious Space curriculum in the Flagship Program. They identified 20 out of our 56 alumni who are Gracious Space Certified Trainers to create a new training team. They met monthly over the last year to redesign the delivery of the Gracious Space lessons. Messer participated on the training team for the Learning in Public lesson and contributed greatly to the teaching with the Class of 2022 cohort. Her experience with Gracious Space at the county level, in her church, and in all her civic volunteer roles added so much value to the way our class members learned about the real-world applications of this leadership model.

Beyond her work teaching Gracious Space, she had a significant impact on the entire week the class was in her community. When the Program Coordinator, Anna Berg, had to care for her injured fiancé, Leslie stepped up, ensuring every tour, every speaker, and every experience in Eastern Montana was top notch. She went the extra mile in helping us secure local session sponsors. She embodied grace along with Leadership Montana's values of knowledge, collaboration, and civility to make this year's Flagship experience incredible for class members from statewide.

As if that wasn't enough, Leslie also served on the planning committee of the Women's Leadership Forum, a reflection of her continued commitment to and involvement with Leadership Montana after the end of her term on the Board of Governors.

Leadership Montana is very proud to award Leslie Messer, graduate of class of 2008, and Masters class in 2020, with the Mike O' Neill with this years Alumni Service Award.