LEONARDTOWN, Md. – October 11, 2019 – On October 3, 2019, Leadership Southern Maryland’s Class of 2020 held its first of nine program sessions to learn about economic and workforce development in the tri-county region. The program was sponsored by the Calvert County Department of Economic Development and the Charles County Economic Development Department.  Ruthy Davis LSM ’14, director of regional workforce and business development for Tri-County Council of Southern Maryland was the advocate for the session and planned the day’s events.

The day opened at the Charles County American Job Center in Waldorf, Maryland where the class toured the mobile career center and heard from job service specialist supervisor, Cheryl Thorne of the Maryland Department of Labor.  The group then moved to Regency Furniture Stadium where they were welcomed by Southern Maryland Blue Crabs general manager, Courtney Knichel. This was followed by a panel discussion on economic development current hot topics with the economic development office representatives from Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary’s counties (Kelly Robertson-Slagle LSM’10, Marcia Keeth LSM’18, Chris Kaselemis).

The class then explored the topic of diversifying the local economy followed by a presentation on creating entrepreneurial communities by Wynne Briscoe, acting director for the southern region of the Small Business Development Center.  The day concluded with Davis along with Pam Wilkerson LSM’19 from the Tri-County Council of Southern Maryland briefing the class on meeting the region’s workforce development demands and soft vs. hard skills.

At the conclusion of the program day, the class traveled to the home of LSM board president, Sam Baldwin LSM’16 where they joined graduates and friends to celebrate LSM Homecoming.

Leadership Southern Maryland is a nine-month tuition-based program and is designed and dedicated to educate and inspire a diverse group of current and emerging leaders to create collaborations and partnerships to impact the community needs of Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary’s counties and incorporates a cross-section of the region to include diversity of geographic location, profession, ethnicity and gender.