01/29/2024
Give a big welcome to the 2024 Executive MNR cohort! XMNR Students and faculty met for the first class weekend at our campus in Arlington, VA. Highlights of the weekend include sessions on sustainability systems + strategies + leadership communications, dinner at the home of professor Holly Wise, and an expert panel with sustainable development professionals facilitated by professor Gary Barrett:
▫ Aleta Williams, Managing Director, US, GOPA Consulting Group
▫ Sara Siddig, Senior Desk Officer - Egypt, USAID
▫ James M Gordon, Founder & CEO, CULTIVA Global Solutions
▫ Ricardo Michel MBA, CPA, Executive Officer, Palladium: Make It Possible
These panelists offered the following advice to the cohort:
💡 "Be persistent. The persistence to continue and get to those different milestones of success is so important. Don't discount where you're at right now. Every single part will be utilized in some way to create impact for someone else."
💡 "Listen to that inner voice. Listen to that thing that is driving you. Be humble in what you're trying to achieve."
💡 "Always have gratitude for where you are in life. There is something to be learned from every experience."
💡 "We used to value expertise, but the environment and context in which we are living is so complex and dynamic that we need to value curiosity and adaptability."
We closed out the weekend with a panel of recent XMNR alumni Kathy Nguyen, Brian Kaye, Meenu Hochwalt, Nathaniel Humphreys, and Kate Leftin who shared stories from their XMNR experience, career change and advancement journeys, and wisdom to the new cohort.
At the end of the weekend, some words students used to describe how they felt included inspired, excited, relieved, optimistic, grounded, validated, grateful, fulfilled, surprised, delighted, ready, encouraged.
One student shared after the weekend:
"I was pleasantly surprised and felt empowered by how open discussion and no-wrong-answers "debate" is encouraged. I feel seen and supported, like I have an incredible team of faculty and fellow students that are ready to lift me up with the education and experiences to get where I want to be."
We are looking forward to the year ahead with this amazing cohort and change agents! 🌎