Eight Regional Leaders & Every Day Heroes Celebrated at LEAD San Diego’s Ninth Annual Visionary Awards
LEAD San Diego Celebrates 30th Anniversary at Annual Event
May 27, 2011 • San Diego, Calif. – LEAD San Diego and more than 850 civic and community-minded individuals celebrated eight regional leaders and every day heroes at the 2011 Ninth Annual Visionary Awards on Thursday, May 26 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront.
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This year’s focus was to recognize and celebrate leadership at every level ranging from visionary leaders who create infrastructure and stability for our region like Life Technologies CEO & Chairman of the Board, Greg Lucier, who received the Economic Opportunity Award, to every day heroes like Reality Changers Founder, Chris Yanov, who received the Community Spotlight Award, who is in the community walking the talk and creating opportunities for at-risk youth to attend college,” said LEAD San Diego President & CEO, Vicky Carlson. With more than 10 local and state elected officials in attendance, the evening was studded with fanfare saluting leadership and the military, given that May is National Military Appreciation Month. The event began with a bang with a surprise performance from the Marine Band San Diego and the MCRD Color Guard. LEAD also presented awards to the Armed Services YMCA of San Diego and the Armed Service YMCA at Camp Pendleton as the organizations that support our military service members and their families with free programs and services.
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Top row from left to right: José Galicot Behar, Alejandro Bustamante, Gary Gallegos, Chris Yanov. |
Although the purpose of the event was to recognize those who are enriching our community, there was a substantial focus on celebrating LEAD’s 30th anniversary.
“LEAD is celebrating 30 years of excellence this year. When you think back about our region 30 years ago, you realize that a tremendous amount of leadership that was required to transition our region into the powerhouse it is today. LEAD sustains our region by developing those leaders at every level through their dynamic programs,” said LEAD San Diego Chairman, Ben Haddad, Partner at California Strategies.
Below are the Ninth Annual Visionary Awards honorees.
MORGAN AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
Yvonne Larsen – Community Volunteer
Awarded to an individual who has provided a lifetime of visionary community leadership in our region.
THE 2011 GRADUATE OF THE YEAR
Jan Tuttleman, Class of fall 2001 – Chair, Jewish Federation of San Diego County & President, Women Give San Diego
Awarded to a LEAD graduate who epitomizes excellence in community leadership.
THE RONALD KENDRICK MEMORIAL AWARD FOR REGIONAL STEWARDSHIP
Gary Gallegos – Executive Director, SANDAG
Visionary leadership as demonstrated through collaborative approaches to shared resources for positive regional outcomes.
THE CHARLES NATHANSON MEMORIAL AWARD FOR CROSS-BORDER REGION BUILDING
José Galicot Behar – Founder, Tijuana Innovadora &
Alejandro Bustamante – President, Plantronics, Mexico
Recognizing visionary leadership by addressing and demonstrating joint solutions to cross-border issues and further uniting San Diego and Baja California for a common future.
THE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY AWARD
Greg Lucier – CEO & Chairman of the Board, Life Technologies
Recognizing visionary leadership in creating economic opportunities that improve the quality of life in our region, and that might not otherwise exist absent their efforts.
Announced the Evening of the Visionary Awards:
THE 2011 COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT AWARD
Christopher Yanov, Class of 2006 – Founder, Reality Changers
Recognizing leadership that improves lives through extraordinary dedication to people, organizations and causes.
THE HERBERT G. KLEIN AWARD FOR EXEMPLARY LEADERSHIP
Arzo Mansury, Class of 2011 – Director, Scholarships & Teachers’ Fund, The San Diego Foundation
Recognizing visionary leadership within the current LEAD IMPACT San Diego class.
About LEAD San Diego
LEAD is celebrating 30 years of excellence and the Visionary Awards was the perfect opportunity to share our milestone year. LEAD provides dynamic and relevant leadership development programs that inform and inspire leadership on regional issues. LEAD is focused on four pillars of excellence: leadership development programs, community investment initiatives,graduate opportunities and recognizing and celebrating regional leadership through our annual Visionary Awards. LEAD San Diego, Inc. is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation.
