Congratulations to Michael Carter, LT Class of 2019, for being named a Veteran of the Year by Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Irvine) this month. As the Veteran Services Operations Manager at the Tierney Center for Veteran Services, Michael credits Leadership Tomorrow’s curriculum with shaping his leadership approach and equipping him to empower his team. LT helped him discover more ways to meaningfully engage with the community and drive sustainable outcomes for the veterans they serve.
Michael found Leadership Tomorrow’s mission to align seamlessly with his work at the Tierney Center, where he connects veterans to resources that support their transition into civilian careers. His focus on fostering an inclusive environment instills confidence in veterans, encouraging them to connect with employers and educational opportunities while building leadership skills.
Within his team, Michael emphasizes collaboration and individual ownership, creating a work culture rooted in growth, resilience, and purpose. His dedication to community engagement—another key value from Leadership Tomorrow—is evident in the partnerships he builds with organizations that support veterans’ career goals, amplifying the Tierney Center’s impact.
Rather than one defining moment, Michael describes the entire Leadership Tomorrow experience as influential, offering him a framework for community-oriented leadership that he applies daily. This comprehensive approach enables him to create a collaborative environment and establish sustainable support systems for veterans, demonstrating how leadership can extend beyond individual success to benefit the broader community. Through Leadership Tomorrow, Michael found a lasting foundation to lead with purpose and serve veterans with dedication.
Sara Sloan, LT Class of 2022 Alumna, discovered the Leadership Tomorrow program through an LT alum and agency partner who highly recommended the program. As an integrated marketing and communications professional working across a broad range of industries, it felt like the perfect opportunity to create more connections and develop a deeper understanding of the various sectors of the community, with the ultimate goal of discovering new ways to contribute and serve.
Sara credits Leadership Tomorrow to helping her embrace her love of in-person connections and networking following the solitude of the COVID-19 pandemic. A former self-proclaimed wallflower, Sara found a renewed appreciation for connecting with people in community through Leadership Tomorrow, and that passion to contribute hasn’t wavered since. The cumulative impact of the nine-month program meaningfully impacted Sara, who continues to stay connected with her LT classmates and has recently joined the LT Board of Directors.
Additionally, Sara has encouraged others to join the program, identified similar programs in other cities for friends and colleagues, and participated in the Education Day, Business Day, and Arts Day planning committees in recent years. She is also exploring additional board roles in which she may continue to make an impact on issues that are important to her and the community at large.
Leadership Tomorrow Class of 2019 alumni Ben Zdeba values his experiences an LT class member, connecting with a group of like-minded professionals looking for a 30,000-foot view of Orange County. He joined the LT Board of Directors three years ago to support the continued success of the program for others. As the Principal Planner and Zoning Administrator for the City of Newport Beach, he currently helps plan LT’s Housing and Transportation Workshop and the Government Day Workshop.
During his time as a class member, all nine LT workshops raised his awareness of many “opportunities to lead, serve, and donate energy for a better community,” says Ben. In particular, Business Day and its speakers helped him better understand the private sector and what it means to operate a business in Orange County. The workshop sparking a greater interest in learning more, and Ben decided to pursue an Executive MBA at UC Irvine's Paul Merage School of Business. As a current graduate student in the Class of 2024, he serves as one of the student representatives.
Enthusiastic about helping LT class members get more involved in the local community as a result of their workshop experiences, Ben shares: “As a public servant working in local government, seeing LT participants lean in and learn more about how they can become engaged citizens is incredibly exciting!”
Leadership Tomorrow Class of 2020 alumna and current LT Board Member Roxanne Rothafel, MBA, recently earned well-deserved recognition in the “40 Under 40” Awards presented by the Great Irvine Chamber. Since early 2022, she has served as Senior Director, Program Marketing at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa. Appreciating the people that she has met through Leadership Tomorrow, Roxanne recalls LT’s Arts Day workshop as “one of the most pivotal days of my life.”
During a backstage theater tour at the Segerstrom Center on Arts Day, the docent noticed Roxanne staring at a show poster and took the time to share about her daughter. Then, they chatted about how their family histories had intertwined at Radio City Music Hall. The coincidental connection served as a constant reminder for Roxanne to, in her words, “take the time to meet people where they're at because you'll never know what magic can come of it.”
Roxanne tries to actively pursue connection. Among the various tenets of LT's mission, she prioritizes connection as one of the most important human concepts. It helps guide her to take on new challenges professionally and to act with intention across all other avenues of her life. Whether it's connecting new communities to arts education programs, audiences to a new genre of performance, or connecting friends to new volunteer opportunities, Roxanne believes the power of connection has been the major motivation in her life.
Class of 2013 Leadership Tomorrow alumna Kristin Melnick has recently re-joined the LT Board of Directors and assumed the key role of LT Class Liaison. She previously served as a Board Member for seven years starting in 2013 and as LT’s Board Chairperson from 2016-2018.
When Kristin participated in LT as class member, she did not consider her expertise to be in leadership and management, yet she stepped up as project manager to help lead the LT Class of 2013 service project. This opportunity helped her hone new leadership and management skills that launched her impactful LT involvement and long-term commitment throughout the past decade. Additionally, Kristin’s program experiences instilled a desire within her to participate actively in her community and also solidified her core belief that her responsibility to enhance her city, county and state as a citizen starts within the local community.
For Kristin, the Justice and Public Safety workshop day stands out as most impactful to her. A Homeland Security agent spoke to the class about a failed terrorist attack in Orange County and recounted the essential actions that an off-duty police officer took after noticing a suspicious situation and following up. When the agent reiterated that citizens have the responsibility of taking ownership in their communities, the remark resonated deeply with Kristin, who strives to always take pride and ownership in the community in which she lives. Today, that pursuit for Kristin involves actively guiding the current LT class members as their liaison during their workshops and service project.
Marissa Camacho-Aggarwal, LT Class of 2023 alumna, has valued community engagement from a young age. Her family values influenced her church-related youth volunteerism and a decade of service projects through Santa Ana’s PRIDE (Parks and Recreation Inspires Dignity and Esteem) Program. A life-long believer in community leadership, LT’s mission resonated with Marissa and her desire to meaningfully improve lives through her profession and personal involvement.
Passionate about helping her community and especially children from a similar background as her own, Marissa decided to pursue a career in youth development and joined Team Kids as an AmeriCorps VIP Fellow. She earned promotions into positions of increasingly responsibility and most recently served as Team Kids’ Program Director. This month, she transitioned into her current role as Director of Programs and Operations for Think Together, where she will focus on K-12 equity education.
LT’s Education Day influenced Marissa’s career advancement, as she had the opportunity to hear an inspiring Think Together leader speak about the organization’s initiatives to support children with a first generation, immigrant and low-income background. Additionally, the Government Day LT workshop served as a catalyst for Marissa’s continued pursuit of civic engagement with the Santa Ana City Council Commission.
Amber Gregg credits Leadership Tomorrow with introducing her to a world of professionals dedicated to improving Orange County for the greater good. As an LT Class of 2021 alumna, Amber connected with top leaders in Orange County including the District Attorney, city managers, mayors, nonprofit leaders, business owners, and countless individuals who help make Orange County a better place to live, work, and play. She strongly believes that exposure to the participants in LT perfectly positions class members for expansive learning through insights and collaboration, the inspiration to improve and grow, and the motivation to do so in a supportive environment, where long-lasting relationships can be cultivated.
As the Founder and CEO of Community Catalyst, an Orange County urban planning firm, Amber recognizes that everyone can be a Community Catalyst, and that we all have the opportunity to spark change wherever we go. Amber was able to take what she learned in Leadership Tomorrow and combine it with her extensive community service and space transformation experience. Amber credits Leadership Tomorrow (LT) for encouraging her to step up and take leadership roles in the nonprofits she already supported and beyond.
Since LT graduation, Amber has heightened her planning industry leadership and now serves as the Legislative Chair for the Orange County American Planning Association (APA) and sits on the nonprofit’s statewide APA-CA Legislative Review Board for new state land use legislation. In 2022, as the State Conference Co-Chair for APA-CA, Amber collaborated with community and industry leaders to showcase some of Orange County’s top urban developments, while offering informative presentations about the latest industry trends for attending planners from across the state.
Amber has also increased her community involvement as the Vice President of the Board of Directors for PierPride, a grassroots organization dedicated to preserving the San Clemente Pier. Additionally, Amber values LT so much that she joined the LT Board of Directors to support the organization with workshop planning and as an alumni committee member.
For LT class of 2022 alumna Tania Peña, participating in Leadership Tomorrow has helped her evolve into a more “public and outspoken” leader. She had the opportunity to speak about her LT experience during LT’s annual Government Day workshop, which includes a luncheon program for current, past, and prospective class members. Tania credits that speaking opportunity in May 2022 as the moment that “sparked a light inside of me to be more involved in public speaking.”
In sharing her perspective and insights more broadly, Tania values the opportunity to inspire and guide others in the business community and throughout her industry nationwide. As Chief Development Officer for OmniPrint International, she spoke to entrepreneurs and business owners during an industry-wide printing convention at the Long Beach Convention Center in January 2023.
Additionally, Tania enjoyed the community involvement that she and her LT class members engaged in during their class project supporting Families Forward. Post-graduation, she is spreading the spirit of volunteerism with her OmniPrint team by initiating company-wide opportunities for volunteerism this year.
Kathy Lamm, LT Class of 2018 Alumnus, first discovered the program through her involvement with the Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce. She had spent her entire career in the private sector and wanted to learn more about the Orange County community, as well as how she could more meaningfully contribute and serve.
Kathy considers Leadership Tomorrow to be “one of the most educational and inspirational experiences” in her life. She considers the justice and public safety day, as well as the arts day and education-based programs, some of the most eye-opening workshops she participated in. Leadership Tomorrow helped Kathy become more involved in community issues, such as public safety and human trafficking.
Enthusiastic about sharing the LT program with others after graduating, Kathy has served on the Board of Directors since 2018. She has actively supported the program as Vice Chair, an executive committee member, a recruiting committee member, and a workshop leader and collaborator. Now, Kathy feels honored to serve as Leadership Tomorrow’s 2022-2024 Chairperson. She hopes to continue growing the program and introducing it to as many community leaders as possible. Kathy also credits her team of “outstanding fellow board members” who share her passion and vision for the program.
