At Orange County Soccer Club, I manage a team of 6 young sales professionals, and a group of college seniors who intern with us, teaching them valuable skills and mentoring them for a career in the sports industry. I also recently hosted a group of teens from the Ignite Leadership Institute at an OCSC game and gave a talk about leadership skills and life lessons that are valuable in my day to day work.
The LT Education day panel at Newport Harbour HS influenced me by showing me how smart, motivated, and eager to learn young people are in our community. It reminded me that I can have an impact on the youth through my job, just by sharing my experiences and being open to conversations with students who may reach out, and how big of a deal that can be for students looking ahead in life.
Lisa Thomas credits her experience with Leadership Tomorrow with reinforcing how Orange County is such a “unique, special, and amazing place.” As an LT Class of 2019 alumni, Lisa visited medical facilities, explored arts and business communities, and learned about issues like affordable housing and human trafficking. Her participation in the program inspired her to give back to her community, continuing to “make Orange County even stronger.” She believes that LT gave her a behind-the-scenes Orange County experience that can’t be found anywhere else.
As the Founder and CEO of Main Street Marketing Partners, Lisa was able to take what she learned in Leadership Tomorrow and combine it with her extensive business and networking expertise. She has continued to use this unique knowledge to serve the local community, including as a Board Members for Leadership Tomorrow, the Greater Irvine Chamber, BERT (Building Emergency Response Teams), Team Kids, DeviceAlliance, IABC (International Association of Business Communicators), and the Irvine Forward Foundation. Lisa feels grateful to call Orange County her home and to have so many opportunities to give back.
In March of 2022, the Greater Irvine Chamber recognized Lisa as one of this year's “Women of Influence” honorees for her authentic leadership. The distinction honors Lisa as an outstanding businesswoman who has continuously made a positive impact on her industry and the business community in Orange County.
David Feldberg, LT Class of 2019 Alumnus, had unleashed his leadership potential through philanthropy even before he joined Leadership Tomorrow. Already very active in local dog rescue work, he wanted to branch out. The LT program introduced David to a broader number of organizations and local issues, which he now supports through his time and donations. An especially eye-opening experience, David recalls visiting the Orange County Rescue Mission during LT’s Health and Human Services Workshop.
“The experience totally opened up my eyes to the gravity of the homeless issue here locally,” he says. “I think personally I had forgotten how good I have it and how lucky I really am.”
David points to this particular LT experience as his inspiration to focus on being the best person, parent, father, and friend that he can be. Additionally, Leadership Tomorrow allowed David to grow his own business in real estate, form networks, and encourage others to get involved in dog rescue projects. Just within his social circle, David has four friends fostering dogs and making a difference for canines in Orange County. In 2020, his community involvement expanded beyond his passion for rescuing dogs, when he joined the LT Board of Directors to help plan workshops for future LT classes and support the organization’s mission to cultivate, inspire, connect and empower an effective community of leaders.
Lisa Haney, LT Class of 2021 Alumna, joined the program to get involved in civic leadership, but she wasn’t sure exactly where to start and how to devote her time. Before serving in her current role as Regulatory Compliance Manager at the Irvine Ranch Water District and in similar roles at other Southern California water agencies, Lisa taught middle school, high school, and college students in an outdoor education program. She also conducted teacher trainings for Los Angeles Unified School District.
Lisa’s favorite part of the Leadership Tomorrow program was meeting other classmates one-on-one during LT Connections. The relationships she built proved especially meaningful because of the COVID-19 pandemic’s social restrictions that dominated 2020 and 2021 with less interpersonal interaction and more screen-based meetings. Despite these limitations, LT brought Lisa ample opportunities to make meaningful connections with a variety of “inspiring people from (her) own class,” helping her to feel connected in a time of isolation. Additionally, Lisa says that LT allowed her to pursue her passions and learn about other people’s passions.
Through Leadership Tomorrow, she met fellow 2021 LT graduate, Brian Dozer, the current President of Vital Link OC, one of Orange County’s 501c3 educational nonprofits. In connecting with Brian, Lisa realized that they were both passionate about supporting the future of education in Orange County. She recently became a Vital Link OC Board Member, finally finding “the purpose and outlet (she) had been searching for,” thanks to the connections she made and knowledge gained through her LT experience.
Jennifer Dinnen, LT Class of 2021 alumna, calls Leadership Tomorrow “incredible in so many ways” and considers her classmates to be “some of the most genuine and caring people that (she) has ever met.” Being an Orange County native, Jennifer loved her classmates’ desire to give back to the community and better the county. After graduation, Jennifer says that she still appreciates all of the non-profits she learned about and even came out of the LT program with a “richer appreciation for OC.”
Now, Jennifer is proud to run a second-generation family business with her twin sister, Katie Rucker, also an alumna of LT. Along with Leadership Tomorrow, running the business for around a decade has enhanced Jennifer’s appreciation for Orange County. Jennifer’s business, the MacKenzie Corporation, guides brands through the utilization of Customer Insights. As she and other Customer Insights professionals work closely with OC-based organizations, Jennifer believes it is most important to understand what is happening locally, as well as how customers are changing in the face of big issues. She feels that LT helped her tap into this knowledge, as well as provided her with connections and leaders with whom she can discuss important issues and opportunities.
As she continues to grow her company, Jennifer plans to use what she learned in LT to truly understand how OC runs, as well as identify the “incredible leaders who make it all happen” and utilize the “resources available to business owners.” In 2021, she joined the Leadership Tomorrow Board of Directors and currently serves on the Marketing Committee.
Brian Dozer, LT Class of 2021 Alumnus, expects to cherish the interpersonal relationships he built through Leadership Tomorrow for years to come. His favorite aspect of LT was “getting to know my fellow classmates through one-on-one meetings,” but he also gained an important network of community leaders all throughout Orange County. Since graduating from the program, Brian has been able to connect various community leaders with other LT members, creating business and growth opportunities in and outside of Orange County.
As the President of Vital Link OC, Brian knows that these kinds of personal and professional connections are vital. Such connections ensure that his own organization can provide educational opportunities for students throughout Orange County. Vital Link OC, a 501c3 nonprofit, offers programs that aid in introducing students to their future careers. These hands-on programs include computer programming workshops, digital media arts competition, healthcare and medical events, and much more.
In order to implement such programs, Brian promotes the “principles and mission of LT'' within his organization. He hopes to provide leadership opportunities not just for students, but also the members of his Vital Link OC team. And, while he believes that his LT class learned a lot from his graduation speech on Reese’s candy, Brian considers the Leadership Tomorrow program to be one of his own greatest learning experiences. Today, he serves as a LT Board Member to support the program’s continued success for its current class.
The United States throws away an estimated $160 billion and more in food a year, yet more than 450,000 people in Orange County are at risk of going hungry each month. Passionate about solving the disconnect between food waste and food insecurity, Scott Walker, Class of 2017 Leadership Tomorrow alumnus, started a “food rescue” initiative. Taking action locally, he has personally delivered excess restaurant and grocery store food to a local homeless shelter twice a week since 2008.
Restaurants and grocery stores actually have a double food waste problem. First, true food waste comes from food-prep scraps in kitchens and leftovers on people’s plates. Second, food that is still good and edible must be thrown away at the end of the day due to local regulations or business practices. All that food ends up in the landfill, where it breaks down into methane gas, which translates to a huge carbon footprint problem and a major contributor to global climate change. Focusing his efforts on the second problem, Scott partners with 14 local restaurants to address both food waste and food insecurity at the same time.
Scott’s LT Health and Human Services workshop experience, which included visiting the OC Rescue Mission, along with his growing network of connections resulting from LT, helped propel forward his ongoing efforts. During his 14 years and 3,500 hours of volunteerism, Scott has diverted and donated more than 80 tons of food from landfills to underserved community members. The volume of food diverted from landfills represents a reduction of 147,826 pounds of CO2, while the volume of food rescued represents a fair market value of more than $1 million. For these community contributions, he earned the 2021 Outstanding LT Alumni Leadership Award and the President’s Volunteer Service Award with a Gold Medal for 500+ hours of volunteer service.
Josh Friedman, Leadership Tomorrow Class of 2020 alumnus, credits his experience in the program for his company’s growth with nonprofit clients over the past year. He heard from compassionate, community-minded volunteers who brought doctors to hotels to care for the homeless and leaders who spoke about their work advocating on behalf of victims of human trafficking. As the Coronavirus pandemic unfolded in 2020 and nonprofits persevered in their response to widespread hardship, Josh recognized how he too could make a difference by pivoting to support fundraising programs.
Through One Zero Digital Media’s professional video production services, Josh has helped create virtual broadcasts of fundraising events in live, pre-recorded, and hybrid formats. These broadcast fundraisers enabled nonprofits to raise over $2 million in 2020, including one organization that planned to skip their fundraiser and ended up raising $361,000 after Josh convinced them to proceed. With more fundraisers scheduled into 2021, Josh and his company have established a solid reputation for bringing quality and value to clients that may otherwise not be able to carry on with these donor engagement opportunities.
Scott Schultz, Leadership Tomorrow Board Member, past Board Chair and class of 2015 alumni, credits his LT experience with showing him the added value that the organization offers through its broad alumni network, built on 32 years of history in Orange County. As a generous, passionate volunteer supporting multiple nonprofits through the years, he has leveraged LT’s incredible network of philanthropic leaders to bring more awareness to the causes he cares about.
In planning LT’s Health and Human Services workshop, Scott reached out to his contacts at the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) in Orange to educate the class about the depth of the work underway there. In turn, he also elevated his own understanding of RMHC’s impact serving families of hospitalized children and working closely with Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) nearby, where he had volunteered for many years. Scott’s relationships helped provide various LT classes with a first-hand look at these nonprofits and raise awareness of opportunities for LT alumni to support both organizations.
While Scott’s professional expertise focuses on advising clients on financial services at Axiom Financial and Insurance, his heart goes into helping nonprofits in his community through his numerous volunteer roles. He currently serves as Chair of the Hyundai Cancer Center Advisory Committee for CHOC Children's, Advisory Committee Member for The Southern California Hospice Foundation, and on the City of Irvine’s Child Care Committee. His volunteer service roles include Board Member and Executive & Finance Committee member for the Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce, and Commissioner for the City of Irvine’s Community Services Commission, in addition to his ongoing LT board service.
