Our Mission
Engage emerging talent to seek solutions to chronic regional issues while providing opportunities for leadership development targeted towards crafting a vibrant and caring community.
Our Focus
Leadership Next provides opportunities for emerging talent to play a lead role in improving Southeast Michigan for years to come. The group’s efforts are centered around United Way’s Agenda for Change, which is working to make lasting changes in three key areas: Education, Financial Stability, and Basic Needs.
Our Values
What defines Leadership Next and what steers our programs. Our compass.
- Diverse and inclusive leadership
- Continuous learning
- Engagement through leadership service opportunities
- Action oriented
- Creative and different
- Intentionally small, unconventionally impactful, strategically urgent
For a complete list of upcoming events, please join us on Facebook.
Leadership Next hosts year-round activities to connect members with community leaders and executives. Each event offers the opportunity to learn and share ideas with other emerging leaders as well as executives. The group also participates in volunteer activities throughout the year.
- CEOs: Off the Record Series – Intimate conversations with highly respected corporate executives from across Southeast Michigan.
- Power Breakfast Series – A crash course to improve your leadership skills and advance your career.
- Civic Leader Lunch and Learns – Learn about the latest programs being introduced by the region’s most heralded experts in community engagement.
- MI City Home Series – Gain expert advice about purchasing a home while visiting some of the region’s most sought after neighborhoods.
- Impact Tours – Attend a guided bus tour exploring community issues and the solutions to them that United Way and our partners are implementing.
- Activation Sessions – Find opportunities to get involved to improve financial stability and education for our region’s residents. meeting
Leadership Next is comprised of a ten member leadership committee who have been selected from a pool of over one hundred qualified applicants. The Leadership Team is a planning and programming body, whose connections in the corporate and civic community and whose knowledge helps steer and define the organization. Leadership Next is a United Way for Southeastern Michigan program.
Steering Committee
- Chair
Matt Clayson,
ePrize
- Vice Chair
Rosemarie Giffen,
Detroit Institute of Art
- Austin Black, II,
Max Broock Realtors
- James Canning,
Communications Consultant
- Antoine Dennard,
Portfolio Property,
Management Global
- Tim Greimel,
Oakland County Commission
- Scott Kemme,
Accenture
- Sofia Latif,
ACCESS
- Daniel McMann,
Ernst and Young
- Michael Smiley,
Walbridge
- Chris Uhl,
Comerica
We engage our membership through opportunities for education, skill building and activation. Each of these activities and initiatives are intentionally structured to reflect our core values.
We measure our success by the number of our members who dive deep into leadership opportunities in the community, and by the number of members who advance to co-create and co-implement bold solutions to chronic regional issues. We seek to meaningfully connect our members and, as such, seek to remain intentionally small, with a focus on meaningful impact as opposed to a focus on size.
Becoming a Leadership Next member is easy. Register online now and and donate to United Way for Southeastern Michigan. There is no minimum gift requirement - just give what you feel is right.
To learn more about any of our upcoming programming or volunteer opportunities, please contact Julie Updyke at Julie.Updyke@LiveUnitedSEM.org.
