University of Tennessee at Martin Chancellor Keith Carver was among 45 Tennessee leaders to graduate from the sixth Leadership Tennessee class during a ceremony held June 3. The 10-month, five-session course includes leaders from both rural and urban communities statewide and encourages collaborative, non-partisan conversations on issues that affect all Tennesseans.

“Leadership Tennessee offered the opportunity to take an intimate look into Tennessee’s challenges and opportunities,” said Carver. “It also created a platform to interact with leaders from across the state and created a vehicle for seeing how UT Martin might partner with other state organizations.”

Participants represented communities from across the state and many professional sectors, including health care, education, economic development, government, tourism and agriculture. Other class members from West Tennessee outside of Memphis included Jake Bynum, Weakley County mayor; Jai Templeton, former commissioner, Tennessee Department of Agriculture; Dr. Logan Hampton, president, Lane College; Justice Roger Page, Tennessee Supreme Court; Dr. Lisa Piercey, commissioner, Tennessee Department of Health; and Lindsay Frilling, certified economic developer and CEO, Obion County Joint Economic Development Council. Carver, Templeton, Bynum, Piercy and Frilling are all graduates of the UT Martin WestStar Leadership Program, which is in its 30th year of leadership development in West Tennessee and has graduated 856 class members since the program began.

Leadership Tennessee, an initiative of the Lipscomb University College of Leadership and Public Service in Nashville, has built a network of more than 200 leaders statewide since its inception.

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