Sarah Hallmark, a social worker at Bryan W. Whitfield Memorial Hospital, is a graduate of this year’s Leadership Alabama class.

Leadership Alabama is a statewide program of Alabama leaders engaged in creating a network for positive change. Since 1989, Leadership Alabama has given established leaders across Alabama exposure to the broader fabric of the state. It develops a network of relationships and provides a structure for this network to seek mutual understanding of problems and priorities for Alabama’s future.

During the program year, class members met in Montgomery, Mobile, Huntsville and Birmingham encouraging them to make a critical examination of preconceptions about their state, their communities and themselves. The sessions served as a springboard for other discussions throughout the program year. Leadership Alabama is a lifelong experience and as members these leaders will continue to impact positive change in their communities.

“Alabama’s leaders in business, education, the non-profit and volunteer organizations and those elected to local, regional and state offices must play a role if our state is to move forward,” said Gordon Martin, the 2013-14 Leadership Alabama Board Chairman. “Leadership Alabama was founded to provide the network necessary for those citizens who must fill these leadership positions.”