photo by: Derek Redd

Leadership Wheeling 2024 class member Shane Pamphilis announces the revitalization of the Leadership Alumni Association during the group’s graduation luncheon Tuesday at the Wheeling Country Club.

The newest class of Leadership Wheeling celebrated its graduation from the program Tuesday, and its members want to keep their connections — and the connections to past classes — alive.

During their graduation luncheon at the Wheeling Country Club, Class of 2024 members announced they were revitalizing the Leadership Alumni Association to rebuild the bonds that faded in years past.

Class of 2024 graduate Shane Pamphilis, a vice president and financial advisor at Hazlett, Burt & Watson who will serve as the alumni association’s first president, said this class wanted to make a lasting contribution to the overall program.

“We didn’t want to be that one-hit wonder where we quit the program after one year and then it kind of falls to the wayside and afterwards,” he said. “We wanted something that could continuously give back to our community year after year.”

There was a previous incarnation of the association, but Pamphilis said the group faded sometime in the 1990s. After around 25 years of dormancy, he said, it was time for a comeback. Not only will the association build back the connections among past classes, but the group will work on making its mark in the Wheeling community for years to come. On top of the monthly meetings and quarterly happy hours, the alumni association also will hold an annual community charitable event.

This plan is part of the leadership building that the Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce, the sponsor of Leadership Wheeling, wanted to see with its new format. Leadership class members still got a look behind the curtain at many aspects of the city, but they also worked on leadership skills with the help of Ronna-Renee Jackson, CEO of Launchpoint Leadership Group.

Jackson went through the class in 2023, and while she enjoyed the experience, she saw aspects that could be fortified.

“I felt like it did a really good job of giving an overview of Wheeling, but it didn’t do as good of a job developing leaders,” she said, “and that’s really what we’re talking about. So my part coming in was to introduce a leadership development component.”

This year, Jackson installed a leadership lesson with each site visit. When the class visited a well pad to see what the energy industry meant to Wheeling, members also talked about the energy they bring to a situation. When they visited a television station, they learned about effective communication when a microphone is in front of them.

Chamber Chief Operating Officer Mike Howard said the revised format was well received by the 2024 class.

“It just adds that extra dimension that we felt that we’re wanting to do with a lot of our programs,” he said. “We’re doing a lot of leadership training, so this is just the beginning.”

Pamphilis said the training not only showed class members the finer points of leadership, but also showed them how effective their classmates can be as leaders.

“There’s a lot of very intelligent people in this, great people,” he said. “We can take away from this the experience and networking and relationships, where we can kind of build on those as far as helping us out with our own businesses or helping people sourcing volunteers for organizations or board members for organizations that we’re all involved in. The camaraderie of it all was very special.”