What is your involvement like within the Bismarck-Mandan Young Professionals Network (YPN)? 
My main focus within the YPN is within the Professional Development team. A year and a half ago there was an opening to fill a recently vacated co-lead position on the PD team and even though I had only been to 2 meetings at that point I decided to jump in with both feet and volunteered to fill that position. In addition to being a co-lead on the PD team, I am actively involved with the Service team and I have also helped to plan Young Professionals Day and have served on the Strategic Planning committee. Finally, I am putting my professional skills to use serving on the newly formed Tech Team.

What strengths as a leader will you bring as VP of the YPN?
One of the qualities that has served me well in past leadership positions as well as in my professional life is the ability to stay level-headed; especially in moments of stress. I’ve spent most of my professional life working in environments where my team is responsible for making sure that customers/clients have internet connectivity and when things break it can be very stressful trying to identify/fix the problem while also dealing with angry customers. I realized very early on that it doesn’t do any good to lose your cool either at yourself or at your customers during those times. I hope to bring that level-headedness to bear during times when the YPN may be experiencing moments of stress/panic and help guide us through without losing our cool. Through both my professional life and lifelong hobbies, I also bring a wealth of experience in how we can leverage technology to help the YPN grow both in membership and engagement within the network. We live in a world where everything seems to be just a click or tap away and making sure that we stay up-to-date in how we are utilizing technology will allow us to continue to engage with our membership.

Vote for the next Vice President at the Cinco Annual Meeting and Anniversary Celebration on May 4, 2017. RSVP today!