I chose this issue’s cover story topic, succession planning, in part because it tied in perfectly with our focus on leadership development. But also because I realized how crucially important such planning is after two members of our small but mighty team—VP of Expositions Dick Powell and Conference Events Manager Kim Grant—announced plans last year to retire after this year’s Training Conference & Expo. Luckily for us, they gave us plenty of notice and even helped to onboard one of their replacements.
But having those succession planning conversations last year proved to be invaluable as you never know when a team member will decide when to call it a career or leave to pursue an exciting new opportunity— something that just happened for our Operations director, Bethany Lewis.
We salute these talented team members and thank them for their valuable contributions over the years:
- At 88 years young, Dick is renowned for his unmatched sales persistence, go-getter attitude, pithy sayings (“Keep on keepin’ on”), and the best-ever rendition of the Hawaiian version of “Twas the Night Before Christmas.”
- Kim’s creative vision, calm demeanor, and willingness to pitch in (her response to just about every request: “I can do that!”) made her the go-to person on our team.
- Bethany is an Operations Wonder Woman who touched just about EVERYTHING to do with the Training brand. She’s both big picture and detail oriented, forward-looking, and the best multi-tasker this side of Minnesota.
As we continue to grow and develop our Training team, we will surely benefit from the succession planning savvy of our Training APEX Awards winners (see “Priming the Talent Pipeline”)—and we hope you will, too!
