Engaging Young Leaders – Ensuring a Lasting Legacy
Welborn Fellows Program Pilot
by Catherine Anderson
In 2021, while still navigating a global health event and its effects on our community, the Welborn Baptist Foundation (Welborn) board of directors looked ahead. It was an opportune time to consider measures that would help secure Welborn’s legacy of positive impact in the region with a strategic focus on building capacity.
Tapping into the area’s young leadership appeared as a logical next step. It would result in the formation of the Welborn Fellows Program.
Pat Creech, CEO of Welborn Baptist Foundation, explains the core concept of the Fellows Program by saying, “We thought that (for qualified fellows) a good, healthy board experience would be a great opportunity for (their) growth and development. We also realized that we had a lot to learn from next-generation leaders, so we didn’t see this as a one-way opportunity aimed at developing them; we also recognized that we all have the opportunity to learn, to grow … we need to hear the voice of next-generation leaders.”
The foundation’s Chief Capacity Building Officer, Candice Perry, emphasized that the board was and is committed to “…take a learning posture so that we could incorporate what we were learning into the way we continue to approach it for the future.”
Tricia Henning is the Board Chair and served on the committee to form the Fellows Program. She says, “I think it speaks to the vision and the forward-thinking of Welborn Foundation and the Board of Directors. We’re not afraid to be visionary and think about what needs to happen for our community to move forward 10 and 20 years down the road.”
Simultaneous to considering the program’s goals and structure, board members recalled firsthand experiences for potential candidates. So it was, the Welborn Fellows Project launched in 2022, with the inaugural fellows Travis Johnson and Tyler Stock. Both men were enthusiastic about the experience offered to them. The two young leaders, each active in Evansville nonprofit sectors, committed to engage in every Welborn board meeting and serve on assigned committees throughout the two-year term.
Board member Jeff Whiteside joined Welborn in 2021. Since moving to Evansville 25 years ago, Whiteside has been in favored positions to observe the foundation’s successes in the communities it has served. He was an early advocate of the Fellows Program, and Chair of the Governance Committee when the program was launched in 2022.
“I was just very impressed with the level of engagement of the inaugural class,” Whiteside says. “They came to committee and board meetings,” he continues, adding, “they had done their homework and outside reading, and they asked really good questions and expressed really good points of view. I think this inaugural cohort was a real success from those perspectives.”
The Inaugural Fellows
Travis Johnson works as a Senior Analyst at Mead Johnson Nutrition. The 40-year-old’s short list of accomplishments includes his Communication and Radio/TV Production degrees from the University of Southern Indiana (USI), his time as Director of Development at United Methodist Youth Home, and his Certificate in Fundraising Management from the Lily School of Philanthropy.
When speaking of his experience in the program, Johnson expresses receiving “… a deeper understanding of how far-reaching and entrenched Welborn is in our area’s growth, development, and transformation. It has been very rewarding.”
Additionally, he speaks of the experience allowing him a high-level view of the ways and means to connect individuals toward success. Johnson says, “What Welborn does is really open up an opportunity for people to train and receive the funding and support needed to do things that would probably otherwise be very difficult for them to accomplish.”
As for attending Welborn board meetings and serving on committees over the Fellows Program’s period, Johnson shares, “We have full vote and privileges on our committees. It is very exciting to see the different projects that are going on.”
He further expresses, “It really allows us to see behind the curtain and also gain the experience of what it looks like to serve on a foundation board whose reach extends past Vanderburgh County … it has a greater footprint in the region.”
Johnson says, “Also the means, not just the ideas, of doing things and the structure necessary to actually put forth a change.”
As for the program’s future, Johnson feels it has “… what it takes to steward the resources of such a unique organization and impart it to another generation.”
Johnson’s fellow inaugural cohort is Tyler Stock, age 28, who also carries a rich background of education and experience. Stock holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and a Master of Public Administration, both from USI. Employed by The Evansville Regional Economic Partnership (EREP) as the Executive Director of Talent EVV, Stock held positions as a Project Manager at Junior Achievement of Southern Indiana and a Relationship Banker at Old National Bank.
Stock’s appreciation of the opportunity to serve inaugurally in the Welborn Fellows Program seems boundless in every aspect. He was particularly impressed by his time on one committee.
Stock says, “The Investment Committee was something brand new to me … most nonprofits don’t have investment committees, or if they do, it’s not the same that Welborn has. I think there’s a huge responsibility with the stewardship of those dollars. I go back to just the manner in sophistication in which Welborn governs.”
He continues, “I would say in almost every one of these committee meetings, there’s a robust conversation from every one of the committee participants. That was really exciting for me to be a part of. That’s not a space that most folks get to see very often.”
Welborn now celebrates Johnson and Stock as they near the end of their fellows cohort, and the many successful outcomes for everyone involved. The steps taken to arrive at this point prove to be nothing short of successful and following cohorts — board members and fellows — have a clear example to apply for years ahead.
