The West Houston Association (WHA) celebrated the graduation of classes 3 and 4 of the WHA Rising Leaders program on July 8th, 2021, with a reception and award ceremony at Dragonfly Park in Bridgeland. Graduation for both cohorts was delayed due to COVID-19 and the desire to get together in-person for their final event.
“It was past due for us to recognize the program participants, and I’m glad that we were able to do something special to celebrate their hard work and accomplishments,” Alan Steinberg, WHA President/CEO.
The WHA Rising Leaders Program is designed for members of the West Houston Association who desire to be active participants in collaborating, educating, and advocating to achieve the best quality of life, experience, and opportunity across the Greater West Houston Region through quality development, sustainable infrastructure, long-term planning, and sound public policy. The program provides an accelerated introduction to the topics and issues of interest to the association and its members as well as an opportunity for networking among others who aspire to be leaders within WHA in the coming years. The program helps fill in participants knowledge gaps in relation to WHA and build connections with other members to allow them to interact more intentionally.
Some participants of classes 3 and 4. (L to R) Alan Steinberg (WHA President/CEO), Lona Shipp (Howard Hughes), Linh Tran (Costello), Trisha Brasseaux (Howard Hughes), Noe Escobar (LJA), Lizanne Douglas (BGE), David Colunga (Newland), Heath Melton (WHA Board Chair)
Since 2016 about two dozen members have completed the program. Graduates of the program currently chair 2 of the 9 WHA committees and an additional 3 are serving as committee Vice-Chairs. Rising Leaders were also responsible for helping organize and execute WHA’s Topgolf Tournament hosted in May of this year with over 200 participants.