By Erin L. Miller
This article is a part of the November/December 2018, Volume 30, Number 6, Audiology Today issue.
Another stellar group of early- to early-mid-career audiologists were selected from the largest pool of applicants so far to attend the 2018 Jerger Future Leaders in Audiology Conference (JFLAC). The conference convened at the American Academy of Audiology (Academy) headquarters in Reston, Virginia, September 12–14, 2018, and generously sponsored in part by the Oticon Hearing Foundation.
Former (J)FLACers joined from across the country through remote video to toast the conference’s 10th anniversary and to welcome the new JFLAC class. Academy President Lisa Christensen, AuD, a 2008 FLAC alumni, provided a brief history of the conference. FLAC and JFLAC alumni Brenna Carrol, Tish Gaffney, Bre Myers, Virginia Ramachandran, and David Jedlicka (through video) each discussed the impact that the conference has had on them, both professionally and personally.
The newly established Leadership Development Committee (LDC), along with staff liaison Rachael Sifuentes, and many other Academy staff team members, helped create an aggressive agenda for attendees to learn leadership skills for self, team, and organization. Attendees were welcomed to the conference by the Academy’s Past President Jackie Clark, PhD, who also provided a discussion of her leadership journey.
Brad Stach, PhD, an Academy founder, past president, and current board member, presented on the history of the Academy. As LDC chair and a past president, I shared leadership insights that facilitated some lively discussions about the profession’s current state of affairs.
The attendees also learned about Academy operations from Tanya Tolpegin, CAE, Academy executive director, and about Academy partner organizations from Kitty Werner, Academy vice president of public affairs, and Dina Santucci, Academy senior director of business development. Adam Finkel, Academy director of government relations, briefed the group before they headed to Capitol Hill to advocate to their members of Congress.
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