The Allegacy Center for Leadership and Character (ACLC) in the School of Business celebrated the school’s second leadership scholars program cohort on Friday, April 4. The six graduate students were recognized for their completion of the academic year-long program and were given the opportunity to present their leadership project.
The 2025-2026 scholars—Callie Dammeyer (MSBA), Huda Saeed (MSM), Chris Douglas (MSA), Lucas Guerra (MSBA), Matthew Littrell (MSA), and Sailor Troutman (MSM) – spent the year participating in a series of enrichment sessions which aimed to hone leadership, teamwork and communication skills. Throughout the experience each student was mentored and coached by an ACLC Executive Affiliate – Ann Johnston, Cathy Pace, Pete Watson, and Adam Holtzschue and ACLC Executive in Residence, Jeff Triplette.
This year’s team project focused on resolving a leadership challenge within a local organization. Scholar Lucas Guerra said that their goal going into the project was
to “create something that would last longer than us” and would benefit the organization as a whole.
To begin the project the students l
aid out a robust leadership philosophy. This philosophy included a clear vision and the expectation that leaders would lead with confidence, praise strong performance, maximize each employee’s strengths and provide regular mentoring and coaching. From there the scholars defined clear, tiered leadership goals for all employees from entry level to senior level leaders. Throughout the process, students met frequently with an executive and conducted focus groups across all levels of the organization in order to glean well-rounded insights into the organization’s current climate. Complete findings and recommendations will be passed over to the organization for their use in the coming weeks.
The ACLC looks forward to following the careers of these six students as they apply their skills in the analytics, accounting and management fields, continuing the Center’s legacy of helping to build leaders of character.