FRED Celebrates Fifth Year of Improving Leadership Worldwide
San Diego, CA (PRWEB) August 22, 2013 -- FRED Inc., the innovative nonprofit dedicated to elevating the quality of leadership in the world, is celebrating its fifth anniversary. FRED’s vision is extraordinary leaders who excel in achieving their organization goals while contributing to making a better world.
Jim Bolt, FRED’s co-founder, reflected on their origins: "We sought a way to affect more leaders than by just working with individual companies. This gave birth to the idea of a forum where we would bring together a select group of sixty or so people who had a passion for leadership and the responsibility for developing leaders. We could have a much bigger impact because they would affect thousands of leaders."
Dr. Richard Kimball, FRED’s other founding partner, echoes this sentiment: "Having a more intimate group enabled us to create a kind of chemistry that would inspire us, and collectively would be bigger than the sum of its parts."
FRED’s anniversary is the culmination of an illustrious history with notable highlights from each year. These include the organization’s 2009 inaugural FRED Forum in New York City that included team "expeditions" to learn about grass roots leadership at organizations such as the Young Woman’s Leadership School of E. Harlem.
The 2010 FRED Forum in San Francisco featured Mimi Silbert, Board Chair, President, and CEO of Delancey Street Foundation, the rehabilitation program designed to bring drug addicts, ex-cons and former prostitutes back into society. FRED began its popular video series with its interview of famed author Jim Collins.
Early in 2011 a special Leadership Development program was conducted for the USA Today All-Academic Team. The FRED Forum traveled to London with Gillian Tett, British Author and award-winning journalist at the Financial Times as the keynote. Camila Batmanghelidjh, Founder, Kids Company and author of Shattered Lives: Children Who Live With Courage and Dignity, was featured.
2012 saw the launch of FRED Scholars(SM) that provides scholarships to attend leading university executive education programs to nonprofit/NGO leaders; opportunities that they would not otherwise have due to a lack of funding. Chrystia Freeland, managing director and editor for Thomas Reuters consumer news, highlighted the FRED Forum in Boston.
This year FRED is extending its reach with the launch of FRED NextGen Leaders(SM) , whereby sponsors support promising young leaders who have demonstrated outstanding leadership, by providing funding for them to attend the FRED Forum. Finally, the eagerly anticipated San Diego Forum will take place in September where Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper will be a key speaker.
Information about FRED programs, as well as this year’s San Diego Forum is available at http://www.FREDForum.org. Also, find FRED Forum on Facebook and follow @FREDForum on Twitter.
Jim Bolt, FRED, Inc., http://www.fredforum.org, (858) 792-0701, [email protected]
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