Kumar joins Leadership Cleveland's Class of 2025

Leadership Cleveland has unveiled its class of 2025, including top leaders from the public, private and nonprofit sectors.

Participants will engage in a 10-month program featuring “intensive sessions, site visits, and retreats to appreciate the rich diversity of Greater Cleveland, gain insight on challenges and opportunities and strengthen and grow key relationships,” according to a news release issued Thursday, July 11, by Cleveland Leadership Center.

Cleveland Leadership Center President and CEO Marianne Crosley said in an email to Crain’s that the program is an immersive leadership experience that brings together leaders of different backgrounds and experiences and challenges them to grow as leaders. 

“(Leadership Cleveland affords leaders new to Cleveland the opportunity to quickly connect with other leaders and understand the civic landscape in which they work,” Crosley said. “It also affords seasoned leaders the opportunity to forge new relationships and learn more about the community they serve. Building stronger leaders and stronger connections between leaders reaps huge benefits for our community.”

Crosley said the relationships formed through the program allow leaders to build trust so they can work collaboratively to address issues and spearhead initiatives that lead to positive change for the city. She added that many initiatives in Cleveland can be traced back to partnerships and learning experiences gained in Leadership Cleveland.

“There is no other program that brings together leaders spanning the for-profit, non-profit and public sectors in an immersive learning experience,” she said.  

Leadership Cleveland kicks off in September with an opening retreat. The program will entail monthly daylong sessions, a mid-year retreat and small-group meetings. The group will also travel to another city in May 2025 to gather lessons that can be applied to Cleveland.

Participants were chosen based on their demonstrated leadership and commitment to Cleveland, according to Cleveland Leadership Center. They underwent a “rigorous” application process that included interviews with alumni of the program.

“The competition was fierce for seats in this year’s class,” Crosley said. “A number of highly qualified individuals will be waiting another year to participate in (Leadership Cleveland) and that is a hard fact to accept — for them and for us. Many of our newest leaders in the community are in this year’s class and it is our most racially diverse.”

Following their graduation, the class of 2025 will join a network of more than 2,700 individuals who have completed Leadership Cleveland since the inaugural class in 1978.