CFI’s Leadership Class of 2024 Off to an Enthusiastic Start
/
Porter and Chauncey Goss with wives Mariel and Allison, Chip Roach CFI board chair and Jane Majeski Leadership Chair
The 2024 Leadership Sanibel-Captiva Program kicked off January 18 with an upbeat and informative session during which this year’s class members were welcomed and special guests Porter and Chauncey Goss offered insightful information about the islands (see accompanying article below).
This is the second class of its kind sponsored by the Charitable Foundation of the Islands (CFI). The inaugural group participated in 2022, but Hurricane Ian caused a one-year hiatus.
Nonetheless, that just meant that more planning went into this year’s program.
Jane Majeski, planning committee chair and class of 2022 member, thanked Ralph Clark and his planning committee for designing the program, then turning over the training for the next class to the new graduates.
Porter and Chauncey Goss
“It was a remarkable journey,” Majeski said. “We left the program inspired and ready to serve the community.”
The new intergenerational group of 13 seems excited as well. Participants are people who have already demonstrated leadership qualities. The leadership program provides an immersive course in the way government, healthcare, non-profits, environmental issues and other aspects of island life work and tie together. That will give them added leadership skills and a deeper dive into the islands’ DNA.
The thinking is that as current leaders of nonprofits retire, there will be knowledgeable, passionate volunteers ready to step in and keep the momentum going.
That theory proved true in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, just a few months after the inaugural class took place.
“The remarkable contributions the members of our founding class made in the aftermath of Ian showed us the effectiveness of the program and the need to continue,” said Dolly Farrell, CFI executive director. “It’s important to continue building the corps of leaders who will guide the restoration and continued conservation of these islands."
Porter Goss offers first-person perspective on island history
As a highlight of the opening session for this year’s leadership class, Porter Goss, first mayor of Sanibel and former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, provided historical perspective with help from his son, Chauncey, founding/managing partner of Goss Practical Solutions.
When people say the job of mayor must have been harder for him than today’s mayor, he disagrees.
“You have got challenges ahead of you that are unbelievable, challenges we could never have dreamed of,” Goss told the group assembled to welcome the CFI Leadership Class of 2024. “You have fewer tools to use in some ways and some of those tools are under attack.”
Just a few of those include:
How to manage the massive number of repairs and the amount of restoration still required following Hurricane Ian without destroying the islands’ unique feel.
What to do about access with the lone causeway at one end of Sanibel, requiring Captiva residents to make a long drive on a crowded two-lane road to their homes.
What if there’s a movement to build a second bridge, this one connecting Captiva to the mainland.
These are issues with which today’s leaders must grapple and they should, he said.
“The desire to keep the dream alive is very, very strong,” Goss said. “It’s still Sanibel. It’s still Captiva. And it’s still worth the fight.”