Leadership Richmond Chair T.C. Hall (left) introduced speaker Bruce Simmons, director of marketing and development for Pee Dee Electric Membership Corporation, to Leadership Richmond orientation participants on Thursday.
At least that’s what their name tags said.
“We did an icebreaker where they put nametags on our backs and we all had to use clues to guess the names,” said Keith Parsons, still donning the tag of his temporary cartoon alter-ego.
“I was Michelle Obama,” said a smiling Jason Root.
The diverse group of Richmond County citizens that gathered at the Cole Auditorium for Leadership Richmond 2009, an annual program sponsored by Chamber of Commerce, is ready for six months of networking, learning, having fun and getting serious about the continued improvement of Richmond County.
“We’ve got a great group of people,” said Jennipher Love, the Leadership Richmond liaison for Richmond Community College. “It’s a little smaller than the groups we’ve had over the past three years, but I actually think that this group will bond more because of that.”
Bruce Simmons of Pee Dee Electric echoed the group’s mission with his speech, which not only took a stance on the political realities of alternative energy but also touched on the teamwork, enterprise and neighborly cooperation that first brought and continue to bring electric power to Richmond County.
“Back in the time of the New Deal, a group of farmers from Anson County got together and decided to get power out to the farms in their community...a group from Richmond County saw what they were doing and followed their example,” said Simmons, adding that his company works with other companies like Duke Power and Progress Energy to provide power to North Carolina homes in the most efficient way possible.
Glancing at the program’s six-month agenda, Leadership Richmond Chair T.C. Hall summarized his first few hours with the pro-active citizens of this year’s class.
“They can get some of the change factors in motion,” he said.
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