On March 12, 2026, MAX convened our Leadership MAX Class of 2026 members for Resource Development Day, presented by Amazon, our second learning day of the year, at Goodwill of North Georgia’s Metropolitan Parkway Career Center. The day began with opening remarks from board co-lead for Resource Development Day Brett Lacy, managing director of workforce solutions, Atlanta Regional Commission, and two Leadership MAX Class of 2025 alumni – Chanell Davis, program and performance manager of signature programs, City of Atlanta and Lisa Davis, project administrator and special projects manager, Atlanta Regional Commission. To help level set, Lacy provided an overview on the current state of public workforce dollars, noting trends and developments within the past few years.
Following Lacy’s overview, the day included multiple discussions around fundraising, beginning with a discussion with Jenny Taylor, Chief Mission Officer and Vice President, Career Services, with Goodwill of North Georgia who is chairing this year’s program with Kristin Laarhoven, assistant commissioner with the Technical College System of Georgia and co-led the day with Lacy. Taylor asked class members to consider and discuss how their strengths – as identified through their CliftonStrengths assessments – equip them for different aspects of fundraising. Special thanks to the following partners who joined us to share their perspectives during the day:
- Rita Breen, Charitable Giving Executive Director, Georgia Power
- Allison Carpenter, Communications Manager, CareerRise
- Emily Carter, Vice President of Development, Goodwill of North Georgia
- Nick Espinosa, Expert in Federal Funding Resources
- Dana Inman, President & CEO, Atlanta Center for Self Sufficiency
- Brenda Johnson, CEO, The Collaborative Training Company
- Trenise Lyons, Director of Public Relations, Goodwill of North Georgia
- Amelia Nickerson, CEO, First Step Staffing
- Carlos Pagoaga, Vice President of Global Community Affairs, The Coca-Cola Company and President, The Coca-Cola Foundation
Our Leadership MAX Class of 2026 members are truly appreciative to all who are partnering to develop and deliver the Leadership MAX experience.
The day included an arm chair conversation around “making the ask” with Taylor and Carter; a networking lunch where class members could visit one-on-one with Espinosa, Inman, Johnson, or Nickerson; a panel discussion with Taylor and Breen, Espinosa, and Pagoaga on maintaining strong funder relationships; and a panel discussion with Lacy and Carpenter and Lyons on telling the story of organizational impacts and how fundraising dollars have made a difference. Goodwill of North Georgia’s Erik Lee-Ryan, Stacy Rozier, and Ashia Walker led class members in an interactive game where they had an opportunity to “test out” options for braiding and leveraging funds from different sources to help hypothetical clients in real world situations.
Our sincere gratitude also to Goodwill of North Georgia for so wonderfully hosting our group.
And a special shout out to Amazon for serving as our Presenting Sponsor and to Goodwill of North Georgia for serving as a program sponsor for this year’s second cohort of Leadership MAX.
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