Friends of the Program Award
The Leadership Pasadena “Friend of the Program Award” is given annually at class graduation to organization(s) and/or individual(s) for outstanding support of the current Leadership Pasadena class. This award recognizes various forms of valuable contributions that ensure the excellence of the LP class experience including, but not limited to, financial support, scholarships, use of facilities for class sessions, volunteer support, materials, and in-kind donations.
2012 Award-Winners: Andi Burgis and Diana Fisher
Andi Burgis started designing and facilitating experiential learning programs in 1990. Using formats that included Challenge Courses, Equine Experiential Learning, The Samurai Game® and The DiSC® Personal Profile System; she has become known to her clients as a true leader of transformation and growth. Her programs are targeted for companies as well as individuals.
In 1996 she started her own company, Challenge U, LLC specifically for the purpose of providing services of experiential team development, coaching and leadership training to business teams and individuals.
Andi’s strengths lay in her ability to effectively relate to people and to quickly establish trust. She excels at moving people from the learning from the program to action in their daily lives.
Andi currently lives on 12 acres in Fallbrook, CA where she is conducting her EEL programs as well as running multi day transformational leadership trainings for individuals and businesses.
A good day for Andi starts with feeding her horses, working with a client or two or 30, and coming home to her beautiful ranch, a place of possibility and peace.
Diana Fisher founded the Collective Voices Foundation in 2009 through the inspiration of many of her university students who longed for a way to use their knowledge “to be more involved” in the communities they came from. The eagerness to merge scholarship, community engagement, and social change resonated with Diana, whose experience as a refugee from the former Soviet Union guides her vision of many voices working together to foster youth empowerment. Diana holds two degrees in Communication Studies and a Ph.D. in Cultural Studies from Claremont Graduate University. In addition to serving as the Executive Director of Collective Voices, Diana continues to teach at Cal State LA, where she has served on faculty since 1995. Diana finds deep fulfillment in working with students of all ages, learning from everyone, and most importantly, watching her daughter grow up happy and full of life.
2011 Award-Winners: Mary Donnelly-Crocker (Young & Healthy) and Mikala Rahn (Learning Works)
2010 Award-Winners: Huntington Hospital and Parsons Corporation
