Campus-wide Leadership Series
The Campus-wide Leadership Series presents highly successful professional leaders from all fields from our KU Medical Center campus, the Kansas City community and beyond.
What is the Campus-wide Leadership Series?
The KU Medical Center Campus-wide Leadership Series is an opportunity unlike any other on campus. Our primary goal with this leadership series is to teach people how to be leaders through the stories of other's experiences.
We look for three basic components in a Campus-wide Leadership Series presentation.
- First, we ask presenters to "tell their story", including their background, what drives them, who their mentors were or who inspired them along the way and what obstacles they had to overcome and how they overcame them to reach their level of success.
- Second, we ask them to "address their personal leadership style", presenting the challenges and solutions to keeping everyone focused on the goal simultaneous to overcoming inherited handicaps in their business or life's dream, obstacles and limitations imposed on the job or task at hand, public relations and scrutiny, the challenges one faces from a diverse world and two or three tips about their personal methods, style or philosophy about how to lead a team to success.
- Lastly, and for the majority of the presentation, we ask them to provide a unique focus from their own field or business, whatever that may be.
Spring 2004 Campus-wide Leadership Series
March 8th, 12:00 p.m., HEB B102
Donnie Campbell, Educator, Coach and Inspiration behind Ted Lasso
Coach Donnie Campbell is a math teacher and a high school basketball coach from Kansas who was plucked out of obscurity when Jason Sudeikis, the American actor and star of the 5-time Emmy Award-winning show, revealed that Campbell was in part the impetus for the lead character he plays on the hit series Ted Lasso with such wit and wisdom.
April 3rd, 11:00 a.m., Wahl East Auditorium
Shanita McAfee Bryant, Founder & Executive Director, The Prospect Urban Eatery
Chef Shanita graduated from the culinary program at Johnson County Community College in 2004 and later brought her knives to Cutthroat Kitchen, where she proved her talent by winning the popular Food Network show. She opened her first restaurant, Magnolia’s, launched a successful food truck, and eventually came back to her passion of helping and inspiring others through food.
April 12th, 12:00 p.m., Wahl East Auditorium
Doug (Skip) Cox, Executive Director, Police Athletic League of Kansas City
Skip Cox directs the Police Athletic League of Kansas City (PAL), a collaboration with Kansas City community youth and the dedicated men and women of the Kansas City Police Department. Skip was named KCPD Officer of the Year in 2016. PAL programming is rooted in the belief that all youth deserve the opportunity to realize their full potential through participating in sports and mentoring programs with an emphasis placed on academics.
April 18th, 11:00 a.m., HEB B102
Camry Ivory, Audiovisual Musician/Artist, Founder & Inventor, Colortura Art
Camry Ivory harnesses technology to explore the synergistic relationship between color, form & sound. Camry is the inventor of Coloratura, an innovative interface that uses paintbrushes as electronic instruments, enabling her to create analog paintings and digital music compositions simultaneously. Her live painting performances are a synaesthetic symphony, immersing the audience in a multi-sensory celebration of art & music.
Ideas for a future topic?
For questions or suggestions, contact Jenny Laffey.
Bob Kendrick
President
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
Presented on February 2nd, 2023
Bob Kendrick was named President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) in March 2011. Founded in 1990, the NLBM is the world’s only museum dedicated to preserving and celebrating the rich history of African American baseball and its profound impact on the social advancement of America.
Kendrick is responsible for the museum’s day-to-day operations and the development and implementation of strategies to advance the mission of the not-for-profit organization. Since rejoining the NLBM in 2011, he has helped orchestrate a nearly $20 million turnaround that has helped the NLBM regain its vitality and financial stability. Kendrick has been responsible for the creation of several signature museum educational programs and events including the Hall of Game which annually honors former Major League Baseball greats who played the game in the spirit and signature style of the Negro Leagues.
In 2006, the Greater Kansas City Black Chamber of Commerce awarded him the Mary Lona Diversity Award and he was named “Citizen of the Year” by the Omicron Xi Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. In 2009, The Kansas City Globe named Kendrick to the paper’s list of “100 Most Influential African-Americans in Greater Kansas City.” In January 2014, Kendrick was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. The Kansas City Call newspaper named him the “Person of the Year” in 2020. In 2021, the Beta Lambda chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity named him “Business Person of the Year,” and he was bestowed honorary doctorate degrees from Judson University and William Jewell College, respectively in 2021.
A native of Crawfordville, Ga., Kendrick received a basketball scholarship to attend Park College (Parkville, Mo.) in 1980 and earned a B.A. degree in Communications Arts in 1985.
Gonzalo Farias
Associate Conductor
Kansas City Symphony
Presented February 21, 2023
The Kansas City Symphony announced the appointment of Gonzalo Farias as the David T. Beals III Associate Conductor beginning with the 2022/2023 season. As most recent associate conductor of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Farias was selected at the conclusion of an international search with more than 120 applicants.
A native of Chile, Farias moved to Kansas City in the summer of 2021. He plays an important role in representing the Kansas City Symphony in the community. He leads the orchestra’s educational programs — more than 40 performances, reaching more than 30,000 students annually. In addition, Farias conducts many of the Symphony’s pops, family and Film + Live Orchestra concerts as well as other special presentations. He made his conducting debut with the Symphony on April 9, 2022, leading the orchestra in a family program featuring Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf.
Melissa Vine
Executive Director
The Beacon
Presented on March 15, 2023
Melissa Vine, MA, LMHC, a licensed mental health counselor with 15 years of experience in business ownership, is a professional speaker and Executive Director at The Beacon, a trauma-informed, equity-centered home and programming for women recovering from domestic violence, incarceration, and substance use. As a speaker, leader, and domestic violence survivor, she passionately empowers others to act with courage in the face of life and work challenges. She received a bachelor’s in Communication Studies in 2002, graduated summa cum laude with a master’s in Professional Counseling in 2016 and is a JD Candidate at Drake Law School as an Iowa State Supreme Court Scholar.
Invisible Storm: A Soldier's memoir of politics and PTSD
Jason Kander
President of National Expansion at the Veterans Community Project
Presented on November 9th, 2022
Leadership at Irwin Army Community Hospital
November 17, 2021
Colonel Edgar G. Arroyo, Commander/CEO & Lieutenant Colonel Jarett T. Skinner, Deputy Commander for Clinical Services, will discuss their current leadership roles at Irwin Army Community Hospital, Fort Riley, Kansas, and their career paths.
Colonel Edgar G. Arroyo
Commander/CEO
Irwin Army Community Hospital
Colonel Edgar G. Arroyo is a graduate of the University of Puerto Rico – Mayaguez Campus with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. Upon graduation, he received his commission through the Army Reserve Officer Training Course as a Second Lieutenant in the Medical Service Corps. He is a graduate of the Medical Service Corps Officer Basic Course, the Combined Logistics Captain Careers Course, the Combined Arms Services and Staff School, Air Assault School, Airborne School, Jumpmaster School, the Command and General Staff College, and the United States Army War College. Colonel Edgar G. Arroyo holds a Master of Science in Healthcare Administration degree from the University of Maryland and a Master of Strategic Studies from the United States Army War College.
Prior to his arrival to Fort Riley, Arroyo was assigned to Headquarters, U.S. Army Medical Logistics Command, where he served as the G -3/5/7 in Fort Detrick, Maryland. Previous non -command assignments include service as Platoon Leader and Company XO, 560th Medical Company (Ground Ambulance), 52nd Air Evacuation Battalion, 18th Medical Command, Korea; Medical Platoon Leader, 3 -67th Armor Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division (M), Fort Hood, Texas; Medical Plans and Operations Officer, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he deployed twice in support of Operation Enduring Freedom; Battalion S3, 6th Medical Logistics Management Center, Fort Detrick; Battalion SPO and XO, 56th Multifunctional Medical Battalion, Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington, where he deployed in support of Operation Unified Response - Haiti; Brigade S3, 62nd Medical Brigade, Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington, where he deployed in support of Operation New Dawn; Joint Medical Operations Officer, U.S. Central Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida; and Executive Officer to the Deputy Commanding General - Operations, U.S. Army Medical Command, JBSA Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
His command assignments include: Commander, C Company, 203rd Forward Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized), Fort Benning, Georgia, where he deployed twice to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom; and Commander, Raymond W. Bliss Army Health Center, Fort Huachuca, Arizona. His awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal (two awards), the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal (four awards), the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Army Commendation Medal (three awards), the Army Achievement Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal, the NATO Medal, OIF and OEF Campaign Medals, the Senior Parachutist Badge, the Air Assault Badge, the Combat and Expert Medical Badges, and the German Armed Forces Proficiency Badge.
He is also a 2014 recipient of the Order of Military Medical Merit and a 2017 recipient of the Knowlton Award.
Lieutenant Colonel Jarett T. Skinner
Deputy Commander for Clinical Services
Irwin Army Community Hospital
LTC Skinner is a graduate of the University of Idaho (B.S. 1999), the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, A.T. Still University of Health Sciences, Kirksville, Missouri (D.O. 2004), Tripler Army Medical Center, Hawaii, OB/GYN Internship (2005), Tripler Army Medical Center, Hawaii, OB/GYN Residency (2008), and the Command and General Staff College (2015).
Prior to this assignment, LTC Skinner served as Director, Surgical Services at Irwin Army Community Hospital
Other key assignments include: Staff OB/GYN physician, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany; Chief OB/GYN clinic, General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital, Ft. Leonard Wood; Chief OB/GYN 28th Combat Support Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq; and Staff OB/GYN clinic, General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital, Ft. Leonard Wood.
LTC Skinner is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Board Certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. LTC Skinner holds an active membership in the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists.
LTC Skinner’s awards and decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters), Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters), Army Superior Unit Award, Meritorious Unit Commendation.
Listen to Past Series
Alan Molk, M.D. - Saving Lives, Saving Dignity
2021 Past Schedule
September 30, 2021 - "Embracing Vulnerability as a Value"
Jessica Blubaugh
Director of WIN for KC
Kansas City Sports Commission & Foundation
Jessica Blubaugh oversees the day-to-day operations and strategic direction of WIN for KC (Women's Intersport Network). As a division of the Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation, WIN works to empower the lives of girls and women by advocating and promoting the lifetime value of sports and fitness, while providing opportunities for participation and leadership development. WIN offers a variety of events and programs throughout the year and supports the efforts of the KC Sports Commission on a broad level of events such as the Big 12 Basketball Championships, the Kansas City Marathon and, most recently, the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl Parade and Celebration.
She has spent 18 years in the nonprofit sector, specifically in event and marketing teams and creating mission-driven experiences for each organization she's served, including the Women's Sports Foundation, Teach For America and Visit KC.
Jessica grew up in Manhattan, Kansas, and graduated from the University of Kansas. She received a Master's in Organizational Development & Leadership from Rockhurst University. She currently serves as president of the Longfellow Community Association and as a KC Business Journal NextGen Leader and is a graduate of the Centurions Leadership Program. She lives in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, with her wife, Julie, and two dogs.
October 25, 2021 - "Saving Lives, Saving Dignity"
Alan Molk, M.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine
University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix
Dr. Alan Molk is a semi-retired, board-certified emergency medicine physician practicing in Phoenix, Arizona. He has worked full-time as an emergency physician since 1980. His training focused on saving lives at any cost, no matter what. Later in his career - when his mother developed Alzheimer's dementia - he was reminded of how poorly America deals with incurable progressive illnesses and end-of life issues. His extremely painful, but ultimately enlightening, journey with his beloved mother inspired him to be part of a movement that is creating a cultural change in the world of emergency medicine by maintaining and preserving dignity at end-of-life.
Dr. Molk co-authored Saving Lives, Saving Dignity, an Amazon best-seller and has just finished writing his second book, On the Right Side of the Bed - a story of attitude and gratitude.