Latest news with #LeadershipAcademy
Wall Street Journal
5 days ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
The Wisconsin Bar Surrenders on DEI
Diversity, equity and inclusion programs are shutting down in many corners of the U.S., but some bar associations need an extra push. On Thursday the Wisconsin Bar Association settled a federal lawsuit by ending the use of DEI in race-based leadership programs. Under the settlement terms with a conservative legal group, the Wisconsin bar agreed to remove race, gender or other 'immutable characteristics' on applications for its Leadership Development Summit or Leadership Academy, which are programs geared toward young lawyers. The bar said it would also be 'reiterating in promotional and application materials' that its programs 'are available to all Wisconsin law students,' not only those of certain races.
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Equinox Gold Publishes 2024 Sustainability Report
Organized the Ride to Greenstone cycling relay from Vancouver, BC to Geraldton, ON, celebrating the opening of our new Greenstone Mine and raising C$1.24 million for the Geraldton District Hospital and over C$200,000 for local charities at our United States and Brazil mines Invested in our people, with continuation of our Leadership Academy in Brazil and launch of our new Emerging Leader Program in North America Invested in our communities, with 96% of total procurement spend remaining within host countries and 16% directed to local suppliers (up from 14% in 2023) Celebrated eight years without a lost-time injury ("LTI") at Mesquite and recorded zero LTIs at Greenstone and Castle Mountain in 2024, with a Company-wide LTI frequency rate of 0.49 per million hours worked (target 0.61) Advanced several water stewardship initiatives, including implementation of dry stack tailings and maintenance of a freshwater reservoir at our RDM Mine to serve both the mine and local communities Demonstrated best practices in tailings and heap leach management, with zero tailings or heap leach-related environmental or safety incidents Greg Smith, CEO of Equinox Gold, commented: "Responsible mining is foundational to how we operate at Equinox Gold. ESG principles are central to our culture, our business strategy, and the decisions we make each day. In 2024, we made meaningful progress on several fronts: improving our environmental performance, advancing water stewardship projects, increasing our social investments, and enhancing initiatives focused on ethical governance and transparency. We also expanded training, leadership and health and well-being programs for our workforce to ensure our team has the skills to work safely and thrive in their workplace. I am proud of our team's dedication to each other and to upholding our responsible mining commitments." Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - July 15, 2025) - Equinox Gold Corp. (TSX: EQX) (NYSE American: EQX) ("Equinox Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the publication of its 2024 Sustainability Report. Informed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) frameworks, the report provides a comprehensive overview of the Company's performance and progress across key environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics, including safety, environmental stewardship, community engagement and ethical business practices. The report and detailed GRI and SASB data tables are available for review and download on Equinox Gold's website at . Story Continues Governance Upheld human rights across our organization, including human rights risk assessments, workforce ethics training and publishing our first Modern Slavery Report Achieved 100% acknowledgment of Equinox Gold's Supplier Code of Conduct from over 4,000 active suppliers Tied 8% of executive incentive compensation to ESG metrics Formalized a Company-wide Equity, Diversity and Inclusion strategy underpinned by four pillars: inclusive leadership, inclusive culture, workforce diversity and equity in practice, all committed to a merit-based workplace grounded in fairness and equity to empower our diverse workforce and drive innovation 2025 ESG PRIORITIES Continue to improve our health and safety and environmental performance Implement the objectives detailed in our Human Resources and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion strategic roadmaps Complete external assurance of the World Gold Council's Responsible Gold Mining Principles at two sites Complete training on Equinox Gold's Social Management Standards at all sites Implement a new Enterprise Risk Management system to improve risk management efficiency, data accessibility and reporting More information about Equinox Gold's 2024 performance, 2025 targets and commitments to responsible mining is available in the reports and other disclosure on our website at Equinox Gold Contact Ryan King Senior Vice President, Capital Markets and Strategy T: +1 778.998.3700 E: E: ir@ Cautionary Notes This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities legislation (collectively "Forward-looking Information"). Actual results of operations and the ensuing financial results may vary materially from the amounts set out in any Forward-looking Information. Forward-looking Information in this news release relate to, among other things: the ESG objectives and priorities, including expectations for the Company's health, safety and environmental performance. Forward-looking Information is generally identified by words such as "target", "ensure", "continue", "develop", "commitment" and similar expressions and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", or "should", or the negative connotation of such terms, are intended to identify Forward-looking Information. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such Forward-looking Information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on Forward-looking Information since the Company can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. The Company has based Forward-looking Information on the Company's current expectations and projections about future events and these assumptions include: the Company's ability to comply with environmental, health and safety laws or other requirements, standards or protocols; and the Company's ability to meet its ESG objectives, priorities and targets. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available, they may prove to be incorrect. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on Forward-looking Information contained in this news release. Forward-looking Information involves numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such Forward-looking Information. Such factors include those described in the section "Risk Factors in in the Company's MD&A dated March 13, 2025 for the year ended December 31, 2024, and in the section titled "Risks Related to the Business" in Equinox Gold's most recently filed Annual Information Form which is available on SEDAR+ at and on EDGAR at Forward-looking Information reflects management's current expectations for future events and is subject to change. Except as required by applicable law, the Company assumes no obligation to update or to publicly announce the results of any change to any Forward-looking Information contained or incorporated by reference to reflect actual results, future events or developments, changes in assumptions or other factors affecting Forward-looking Information. If the Company updates any Forward-looking Information, no inference should be drawn that the Company will make additional updates with respect to those or other Forward-looking Information. All Forward-looking Information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. To view the source version of this press release, please visit
Hindustan Times
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Comedy and crime fighting join forces for police learning leadership skills
CHICAGO — Three dozen police captains pair off in a Chicago conference room to play a game: They must start a sentence with the last word their partner used. Comedy and crime fighting join forces for police learning leadership skills Many exchanges are nonsensical, full of one-upmanship using difficult words and laughter. But the improvisation game eventually makes sense. 'What we are trying to do, is get you to listen to the end of the sentence,' says Kelly Leonard, wrapping up the improvisational exercise. 'If my arm was a sentence, when do most people stop listening? Always the elbow! But then you're missing everything that goes after... and sometimes that's critical information.' The police captains who have flown in from departments across the country nod. 'I definitely do that," some call out. Officials at the University of Chicago Crime Lab's Policing Leadership Academy brought members of The Second City, Chicago's storied improv theater, to teach police leaders the more diverse skills found in improv exercises — like thinking on your feet, reserving judgment and fully listening. The academy, a workshop taught over five months, tackles some serious topics like to make data-driven decisions or how to help officers handle on-the-job trauma. 'We call it yoga for social skills,' said Leonard, the vice president of Creative Strategy, Innovation and Business Development at The Second City. The skills might not apply to all policing situations in the field, but being a better listener or learning to take a breath before responding can make for better leaders, according to Tree Branch, a strategic client partner at The Second City Works. The creation of improv and of The Second City is rooted in social work. Both trace their beginnings to Viola Spolin, who created some of the exercises still used in improv while she was a resettlement worker in the 1920s helping immigrant children and local Chicago children connect. Spolin was also the mother of Second City cofounder, Paul Sills. The Policing Leadership Academy's creators believe those skills can also help meet their goals to increase community engagement, improve officer morale and ultimately reduce violent crime. 'We are trying to make the case that you can do all three things," without compromising one over the other, said Kim Smith, director of programs at the Crime Lab. The academy is focused on working with leaders from departments dealing with high levels of community gun violence and pays for them to fly to Chicago one week a month to attend the five-month training. Crime Lab researchers found that district and precinct captains have the largest potential impact on their colleagues, despite often receiving little leadership training for the job. A precinct could have high marks for morale, community relationships, or be making a dent in crime numbers, but if the captain changes, those gains could plummet, researchers found, even if the community, the officers and everything else stayed the same. Professors, researchers and police leaders teach courses on topics like developing transparent policing cultures, using and collecting data, managing stress and building community partnerships. So far, about 130 police leaders from about 70 departments including tribal police departments and even a police inspector from Toronto have participated. Capt. Louis Higginson with the Philadelphia Police Department said the academy provided a much broader training than the two weeks of police job training he got before being promoted to captain a little more than a year ago. 'The big thing for me was thinking about the things we allow to happen because they've been that way before us,' he said. 'And the ways we can change the culture of our district by changing the thinking around why we do things.' He said he did some of the improv exercises with his wife and daughters when he returned home and it opened up communication in a way he hadn't expected. 'I think it opened their eyes, like it did for me,' Higginson said. Albuquerque Police Department Commander Ray Del Greco said he's still thinking more about how he communicates weeks after the improv class. 'When people talk to you and come to have you help solve their issues, to be able to push your ego out and worry less about your own agenda and listen, that's an understanding of leadership,' Del Greco said. 'To me that was the most valuable class we had.' Academy leaders stressed the learning doesn't stop at graduation. They create communication channels so classmates can continue to support each other, they encourage captains to put on trainings with their departments, and participants are required to implement a capstone project that lasts well past the last day of class and addresses a real problem in their district or department. Many of the projects implement programs to address specific crimes, like involving the community in programs to prevent car thefts or piloting drones as first responders. One previous graduate created a partnership with community groups to increase community pride and reduce gun violence by reducing quality of life issues like littering, overgrown lots and graffiti. Stephen Donohue, a San Jose Police Department captain and recent academy graduate, is creating an early intervention system focusing on officer wellness. A typical system might flag citizen complaints or driving accidents, but Donohue's program gathers input from supervisors and peers to flag when an officer is taking on too much on-duty trauma, such as multiple murders or shooting investigations within a short time. 'It's a Venn diagram between training, wellness and internal affairs," he said. "And we can help them, we can lessen use-of-force complaints and allegations, offer better training and improve services put out by the department.' The trainers hope in a few years more captains and officers will be saying 'yes and' during improv classes. They are keeping tabs through a randomized control study on how well the overall training works. And with that evidence they hope funders, police departments or other universities will help expand the trainings to more departments. 'We want there to be rigorously tested scientific evidence behind this,' said Academy Executive Director Meredith Stricker. 'We work to design a curriculum to ultimately make better leaders and better policing. The participants definitely talk about the improv class as one of their favorites. We hope all of it will work in tandem.' This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New Lodi Library director brings decades of experience with her
Jun. 12—The Lodi Public Library Board of Trustees appointed a new director on Monday. Jennifer Fontanilla has more than 18 years of experience in the library system, serving in a variety of roles with the Stockton-San Joaquin County Library. Fontanilla oversaw the library's annual $16 million budget as deputy director/city librarian. In this role, she optimized performance across the board and collaborated with the department finance officer to review, create, and administer the budget. The board said that throughout her career, Fontanilla has demonstrated her leadership abilities by managing and evaluating staff for the county's five library branches, as well as technical and delivery services. Fontanilla holds a master's degree in library and information science from San Jose State University, and a bachelor of arts in business family and consumer sciences/human sciences from California State University, Long Beach. She is also certified as a supervisor by the City of Stockton, and has completed the Leadership Academy program. Fontanilla takes over for Akiliah Manuel Mills, whose last day was July 31. Manuel was appointed Lodi Public Library director in 2021 after serving in a similar role with the Riverside County Library System. She told the News-Sentinel last summer that she would be working and traveling abroad as a corporate consultant in a variety of industries. Earlier this year, the Lodi City Council considered three options regarding the Lodi Public Library's future, including entering into a contract with the Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library. Staff said joining the countywide system would save the city some $580,000 in annual operational costs. Lodi is the only library in the county that is not part of the SSJPCL, and staff said it could be more efficient to join the county system, as it would be responsible for administrative duties and keep costs low by purchasing materials in bulk and providing a wider range of resources to residents. In addition, a larger shared catalog would give users access to all materials throughout the system, including a wider selection of digital services and eBooks, as well as a simpler process for placing holds and having items delivered to the library. A second option was to integrate the library with Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Services, which staff said would provide better financial sustainability than the current operating model, as well as opportunities for co-programming with recreational activities. The option would allow the city to retain control of the library, but it would increase the workload of an already very busy PRCS department, staff said. Ongoing savings with this option is estimated to be about $150,000 annually. A third option was continue operating the library as the city has done, but make small improvements such as expanding community programming, modernizing technology, adding a librarian and creating clear documentation for the board of trustees. While the other two options would save the city in operating costs, this one would require as much as $200,000 in annual spending, staff said. During a special meeting in January, many residents vehemently opposed give an outside party control over the library. The council has yet to take action on the library's future, and is expected to discussion the matter at an upcoming meeting.
AU Financial Review
26-05-2025
- Sport
- AU Financial Review
Leadership training builds capacity in not-for-profit sector
The Sydney gathering heard from international cricketer and vice-captain of India's women's cricket team, Smriti Mandhana, about what it means to be a resilient change-maker. Mandhana started playing cricket at a time when very few women played the sport, rising quickly through the ranks from junior level to international stardom, which required immense fortitude. She emphasised how important it is as a leader to reconcile failures and successes. 'You have to understand what's working for you and what's not working for you,' Mandhana said. 'No matter if you score 100 or you score a duck, the next day, you still have to start playing again from zero. So, it doesn't really matter what's happened in the past. Failure is the time when you understand what you can do better.' Mandhana left the audience with a message about balancing the mental space you devote to analysing setbacks versus how you assess your successes. She told the group to avoid falling into rumination and fixation, and recommended meditation and breathing exercises to gain a level head during times of stress. Common Purpose's Sengupta said events like the American Express Leadership Academy are vital for NFP leaders to build their resilience and be inspired. 'At Common Purpose, our heart and soul is about giving people the skills, knowledge and networks so they can be a better version of themselves and solve the complex challenges of society for individuals, organisations and communities,' Sengupta said. 'The academy strengthens the sector and gives its leaders the chance to be inspired and better connected. It's about developing the knowledge to make two plus two into 11, not four, to accelerate their social impact.' American Express chief corporate affairs officer, Jennifer Skyler, said, 'one of the goals of the Leadership Academy is to build bridges between organisations in the for-profit and non-profit sectors. This helps to ensure that everyone has access to the best tools, skills and networks to realise their potential and advance their mission, whether it be for a company, social enterprise or NGO.' 'Going into the leadership academy, I felt I was very consultative and had an understanding of organisational change and change management. But I had never admitted to myself I was a leader until I did the course,' said 2024 academy alumnus Craig Stevens, the CEO of LocalKind, which offers a drop-in support service for vulnerable people living in Sydney. Stevens was one of three alumni to receive $US25,000 as part of their involvement in Leadership Academy to go towards their nonprofits. The course gave him a deeper appreciation of how his backstory can help effect change. 'I learned as a result of this experience I have a story. And that story is linked to our mission and values, and can be used for the good of the organisation in terms of fundraising and raising awareness,' said Stevens. 'It helped me be able to advocate on issues such as domestic violence and trauma-informed care for people who have had complex childhoods and end up homeless or in the justice system.' Stevens said being part of the American Express Leadership Academy also supported his own career ascension to run a large not-for-profit organisation. 'I started my professional life as a support worker, moving into different roles before becoming a CEO,' he said. 'The academy challenged my thinking on how I can lead through change more kindly and using stories, understanding you're going to get better results if you bring people along the journey.'
