Tennessee Tech’s Dr. Robert Owens and local business owner Lisa Uhrik will be among the 50 leaders participating in this year’s Leadership Tennessee Signature Program.
Leadership Tennessee unites leaders from the business, government, education and nonprofit sectors to analyze challenges faced across the state. The cohort will spend ten months traveling the state while coming up with solutions to solve some of those problems. Owens said he is excited to represent the region.
“I think the Upper Cumberland is a great region in the state,” Owens said. “I’m blessed to live here, and there are some good things happening across our region. But I’m just hopeful that as a result of this program, I can help spurt some more growth in our area.”
Members of the cohort are nominated by their peers before undergoing an application process. Owens and Uhrik are two of just five representatives from the Upper Cumberland selected during the program’s 12-year history.
Uhrik said she admires the work of Leadership Tennessee and some of the people who have served on previous cohorts.
“You can see more from the top of the mountain than you can from the bottom of it,” Uhrik said. “When you can get a broader perspective, you’re in a better position to do more good things. And I’d like to expand the work that we’re doing in Cookeville and in the region and be as helpful as I can be in this lifetime.”
In addition to his work as the Senior Executive for Access and Community Outreach at Tech, Owens pastors Kainos Church in Cookeville and is involved in local youth and college sports.
Owens said he likes the program’s bi-partisan nature.
“That excites me because I think some of the best work happens when we come across lines, whatever the lines are that separate us,” Owens said. “Our best work is when we unify for a cause for the people that we serve.”
Before joining the Leadership Tennessee cohort, Uhrik served with the local Leadership Putnam program. She co founded the Plenty Downtown Bookshop nonprofit alongside her husband, Dave.
Uhrik said she and Dave are passionate about impacting small business and improving literacy.
“We’re trying to put together a 100 year plan for making things better long before we’re gone.” Uhrik said. “[Dave] calls it planting a seed for a tree we’ll never sit under, but that’s kind of we like to live.”
This year, thirteen counties will be represented in the Leadership Tennessee Signature Program.
