Salisbury – Mayor Jake Day is one of 25 Maryland leaders who graduated from the 2017 Class of the Maryland Public Policy Conflict Resolution Fellows Program.
The Maryland Public Policy Conflict Resolution Fellows Program aims to expand negotiation, conflict resolution, and consensus building skills of a diverse group of Maryland leaders. The program emphasizes the importance of learning from each other, and works closely with experts in negotiation, collaborative governance, and consensus building. The overriding goal of the Fellows Program is to advance a more productive, collaborative future for Maryland’s public, nonprofit and private sectors.
Since the first graduating class in 2007, Maryland leaders of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches have used this program as a unique opportunity to collaborate with leaders of faith-based organizations, businesses, education, and non-profits. Participants take part in exercises that help enable them to prevent and resolve complex public policy conflicts as they arise.
This year’s cohort consisted of 25 Maryland leaders representing multiple sectors, and included: Mayor Jake Day of Salisbury, Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh, Administrative Judge Katleen Gallogly Cox of the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, Associate Judge Robert Greenberg of the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Administrative Judge Laura Kiessling of the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, Administrative Judge Brett Wilson of the Circuit Court for Dorchester County, CEO of MidAtlantic Farm Credit Thomas Truitt, CEO of Baltimore City Schools Sonja Santelises, Ombudsman for Governor Hogan Randall Nixon, Senator JB Jennings, CEO of Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake Lisa Rusyniak, Executive Vice President of Baltimore Development Corporation Kimberly Clark and Superintendent of Frederick County Schools Theresa Alban.
“While I was tremendously honored to be chosen as a 2017 Fellow of the Public Policy Conflict Resolution Program, nothing could have prepared me for the power of what we learned,” said the Mayor. “So much of what we hear, watch, and read about our governance involves impasse and conflict. I believe that the best solution to a given problem is the collaborative solution, and I am so grateful for the tools I gathered and people I met through this program. People want elected leaders who will work together. When politicians spend time focused on each other, you can rest assured they aren’t focused on working for you.”
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