At this year’s Capital Area Michigan Works! annual meeting, Chris Holman received the Leonard Peters Lifetime Achievement Award. Leonard Peters served on the Capital Area Michigan Works! Administrative Board from 1985 to 2008 as an Eaton County Commissioner — a commitment spanning more than two decades of board service. During that time, he provided invaluable leadership, counsel and support to the organization. Leonard served as an officer 12 times during his tenure on the board, including five separate year-long terms as board chair.

In 2008, the Leonard Peters Lifetime Achievement Award was established in recognition of those who have given a lifetime of outstanding service to Capital Area Michigan Works! Past recipients of the award include Leonard Peters himself, David Hollister, Larry Martin, Edith Suttles, Doug Stites and Jane Doty. Chris Holman first became entwined with Capital Area Michigan Works! in 2001 when he joined the CAMW! board to help them better connect with and understand the region’s business community.

In addition to his long-standing service to the Workforce Development Board, Chris has served on several business committees and executive committees. Through his work with the Michigan Future Business Index and Michigan Business Network, he has ensured our team members are connected with businesses and has worked to educate the business community of the role and value of CAMW! in talent attraction and growth in the region. But perhaps his most significant contributions — and certainly his CAMW! legacy — are tied to his leadership with T3: Teach. Talent. Thrive.

In 2006, when Doug Stites approached Chris about a possible initiative to provide business leadership for the region’s education community, Chris accepted his then unknown responsibilities without a moment’s hesitation. Since then, he has been the official and, at times, unofficial chair of some version of T3 for the past 12 years. He shepherded the organization from an idea to a registered 501 (c)(3) as Keep Learning … Our Future Depends On It. As the region and its needs evolved, Chris donated countless hours to the realignment and reinvention of Keep Learning as T3. He rallied fellow business leaders to serve as the founders of the organization’s business council and still serves as its co-chair.

For more information on T3: Teach.Talent.Thrive. Visit, www.teachtalentthrive.org

Visit www.camw.org to connect with the Capital Area Michigan Works! team for assistance with career exploration or staffing needs. Capital Area Michigan Works!, a proud partner of the American Job Center Network, offers services in Ingham, Clinton and Eaton counties at our Lansing, St. Johns and Charlotte American Job Centers.

Join Edyth Copeland as she interviews Chris Holman on the Michigan Business Beat!