By Dennis Nun

I first heard of the Nebraska LEAD program in 1983. I learned that the term LEAD stands for "Leadership Education/Action Development," and that the purpose of this two-year intensive educational experience was to "accelerate the leadership development of Nebraska's future agricultural leaders."

The Nebraska LEAD program was established in 1981 by the Nebraska Agricultural Leadership Council, encouraged by startup funding from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, which had encouraged and launched several similar programs in other states by that time.

I immediately applied to the program, hoping to become a member of the third class of 30 farmers, ranchers and agribusiness professionals — generally between ages 25 and 55 — with demonstrated leadership potential. The competition was intense, and I was not selected for LEAD III but encouraged to apply again.

I did reapply and became a member of LEAD IV in 1984. Over the next two years, the 30 LEAD fellows from across the state became good friends as we participated in 12 three-day seminars at public and private colleges from one end of Nebraska to the other.

The first year focused on local, state and national issues and included a 10-day U.S. study-travel seminar that made stops in Kansas City, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. The second year, we focused on our relationship with the international community, and it included a study-travel seminar that took us to South Korea, Taiwan, India and Hong Kong.

The experiences were unforgettable, as were the people we met — including Mother Teresa — and the educational experience was priceless.

On March 15, LEAD Class 37 graduated, bringing the number of LEAD alumni from this program to 1,089. Most of these LEAD alumni still serve and reside in communities across our state. This program is recognized as one of the most successful and respected of its kind in the U.S.

Much of this organization’s success is because of the collaborative efforts of so many agricultural leaders who have served on the NALC, who saw the potential this program held for the state.

There have only been three directors of the program over these past 37 years: James Horner, Allen G. Blezek and Terry Hejny, the current director. We owe much of the success of the program to these inspiring, intelligent and committed leaders.

When I arrived back in Omaha, Neb., from our international trip in the spring of 1986, my wife, Patty, informed me that we were expecting our third child, Jordan. We eventually had a total of six children.

Jordan is married with four children of his own and works with us at Heartland International Inc. He also was selected as a member of LEAD 35, which had the opportunity to participate in a study-travel seminar to China, Laos and Thailand.

I am currently serving as the president of the LEAD Alumni Association. Our association was described by Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts last year at our annual meeting as "one of the most respected and influential networks of agricultural leaders in our state." I couldn't agree more.

In addition to hosting an annual meeting of our alumni association, we host a two-day "Ag Adventure Tour" each July within the state in cooperation with Leadership Omaha, and a study-travel seminar for our alumni that offers a domestic destination every other year with an international destination in the alternating years.

The 2018 destination was Peru, and in 2020, the LEAD alumni study-travel destination is Ireland and Northern Ireland.

In February, Patty and I traveled to California ahead of the LEAD alumni study-travel seminar program and attended the World Ag Exposition, where we were hosted and recognized by the California Ag Leaders Program at its annual breakfast that drew 1,000 attendees and raised $125,000 for its program that currently boasts more than 1,300 alumni.

From there, we traveled from the Central Valley north to San Francisco and then to the Russian, Sonoma and Napa valleys, where we toured Muir Woods' Redwoods, vineyards, farms, dairies, olive groves, farm-to-table restaurants and wineries before spending two days in San Francisco.

If you are an alumnus of the Nebraska LEAD program and are not actively involved in our annual meeting, programs or study-travel seminars, I would encourage you to carve out time to spend as a part of this ag leadership network. Learn more at www.neleadalumni.com.

The LEAD Program is taking applications for the 39th group of LEAD fellows. The deadline is June 15. Interviews and selection follow with the programming year, beginning in mid-September and running through early April each year.

If you or someone you know needs encouragement to apply, now is the time. To learn more, visit www.lead.unl.edu and Lead On.

Nun is a member of LEAD Class IV and is the president of the LEAD Alumni Association. He lives with his wife, Patty, in Lincoln, Neb.