Mary Ligon, the Director of Leadership Albany, recently received national recognition when she was presented with the 2016 Preceptor Award by the Association of Leadership Programs while attending the organization’s Southeast Regional Conference in Winter Park, Florida.  This award recognizes the director of a leadership program who has gone above and beyond, who has achieved a new standard of excellence, and who has a high level of civic and community engagement.  The recipient must also demonstrate creativity in leadership development; have effective communication skills; model "best practices" of leadership development; and show dedication to strengthening and transforming community leadership.  “Preceptors are individuals with a level of expertise making them capable of lending guidance to others,” said Juliann Jankowski, Vice Chair of the Association of Leadership Programs.  The Preceptor Award recognizes excellence in the cornerstone of successful leadership development efforts – the program director.
 
Ligon has been the Director of Leadership Albany since January 2000 and was a member of the 1989-90 Leadership Albany class.  She has served on a variety of nonprofit boards of directors in our community for over 30 years. Currently she is an active member of the Chehaw Park Authority Board, Dougherty County Rotary Club, United Way Education Impact Solutions team, and Porterfield Memorial United Methodist Church. She is a graduate of Georgia Southern University with  a Bachelors of  Business Administration in Management/Information Systems.  She and her husband, Jim, have two adult children.