Upton clerk selected for Leadership Wyoming class

Braden Schiller
NLJ Reporter
 
Kelley Millar of Upton has been selected as a member of Leadership Wyoming’s class of 2022. 
“It’s a really prestigious honor. You apply in February, and then you don’t find out if you get in until May,” said Millar, who is Upton’s town clerk.
Leadership Wyoming hosts nine training sessions a year that focus on important topics and industries, including education, natural resources, tourism, health care, government, cultural diversity, technology, manufacturing and community building. The program was founded by Bill Schilling, president and founder of the Wyoming Heritage Foundation; Phil Dubois, then-president of the University of Wyoming; and Eli Bebout, then-speaker of the Wyoming House.  
Applying for Leadership Wyoming is a long process that starts in February. Hopefuls attend sessions to help them discern what they want to do in the program and what applications should look like.
“It’s a really well-rounded program. You’ll see a lot of modules, economic development and mining industry and manufacturing and philanthropy,” Millar said. 
The first session of Leadership Wyoming 2022 starts in August in Pinedale, Wyoming. Sessions are four days each month before the program ends with the philanthropy session and graduation in Sheridan in May.
“I am probably most excited for the philanthropy piece, I think, more than anything else. And then, of course, always the economic development and legislative (pieces) are interesting just because of where we are in the times that we live in,” Millar said.
Millar hopes to take what she learns in the program and use it to benefit her town.
“(There is) a lot of legislation and education. So, I’d like to take that, what I gained from other leaders that are going to participate in the product, and bring it back here and maybe apply some of that to how we do things here,” she said.