![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Jim-Williams-scaled.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a>The 2026 graduating class planned diverse community projects by dividing into four teams that focused on initiatives for the community as a result of Winter Storm Fern earlier this year. They focused their team projects on: Emergency Response Action Plan, Lafayette County Emergency Management App Marketing Campaign, \u201cLafayette Ready\u201d Emergency Preparedness Fair, and Little Free Pantries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year\u2019s Leadership Lafayette class proudly presented the 2026 Leadership Award to Jim Williams. Throughout the program, Williams supported his group with steady enthusiasm and a sincere commitment to the \u201cLafayette Ready\u201d Emergency Preparedness Fair. He worked closely with his team, offered thoughtful guidance, and helped shape an event that served the community well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This year\u2019s class had unprecedented chemistry in their small groups,\u201d said Pam Swain<\/strong>, Leadership Lafayette program director and President\/CEO of the Chamber. \u201cThey each had a great amount of passion for their community and worked diligently together on their projects. I salute this unique group of leaders for the lasting impact they have left on this community through their determination and goals with their community projects.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Chamber was grateful to have a program sponsorship in support of the class from SeniorKare. SeniorKare<\/strong> provides regional in-home senior care and assisted living, delivered by well-trained, highly motivated, and caring staff members who exude the values of professionalism, honesty, and integrity, serving Little Rock, AR, and Oxford, MS. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Leadership Lafayette program is organized by a steering committee made up of hand-selected program alumni. The dedicated steering committee handles all the details of the program, including all session speakers and locations, food details, and the intense class selection process. The 2026 committee includes: Wayne Andrews<\/strong>, Yoknapatawpha Arts Council (2026 program co-char); Prema Balachandran<\/strong>, University of Mississippi; Kim Byrd<\/strong>, University of Mississippi; Brooke Deal<\/strong>, Renasant Bank; Matt DeLoach<\/strong>, University of Mississippi; Abby Evans<\/strong>, North Mississippi Regional Center; Sydney Fields<\/strong>, Service Specialists; Hunter Haney<\/strong>, University of Mississippi; Jody Holland<\/strong>, LOFT\/University of Mississippi; LeTosha James<\/strong>, University of Mississippi; Kayla Martin<\/strong>, Oxford Police Department; Sha’ Simpson<\/strong>, North Mississippi Regional Center (2026 program co-char); DaPorshia Tellis<\/strong>, North Mississippi Regional Center; Latia Thomas<\/strong>, Tannehill Carmean, PLLC; Blake Thompson<\/strong>, TM Realtors; Shanika Ward<\/strong>, North Mississippi Regional Center; Deetra Wiley<\/strong>, University of Mississippi; Jessica Windham<\/strong>, Welcome Home Oxford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 2026 class also selected two representatives to join other alumni on the steering committee. Those selected to join the planning team were Holly McElyea<\/strong>\u00a0and Adrienne McDill<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Chamber of Commerce will begin accepting applications for the 2027 Leadership Lafayette class in late October 2026. Details can be found at www.oxfordms.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Twenty-four local leaders take their fine-tuned skills into the community after graduating from the Oxford-Lafayette County Chamber of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":166103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[19],"tags":[7880,1096,4],"class_list":["post-166101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-chamber-of-commerce","tag-lafayette","tag-oxford"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Class-of-26-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1698&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166101"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":166105,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166101\/revisions\/166105"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n