Recently, UGIES employees, Kyle Ziegler, Sr. Manager, RNG and Kristina Kullman, Team Lead - Pipeline Logistics, graduated from Leadership Berks.  Leadership Berks is a program provided through the United Way of Berks County that is established to train and develop people to serve in nonprofit leadership roles within the county. Over the last nine months, Kyle and Kristina have received training from community leaders and instructors, teaching them professional and community leadership skills. This year, they were among 32 professionals that graduated from the program.

The graduates had an opportunity to reflect on their Leadership Berks experience. “Leadership Berks was an enriching opportunity to open your eyes to the needs of the broader community and bring awareness to the organizations and resources available to support those needs," said Kyle. "The challenge is connecting those individuals with the resources available. I look forward to using these new skills and my experiences at UGI Energy Services to support the community around us as we join local nonprofit boards.”

"Leadership Berks has provided us the tools to know that through Servant Leadership and community involvement, we can make a difference and affect change. We can lead by example. And outside of our professional careers, we find a cause in our community we’re passionate about to give back to," said Kristina.

Through Leadership Berks, Kyle and Kristina each had a service project to focus on.  Kyle's project was in support of Berks Coalition to End Homelessness. He worked with them to identify the causes for racial inequity in the homeless population and create a survey tool for the Coalition to distribute to Berks service organizations to assess their practices and provide future recommendations.  Kristina's project was with the Reading Science Center in helping to redevelop their website. She worked with a team of fellow classmates to work on a redesign that made the website more inviting, family friendly and more accessible to the staff at Reading Science Center. 

Both employees agreed that the program provided the opportunity to connect with other like-minded individuals from various organizations in the community in a judgement-free zone.  They felt it was a great experience and further demonstrated UGI Energy Services willingness to give back to the community and create change for the better.

If you are interested in learning more about Leadership Berks visit the United Way of Berks County website.