Meet the Leadership Marco Class of 2022

There were a lot of laughs and superlatives being tossed around at the waterfront home of Allyson and Jim Richards as this year’s class of Leadership Marco gathered with last year’s class for the annual kickoff cocktail party. 

Leadership Marco is a Marco Island Chamber of Commerce program that teaches participants about Marco Island through a series of mandatory full-day sessions that includes the history of the island, media, law enforcement, hospitality and economics, education, government (includes transportation and infrastructure) and agriculture and the environment.

This year’s class appears to be a well-rounded one that is excited to get started.

"I think from my standpoint,” said Thomas Boeck, pastor at Marco Lutheran church, "I look at Leadership Marco as being an opportunity to get more ingrained in the community, to become more a part of the community. Our church’s position is that we want to be a value to the community. Leadership Marco gives me a better chance to understand my community and to be able to be a part of it."

Boeck became a pastor after a career in construction management that included a stop at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. The infamous bombing hit very close to home for Boeck.

“It actually happened on a Saturday, my day off,” Boeck recalls.  "It occurred right outside my office window. My office was on the third floor of the building right across the street from where it happened. My boss’s mother, who was an elderly gal, had a quarter-inch piece of shrapnel taken out of her shoulder. She was ok, but it was quite a scare. Praise the Lord no one got killed.”

It was after 23 years of working in Atlanta that Boeck entered the ministry.  

"I got a calling to be in the ministry,” Boeck said. "I went through seminary training and became an associate pastor in Marietta, Georgia. Marco Lutheran was looking for an associate pastor. I received a call from them and interviewed, ultimately moved down here. After two years, Pastor Kevin Koenig retired and they made me the sole pastor. As we went through the next year and a half, I became the senior pastor."

Colleen Long joined Leadership Marco prior to becoming the next president of the Chamber of Commerce.

"I felt that it was really important for someone coming into that role to take this great opportunity to be a part of a great program like this,” Long said. "I work for Tuscany Villas assisted living as Director of Sales and Marketing. I’ve been coming to, and now living on Marco Island for 20 years. I look forward to learning things about the island that I’ve never known. It's truly meaningful to me.

 Long holds a master's degree in communications and public relations from Iona College. She serves on the Collier County dementia cure and care initiative task force.

"I love doing things to help our seniors,” Long said, “that is my passion."

Jim Kornas, a General Motors retiree, sees Leadership Marco as an opportunity to meet new people and get to know more about the island.

 “It’s a great opportunity to find out what’s going on in other parts of the island that I’m not familiar with,” Kornas said. “To expand my horizons and make an impact, hopefully in the future, that I wouldn’t have been able to do before.”

You may have seen Kornas in the city council chambers.

"I’ve retired after over 30 years with General Motors Corporation,” Kornas said. “Now I’m the person who takes the minutes at the city council meetings. I work for the City of Marco Island."

Doreen Herriman is a retiree who is already giving back to the island as a board member at the Marco Island Area Association of Realtors.

“I’m excited to be here because I want to learn more about the island,” Herriman said. "I’m active in Newcomers and Blue Zones. I just want to learn more about the history - about the island."

Heather Otis spends a lot of her time studying the history of Marco Island as part of her job as collections manager at the Marco Island Historical Society.

“I’m the fourth member of the Historical Society to go through the program,” Otis said. “I’ve heard amazing things. I’m really thrilled to get a behind the scenes look at what makes Marco what it is today. I think that will really help to inform my work on the history of this island. I’ve been with the Marco Island Historical Society for three and a half years. Before that I was curator and collections manager for a local museum in South Carolina. I also worked for the Museum of Natural History and I went to grad school for museum studies at George Washington University right in D.C."

Christy Gallup, a mother of four, is the congregational caregiver at United Church of Marco Island following a 30-year career as a nurse in New Jersey. She sees Leadership Marco as a chance to become more a part of the community.

“I think it’s an opportunity to connect more with the community,” Gallup said. "I do help people in the congregation and in our community get placed in assisted living facilities. I also refer them to different things throughout the island. Leadership Marco is a good way for me to network and get to know people on the island. We’re fairly new to the community and we have children in the school system. My husband is a lieutenant on the police department. So it’s just a good way for us to connect more with the community - have more opportunity to be involved in things. Being in nursing for so many years, I kind of wanted to change things up a little bit. A congregational caregiver is like a parish nurse."

Mary Shoenberger was hooked on Leadership Marco after listening to her husband talk about his experiences as a member of the Class of 2021.

“I wanted to meet a lot of new people and form relationships,” Shoenberger said. "My husband loved it last year and immediately said I have to do it.”

Shoenberger worked as a nurse in Maryland.

Michael Johnson was born and raised in Naples. He’s part of the team at CJ’s on the Bay. He looks forward to learning about what makes Marco tick.

“It’s a chance to learn about the inner workings of the community,” Johnson said. "Just seeing a bigger picture of what’s going on. Just learning. I’ve worked in restaurants the better part of the past two decades. I’ve been at CJ’s for the past 12 years. I’m one of the managers. They’ve got a great family atmosphere. Once you feel like you’re part of the family you stick around. A lot of people have been there a lot of years."

"To me,” said David Richards, "Leadership Marco means giving back to the community. Networking. Getting to see the ins and outs of establishments - not only residential but commercial. Learning how other people deal with people like ourselves. Meeting new people and getting out there and trying to learn as much as possible about Marco and South Naples.

Richards worked in construction for 20 years before entering the property management field on the island.

Arne Sandberg is a triathlete who likes being a part of the Marco community. A vice president of sales for a packaging company in his home state of Wisconsin, Sandberg sees Leadership Marco as an opportunity to learn.

“It’s about learning more about the community where we live,” Sandberg said, “understanding some of the businesses, our local first responders and what goes on behind the scenes of running the city.”  

Nicole Kropek is a member of the team at CJ’s on the Bay. She’s also the only Marco native among the dozen Class of 2022.

 “I look forward to learning the history of the island I was born and raised on,” Kropek said. "I graduated from Lely High School in 1999.”

Kropek has worked at Rookie’s and Marco Movies. 

Joe Richards spent seven years as captain of the Calusa Spirit before entering his family’s property management team.

“I see Leadership Marco as a way of becoming more involved with the community,” Joe Richards said. "Having more information on things, a better perspective on things, and having the confidence to lead.”