Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership announces 2024 leadership class

The Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership (IGEL) has its new environmental leadership class for 2024 — a cohort of 30 environmental leaders from across the state in a number of sectors, all working with a common interest: being good stewards for the environment.

The program has been around for over 20 years, with now more than 600 environmental leaders — or IGELians, as they’re called — holding the distinction.

Selection into the leadership class is highly competitive, with many people applying multiple times before being selected. Typically, the leaders are mid to late-career professionals who have been working to impact the Georgia environmental scene for some time.

The 2024 class will have five, four-day sessions that take the environmental leaders out of the conference room and into the environment they’re working to protect, whether it’s hiking, kayaking, spending time in a forest, or something else.

“I think the importance of not just talking about Georgia’s environment, but literally experiencing it,” said Howard Lalli, outgoing chair of the board of IGEL, “[as well as] shared experience in a class, is part of what helps bind these leaders together.”

The idea for IGEL more than two decades ago was simple.

“The idea was, ‘can we bring together leaders from different sectors across Georgia who may at times be on opposite sides of the table on issues, and really do a combination of environmental education and leadership development,’” Lalli said. “And that’s what we’ve done for more than 20 years.

Just as priorities on environmental issues have changed in the last couple decades, so has IGEL and the focus of its educational aspect. Lalli notes a stronger emphasis on climate change as an issue compared to the early 2000s. He also added the environmental context was different back then, with the infamous Tri-State Water Wars in which Georgia was an integral player.

Part of the reason IGEL remains such an honor is the impact it’s had on past selectees.

“It is remarkable how many people talk about what a significant difference IGEL made in their lives, in their careers, and how they can contribute to the state of Georgia,” Lalli said.

Lalli, an IGELian himself from the 2006 class, says if he were offered the opportunity all over again, he would take it. One of the best parts about the cohort, he said, is the diversity of people, across multiple dimensions —- race, geography, industry, and more.

Alongside the announcement of the newest leadership class came the announcement of the 2024/25 board of directors, with Dan Grogan of the 2011 IGEL class taking Lalli’s place as board chair.

“Over the past 21 years, IGEL has worked to create a culture of candor and collaboration amongst all sectors focused on Georgia’s natural resources,” Grogan said in a statement.

The first of the five sessions begins in mid-May, with the last one wrapping up in early 2025.

The 2024 IGEL Leadership Class are: