By Marty Cheek
Throughout our community are hundreds of people who have gone through the Leadership Morgan Hill program, helping them build confidence and passion to make Morgan Hill an even better place for everyone who lives here. Now in its 19th year, Leadership Morgan Hill is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to building community leadership. When he’s not working as his law firm Pelosi & Ferguson, LLP, Morgan Hill resident Adam Ferguson serves as the president of Leadership Morgan Hill’s board of directors.
Ferguson grew up Morgan Hill and graduated from Live Oak High School in 1998. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science with an option in Legal Studies from California State University, Chico. He was a member of Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Science Honor Society, and was a member of the Community Legal Information Center offering free advocacy for individuals seeking social security disability benefits. Ferguson received his Juris Doctorate from Santa Clara University School of Law and was a judicial extern to the Honorable Eugene M. Hyman in the Santa Clara County Probate Court.
Ferguson helped found Today’s Young Professionals, a San Jose Chamber of Commerce group that helps young businesspeople network, serve the community and grow professionally. He is also a member of the Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section of the American Bar Association, and the California State Bar Real Property Division.
Ferguson lives in San Martin with his wife, Erin Ferguson, and sons Aidan and Collier. He enjoys traveling, gardening and anything outdoors. A graduate of the class of 2010, Ferguson recently shared with us how Leadership Morgan Hill helps local residents and business leaders develop new skills to solve problems, take risks, resolve conflicts and build teams.
Describe the Leadership Morgan Hill program and how it benefits our community.
To me Leadership Morgan Hill is a network of people with a similar commitment to improve Morgan Hill. It’s a program that gives you personal skills to accomplish things for the community whether it’s in the public sector, whether it’s in volunteering for non-profits and that sort of thing. It’s an inroad to improve the community, and I’ve seen that time and time again where people go on to be on the city council, be on committees, or join nonprofits and lead nonprofits. I just think it’s inspires people. It shows you the way to get involved that you might otherwise not be aware of. And it’s a lot of fun. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done, hands on, in terms of my professional life.
What do you do as a board serving Leadership Morgan Hill?
As a board, we meet once a month and vote on all major decisions. The board has 15 members and each member contributes to the success of the program. We are an active board where we are the ones who put on the programs. There are usually two classes per month and the board members develop the curriculum and help facilitate each class in conjunction with Dr. David Gerard, our program facilitator. In addition to the monthly program classes, the board also puts on an annual Leadership Excellence Award Dinner (LEAD) that honors a community leader who embodies the qualities of leadership. This year’s recipient is Mike Cox, owner of Anaerobe Systems, and we are very proud to honor him with this prestigious award. The award will be presented to Mike July 27, at Guglielmo Winery.
Describe a Leadership Morgan Hill class. How do class members benefit?
A class is 20 to 24 students. Ages have ranged from early 19, 20 or to the 70s … It’s simply about finding people with the right devotion, the right desire to get involved and to learn and to improve themselves and improve their community. The class works together to complete a class project every year. They design the project and it has to be something that improves and benefits Morgan Hill. The projects have been far-ranging but ultimately serve as a way for students to demonstrate what they are learning, in terms of interpersonal skills and conflict resolution skills, among many others And they all benefit from it and we always end up with good projects every year.
Members of classes also form strong relationships, too, don’t they?
Often times the friendships formed through the class experience can be life-long. People become very close. It’s a very involved program and you just form very deep and valuable relationships that go forward.
What’s your approach to leadership? How would you describe yourself as a leader?
I would describe myself as fluid and always learning. I believe a good leader is someone who advocates continuous improvement and enjoys developing people and seeing them achieve their potential. Serving as president of this board has been a tremendous learning opportunity as a leader, and one that I will always cherish. Our board is comprised of some very seasoned board members and I’ve learned from them. We’ve had some very interesting challenges come up this year that have allowed me to further develop my leadership skills, and it’s been a really wonderful process for me to learn and improve myself in that capacity. It’s a lot of fun serving on this board and I am proud to be its president.
