Sophia Partners recently announced Dr. Kent M. Keith as the recipient of the 2023 Ann McGee-Cooper Spirit of Servant Leadership Award.
Annually, Viterbo University holds a Conference on Servant Leadership for individuals who aspire to be servant-leaders in nonprofit organizations, small and large businesses, government,
healthcare, ministry, and education.
People from all across the country attended the two-day conference on the banks of the Mississippi River to hear from a broad spectrum of speakers, one of them being Keith.
Keith is currently the President of Carlson Keith Corporation, a family company based in Honolulu, HI. He is an author and scholar of servant leadership, having earned many prestigious
degrees from around the world.
“He is brilliant. Yet, he is approachable, easy to talk to, welcoming, and humble,” said Duane Trammell, President/Founding Partner of Trammell McGee-Cooper and Associates, Inc. and
award co-founder.
With a passion for servant leadership, Keith served as CEO of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership (US) from 2007-2012, and CEO of the Greenleaf Centre for Servant Leadership
(Asia) from 2012-2015 in addition to a career that includes being an attorney, state government official, high tech park developer, university president (twice), and YMCA executive.
Virginia Gilmore, Sophia Partners Foundress and award co-founder also shared: “Through his gift of writing and his presence – his way of being – Kent is the nurturer of the human spirit.”
His dedication to servant leadership, especially through his written contributions to the field, made him a well-deserving recipient of the Spirit of Servant Leadership Award.
His publications include: The Paradoxical Commandments; The Case for Servant Leadership; Servant Leadership in the Boardroom; Questions and Answers about Servant Leadership; and
The Christian Leader at Work: Serving by Leading. He also served as the editor of The Contemporary Servant as Leader. More than 250,000 copies of his ten books on the Paradoxical
Commandments and servant leadership have been sold worldwide. See his full biography at www.kentmkeith.com/.
The Spirit of Servant Leadership Award was created in memory of Ann McGee-Cooper to honor servant-leaders who exemplify an extraordinary commitment to living, serving, and bringing the
spirit of servant leadership to life.
Past award recipients include Don M. Frick, author and servant leadership scholar, and Tom Thibodeau, Distinguished Professor of Servant Leadership at Viterbo University.
Sophia Partners presented this year’s award at the Viterbo University Conference on Servant Leadership on Friday, June 29, 2023. To read more about the award, visit
www.sophiapartners.org/ann-mcgee-cooper-spirit-award/.
Sophia Partners is a community-benefit nonprofit organization located in Fond du Lac, WI dedicated to creating a network of servant-leaders who unleash the potential in people to create
positive transformative change in the spaces and places we share. To learn more about Sophia, visit the website, sophiapartners.org.