The value of “walking the walk” and not just “talking the talk” to effectiveness leadership is well known in the fire service. Keynote Speaker Cheryl Horvath, division chief of operations, Northwest Fire District, Tucson, Arizona, elaborates on this truism in her presentation “Leadership with a Purpose” at FDIC 2010. Horvath’s appreciation of this leadership component is evident in that one of her favorite quotes is from Socrates: “The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world is to be in reality what we would appear to be.”
In her address, Horvath will present, from a career fire officer perspective, informal and formal leadership strategies and will explore topics such as assessing yourself as a fire service leader and leading with a purpose and applying your values. “Leading without a purpose and being complacent with regard to our responsibilities as emergency responders can be detrimental in today’s fire service,” she warns. “Purposeful leadership guides us in making the right decisions, whether popular or not.”
Wednesday, April 22, 2010, 8 a.m.-10:00 a.m., Sagamore Ballroom 1-7, Indiana Convention Center
Keynote Speaker
Division Chief of Operations Cheryl Horvath, Northwest Fire District, Tucson, AZ
“Leadership with a Purpose”
Cheryl Horvath is the division chief of operations for the Northwest Fire District in Tucson, Arizona. She has been in the fire service since 1992, working as a full-time firefighter in Illinois where she served as union president for four years and as a field instructor for the Illinois Fire Service Institute. Horvath is the president of the Board of Trustees for the International Association of Women in Fire & Emergency Services. She is a member of the IAFC-FRI Program Planning Committee. This past summer she worked with other local women firefighters to coordinate a girls’ fire camp in Tucson for high school girls, sponsored by Northwest Fire District and Tucson Fire Department and funded through a grant from the Women’s Foundation of Southern Arizona. Horvath serves on the Sahuaro Girl Scout Council Board of Directors and as a board member on the Southern Arizona Mental Health Center (SAMHC) Board of Directors. She is also the host of the Fire Engineering podcast, “The Connection.”
