Charting a course for your future

The YP Mentor Program selects Young Professional members of the World Affairs Council to partner with individuals from its Board and Advisory Board to promote an exchange of wisdom and guidance about personal, professional and international interests. Young Professionals must submit an application consisting of education and career history, as well as personal references and future goals. Once accepted into the program, YPs have the option to be paired with a mentor in a similar or different profession.

Mentors and protégés engage in monthly conversations and arrange informal face-to-face meetings a minimum of four times over a period of nine months while following an outlined curriculum. A kick-off event is held early fall to celebrate and recognize applicants selected to participate, which brings together both mentors and protégés and is a great opportunity for social and professional networking with other young professionals from the community and some of Jacksonville’s finest leaders from both the public and private sectors.

Eligibility

Applicants must be:

  1. A World Affairs Council Young Professional member with dues paid in full
  2. A resident of Northeast Florida
  3. Employed full-time
  4. Between the ages of 21 and 40

Congratulations to those Council YPs selected from a pool of applicants who participated in the 2009-2010 Young Professional Mentor Pilot Program. These protégés met and/or dialogued with their assigned mentor on several occasions between November and May and discussed various topics including:

  1. Business/career development
  2. Personal & community development
  3. Intra-office relations and networking
  4. The meaning and value of leadership

All mentors are leaders within the Jacksonville community and sit on the Council’s Board or Advisory Board. The 2009-2010 selected protégés and mentors were:

  1. Weldon Montgomery, Petty Officer 3rd Class with the United States Coast Guard, partnered with Admiral Jonathan T. Howe, Council President
  2. Abhijit Mulay, Structural Engineer Associate with Haskell, partnered with Sandy Cook, Council VP of Administration
  3. Adam Cunningham, Manufacturing Engineer with General Electric Aviation, partnered with Lad Daniels, Council Board of Directors
  4. Anand Desai, Senior Investment Analyst for the Alfred I. DuPont Trust, partnered with Debbie Buckland, Council Board of Directors
  5. Chris Markl, Professor at Florida State College at Jacksonville, partnered with Randy Evans, Council Board of Directors

The 2010-2011 application is due August 15, 2010. Late applications will not be accepted. Download the application or contact the Council office for more information on how to apply.