Rooted in Leadership: A Recap of the 2026 Caldwell Fellows Alumni Weekend

There is something that happens when we gather. Something difficult to name but impossible to miss. It moves through a room the moment people who share a common commitment to leadership and service find one another again. This February, that something was very much present.

From February 20 to 22, the Caldwell Fellows community came home, and the weekend that unfolded was, by every measure, a gift. More than 300 alumni, students, staff, and supporters came together across three remarkable days to learn, to serve, to celebrate, and to remember who we are at our roots.

Alumni Conference: Rooted in Leadership

On Friday, more than fifty alumni gathered for a full day of reflection, storytelling, and connection, all organized around the theme Rooted in Leadership. Planned and facilitated by an alumni team of Sonja Jones, Ryne Crout Jones, Sarah Amend, and Cary Strickland, the day opened with a centering question: Why does being rooted in values matter?

Kevin Clark (1989), whose career weaves together higher education, digital technology, and children’s media, offered his own life as an answer, sharing the story of how deeply held values have grounded his creative and courageous work across decades. Marianne McMasters Romanat (1993), a pastor in Charlotte, brought her own journey of navigating conflict with integrity, and her reflection reminded us that values are not simply things we claim; they are things we practice, often under pressure.

Alumni Jami Guthrie and Rob Squires spoke to the more everyday dimension of values-in-action, while our resident program historian, Jim Arnold (1974), grounded the day in the founding vision of the Richardson Foundation and the deep roots from which Caldwell Fellows has always grown. The day closed beautifully with a collaborative art project led by Katie Brooks (2020), a reminder that leadership at its best is a creative, generative, and communal endeavor.

By Friday evening, alumni numbers had grown as others arrived for the weekend, and the gathering at the State View bar became something spontaneous and joyful: a community simply glad to be in one another’s company again.

Selection Day: Shaping the Class of 2029

Saturday brought seventy-six alumni to Hunt Library to do what Caldwell alumni have always done so faithfully: show up for the next generation. Working with genuine care and discernment, they evaluated sixty finalists and helped determine who would become the Class of 2029. The investment of time and wisdom that our alumni bring to this process is not incidental. It is the backbone of how our community perpetuates itself, and we are profoundly grateful for it.

Caldwell Conversations: Listening Forward

While selection was underway, seventy participants gathered for Caldwell Conversations, an open-space dialogue facilitated by David Frink. The conversations were rich and wide-ranging, and the ideas that surfaced from them speak to a community that is not simply nostalgic but genuinely future-oriented: creating a Caldwell Fellows values card, building out our LinkedIn group for cross-generational connection, expanding alumni-offered internship opportunities for current Fellows, and deepening the engagement between alumni and students. We are listening, and we are excited about what comes next.

The 20th Annual Caldwell Gala: A Night to Remember

Saturday evening, the NC Museum of Art became ours for the night. Over 300 guests joined us for the 20th Annual Caldwell Gala, a celebration worthy of everything this community has built across two decades of this tradition. We were honored to celebrate the Reunion Classes of 1976, 1986, and 2016, and we held a special place of gratitude for Tim Saxe and John Blair, both of the class of 1976, whose presence reminded us just how long and how faithfully this community endures.

Tim, traveling all the way from California, was part of a contingent that may have made California the most represented state of the weekend, tied closely with Massachusetts. We were also so glad to welcome alumni from Utah, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, and the DC area. The Caldwell Fellows community, it turns out, is everywhere.

Thank You

Weekends like this one do not simply happen. They are built by people who believe that community is worth the effort, and we are deeply grateful to every person who planned, volunteered, traveled, participated, and celebrated with us. You are the reason this program remains what it has always been: a place where servant leaders are made and sustained, together.

We hope you’ll continue to join this community as we move to the next chapter with the Class of 2029.