Holen Award Winners

The Michael C. Holen Leaders in Residence Award honors outstanding individuals who are exercising leadership in a range of organizational, professional and civic settings. Recipients come to campus to share experiences and engage in rich and challenging conversations with our students and the Kansas State University community. The award recipient exemplifies the School’s mission statement and the following tenets: Service to the common good is the goal of leadership. Leadership is a process and is not defined simply by position or authority. Collaboration is the primary method of teaching and developing leadership. Successful leaders are committed to and have the ability to engage in leadership with those of other backgrounds and cultures. Inaugural Leaders-in-Residence, Mary Lynn and Warren Staley, spent October 5-6, 2011 in residence at the School of Leadership Studies, meeting with students in classes, at special organized programs, and informally throughout their stay. Originally named the “Lifetime Leadership Award,” the award was later dedicated in honor of Dean Michael C. Holen for his tremendous support of Leadership Studies, and then paired with the Leader-in-Residence initiative, originally sponsored by the Stephens family, to both honor outstanding leadership and bring leaders to campus in service to our students' learning.
2012 Recipient:
	Mr. Maina is the founder and Director of the Children and Youth Empowerment Centre in Nyeri, Kenya. Mr. Maina has more than 15 years’ experience in project management, with special focus on microfinance, small business development, environmental conservation and children and youth affairs. Mr. Maina has worked in senior management positions for projects funded by the (UK) Department of Foreign and International Development (DFID), the International PoPs Elimination Network (IPEN), UNICEF, ILO and USAID among other local and international organizations. Mr. Maina holds BA and PPE degrees from the University of Nairobi and Oxford University respectively. Mr. Maina is a Rhodes Scholar for Kenya at Oxford. He is also the Chairman of the Association of Care Givers in Kenya and the Chairman of Zawadi Club, a local voluntary services network. In addition, Maina serves as Secretary to the Central Kenya Chapter of the Street Families Rehabilitation Trust Fund, the body overseeing the national program for street dwelling children, youth and families.
"Paul is someone who not only asks, but actively seeks the big, and seemingly impossible questions. Throughout the week Paul described his work as such: cobbling together solutions to impossible problems and seeking innovation in the face of daunting social issues. He understands the underlying causes of the visible problems, and has the patience to work slowly but surely through these issues. The Children and Youth Empowerment Centre is Paul’s vision of a sustainable, replicable model to solve the phenomenon of street-dwelling youth in Kenya." -Kaitlin Long, '14