Presented by the Alamogordo Chamber of Commerce · Est. 2001

Leadership
Otero

A nine-month program for twenty leaders who want to know Otero County the way it actually works. Applications open now. The next class begins September 22, 2026.

Apply for the 2026–2027 Class → See the Program
PHOTO · WHITE SANDS / SACRAMENTO MTNS
A Project About Revival

Bringing Leadership Otero back.

Leadership Otero was founded in 2001 by the Alamogordo Chamber of Commerce to identify current and emerging community leaders, enhance their leadership skills, and deepen their understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the county. For two decades, the Chamber ran cohorts of working professionals through site visits, conversations with the people who actually run things, and a class project that left something behind.

Then it paused.

In 2026, the Chamber is bringing it back — under a renewed advisory committee, a sharpened curriculum, and a structure that reflects what the next twenty years of Otero County leadership is going to require. The premise has not changed: a county rises only as far as its leaders see.

20
Fellows per Cohort
Public, private, nonprofit, tribe
9
Monthly Sessions
Plus a 1.5-day opening retreat
$1,000
Tuition
Scholarships available
9 mo.
Sept · 2026 → May · 2027
Second Wednesday of each month
The Program

Nine sessions. One county. Twenty fellows who finish knowing it.

01 — IMMERSION

Site visits, not slide decks.

Each session moves through a different sector of Otero County — Holloman Air Force Base, NMSU-Alamogordo, the courts, the hospital, the Mescalero Apache Tribe, the school district, the municipal government, the cooperatives that keep the lights on. You tour the facilities. You meet the people who run them.

02 — DIALOGUE

Conversations on the record.

The class is not a lecture series. Speakers are decision-makers — managers, owners, directors, elected officials — and they are there to be asked anything. Disagreement is welcome. Listening is required. The point is to broaden perspective, not to confirm it.

03 — LEGACY

Something left behind.

Each cohort selects a Legacy Project at September orientation and works it through the full year. The criteria are blunt: does it matter to the community, will it last, and does it have a funding gap the class can credibly close. Past projects have funded scholarships, restored public spaces, and improved school facilities.

The Tularosa Basin — the place we work,
the place we lead.

Otero County · New Mexico
2026 – 2027 Schedule

Second Wednesdays. Mostly.

Sept 21, 2026
Monday
Alumni reception · kick-off the new class
5:30–7:30 PM
Sept 22–23, 2026
Tue – Wed
Opening retreat · Las Cruces · lodging included
1.5 days
October 14, 2026
Wednesday
Program session · topic to be announced
8 AM – 5 PM
November 11, 2026
Wednesday
Program session · topic to be announced
8 AM – 5 PM
December 9, 2026
Wednesday
Program session · topic to be announced
8 AM – 5 PM
January 13, 2027
Wednesday
Program session · topic to be announced
8 AM – 5 PM
February 17, 2027
Wednesday
Program session · topic to be announced
8 AM – 5 PM
March 10, 2027
Wednesday
Program session · topic to be announced
8 AM – 5 PM
April 14, 2027
Wednesday
Program session · topic to be announced
8 AM – 5 PM
May 12, 2027
Wednesday
Final session & graduation dinner
8 AM – 3 PM

Attendance is mandatory. Missing more than 1.5 days for any reason — including emergencies — results in withdrawal from the program with no refund of tuition. The opening retreat is required to graduate.

“A county rises only as far as its leaders see.”
The Legacy Project

Each class leaves something behind.

The Legacy Project is the part of Leadership Otero that does not fade. At the September orientation, the cohort chooses one initiative — a scholarship fund, a public space, a tool the community needs and no one is going to build otherwise. Then they spend nine months delivering it.

The selection criteria are deliberately practical. Does the project matter to the community as a whole? Will it have staying power? Is there a funding gap the class can credibly close? If you do not believe in the project, you will not put in the time required to finish it.

Past cohorts have refurbished Tiger Drive at Alamogordo High School, raised scholarship dollars for area students, and improved public facilities throughout the county.

The Opening Retreat

Las Cruces. Tuesday morning to Wednesday noon.

The class opens September 22–23, 2026, with a 1.5-day leadership retreat at a venue in Las Cruces. The cohort travels together, learns together, and leaves having done the work that turns twenty individuals into one class.

The retreat is facilitated by Phil Bryson of On The Edge Productions, the firm that has run leadership development for Leadership New Mexico and Leadership Los Alamos for the past three decades, along with programs for Sandia National Labs, Los Alamos National Labs, and the Governor of New Mexico. Bryson was named Leadership New Mexico's Distinguished Leader of the Year in 2018.

Attendance is mandatory. Anyone who misses the retreat is withdrawn from the program.

Who should apply

Twenty people from across the working county.

Leadership Otero recruits twenty fellows each year from the professional, educational, governmental, military, nonprofit, and tribal sectors of Otero County. Selection favors people whose leadership is likely to compound — current officeholders, emerging managers, founders, senior staff on rising trajectories.

The Selection Committee gives deliberate consideration to diversity of race, gender, geography, and occupational background. The strength of any cohort is the breadth of who is in the room.

What you bring
  1. A current role or trajectory that puts you in position to use what you learn.
  2. The full support of your employer or sponsor for the time required.
  3. Willingness to attend every session — emergencies allow up to 1.5 days; more than that is withdrawal.
  4. An open mind and the willingness to be wrong about something you currently think you know.
  5. Commitment to seeing the Legacy Project across the finish line.
Application Timeline

From application to graduation.

Now – July 15, 2026
Applications open
July 22, 2026
Class selected
August 5, 2026
Acceptance & tuition due
Sept 21, 2026
Alumni kickoff reception
Sept 22–23, 2026
Opening retreat
May 12, 2027
Graduation
Advisory Committee

The people bringing it back.

Leadership Otero is governed by an advisory committee of community leaders convened by the Alamogordo Chamber of Commerce.

Reid Griggs
Chair
Jim Heckert
Committee Member
Adam Hoppes
Committee Member
Patty Komko
Committee Member
Rachel Lucero
Committee Member
Jarrett Perry
Committee Member
Becky Roberts
Committee Member
Doyle Syling
Committee Member
John Wheeler
Committee Member
Class of 2026–2027 · Apply by July 15, 2026

Twenty seats. One county.

Applications for the 2026–2027 Leadership Otero class are open now. The form takes about twenty minutes. Letters of recommendation and employer commitment are required.

Begin Application →