Featuring Rotarian George Sabol

Civic Class 2008

Special Report, Inside Business - Hampton Roads, 11/12/ 2007

Dr. George Sabol

Orthodontist

Drs. Savage, Sabol and Visser Ltd.

Since 1992, Dr. George Sabol has operated an orthodontic private practice. He served his orthodontic residency at the VCU-MCV School of Dentistry in 1992 and graduated with a DDS from VCU-MCV School of Dentistry in 1990. He received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech in 1985. Since 1995, he has been an active member of the Rotary, serving as president in 2006-2007.

Quote:

“A community is built upon the participation and involvement of its citizens. A community’s future success and vitality are determined by today’s decisions. Today’s decisions and planning will benefit future generations of Hampton Roads. There are many different ways to be involved in our community and it is each of our responsibility to do so.”

SPECIAL REPORT
Cultivating leadership
CIVIC creates relationships behind the scenes

By Mary Worrell, Inside Business - Hampton Roads

November 12, 2007

If you’ve ever wondered where local universities, nonprofits and foundations find their board members, chances are more than a few are CIVIC Leadership Institute alumni.

CIVIC was founded by a few prominent business and civic leaders looking for more leaders to fill the ranks of community organization boards. They could only stretch themselves so far, knew leaders existed in the community, and needed a way to flesh them out.

“In the beginning, the organization was clear about what it wanted,” said Cathy Lewis, executive director of CIVIC. “It was founded because there was a sense that there were very sharp, capable people out there who weren’t the usual suspects or necessarily on the radar.”

The development of CIVIC started in 1996 and the organization graduated its first class of leaders in 1998. This year CIVIC is presenting its 10th class and Lewis, who came to the organization in 1996 to help facilitate the institute’s retreats, has seen it change in many ways since its inception.

“The conversation is a lot more candid and the issues more compelling,” Lewis said. “They’re being honest about the issues that affect our community, like racism and parochialism.”

While its aim is to generate discussion and create connections among leaders, CIVIC is nonpartisan. But it does tackle tough issues, Lewis said.

Each class meets for a two-day retreat at the beginning of the year, then for monthly meetings on various topics.

“In the opening retreat, we cover community building and the history of the region,” Lewis said. “To understand this region you have to understand the roles of water, annexation and race.”

Lewis said the group usually wraps up its year with a closing retreat, but this year added a mid-year, overnight retreat on diversity.

“We’ve put a significant emphasis on diversity,” Lewis said. “In some instances it’s easier said than done.”

The organization tries to get a healthy mix of members from the Southside and the Peninsula in hopes of bridging the gap on the way to regionalism.

“It will help to have more people in relationships between the Southside and the Peninsula,” Lewis said. “This is an economic powerhouse and there are a lot of issues we’re not talking about.”

One of the organization’s founders is Joshua Darden, recipient of CIVIC’s first Darden Award for Regional Leadership, named for his efforts to promote cooperation among Hampton Roads’ cities and counties. J. Robert “Bobby” Bray, the former director of the Virginia Port Authority, was the second.

“I’ve seen it change, for sure,” Darden said. “We didn’t realize what a regional entity it would become. We realized we had a regional opportunity from the first class.”

Darden said while CIVIC is bridging the gap across the water with its motto of “regional relationships, regional results,” there are still many challenges facing regionalism.

“Slowly I think we’re coming together, though not as quickly as we should,” Darden said. “It’s so hard to get us all together. The best effort was the transportation initiative. It showed we could get behind something if we wanted to.”

Darden was inspired by his father, J. Pretlow Darden, mayor of Norfolk after World War II, to become involved in civic and community efforts.

“It was the way I was raised, I guess,” Darden said. “I had a great role model in my father.”

Darden joked that if his golf game was a little better maybe he’d be on the links more often than community boards.

“I sold my business and that allowed me to devote my energies to other organizations,” he said.

Darden sold his interest in the Colonial car dealerships in 1995, a year before discussions and plans started rolling on CIVIC.

Lewis becomes animated talking about the relationships, both professional and personal, that have emerged from participation in CIVIC.

“One of the things people say when going through the program is ‘Wow, I would have never met this person,’” Lewis said.

One relationship to blossom from CIVIC is the friendship between Anne Conner, president of TowneBank Williamsburg, and Wendy Drucker, co-CEO of Drucker & Falk.

The two women met in CIVIC’s 2002 class and went on to co-chair the 2003 class. Conner served as president of CIVIC’s board for two and a half years.

“Wendy is my greatest CIVIC friend,” Conner said.

“We actually took our daughters on a trip to New York together,” Drucker said.

Both Conner and Drucker said they were amazed at all they learned about a region they thought they knew so well, particularly in regard to the military.

“It was really an eye-opener,” Conner said. “I was raised in Hampton Roads, but didn’t have the level of understanding of what the military brings to the region.”

Drucker moved back to Hampton Roads from Raleigh in 1994.

“My CIVIC experience was my most profound experience in business,” Drucker said. “You really learn the intricacies of the area. Being from here you think you know everything.”

One of the differences between CIVIC and other leadership organizations is the emphasis on leaders in the prime of their careers. Most class members are in executive or director roles at various companies and nonprofits.

“We’re looking for people at points in their careers with control over their time, and sometimes that doesn’t happen until they reach a certain level,” Lewis said.

The impact of CIVIC has not been lost on Lewis herself.

“It’s increased my own confidence as a leader by watching these people in action. I’ve learned a lot about partnerships and relationships,” Lewis said. “But it also makes me impatient with bad leadership, because I know what can be achieved.”

Darden is still involved in CIVIC and sits on its board. He’s humbled by an award that bears his name, but proud of the more than 400 CIVIC alumni and their successes in the community.

“They’ve done more than I envisioned,” he said. “The quality is so good. They represent what we’re looking for.”

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