Sometime in the next couple weeks Rodney & Karla Landrum are moving from Orlando to Pensacola (home). I’m happy for them – going home is good!

It’s funny how things work out sometimes. We’ve tried to work at having a plan in place to grow the next generation of leaders (which sometimes means just getting out of the way) here in Orlando. Jack took over oPASS when it was time for me to move on and we were just starting to think about who would be next in line when Jack decide to return home to New Hampshire. That left a big gap and it’s not uncommon for a chapter to go dark for a while when stuff like that happens. We were lucky though, Rodney and Karla had moved to Orlando (and Shawn soon after) and it was a perfect fit.

Years flew by. We split oPASS in half to form MagicPASS, made that work, and worked out the rotation so that oPASS leads SQLSaturday one year and MagicPASS the next. We learned how to make SQLSaturday work with a core team. Lots of good lessons learned and good progress made.

Now with Rodney & Karla leaving, I think about their contributions to all that. I think about important and powerful it is for an evangelist to be walking the walk, leading/helping a chapter, doing the logistics of a big event, dealing first hand with speakers and sponsors and attendees.  Lessons learned elsewhere helped us here and things tried here were sent out for others to try. Of course that doesn’t really describe the impact of having Karla on the team, just a force of nature! I’ll miss my friend Rodney on game day, the behind-the-scenes guy that just gets stuff done.

We remain in a good place as far as leadership. Shawn is still running oPASS and we have 2 (or 3, or 4) people that might well step up if and when he decides to change roles. That is, to me, amazing, and part of the legacy they leave here in Orlando.

Change is good for us here, lest we get too comfortable. Change will be coming to Pensacola too, as they work to re-hydrate the chapter and have a SQLSaturday next summer.

Rodney & Karla, thanks for all your efforts here in Orlando, it made a difference.