Two Named to Leadership Tennessee NEXT

JOHNSON CITY – Two East Tennessee State University administrators have been named to the fifth class of Leadership Tennessee NEXT, a program designed to offer personal and professional career development for Tennessee’s best and brightest early and mid-career professionals.

Whitney Goetz, executive director of the ETSU Alumni Association, and Jessica Vodden, chief marketing and communications officer, are among the newest class, which is comprised of 30 rising professionals from every region of the state.

During the upcoming year, participants will have opportunities to grow their professional skills and connect to a cross-generation network of state leaders while participating in collaborative, non-partisan dialogues on issues of state importance.

Goetz, a native of Johnson City, is a 2005 graduate of ETSU and worked in constituency relations for U.S. Senator Bob Corker in Washington, D.C. Before returning to her alma mater in 2020 to lead the alumni association, she lived in Nashville where she worked for the state treasury. Goetz and her husband, John, reside in Johnson City with their two sons.

Vodden is a graduate of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia and received a master’s degree of public administration, nonprofit management from the University of Colorado Denver. Prior to joining ETSU, she founded and led Vodden Labs and Studio, a consulting firm focused on human-centered design. Vodden spent nine years working for West Virginia’s state higher education system, concluding her tenure as the senior director of communications. She and her husband, Andrew, reside in Johnson City.

Leadership Tennessee is an organization committed to collaborative, non-partisan dialogue on issues of statewide importance by crossing geographic and professional boundaries and connecting a diverse network of problem solvers and engaged citizens.

A new class of leaders is selected annually to take part in a leadership study course while visiting different areas of Tennessee, learning best practices and analyzing important issues faced by Tennesseans.

The Leadership Tennessee NEXT network includes some 450 members.