http://www.richlandcountyceo.com/

Richland County CEO Program, 315 W. Main Street, Olney, IL (2026)

05/19/2026

We are proud to celebrate the CEO Class of 2026 as they take the next step in their journey. Your hard work, creativity, and commitment have made a lasting impact, and it has been a privilege to watch you grow as leaders and entrepreneurs.
Wishing each of you continued success and confidence as you move forward. You will do great things. Congratulations and best of luck!

05/14/2026

As I close out this year with Richland County CEO, I want to extend my deepest gratitude to our incredible board members, investors, and mentors. Your unwavering support, guidance, and belief in our students make this program possible, and it does not go unnoticed.
To the CEO Class of 2026, what an unforgettable group. You began this journey as aspiring entrepreneurs, and you leave as true entrepreneurial legacies. Your passion, determination, and accomplishments have set a standard that will be remembered for years to come.
I feel incredibly grateful and blessed to have spent this year alongside each of you. Watching your growth has been inspiring, and I have no doubt that this is only the beginning. I can’t wait to see where your paths lead. You are all destined to do amazing things.
Thank you for an unforgettable year.

05/13/2026

Dear CEO community,

I want to start by thanking the community of Richland County, all the CEO investors, board members, mentors, my personal mentor, Colby Shawver, and my class’s facilitator, Sheri Gray. None of this is possible without all of your amazing support, passion, and time for this program.
I joined this program after seeing the effect on what this program did to both my siblings, Alex and Abigail. I came into the program wanting to turn into a person that I dream of becoming. The confidence, leadership skills, networking, and social interactions were all of the attributes I strived to achieve after my time with the program. Those all became true, but much more than I expected.
I will never forget the many lessons, relationships, and valuable insights I received during the micro business, class business, individual business, business tours, and mentor lunch days. The hands-on experiences and real-life situations have grown me into a person that I didn’t think was possible. I feel as though every situation that is now thrown my way can be handled. This is just another testimony to the CEO program.
I’m going to miss the tours, relationships with my classmates, guest speakers who gave exceptional advice, and the late nights working to get the next big task accomplished. My work ethic, discipline, and passion have been instilled in me after my time with the program.
To the incoming CEO students, I encourage you to listen often, communicate often, and always seek every opportunity you are given. I promise you won’t regret it one bit.
Even though my time with the program has concluded, the next chapter is now beginning. I began the year with an empty toolbox. But now it’s filled to the brim. All of my success in the future will be tied back to this program, and everything that it has blessed me with. I won’t forget any of it.

Sincerely,
Ayden Nealis
CEO, Class of 2026

05/13/2026

This is CEO member Josie Ginder and being part of the Richland County CEO program has been an unforgettable experience. Looking back, it is amazing to see how much I have grown throughout this journey. From developing our first microbusiness to creating and launching our own businesses, CEO has taught me lessons I will carry for years to come. I am incredibly thankful for our investors, mentors, board members, facilitator, and community for constantly supporting us and helping shape us into stronger young adults. One of my favorite memories was the Trade Show because it was rewarding to see everyone’s hard work finally come together. I felt nervous, excited, and proud all at the same time. More than anything, I will miss the friendships and connections built throughout the year. We became more than classmates. To the future CEO class, embrace every opportunity, trust the process, and never be afraid to step outside your comfort zone.

05/13/2026

This is Richland County CEO member Brody Thomas, and as this chapter comes to an end, I just want to say thank you. CEO has been one of the most impactful experiences of my high school career. I want to give a special thank you to our investors, board members, mentors, facilitator, and the entire community for believing in us and giving us this opportunity. Your support made everything possible. My favorite memory from this year was the Trade Show. Seeing everyone’s businesses come to life and watching all of our hard work pay off was an incredible feeling. It showed how far we had all come, not just as students, but as young entrepreneurs. Through CEO, I learned how to run a business, manage money, communicate professionally, and step outside of my comfort zone. My individual business, Bat Mago, taught me discipline, creativity, and the importance of building relationships. What I will miss most is the people. The connections, the daily conversations, and the support from everyone in the room made this experience special. To the Class of 2027: take advantage of every opportunity, don’t be afraid to fail, and put everything you have into it. It goes by fast.Thank you, CEO.

05/13/2026

This is Richland County CEO member Summer Downen. As this chapter of CEO comes to an end, I just want to say thank you to everyone who made this experience what it was. Thank you to our investors, board members, mentors, facilitator, guest speakers, business owners, and community members who poured so much time, advice, encouragement, and support into all of us throughout the year. Your belief in our ideas gave us the confidence to grow not only as young entrepreneurs, but as people.

One of my favorite memories from CEO was setting up and running our class business together. Watching all of our ideas come together and seeing everyone work toward the same goal was such a rewarding experience. Between the planning, problem-solving, long hours, and event days, our class truly bonded like a family. We learned how to work through stress together, support each other, and celebrate each other’s successes. Some of my favorite moments came from the laughs, chaos, and memories we made while preparing for everything behind the scenes.

Through CEO, I learned so much about business, leadership, communication, responsibility, and perseverance. Running my own business taught me how much work truly goes on behind the scenes, from budgeting and marketing to customer service and problem-solving. But it also showed me how rewarding it is to build something you genuinely care about. More than anything, CEO taught me to take chances on myself and trust my abilities.

What I’ll miss most about CEO is the people and the environment. Every morning brought something different, and being surrounded by driven, creative individuals made the experience special.

To the Class of 2027, take every opportunity you can. Ask questions, make connections, step outside your comfort zone, and don’t be afraid to fail. The more effort you put into CEO, the more you’ll get out of it. It goes by way faster than you think, so enjoy every moment of it.

05/13/2026

This is Richland County CEO Member, Xander Holtz, with my final CEO goodbye post. First, I want to thank everyone who made this journey possible. A special thank you goes to Sheri Gray, our amazing facilitator, Herman Zuber, my mentor, and all of the investors, board members, mentors, facilitators, and community members who supported us throughout the year. My favorite part of CEO was all of the business tours, with Prairie Farms being my favorite. It was incredible to see such a large operation that started right here in our small town. Through both the micro-business and class business experiences, I learned how to lead a group, delegate tasks, and work as part of a team. Those are lessons I will carry with me throughout life and my business journey.
What I will miss most is spending time with my CEO class. We started the year as strangers, but through all of the successes and failures, we became great friends and valuable additions to each other’s personal networks. My advice to the Class of 2027 is to not treat CEO as just another class. Embrace the journey and fully invest your time and effort into it. You will gain so much more from the experience and enjoy it much more along the way.

05/13/2026

As this year of CEO comes to an end, I’ve been reflecting on how much this experience has meant to me. I am so thankful for every opportunity, lesson, and relationship that came from this program. A special thank you to my mentors, Wes and Madison Smith, for always encouraging me to do my best and pushing me to keep going even when things got stressful. Your support truly meant so much to me throughout this journey. One of my favorite memories from this year was the Joe’s Tour. It was so inspiring hearing how far they have come and learning about their ongoing transition into their new building. Through my individual business, Karlee’s Kreations, I learned how important it is to prioritize, manage my time, and stay productive. Balancing everything taught me responsibility and helped me grow not only as a business owner, but also as a person. What I’ll miss most is getting to see and talk to the same people every day. Over time we all grew so close, and those friendships and memories are something I’ll always value. My advice to the Class of 2027 is to always stay on top of things and don’t let yourself get behind, because everything creeps up on you very quickly. Work hard, stay organized, and enjoy every moment because the year goes by faster than you think.

05/13/2026

This is Richland County CEO member, River Logan, with a post to say goodbye to CEO. First of all, I want to say thank you to all of our wonderful investors who have been so supportive of our class as well as generous with their time and money. I also want to thank our incredible board this year. They made each of us feel welcome and were so encouraging throughout this whole process. Now, a huge thank you to all the mentors, but I have to give a special shout out to Sonja Holtz. Thank you for believing in me even when I did not. Your thoughtfulness and kind words never went unnoticed. I am so thankful God brought us together, and I am excited to continue this relationship. You will always be someone I look up to. Lastly, I want to thank our amazing facilitator, Sheri Gray. Thank you for guiding us through this process and being there for us when we made mistakes.

Now to the program itself, thank you for being the thing I needed before I grew up and entered the real world. My absolute favorite memory from this year was setting up for our class business, Winter RUNderland. Even though it was a little stressful, we all got to know each other better through that time we spent together. This memory ties in to the biggest lesson I learned in CEO which is how to work with others. Even though our class was not very close at the beginning of the year, we are all uniquely bonded now. We could not have gotten here though without working through problems and stressful situations. It was these situations that taught me the most about working together to solve problems and using the strengths of others to create solutions. The relationships I made through this program are definitely going to be the thing I miss most about it.

If I had any advice for the next class, it would be to open up to the people in the program whether that be your peers, mentor, board members, or facilitator. They all want to see you succeed and they all have so much knowledge to give. Cherish the time you have in CEO because before you know it, you’ll be leaving a different person than you started. I cannot wait to see the amazing things that the Class of 2027 will do.

05/13/2026

As I close this chapter of CEO, I can honestly say this program has changed my life in ways I never expected. Walking into CEO at the beginning of the year, I was nervous and unsure of myself. Leaving now, I have gained confidence, leadership skills, business knowledge, and relationships that I will carry with me forever. A huge thank you to our investors, board members, mentors, facilitator, and community for believing in us and giving us opportunities to grow. Your support made this experience possible. I especially want to thank my mentor, Kelsie, for always encouraging me, pushing me to believe in myself, and helping me become more confident than I ever thought I could be. One of my favorite memories was the class business and being able to work together while laughing about silly things, even while doing hard work. It was a great reminder that some of the best moments come from working as a team and enjoying the process together. CEO taught me that success comes from taking risks, stepping outside your comfort zone, and believing in yourself even when things feel difficult. I will miss the people, the daily experiences, and the environment that constantly challenged me to grow. To the Class of 2027: take every opportunity you can, ask questions, make connections, and never doubt your abilities. CEO will give back exactly what you put into it, so give it everything you have.

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