PROVIDENCE – Thirteen executive directors of nonprofits will spend 18 months developing their leadership skills as part of the Rhode Island Foundation’s 2011 Fellows program.

The program, part of the foundation’s Initiative for Nonprofit Excellence suite of programs, was recently extended by six months. It is designed to encourage leaders to bring new approaches to their nonprofits after a year of professional exploration and interaction with their peers.

Fellows will receive a stipend of $10,000 for their proposed projects and their respective nonprofits will receive $5,000 in compensation for the executive directors’ time away from their duties in order to pursue the Foundation projects.

“Fellows are able to gain new perspective, take time away from day to day operational responsibilities, and return to their organizations with new energy and focus. The 2011 class reflects the energy, creativity and innovation we see every day in the nonprofit sector and we look forward to working with the new fellows,” said INE Director Jill Pfitzenmayer.

More than 120 nonprofit leaders have participated in the Fellows program which began in 2000.

The 2011 participants are:

1. Mario Bueno, Progreso Latino

Bueno will attend a financial-management course at Rhode Island College and will meet with leaders of organizations similar to Progreso Latino in other states. He will research the success of school-parent engagement initiatives in other cities and will also explore the success of adult dual language and early childhood development programs.

2. Marcia Coné, Women’s Fund of Rhode Island

Coné will work with a coach for 18 months using the Immunity to Change model. She will also work with three to five CEOs to explore business models, as well as meet with women leaders across the country to receive mentoring. She will also attend the Girls Rock Rhode Island Camp.

3. Sheila Dormody, Clean Water Fund

Dormody will explore the creation of an action center to provide office space, shared meeting rooms and equipment, and an environment that helps to strengthen the environmental and progressive movements in Rhode Island. She will also attend a leadership excellence program and study at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health.

4. Michael Gennaro, Trinity Repertory Co.

Gennaro will attend the Galway Arts Festival in Ireland to explore unorthodox organizational models for arts organizations. He will also take a mountaineering course as well as go on a trek and backpacking trip to challenge himself to solve problems in a physical context.

5. Rebekah Greenwald, RiverzEdge Arts Project

Greenwald will explore three cities focused on urban design to deepen her understanding of engaging people to reimagine the places they live. She will travel to and explore Copenhagen, Berlin and Chicago. With the help of friends and colleagues in the film production world, she will make a film about the experience.

6. Teny Gross, Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence

Gross will explore three metropolitan areas and attend a silent retreat to experience a pre-modern way of reflecting. He will take a wilderness leadership course, covered by an outside scholarship valued at $5,000. He will also shadow a CEO of a for-profit company in order to view leadership style, and work related culture.

7. Meghan Hughes, Year Up

Hughes will attend a yoga and meditation retreat and later a music camp to learn guitar in the Texas Hill Country. She will also shadow CVS Caremark Corp. CEO Tom Ryan, to observe his leadership style. She will also study executive leadership at the Tuck School (cost underwritten by Hasbro) with Vijay Govindarajan and other regarded leaders.

8. Mary Madden, J. Arthur Trudeau Memorial Center

Madden will explore the concept of shared leadership and attend a retreat at Kripalu Retreat Center to practice meditation and yoga. She will participate in a sculptural-weaving program and explore creativity in the workplace by taking a course originated by Michael Ray from the Stanford School of Business, entitled Creativity in Business.

9. James Nyberg, LeadingAge RI

Nyberg will conduct domestic and international site visits to places that have interesting and relatively successful models of balanced long-term care systems. He will also participate in a professional executive leadership program where he will learn techniques in building sustainable relationships, communicating effectively, increasing the motivation of others and other skills.

10. Adeola Oredola, Youth in Action

Oredola will focus on relationship-building by traveling to New York, Chicago and Oakland to learn best practices around youth engagement and organizing. She will also take a class to study Yoruba - her father’s native language and the language of many of the families Youth in Action serves - and then travel to Nigeria to immerse herself in the language and culture.

11. Kathleen Pletcher, FirstWorks

Pletcher will travel to Brazil to observe innovative arts practices in Afro-Brazilian ballet, sculpture, and other types of music and dance. She will travel to France and England to engage in various performance arts festivals. She will also attend a creative-thought retreat with other arts leaders. She will explore international collaborations and the potential to increase national funding for Providence.

12. Yvonne Seggerman, Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theater

Seggerman will attend the Greenbuild conference as well as Harvard Kennedy School’s: Creating Collaborative Solutions. She will also study tango in Argentina in order to refresh and see the arts world in a new light, as a practitioner again.

13. Barbara Wong, Providence City Arts

Wong will attend the Habla Forum in Merida, Mexico, the Center/ Arts Integration Conference in Washington, D.C., and the Conference for Community Arts Education in Boston. She will visit two community youth arts programs that are considered models for excellence. She will interview creative women who are nonprofit arts leaders. She will also participate in a summer arts/cultural retreat to reflect on family/cultural traditions, as well as engage in a coach to develop a holistic plan for exercise, nutrition and time management.