Legacy Leadership in Action

Volume 40 Number 4 | August 2026

Summary

The article reflects on a meeting of the ASCLS-Wisconsin scholarship committee where members representing four generations of mentor–mentee leadership lineages shared their commitment to nurturing future leaders. The author highlights the state constituent society’s vibrant, innovative, and mentorship-driven leadership culture that sustains its strength and relevance.

A Reflection from the WISCLS Scholarship Committee

Leah Narans, MLS(ASCP), ASCLS Director

During the recent ASCLS-Wisconsin meeting, I found myself sitting in a scholarship committee session when a striking realization washed over me. As I looked around the table, I suddenly saw not just colleagues, but a living map of mentorship—layered, interconnected, and spanning generations of leadership within our society.

Directly across from me sat Sue Beglinger, my education coordinator from college and one of my earliest and most enduring mentors. Sue has supported me since day one and has served ASCLS-Wisconsin in leadership roles for as long as I have been involved. Just a few seats to her right was Clayton Fraker, one of my former students, whom I have had the privilege of mentoring and watching grow into the role of state president. In that moment, I realized we represented three generations of legacy leadership sitting side by side.

Then my eyes moved kitty corner across the table to Dwane Klosterman, another former state president and long time educator who mentored our current incoming president, Damien Garza. To my left sat two additional past presidents—John Strous, who taught Mallory Janquart, and Linda Laatsch, our committee chair, was the program director for Mike Lukowski, both also served terms as state president.

In total, four distinct mentor–mentee lineages were represented at that single table. All nine individuals had served ASCLS-Wisconsin in multiple leadership roles, including president, and all were now contributing their time and expertise to the WISCLS Scholarship Committee.

It was an eye opening moment for all of us, and one that speaks volumes about the strength of ASCLS-Wisconsin. While some states rely heavily on long established leadership, Wisconsin’s leadership pipeline is both young and vibrant. There is little of the “this is how we’ve always done it” mindset. Instead, our leaders bring fresh ideas, a willingness to innovate, and the courage to take calculated risks for the good of the profession.

ASCLS has always been built on grassroots engagement. The Society is only as strong as its states, and states are only as strong as the people who step forward to lead them. If experienced leaders do not mentor, encourage, and intentionally grow the next generation, the pipeline dries up. People retire, move on, or burn out—and without a culture of mentorship, there is no one prepared to step into those roles.

What I witnessed in that room was the opposite: a thriving ecosystem of leadership development. Educators, mentors, students, and emerging leaders all contributing, all learning from one another, and all committed to the future of our profession. It was a powerful reminder that legacy leadership doesn’t happen by accident—it happens because people invest in people.

And that is why ASCLS-Wisconsin continues to stay strong, relevant, and forward thinking. Our legacy is not just in the work we do today, but in the leaders we nurture for tomorrow.

Leah Narans is Laboratory Program Director at SSM Health in Middleton, Wisconsin.