Justin Raffa is the Artistic Director at Mid-Columbia Mastersingers, a Leadership Tri-Cities (LTC) Class XIX alumnus, and the board chair for LTC from 2022 to the most recent graduation of Class 27 in June of 2024.

He then passed the baton to Liz McLaughlin, the Chief Development Officer of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Benton and Franklin Counties, as the new board chair.

“I am very pleased at our progress and feel that LTC is in a healthy, stable, and productive place as a I step away from the board,” Raffa said.

This year, Raffa will serve as the President of the Richland Rotary Club and will continue his service on the City of Richland’s Board of Adjustment and the Tri-Cities Regional Chamber’s Local Government Affairs Committee. He also recently concluded his tenure on the Washington States Arts Commission after seven years.

Raffa described how his Leadership Tri-Cities was a catalyst for him becoming more involved in the community.

“It was my LTC class experience that compelled me after Leadership Forward day to apply for the City of Richland's Arts Commission. That led me to apply for the state level commission in 2016 and eventually run for public office in 2020.”

During his time as Vice Chair and then Board Chair for Leadership Tri-Cities, Justin Raffa helped collect extensive survey data of alumni and took a deep dive into the operations of LTC.

“This led to one important discovery, the clear need to hire some kind of staff to be the day to day administrator of Leadership Tri-Cities…a year later after much due diligence, we found the right match in Paul Casey.”         

Casey has led the charge since June of 2022, growing and enhancing the organization after the COVID years. Paul Casey and the LTC board are now in the process of passing the baton to the next Executive Director of LTC, ensuring that we continue another 25+ years of great leadership programming.

The Leadership Tri-Cities Board and alumni send a big thank you Justin Raffa for his service and wisdom to LTC.