2026 Bend Emerging Talent Passports
Passport Options
Your gateway to growth, leadership, and lasting connection
Join Central Oregon’s most dynamic community of rising professionals and future leaders through the Bend Emerging Talent (Bend ET) Passport program — your year-long leadership training journey with meaningful networking opportunities — now more expansive and impactful than ever.
Who should purchase a Bend ET Passport?
Early to mid-career professionals, aspiring leaders, organizational and HR leaders seeking impactful affordable talent development and upskilling.
Individual Passport
Year-long program access for one person.
Flex Passport
One seat per event, transferable within your organization.
NEXTUp Leaders Passport
Includes NEXTUp leaders track & certification of leadership training.
What's Included?
Bend ET Passport Benefits
Whether you choose the Individual, Flex or NEXTUp Leaders Passport, you’ll receive access to all of the valuable core benefits listed below.
Five Expert Lab Learning Sessions
Focused on key competencies to move individual contributors to successful leaders, such as communication, strategic thinking, change management and more.
Five Exclusive Deep Dive Learning Labs
Three-hour advanced learning and implementation sessions designed to grow leadership muscle and apply the insights to real-life challenges.
NEXTUp Leaders Certificate
A NEXTUp Leaders Certificate to recognize your achievement.
Graduation Breakfast
A Graduation Breakfast Celebration to honor your commitment and success.
And More
Plus—all the benefits of a 2026 Bend ET Passport, with access to premier networking events, mentorship, and skill-building sessions. Take a peek at the full 2026 Calendar of Events.
Upgrade Your Career
NEXTUp Leaders
NEXTUp Leaders offers leadership development training that will:
Equip participants with skills to lead teams/projects, solve problems, and create work environments that drive organizational and personal success.
Provide local employers with a unique opportunity to invest in and retain their most promising employees.
Develop a deeper understanding of personal leadership style.
Encourage a sense of confidence in leadership capabilities and foster the ability to take initiative.
Equip them to meet the demands of tomorrow’s workplace.
Highlight the value of diversity within teams, and the importance of cultivating a culture of belonging.
Strengthen bonds through a cohort learning model.
Help instill the value of community and civic involvement as essential qualities of rising leaders.
The Bend Chamber Association Health Plan is one of the ways the Chamber supports local employers, employees, and their families.
Over the past several months, the Bend Chamber Board of Directors, Chamber staff, and the Health Insurance Task Force have worked closely with Johnson Benefit Planning to identify a long-term carrier partner that will preserve the value, stability, and affordability of the Bend Chamber Association Health Plan. Following a comprehensive and competitive Request for Proposal process, we are pleased to announce that Moda Health has been selected as the plan’s new carrier partner.
NEXTUp Syllabus
Become a sponsor
Questions
Business Benefits
A tool for employee retention & increased profitability
We enroll 10 bankers each year in the Bend Chamber’s Emerging Talent Passport Program because it builds more than skills—it builds community. Through this experience, our team members grow as professionals and as people, forming connections that strengthen our workforce and deepen our ties to the communities we serve.
Bend Emerging Talent was the first networking group I joined when I went all-in on my business in early 2023, and it quickly became the place where I found people who truly get the entrepreneurial journey—friends, mentors, partners, and a supportive community that made building my business feel a lot less lonely and a lot more energizing.
21%
Business benefits
Leadership development has been shown to boost profitability by 21%, improve talent retention up to 20X, and helps organizations successfully navigate challenges 86% of the time.
600%
Forbes
Companies that make an investment in leadership development are 3.6X more likely to excel, and a 2023 study found a $7 return for every $1 spent, a 600% ROI.
29%
Industry Leaders Magazine
Companies that invest in leadership programs are 29% more likely to successfully retain valuable employees in the long term.
Thank you to our Sponsors and Passport Supporters
