On the flight path

Kameron Manning enlisted in the United States Air Force in 2017 and quickly advanced to president of the Airmen Council, a role in which he would hold meetings where all the airmen in his rank would voice their problems or concerns, and then brief the base commander.

"That was my first real experience of taking the needs and wants of others and seeing how I can get those accomplished from the level above," Manning said. "So it was a process of followership into leadership, and now you have to go help others buy in as well."

Pulling people from all over the country to come together and achieve a goal, and leading them to that goal, "that's the most beautiful, addicting thing in this world," he said.

Manning's impressive leadership path began on that base in Hawaii and has continued at the University of Delaware, where he participated in the prestigious Siegfried Fellows program and was the recipient of the 2025 Siegfried Student Award for Entrepreneurial Leadership.

"I'm made by the people before me," said Manning, a junior pursuing a degree in leadership from the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration at UD with concentrations in business, operations management and entrepreneurship. "The Colonels in the Air Force, my parents, Johann (Ducharme, UD assistant professor of entrepreneurship and faculty director of the Siegfried Fellows in Horn Entrepreneurship), … it's just a testament that the process works. When you're a leader and you take the time to develop somebody, it will pay back if it's done the right way."