Whether it’s through the Court Appointed Special Advocates board, the United Way board, or as chairman of the Lebanon Wilson County Chamber of Commerce in 2023, Wes Dugan is always serving his community. He serves in his day job as an agency manager for Farm Bureau Insurance of Tennessee, a company he has been with for 23 years, and his free time is spent the same way. He wants to give back, Dugan said, because the community has given so much to him already.
“I’ve always been involved in the community here,” Dugan said. “If Little League comes and wants me to sponsor, I usually try to help them. [If] there’s a local cause in the community I feel strongly about, whether it’s Leadership Wilson or Empower Me day center or something to do with agriculture, with Farm Bureau … anything to help our community. I always want to try to give back.”
A community is all about relationships, after all, and that is something at the core of Lebanon.
“This town is really founded on relationships in my opinion, and so you just get to meet a lot of good quality people that have a heart of giving and want to help others,” Dugan said. “If you’re surrounded by [good] people, that makes a difference in you personally, spiritually, and also with your business.”
To foster those relationships, Dugan became a founding member of Lebanon’s chapter of Business Network International Core Networking, a business referral group. For 15 years now, members have met every Thursday and formed networking relationships that move Lebanon forward. It’s a group that makes a difference, Dugan said.
“It’s been a very good networking referral group that I’m involved in, [and] that I’m very happy to be in,” Dugan said.
Another organization that is especially close to Dugan’s heart is Empower Me, a recreational, educational and therapeutic center for those with disabilities or special needs. As a parent of a special needs daughter, Dugan has been a part of the Empower Me family for a decade, and he said he is always looking for a way to give back to the nonprofit.
“What they do for special needs kids is amazing. That’s one of the reasons why she’s in it,” Dugan said. “They have great counselors, they have students that are going to be special ed teachers or therapists that come help in the college, and [they’ve] got a lot of good things going.”
Empower Me is looking to build a new facility with many more opportunities for families to get involved.
“It has a big place in my heart,” Dugan said. Dugan supports and participates in fundraising events, including golf tournaments.
What Dugan is most proud of, however, is his time as chairman of the chamber of commerce in 2023. It gave him the opportunity to connect with a lot of new businesses, the people involved in education, and the people who run the day-to-day of the chamber.
“I was very proud of the trust they gave me for that year to be involved and just see so much and see how great this community is,” Dugan said. “It’s amazing how it’s growing.”
As Lebanon moves forward, Dugan hopes to continue to be involved in Empower Me and all the other organizations that serve the local community. He said he is also committed to making Farm Bureau a successful company and helping some of the young agents who work under him grow into leaders in the community. It isn’t just those agents who can find an example in Wes Dugan, however — young people everywhere can look to his example of how to be a leader. GN
