Press Release  MCDHH Commissioner Opeoluwa Sotonwa Honored Among Council of State Governments Henry Toll Fellowship Class of 2024

Boston, MA — Dr. Opeoluwa Sotonwa, LL.M., LP.D., Commissioner of the Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (MCDHH), has been selected as a Council of State Governments' Henry Toll Fellow, Class of 2024.

Active since 1986, the Council of State Governments' (CSG) Henry Toll Fellowship is the nation’s premier leadership development program for state government officials. Annually, it brings together 49 individuals, representing 34 states and U.S. territories and all three branches of state government. The Fellowship is named after the founder of the CSG, Henry Toll, a former state senator from Colorado who was the driving force behind the creation of CSG in 1933 during his time in office.   

 In September, the Class of 2024 will attend a leadership networking event in Lexington, KY, where sessions will focus on professional growth, networking, and relationship-building opportunities.

"I am humbled and honored to be included in the prestigious Council of State Governments’ Henry Toll Fellowship Class of 2024,” said Commissioner Sotonwa. “I'm looking forward to connecting, working, and learning alongside these esteemed 48 fellow leaders from across the United States and integrating these lessons into supporting my team at the Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, a state agency dedicated to serving the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community of the Bay State!”

“While the CSG Henry Toll Fellows come from every region of our nation, from both political parties and all three branches of state government, they share one thing in common — they are all committed to improving the lives of the people they serve,” said CSG Executive Director/CEO David Adkins, a former Kansas state senator and 1993 CSG Henry Toll Fellow alumnus. “Toll Fellows are selected based on their demonstrated commitment to solve problems, to work collaboratively to get things done, and their belief that state government can and must be a force for good.” 

Toll Fellows are nominated by their peers and selected by alumni of the program.  

There are over 1,400 graduates of the Toll Fellowship, including four sitting state/territorial house speakers, eight sitting state supreme court justices, 10 sitting members of Congress, three sitting governors and more than 200 Toll alumni currently serving as state/territorial legislators. 

View the full list of CSG Henry Toll Fellowship Class of 2024 members here.

For more information on the CSG Henry Toll Fellowship, visit: csgovts.info/tolls24.

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