Mrs Frances Hesselbein

Mrs Frances Hesselbein, Fulbright New Zealand’s 2007 John F. Kennedy Fellow

Frances Hesselbein is the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Leader-to-Leader Institute (formerly the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management), and served as its founding President and Chief Executive Officer from 1990-2000. She serves on many nonprofit and private sector corporate boards, including the Veteran’s Corporation Advisory Board, the Board of the Mutual of America Life Insurance Company, New York, and the Boards of the Center for Social Initiative at the Harvard Business School and the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Management at the Kennedy School. She was the Chairman of the national board of directors for the Volunteers of America from 2001-2007.

Mrs. Hesselbein has received nineteen honorary doctoral degrees and is Editor-in-Chief of the award winning quarterly journal Leader to Leader. She is the co-editor of 23 books in 28 languages.

Mrs Hesselbein was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor in January 1998. The award recognized her leadership as Chief Executive Officer of Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. from 1976–1990 as well as her role as founding President of the Drucker Foundation, “as a pioneer for women, diversity and inclusion.” Her contributions were also recognized by former President Bush, who appointed her to two Presidential commissions on community service, the Board of Directors of the Commission on National and Community Service in August 1991, and his Advisory Committee on the Points of Light Initiative Foundation in 1989.

In 2001, Mrs. Hesselbein was awarded the Henry A. Rosso Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Ethical Fund Raising from the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University and the International ATHENA Award. In 2002 Mrs. Hesselbein was the first recipient of the Dwight D. Eisenhower National Security Series Award, presented by U.S. Army Chief of Staff General Eric K. Shinseki. In 2003, Junior Achievement established a Frances Hesselbein “How To Be” Leadership Award for ethical leadership. In 2004 Mrs. Hesselbein was presented with the Juliette Award from the Girl Scouts of U.S.A. and the 2004 Visionary Award from the American Society of Association Executives Foundation. In 2006, Mrs. Hesselbein received three awards including the Teachers College Medal for Distinguished Service from Columbia University’s Teachers College.

Mrs Hesselbein generously gave two presentations at the U.S. Embassy in Wellington:

The Leadership Imperative - May 17
(photos) (audio) (e-spotlight)

and

Volunteerism: Management, Motivation, Recruitment, Retention - May 18
(photos) (audio) (e-spotlight)

Related Links
• Fulbright New Zealand
• Leader to Leader Institute
• Volunteers of America