Biography

One of the most highly respected experts in the field of contemporary leadership development, Frances Hesselbein is the President and CEO of The Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute, founded as The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management and renamed in 2012 to honor Hesselbein’s legacy and ongoing contributions. Mrs. Hesselbein was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States of America’s highest civilian honor, in 1998 for her leadership as CEO of Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. from 1976–1990, as well as her service as “a pioneer for women, volunteerism, diversity and opportunity.” Her contributions were also recognized by the first President Bush, who appointed her to two Presidential Commissions on National and Community Service. In May, 2011, Mrs. Hesselbein was duly honored with two Lifetime Achievement Awards from ATHENA International and Best Practice Institute in New York. From 2009–2011, Mrs. Hesselbein served as the Class of 1951 Chair for the Study of Leadership at the United States Military Academy at West Point, in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership. She is the first woman, and the first non-graduate to serve in this chair. Also in 2009, the University of Pittsburgh introduced The Hesselbein Global Academy for Student Leadership and Civic Engagement. The Academy’s aim is to produce experienced and ethical leaders who will address critical national and international issues and advance positive social and economic initiatives throughout the world. She serves on many nonprofit and private sector corporate boards, including Mutual of America Life Insurance Company, the Bright China Social Fund, and U.C.S.D. Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies and the Center for Creative Leadership’s Alliance Advisory Council. She served as the Chairman of the National Board of Directors for Volunteers of America from 2002–2006. For her exceptional work and her continued commitment to developing leaders of all ages, as demonstrated in her work with the Institute, in 2009 Mrs. Hesselbein was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 34th Annual Tribute Dinner of the Girl Scout Council of Greater New York. Mrs. Hesselbein was also inducted into the Enterprising Women Hall of Fame and is a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania. In 2008, Mrs. Hesselbein was presented with the International Leadership Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Los Angeles, and the Tempo International Leadership Award in New York City. She was named a Senior Leader at the United States Military Academy, 2008 National Conference on Ethics in America. In 2007, Mrs. Hesselbein was awarded the John F. Kennedy Memorial Fellowship by Fulbright New Zealand and was the first recipient of the Dwight D. Eisenhower National Security Award in 2003. Mrs. Hesselbein is the recipient of twenty-one honorary doctoral degrees. She is editor-in-chief of the award-winning quarterly journal Leader to Leader and is the coeditor of twenty-seven books in twenty-nine languages and has traveled to sixty-eight countries representing the United States. She is the author of Hesselbein on Leadership and My Life in Leadership, and in August 2012, her third book, More Hesselbein on Leadership was published.