**Aspen Institute and New Schools Venture Fund Name New Class of Fellows in Entrepreneurial Leaders for Public Education Program (5/19/2008)**
Program Overview
Building on the model of its well-regarded Henry Crown Fellowship Program, the Aspen Institute has partnered with NewSchools Venture Fund to launch this groundbreaking Entrepreneurial Leaders for Public Education Fellowship program. As entrepreneurial change agents, these leaders bring a crucial sense of urgency, an action orientation, a dogged optimism that we can achieve these ambitious goals, and a tenacious dedication to the work of transforming public education so that it serves all students well. As a group they represent impressive and diverse experience from across the public, private and non profit sectors.
The Fellowship will provide these accomplished leaders the unusual opportunity to step back from their demanding daily work, to reflect with a group of extraordinary peers on their collective and individual work as leaders and change agents. Together, the group will challenge each other, reflect on their work in the context of values-based leadership, and develop new insights for effective, enlightened leadership in education across the public, nonprofit and private sectors.
"The Aspen Institute has developed a network of programs to recognize and cultivate accomplished, community-minded, and entrepreneurial leaders around the world through our Global Leadership Network," said Peter Reiling, Executive Vice President for Leadership and Policy Programs at the Aspen Institute. "With the support of E*TRADE Financial, we are pleased to partner with NewSchools Venture Fund to recognize and support these important leaders and change agents within the field of U.S. public education."
The Fellows
Each year, the Aspen Institute -NewSchools Entrepreneurial Leaders for Public Education program will select approximately 20 exceptional leaders from across the country. These Fellows will bring a diverse set of backgrounds and skills to the program, having exhibited leadership in the nonprofit, foundation, charter school, and traditional school district sectors, and will hail from a variety of urban and rural communities. The Fellowship will give these extraordinary leaders the opportunity to work together to further develop their own leadership capacity, and to think across traditional silos and sector boundaries in order to push their collective impact to even greater heights.
Read biographical information for the 2008 Fellows and 2007 Fellows. Read the press release on the inaugural class.
