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Business and Society Program

First Movers Fellowship Nomination Form for 2010 Class

PURPOSE

The First Movers Fellowship Program seeks to develop, empower and ignite social innovators within companies who can change the way the world does business.  It is designed for ‘high potential’ business professionals who have demonstrated an ability and passion for imagining new products, services, and business models that achieve profitable business growth and lasting, positive social impacts.  Working together over the year-long fellowship, Fellows develop mastery in several critical areas.  They build skills that allow them to: envision and implement game-changing innovations within their firms; find strategies for linking personal passions with professional endeavors; lead so that others will follow.  They also join a community of like-minded innovators.

CRITERIA
Individuals recommended as candidates for the First Movers Fellowship should be:

  • Business professionals – generally identified as “high potential” talent within the firm – who have already demonstrated an ability and passion for imagining new products, services, and business models that achieve profitable business growth and lasting, positive social impacts.
  • Individuals who have a new idea/business plan they urgently want to implement in their companies that will move the company further into the zone where business growth and social well-being intersect.  
  • Willing to commit to being fully engaged in the Fellowship program which includes attending three seminars during the Fellowship and working throughout the period to turn their compelling ideas into reality.  
  • Enthusiastic about supporting other Fellows in their work and collaborating with colleagues in their own companies to leverage their own learning and accomplishments.
  • From diverse backgrounds in terms of industry, race, religion, gender and location
  • Fluent in English.


THE PROGRAM
The 2010 class of First Mover Fellows will consist of 16 men and women who will undertake a program that involves reflection and action.  A central and required component of the program for each Fellow is to develop their innovative and compelling project into a business plan that is implemented during the Fellowship period or immediately thereafter.  Fellows are required to participate in all three scheduled seminars which take place in Aspen, Colorado; Kalamazoo, Michigan; and New York, NY.  The Aspen Institute Business and Society Program is directing this program in collaboration with a design team of experts to develop the Fellowship experience.  

Fellows are asked to pay a $14,500 participation fee to cover program planning and facilitation costs and room and board for three seminars, plus travel expenses to these meetings. Very limited scholarship funds may be available in a case in which the individual or organization cannot afford the full fee and travel expense.

NOMINATION PROCEDURES
Individuals may not apply for the Fellowship; they must be nominated by recognized leaders in their industry. Nominators are asked to submit a nomination form stating their reasons for recommending the candidate and a résumé indicating the candidate's, physical address, email and phone contacts, educational background, career path, current position, and any additional information that will help us evaluate their qualifications.  The deadline for nominations is January 27, 2010.  Nomination documents must be mailed, emailed or submitted via this nomination form by that date.