About the AGLN

01 Our Purpose

We ignite a global community of values-driven leaders with the moral courage, clarity of purpose, and transformative vision to drive lasting positive change in the world.

02 Our Vision

A world where an interconnected community of values-driven leaders collaborate across differences to address humanity’s greatest challenges — ensuring that as human capabilities advance, our wisdom and values grow alongside them, creating a society where everyone thrives.

03 Our Mission

We provide leaders with a lifetime community for deep reflection and bold action. Through meaningful dialogue and ongoing support, we transform accomplished individuals into catalysts for meaningful impact.

Our Approach

At the core of our work is nurturing a global network of Fellows who embody values-based leadership. These diverse leaders share a commitment to addressing humanity’s greatest challenges. Our approach equips them with the clarity, community, and courage to navigate complexity while creating transformative change in their organizations, communities, and beyond.

Each Fellow commits to using their passions, skills, and resources in new and creative ways to solve the world’s most pressing problems. Fellows have used their platforms to close educational achievement gaps, improve access to health care, raise financial literacy, create new jobs, fight domestic violence, build new pipelines of ethical leadership, and much, much more.

We understand leadership as a lifelong journey, not a destination. Our comprehensive approach supports Fellows at every stage—from their initial Fellowship experience through ongoing renewal, connection, and action. Through transformative gatherings, catalytic capital, and trusted community, we provide leaders with the resources they need throughout their evolving journey.

What sets AGLN apart is our proven approach to leadership development. Through text-based dialogue, global perspective, and our commitment to bringing together the “like-hearted but differently-minded,” we create transformative experiences and community. We’ve learned that the most creative solutions emerge from dialogue across difference—the sweet spot where values-based leadership builds both trust and impact.

Our Story

Our story is one of evolution, building on the Aspen Institute’s 75-year legacy of igniting leadership. What began as a revolutionary idea — that leaders need not just technical knowledge but deep wisdom — has grown into a global community spanning continents and sectors.

This timeline highlights key milestones in our growth, from our origins starting with the Henry Crown Fellowship to our present network of more than 4,000 Fellows across 62 countries. Each step reflects our ongoing commitment to cultivating values-driven leadership and action. The AGLN is stewarded by the Board of Trustee’s Leadership Committee, ensuring its continued integrity and impact.

As we look to the future, we continue to expand into critical domains shaping humanity’s next chapter for the better, ensuring that as human capabilities grow, our wisdom and values grow alongside them.

1997

Henry Crown Fellowship Founded

The Henry Crown Fellowship was established to develop the next generation of community-spirited leaders, providing them with the tools necessary to meet the challenges of business and civic leadership in the 21st century.

2002-2007

The Model Travels

Henry Crown Fellow Peter Reiling helped lay the foundation for what would become AGLN by co-founding the Africa Leadership Initiative, inspired by his own Fellowship experience. The model soon expanded across regions and sectors:

2002–2003: Africa Leadership Initiative in Ghana, East Africa, Mozambique, & South Africa

2004: Liberty Fellowship in South Carolina and Central America Leadership Initiative in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama

2006: Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship in India

2007: Nigeria Leadership Initiative, Catto Fellowship for environmental leaders, and Pahara Fellowship for education leaders

2007

A Network Begins to Assemble

For the first time, Fellows came together across Fellowships. Held in celebration of the Henry Crown Fellowship’s tenth anniversary, Act II, a precursor to what would become the Resnick Aspen Action Forum, marked an early glimpse of something larger than any single program: a community of leaders, connected across borders and geographies, unlocking new possibilities together for a better world.

2009

The Aspen Global Leadership Network Formally Founded

What began as a collection of Fellowships became a formal network. In 2009, the Aspen Global Leadership Network was formed, giving Fellows across programs a shared community with common purpose and a lifelong home for support on their continued leadership journeys.

That same year, the Middle East Leadership Initiative launched, bringing together proven business and civil society leaders to address the region’s most pressing challenges.

2013

More Geographic Expansion: China Fellowship Program Launches

The China Fellowship Program launched, bringing together a new generation of private-sector leaders across Greater China to help build a sustainable and prosperous society.

With that, the AGLN now had Fellows in 60 countries.

AGLN History_China Fellowship Program Launches

2015

A Lasting Home to Gather:
Resnick Aspen Action Forum

A generous $15 million gift from Lynda and Stewart Resnick secured the future of the Resnick Aspen Action Forum, ensuring the AGLN would always have a place to come together, reflect, and recommit to action every July.

2016-2019

AGLN Grows Into More Fields Shaping Society

2015: The Health Innovators Fellowship launched to help US health care leaders break down silos and improve the well-being of all Americans.

2016: The Finance Leaders Fellowship launched on the belief that finance, led with intention and integrity, can help build a good society.

2019: The Civil Society Fellowship launched to bring US leaders together across differences to build relationships and address pressing challenges

2025

Meeting the Moment

As artificial intelligence reshapes power, work, and the human condition, the AGLN responded with two new programs, engaging leaders with distinct and equally vital roles to play in shaping a better future:

The Technology Leaders Initiative brings together senior technology leaders exploring how technology can better serve people and society.

The Michael D. Eisner Arts & Culture Fellowship brings together global arts leaders using the arts to make sense of this moment and drive positive change.

2026

Our Network Today

More than 4,200 Fellows.
62 countries.
16+ Fellowship programs.

A global community of values-based leaders, connected across regions and sectors, navigating the challenges of this moment together.