Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.

Walter P. Paepcke, Aspen Institute Co-Founder
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Aspen First Movers Experience

Gain the skills to champion new ideas and drive innovation within your firm and join a lifelong community of purpose-driven changemakers.

Unlock your leadership potential

The First Movers Fellowship equips mid-career business leaders with the skills they need to enhance their effectiveness as corporate change agent. Drawing on insights from design thinking, adaptive leadership, and over 20 years of direct experience working with intrapreneurs, the First Movers Fellowship gives you the support you need to achieve your full potential for impact.

Hear from Fellows

“From a training perspective, First Movers has given me both leadership business skills as well as a powerful reflective component not found in many leadership programs. The team truly understand the challenges we face holistically in bringing change, way beyond just the financial considerations. I wish many past and future colleagues and friends could have access to such a program.”

Yolanda Malone
VP Global Head of Innovation & Product Management, Ball Corporation; Former VP Global R&D Snacks Packaging, PepsiCo

“In First Movers, I found a community of leaders who were wrestling with the same kind of hard challenge I was. But now, I have this community to support me as I take on the next hard challenge. And that support makes a tremendous difference.”

Ramsay Huntley
Senior Advisor, Innovation & Strategy, The Yield Lab Institute; Former Senior Advisor, Sustainable Finance, Wells Fargo

“As a leader and social intrapreneur, it can be difficult to carve out the time-and even harder to know the process-to identify your purpose. And yet this is exactly what we must do to accelerate and amplify our impact. The First Movers Fellowship unlocked this for me, while equipping me with concrete tools around innovation, problem solving, and management.”

James Ossman
VP of Customer Operations, Etsy

“The First Movers Fellowship empowered me to design one of the most ambitious water stewardship projects of my career, while connecting me with a network of like-minded changemakers who have become my friends and colleagues. Through this program, I have learned to incorporate poetry, design thinking, and deep listening as essential elements of my practice, enriching my work and life in countless ways.”

Carolina Garcia Arbelaez
CEO & Co-Founder, Myzelio; Former Global Director for Nature, AB InBev

“There are so many elements of the curriculum, from stakeholder-mapping to strategies for driving consensus, that I come back to again and again in my work to embed inclusive principles and practices in a content industry which has not always been geared toward such considerations.”

Kamala Avila-Salmon
Founder & CEO, Kas Kas Productions; Former Head of Inclusive Content, Lionsgate

“I am so lucky to have been included in such an energetic group of peers and coaches, now friends. My project is still continuing to grow long after the program and so are my Aspen relationships. It’s incredible what the First Movers Fellowship Program accomplishes in such a short time for each participant.”

Jared Thomas
Head of Product, Flex; Former Director of Product, Carta

“Join the First Movers Fellowship and embark on a transformative journey towards a new era of leadership, driven by purpose, community, and optimism. Seize this unique opportunity to pause and shape a brighter future for your career, your company, and our society.”

Isabelle Quevilly
Director Creative Shop Northern Europe, Middle East & Africa, GBG Sustainability Leader, Meta

“The Fellowship year has been a period of massive professional growth and I’m quite sure it will pay off for years. Some tools were new to me (design thinking, prototyping) and others were reminders (questioning, financial case, etc). Those skills built my confidence as a leader, and the values development reminded me of why I moved into formal leadership in the first place.”

Megan Brown
Director, Starbucks Data Office, Starbucks

Experience best-in-class instruction

During three in-person seminars, you’ll gain new insights and frameworks for impact from a cadre of best-in-class facilitators, coaches, and mentors who make up the First Movers Design Team. Seminar content focuses on four core themes of Innovation, Leadership, Reflection and Community.

MEET THE DESIGN TEAM

Advance a strategic initiative inside your company

Fellows work on specific projects inside their companies designed to generate real business value alongside positive social and environment impact. Our commitment to action-learning allows you to directly apply new insights to your work while demonstrating real value to your company.

EXPLORE THE FELLOWSHIP PROJECTS

Connect with a network of peers across industries

First Mover classes are carefully curated for diversity in industry, projects, and life experience, creating an unparalleled opportunity to learn from peers. You’ll join a robust and intimate community of more than 300 business leaders, whose unique perspectives will help you gain confidence, solve problems, and better navigate complex systems.

MEET THE COMMUNITY

Participating Companies

Engage throughout the year

The Fellowship year begins in June and concludes in May. You’ll come together with your cohort for three in-person seminars—held in Colorado (July), New Mexico (November), and New York (April)—and stay connected in between seminars through virtual touchpoints and coaching sessions.

DOWNLOAD THE OVERVIEW