Frances Hesselbein is the President and CEO of Leader to Leader Institute (founded as the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management) and is its Founding President.

Prior to founding Leader to Leader Institute, Hesselbein served as the CEO for the Girl Scouts of the USA

Girl Scouts of the USA

The Girl Scouts of the United States of America is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad. It describes itself as "the world's preeminent organization dedicated solely to girls". It was founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912 and was organized after Low...

. Between 1965 to 1976, she rose from volunteer troop leader to CEO and held the position of CEO for fourteen years (1976–1990). Hesselbein was the first chief executive to come from the within the field in 67 years. She is credited with leading a turnaround for the Girl Scouts, increasing their minority membership and establishing the Daisy Scout program for the youngest girls accepted into the Girl Scouts.

During her tenure, the Girl Scouts attained a membership of 2.25 million girls with a workforce of 780,000, mainly volunteers.
Hesselbein attended the University of Pittsburgh Johnstown Junior College

University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown

University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, also known as UPJ or Pitt-Johnstown, is a four-year, degree-granting regional campus of the University of Pittsburgh. The university is located in Richland Township, a suburban area of Johnstown, Pennsylvania and was founded in 1927 as one of the first...

 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania

Johnstown, Pennsylvania

Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States, west-southwest of Altoona, Pennsylvania and east of Pittsburgh. The population was 20,978 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Cambria County...

 and is the recipient of twenty honorary doctoral degrees. She is editor-in-chief of the award-winning quarterly journal Leader to Leader and is the editor, coeditor, or author of twenty-eight books published in twenty-nine languages. Hesselbein has traveled to sixty-eight countries to represent the United States. She is the author of Hesselbein on Leadership and My Life in Leadership. She also helped to found the Hesselbein Global Academy for Student Leadership and Civic Engagement at the University of Pittsburgh

University of Pittsburgh

The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...

.

In 1998, Hesselbein was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Presidential Medal of Freedom

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...

 for her work with the Girl Scouts of America.

Awards

• Presidential Medal of Freedom, United States of America
• Legion of Honor Gold Medallion, The Chapel of Four Chaplains
• Distinguished Community Service Award, Mutual of America Life Insurance Company
• National Professional Leadership Award, United Way of America
• Excellence in Leadership Award and the Foundation Director’s Choice Award, National Women’s Economic Alliance
• Wilbur M. McFeely Award, International Management Council, YMCA
• National Entrepreneurial Woman Award, Women Business Owners of New York
• Distinguished Citizen of the Commonwealth Award, Pennsylvania Society
• GALA 12 Award, Birmingham-Southern College
• Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania, Governor of Pennsylvania
• Greater Johnstown Pennsylvania Business Hall of Fame
• Distinguished Alumni Fellows Award, University of Pittsburgh
• Woman of the Year, Boy Scouts of Greater New York
• Legacy Laureate, University of Pittsburgh
• William Thurston Award, Kids Peace
• Henry A. Rosso Award for Lifetime Achievement in Ethical Fundraising, Indiana University
• ATHENA International Award
• Marion Gislason Award, Boston University
• Juliette Award, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A.
• Visionary Award, American Society of Association Executives
• R.J. McElroy Scholar Award, University of Northern Iowa
• Dwight D. Eisenhower National Security Series Award
• Miss Hall’s Woman of Distinction Award, Miss Hall’s School
• John F. Kennedy Memorial Fellowship, Fulbright New Zealand
• Leadership Award, Tempo International
• International Leadership Association, Lifetime Achievement Award
• Enterprising Women Hall of Fame, Enterprising Women Magazine
• Lifetime Achievement Award, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A.
• ATHENA International Lifetime Achievement Award
• Best Practice Institute Lifetime Achievement Award

Author

• Hesselbein, Frances, Foreword by Jim Collins, My Life in Leadership, 2011
• Hesselbein, Frances, and General Eric K. Shinseki, United States Army, Ret. Be, Know, Do: Leadership the Army Way, 2004
• Hesselbein, Frances, Foreword by Jim Collins, Hesselbein on Leadership, 2002

Editor

partial list

• Editor-in-Chief, Leader to Leader, quarterly journal, 1996 to present.
• Hesselbein, Frances and Marshall Goldsmith
  Marshall Goldsmith
  Marshall Goldsmith is an American author of management-related literature, professor, executive educator and coach. Born in Valley Station, Kentucky, he received his BS from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in 1970, his MBA from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business in 1972 , and his...
  
  , eds. The Organization of the Future 2: Visions, Strategies, and Insights on Managing in a New Era, 2009.

Videos

• Don't Be a Lone Ranger
• Don't Try to Win at Everything!
• Everyday is a Gift
• Frances Hesselbein: To Serve is to Live
• Mark Thompson Interviews Frances Hesselbein
• Remarks on Peter Drucker
• The Definition of Leadership
• You Set the Tone
• Leadership Dialogues: Your Insight

External links

• http://www.leadertoleader.org