Gessler to attend Senior Executives program

Denver, May 20, 2011 – Today Secretary of State Scott Gessler announced he has been awarded a Gates Family Foundation Fellowship. As a fellow, he will attend the Senior Executives in State and Local Government program at the Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. As a Gates Fellow, Gessler joins a group including Attorney General John Suthers, former Secretary of State Gigi Dennis, Senate Majority Leader John Morse and former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb.

“I’m humbled to join this distinguished list of alumni from Colorado and around the country,” Gessler said. “Coming from the private sector into a public office is definitely a change. I hope to develop and learn from this experience.”

Since taking office, Gessler has aggressively brought government and private sector best practices to the management of the Secretary of State’s office. He has assembled a senior staff with significant public and private sector management experience. Attendance at the Senior Executives program is another part of this effort.

The Senior Executive Program at Harvard seeks to help public officials meet the changing needs of their constituencies and communities. Key topics covered during the program include leadership, negotiations, behavioral decision making and microeconomics. To date, more than 3,300 senior officials from 50 states and many countries have attended the Senior Executives program and the Gates Family Foundation has sponsored more than 185 fellows from Colorado.