Frances Hesselbein (November 1, 1915 – December 11, 2022) was an American businesswoman and writer. She was the CEO of the

Girl Scouts of the USA Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA), commonly referred to as Girl Scouts, is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad. It was founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, a year after she ...

, from 1976 to 1990, and the president and CEO of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Non-Profit Management, the Leader to Leader Institute, and the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute, which later became the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Forum at the

University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs The School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) is one of 17 schools comprising the University of Pittsburgh. Founded in 1957 to study national and international public administration, SPIA prides itself on its "Local to Global" distinction. ...

(GSPIA), Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership.

Career

Hesselbein took classes at the University of Pittsburgh Johnstown Junior College in 1936. Between 1965 and 1976, she rose from volunteer troop leader to CEO and held the position of CEO for thirteen years until 1990. During her tenure, the Girl Scouts attained a membership of 2.25 million girls with a workforce of 780,000, mainly volunteers. In 1990, Hesselbein left the Girl Scouts to run the Leader to Leader Institute (formerly known as the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management). After Drucker's death in 2005, the foundation was renamed after Hesselbein in 2012; it is now known as the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute. In 2009, she helped to found the Hesselbein Global Academy for Student Leadership and Civic Engagement at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

. Hesselbein is the co-editor of 27 books published in 29 languages and the author of ''Hesselbein on Leadership'' and ''My Life in Leadership''. Hesselbein was on the boards of the Mutual of America Life Insurance Company, the Bright China Social Fund, California Institute of Advanced Management, and the

Teachers College, Columbia University Teachers College, Columbia University (TC) is the graduate school of education affiliated with Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Founded in 1887, Teachers College has been a part of Columbia University since ...

Presidents Advisory Council.

Awards

In 1998, Hesselbein was awarded the

Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, alongside the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by decision of the president of the United States to "any person recommended to the President ...

for her work with the

. She turned 100 years old in November 2015. Hesselbein was denoted a Pitt Legacy Laureate of the

in 2000. She has received 22 honorary doctoral degrees.

Personal life

Frances Hesselbein was married to John Hesselbein. She died at her home in

Easton, Pennsylvania Easton is a city in and the county seat of Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River and the Delawa ...

, on December 11, 2022, at the age of 107.

''Frances Hesselbein Student Leadership Program''

In 2006, the Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) created the ''Frances Hesselbein Student Leadership Program'' to support high school students and to honor Hesselbein and her

situational leadership The Situational Leadership Model is the idea that effective leaders adapt their style to each situation. No one style is appropriate for all situations. Leaders may use a different style in each situation, even when working with the same team, ...

. The program aims to teach high school students leadership, communication, and team-building skills by sending them on a week-long trip to either the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

in the fall or to the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academies, United States service academy in Air Force Academy, Colorado, Air Force Academy Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs. I ...

in the spring.

Publications

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

* Hesselbein, Frances, Marshall Goldsmith, Sarah McArthur, eds.''Work Is Love Made Visible'', 2018. * Hesselbein, Frances and

Marshall Goldsmith Marshall Goldsmith (born March 20, 1949) is an American executive leadership coach and author. Early life and education Goldsmith was born in Valley Station, Kentucky, and received a degree in mathematical economics from Rose-Hulman Institute of ...

, eds. ''The Organization of the Future 2: Visions, Strategies, and Insights on Managing in a New Era'', 2009.

References

External links

Frances Hesselbein Leadership Forum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hesselbein, Frances 1915 births 2022 deaths People from Johnstown, Pennsylvania American women centenarians Girl Scouts of the USA national leaders University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown alumni Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients