Elon Law's John Alexander and David Gergen, chair of the Elon University School of Law advisory board, were involved in the selection process for U.S. News and World Report's "America's Best Leaders" for 2009.
The project is a collaboration between the magazine and the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, for which Gergen serves as director.
Gergen co-chairs the selection committee for “America’s Best Leaders” with Warren Bennis of the University of Southern California.
Alexander, Elon Law’s distinguished leadership coach-in-residence, has served on the selection committee for five years. Alexander served as the 2007-2008 Isabella Cannon Distinguished Visiting Professor of Leadership at Elon University.
Cory Booker, one of the 22 winners of the America’s Best Leaders designation this year, delivered the spring 2009 Bryan Distinguished Leadership Lecture at Elon University School of Law.
The selection committee for “America’s Best Leaders” consists of academic, government, business and nonprofit leaders convened by the Center for Public Leadership. The committee includes Bill George, who served as the Cannon Professor at Elon in 2007. George is professor of management practice at Harvard Business School and is the former chairman and CEO of Medtronic, Inc.
The panel accepted nominations from a wide range of sources, and a research team spent the spring semester identifying and researching the potential honorees in a variety of sectors, from philanthropy to government to the arts. As a product of this process, approximately 100 names and written profiles were presented to the selection committee a few weeks before the formal selection meeting in May.
The committee defined a leader simply as a person who “motivates people to work collaboratively to accomplish great things.”
Others selected this year include: John Doerr, a venture capitalist leading initiatives to combat global warming; Bill and Kathy Magee, founders of Operation Smile, helping children with facial deformities; and Eboo Patel, founder of a national movement promoting interfaith religious cooperation.
Click here for the U.S. News report on “America’s Best Leaders.”
