Dear Presidential Leadership Scholars alumni, As the New Year quickly approaches, we are excited to mark 10 years of the Presidential Leadership Scholars program and to announce the class of 2025 in January. Keep an eye out for more information, and we hope you will share both of these milestones far and wide! We assembled a working group of PLS alumni earlier this year to help us continue to engage and support this robust community of Scholars. Thanks to their insights and ideas – along with the feedback we received through the alumni survey data, we’ve developed a new alumni strategy that we’re confident will address the growing size and changing needs of our community. One idea we are particularly excited by is the launch of topic-based working groups. These will create space for alums, across cohorts, to collaborate on issues relevant to your industries and areas of expertise. To learn more about the new working groups, which will be launching in the New Year, please join us for an informational Zoom on Thursday, Jan. 16, at 3 p.m. CT. You can register to attend the Zoom here. It is bittersweet we announce that Kinsey Clemmer will be leaving the Bush Institute this December to begin a new position in the Fort Worth Mayor's office. We will miss her great optimism and kindness, and wish her all the best in her new endeavors. If you are in need of anything communications related, please contact Mira Merchant. On behalf of the entire PLS team, we wish you a wonderful holiday season. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any personal or professional updates. We love to play a small part in your journey and are excited to celebrate your accomplishments alongside you. Sincerely,
Mike Hemphill, Ph.D
Director, Presidential Leadership Scholars
Clinton Foundation
Kelley Jiou
Director, Presidential Leadership Scholars
George W. Bush Institute | | | | Things You Need To Know | Join the Class of 2025 at a program module The Presidential Leadership Scholars Class of 2025 will begin their program experience in just a few short weeks. We’re excited to offer several opportunities throughout the year to join the Scholars for a meal to connect and welcome them into the PLS community. Click here to provide your availability and sign up, by Jan. 3, for a very limited number of available seats. Workplace + LinkedIn Make sure your Workplace account is up to date, as this is the main way we will share information with you about upcoming events. It’s also a great place to follow along with the work of your colleagues, join interest groups, and collaborate with one another. We have created a Presidential Leadership Scholars alumni group on LinkedIn to complement Workplace. Please take a moment to join if you haven’t already – and be sure to tag us whenever posting about PLS! Upcoming webinars - Dec. 12, 4 p.m. CT: Addressing Homelessness through Innovative Health Care Solutions, Direct Cash, and Community
Kevin Adler (2019), Joli Robinson (2023), Wade Lairsen (2022), and Kate Smith (2017) will lead a conversation on their collaborative work, focused on the intersection of homelessness, city government, and public health. We hope you will join them to learn more about this space and see another example of PLS alumni collaboration in action! RSVP on Workplace.
- Dec. 16, 3 p.m. CT: PLS Alumni Topic-Based Working Groups Informational
Learn how to amplify your expert voice in topic-based working groups through which Scholars can collaborate across cohorts to solve problems relevant to their industries and areas of expertise. Register for the webinar here.
Alumni gatherings We’re excited to share the alumni gatherings scheduled at this time! More details will be available on Workplace as they are finalized. - New Orleans, Louisiana: April 2025 (details to come)
Supporting PLS The Presidential Leadership Scholars program is long-lasting and impactful – and our goal is to continue that! We aim to run a fiscally sound program that is of no cost to its participants. As we celebrate 10 years of the program, we know that you, as alumni, want to be helpful to ensure the program is sustainable for years to come. Though the program has a specific approach to fundraising, we welcome your ideas and support. Please reach out to Kelley Jiou or visit the PLS website if you or someone in your network wants to be involved. Update your contact information Please send any email and mailing address updates to Casey Rodriguez, so we can continue to keep in touch and update you on the latest from PLS. | | | | Program Updates | | We are looking forward to announcing the 10th cohort of Presidential Leadership Scholars early January. Many thanks to you all for supporting the recruitment of another outstanding class! Make sure your Workplace account is activated to receive information about how you can connect with the new class. | | | | Around the Network | - Joli Robinson (2023) was honored by Crain’s Chicago Business as one of 127 Notable Black Leaders for 2024.
- James Blockwood (2015) was named President and CEO of the National Academy of Public Administration.
- Matthew Boyer (2024) began a new position as Senior Director, Global Growth and Marketing at GM Defense.
- Kelly Störmer (2020) began a new role as Managing Director of Operations and People at Exponent Philanthropy, where Paul Daugherty (2020) is the CEO.
- Ed Han (2022) started a new position as Chief Financial Officer at Hudson Bay Capital Management LP.
- Scott Hadland’s (2023) guidelines on prescribing opioids to children were published in the American Academy of Pediatrics.
- Angie Fetherston (2024) received the Magis Award for outstanding alumni achievement at Georgetown University.
- Reda Hicks (2020) started new position as Senior Legal Counsel at WM.
- Yuwynn Ho (2023) started new position as Country Director for Oceania at the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia, within the Office of the U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.
- Leticia "Tish" Stropes (2023) was recognized as one of 22 notable alumni at Florida State University’s 2024 Homecoming Weekend.
- Kim Davis (2019) began a new position as President of the King Foundation.
- Jennifer Jacobs (2022) was featured in AARP for her work in reconnecting foster children to families and communities.
- Olga Martinez Hickman (2024) was selected as one of 22 cradle-to-career partner fellows for Harvard’s EdRedesign Fellowship. Rob Watson (2022) is the Executive Director of the EdRedesign program.
- Joseph Sakran (2019) was inducted into the National Academy of Medicine.
- Frank Hernandez (2016) joined the Advisory Board for the Principal Impact Collaborate at UNT Dallas.
- Ralph Rosado (2024) relaunched Rosado & Associates, which provides urban planning and neighborhood revitalization strategic services to select local governments, nonprofits, and private clients.
Presidential Leadership Scholar spotlights Read the most recent Scholar interviews with Nubia Peña (2023), Utah Governor Spencer J. Cox’s Senior Advisor of Access and Opportunity and the Director for the Utah Division of Multicultural Affairs, and An-Me Chung (2015), Director and Strategic Advisor at New America. | | | | PLUG INTO THE BUSH CENTER | Bush Center President and CEO announces transition plan The Bush Center announced a transition plan in November to find the successor to Kenneth A. Hersh, its President and Chief Executive Officer. Hersh joined the Bush Center in 2016 and has led a significant era of progress. He will stay on until a successor is named and will remain on the organization’s Board of Directors. The Catalyst: A Journal of Ideas from the Bush Institute discusses the `Great Gray Wave’ “Many countries are aging fast and will soon start shrinking,” Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Tepperman shares in his editor’s note. “What will that mean for the United States, its allies and competitors, and for geopolitics writ large? Those are some of the questions we asked our authors to tackle.”
Explore the insightful pieces on demographics, including an article by 2024 Presidential Leadership Scholar Justin Coppedge, here. Building a more perfect union through service and civic engagement Listen to the recent Strategerist episode with Mary Tobin, Director of Brickyard Chapters and Programs for nonprofit More Perfect Union. Tobin shares her experiences in the military and how they taught her the importance of human connection. Breaking down key economic topics for 2025 The incoming administration and Congress will make decisions over the first half of 2025 in five key economic policy domains: tariffs and trade, industrial and innovation policy, business regulation, the national debt, and tax reform. Cullum Clark, Director of the Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative, gives his take on the topics in a new blog series. Read the first three instalments: | | | | PLUG INTO THE CLINTON CENTER | The Clinton Presidential Center’s 20th anniversary celebration On Nov. 18, 2004, in a heavy downpour, President Bill Clinton welcomed the world to the Clinton Presidential Center for the first time. The Clintons celebrated 20 years of milestones and memories at the Clinton Center with a weekend full of events. You can find highlights here. CGI 2024 Annual Meeting wins Gold Anthem Award for humanitarian event For the second straight year, the Anthem Awards has announced the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) as a winner, recognizing the work and impact of the CGI 2024 Annual Meeting. At this year’s event, businesses and nonprofits launched 175 new Commitments to Action that address climate resilience, global health equity, the protection of journalists, humanitarian crises, and other urgent global challenges. The CGI 2024 Annual Meeting is the Gold Medalist in the Humanitarian Event category. Programs at the Clinton Presidential Center Visit the Clinton Center’s events calendar to see all of the upcoming programs. The Clinton Center recently hosted a conversation with President Bill Clinton, moderated by Emmy-nominated actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson, in which President Clinton discussed his new book, Citizen: My Life After the White House, as well as a special Kumpuris Distinguished Lecture with the Clintons to mark the Clinton Presidential Center’s 20th anniversary. Later this month, the Clinton Center will host “Building Bridges with Dick Batchelor,” which will feature Dick Batchelor, former member of the Florida House of Representatives, discussing his new book, Building Bridges in Toxic Political Times. | | | | About Presidential Leadership ScholarsPresidential Leadership Scholars brings together bold and principled leaders who are committed to facing critical challenges, both at home and around the world, and who are interested in exploring lessons learned during the administrations of George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Lyndon B. Johnson. Learn more at presidentialleadershipscholars.org Privacy Policy | | |
