Yearlong program provides 40 global mayors and 80 senior city leaders with world-class executive training and innovation skills to help deliver results for residents of their cities  

St. Petersburg, FL - The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative announced today the sixth class of 40 mayors from around the world who will participate in the yearlong education and professional development program, which includes Mayor Ken Welch. The program is designed to equip mayors with the leadership and management tools to tackle complex challenges in their cities and improve the quality of life of their residents.  

“I am honored to have been selected to join this year’s cohort of Mayors and global leaders,” said Mayor Ken Welch. “It is a great opportunity to tell St. Pete’s story; and exchange ideas and develop resources that will help us achieve our vision of inclusive prosperity for all.” 

The private sector invests more than $42 billion each year in executive development but there is no equivalent in the public sector. The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative aims to close this gap to help mayors excel.  

To kick off the program, the mayors joined Harvard faculty and renowned management experts in New York City this week for a four-day, immersive classroom experience and convening. Two senior leaders from each of the cities will also participate in the program and begin their classroom experience in August.   

The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative’s sixth class of mayors represents a diverse range of geographies and experiences:  

• More than half of the mayors identify as people of color (21), including 14 Black mayors 
• 70 percent (28) are from the United States; 30 percent (12) are from international cities 
• 3 mayors are from Africa and 8 are from Europe 
• 18 percent of the mayors (7) are from cities with populations over 1 million people 
• 43 percent (17) of the mayors are from cities with populations between 200,000 and 1 million people, and 40 percent (16) are from cities with less than 200,000  

“This class brings together a diverse and dynamic group of mayors from across the globe, and we’re glad to welcome them to New York City to kick off the sixth year of the program,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, three-term mayor of New York City and founder of Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Philanthropies. “With all the urgent shared challenges facing cities, the opportunity for mayors to exchange ideas and learn from one another and experts is more important than ever. We’re looking forward to working with them throughout the year, and to seeing the results in their cities.”  

The flagship program of the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University, the Initiative is a collaboration between Bloomberg Philanthropies, Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Business School that aims to provide a world-class learning experience for mayors and their senior leaders to help equip them with the tools and expertise to effectively govern cities. Harvard faculty, staff, and students, alongside experts from Bloomberg Philanthropies’ global network of experts, work with the mayors and senior officials over the course of one year in the classroom, online, and in the field to foster professional growth and advance the necessary capabilities to drive innovation and deliver results for residents. Since its launch in 2017, the Initiative has built an alumni network of nearly 200 global mayors from 24 countries.  
 
Members of the sixth class of mayors to participate in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative are:  

Matt Tuerk (Allentown, Pennsylvania); Brian Kulpa (Amherst, New York); Andre Dickens (Atlanta, Georgia); Rohey Malick Lowe (Banjul, The Gambia); Lacey Beaty (Beaverton, Oregon); Lauren McLean (Boise, Idaho); Michelle Wu (Boston, Massachusetts); Aftab Pureval (Cincinnati, Ohio); Justin Bibb (Cleveland, Ohio); Daniel Rickenmann (Columbia, South Carolina); Emma Sharif (Compton, California); Jeffrey Mims (Dayton, Ohio); Abdullah Hammoud (Dearborn, Michigan); Elaine O’Neal (Durham, North Carolina); Joe Schember (Erie, Pennsylvania); Susan Aitken (Glasgow, Scotland); Juhana Vartiainen (Helsinki, Finland); Tyrone Garner (Kansas City, Kansas); Pudence Rubingisa (Kigali, Rwanda); Chilando Chitangala (Lusaka, Zambia); Cavalier Johnson (Milwaukee, Wisconsin); Luis Donaldo Colosio Riojas (Monterrey, Mexico); Jon Mitchell (New Bedford, Massachusetts); Edward Gainey (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania); Malik Evans (Rochester, New York); Darrell Steinberg (Sacramento, California); Todd Gloria (San Diego, California); Benjamina Karić (Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina); Danela Arsovska (Skopje, North Macedonia); Oliver Coppard (South Yorkshire, United Kingdom); Caroline Simmons (Stamford, Connecticut); Kenneth Welch (St. Petersburg, Florida); Larry Klein (Sunnyvale, California); Wade Kapszukiewicz (Toledo, Ohio); Mike Padilla (Topeka, Kansas); Minna Arve (Turku, Finland); Anne McEnerny-Ogle (Vancouver, Washington); Quentin Hart (Waterloo, Iowa); Dan Norris (West of England, United Kingdom); and Tracy Brabin (West Yorkshire, United Kingdom).  

In a formal impact assessment, mayors who were members of prior classes of the program reported that the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative has helped them increase leadership and management capacity in their cities. Nearly 90 percent of mayors demonstrate measurable improvement in their leadership capabilities as a result of the program.  

“Through its City Leadership Initiative, the Bloomberg Center for Cities draws on the expertise of our faculty to strengthen and expand the capabilities of mayors whose work shapes the lives of millions of people,” said Harvard President Larry Bacow. “We are pleased to welcome the sixth class of mayors to Harvard and this cornerstone program, which is generously supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies. We look forward to everything they and their colleagues will accomplish together, both in the classroom and in their cities.”  

About The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative  
The Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative–the flagship program of the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University–is a collaboration between Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Business School, and Bloomberg Philanthropies to equip mayors and senior city officials to tackle complex challenges in their cities and improve the quality of life of their residents. Launched in 2017, the Initiative has worked with 428 mayors and 1400 senior city officials in 494 cities worldwide. The Initiative has also advanced research and developed new curriculum and teaching tools to help city leaders solve real-world problems. For more information, please visit the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative or visit us on LinkedIn and Twitter.