Frances Hesselbein

	Frances Hesselbein
	;
Birth:	1 November 1915; Johnstown, Pennsylvania, USA
Death:	11 December 2022; Easton, Pennsylvania, USA
Age:	107 years, 40 days
Country:	USA
	Centenarian

Frances Hesselbein (1 November 1915 – 11 December 2022) was an American centenarian who is the former CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA, from 1976 to 1990, and is the president and CEO of the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Forum, at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA), Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Frances Hesselbein was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, USA on 1 November 1915. Hesselbein took classes at the University of Pittsburgh Johnstown Junior College in 1936.

Career[]

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.

In 2009, she helped to found the Hesselbein Global Academy for Student Leadership and Civic Engagement at the University of Pittsburgh.

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 serves 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 Presidents Advisory Council.

Awards[]

In 1998, Hesselbein was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work with the Girl Scouts of the USA. She turned 100 years old in November 2015.

Hesselbein was denoted a Pitt Legacy Laureate of the University of Pittsburgh in 2000. She has received 22 honorary doctoral degrees.