Executive Education

Kokkalis Program executive education class of 2012

This year’s executive program Public Leaders in Southeast Europe was hosted in Turkey for the first time at Özyeğin University. The Kokkalis Program and Özyeğin University brought together 55 public sector leaders from 12 countries and included ministers; elected officials at the municipal, local and national level; presidential, prime ministerial and ministerial advisors and chiefs of staff; diplomats; NGO leaders and senior executives of international organizations.


The program focused on leadership, negotiation, strategic communication, and innovation in governance, and was taught by Harvard Kennedy School faculty Marie Danziger, Elaine Kamarck, Brain Mandell, and Dean Williams – all international experts in their fields.


This year’s participants join a network of over 500 graduates, which includes notable leaders such as Turkey's EU Minister Egemen Bagis; former President of Serbia Boris Tadic; Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova; former Minister of Public Finance of Romania Bogdan Dragoi; and Montenegro's Minister of Science Sanja Vlajhovic.

Public Leaders in Southeast Europe is annually administered by the Kokkalis Program as part of our ongoing mission to provide educational opportunities to Southeast Europe’s leading public servants. It is the only Harvard Kennedy School program which grants full tuition scholarships to all accepted participants. In addition to the valuable strategic assistance and hosting by Özyeğin University, this year’s program was made possible by a grant from the Turkish Ministry of EU Affairs.


If you are interested in participating in next year’s program, detailed information and application instructions will be posted here when they become available.

Information on the next program will be posted when it is available.

This year's program was held at Özyeğin University in Turkey. Learn more about the University and its facilities here.

Executives from Croatia's public sector can go here to learn more about executive education fellowships provided by the Luksic Fellowships for Croatia for executive education.