Cambridge, MA — Harvard Kennedy School has named Professor Hannah Riley Bowles as a faculty director for the Center for Public Leadership. Riley Bowles’ appointment follows the departure of former CPL director Wendy R. Sherman, who was recently confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as Deputy Secretary of State.

Dean Douglas Elmendorf announced the news to the HKS community on April 26. “We plan to move to a co-director model for the Center for Public Leadership, pairing one of our long-time faculty members with a distinguished practitioner of public leadership,” Elmendorf wrote. “I am delighted to announce now that Hannah Riley Bowles has agreed to become Co-Director of the Center for Public Leadership as we search for a Professor of Practice to serve as Co-Director with Hannah.”

Riley Bowles is the Roy E. Larsen Senior Lecturer in Public Policy and Management at Harvard Kennedy School, where she has served on the faculty since 2001. A leading expert on gender in negotiation and women’s leadership advancement, Riley Bowles also chairs the Management, Leadership, and Decision Sciences (MLD) Area and co-directs the HKS Women and Public Policy Program (WAPPP).

“Hannah has been a longtime supporter and ally of CPL,” says executive director Ken Himmelman. “She is passionate about our mission, has a deep commitment to students, and her vast knowledge of the inner workings of HKS and its faculty culture will be an enormous asset to CPL as we continue to architect our future—one that involves synergies between leadership scholarship and practice."

Harvard Kennedy School is launching a formal search for a professor of practice to join Riley Bowles in leading CPL forward. “As we proceed with the search for my co-director to step into roles that David (Gergen) and Wendy played as esteemed public leaders in their own right, I am excited to play my new role in mobilizing our community of faculty, staff, and students to rise to the opportunities and challenges before us,” said Riley Bowles.

For more information: Lael Harris Director, Communications and Events, Center for Public Leadership

Center for Public Leadership: Website, Twitter

Written by Isabel Feinstein