The Harvard Kennedy School Center for Public Leadership has named Leo Varadkar, 14th Taoiseach of Ireland, as a spring 2025 Hauser Leader.
In this role, Varadkar will share his leadership experience with students, faculty, and the broader Kennedy School community through guest lecturing, student mentorship, and discussions focused on public leadership, healthcare policy, and international diplomacy. In April, he will give Harvard Kennedy School’s 2025 Gustav Pollak Lecture, an endowed lecture established in honor of renowned author, scholar, and journalist Gustav Pollak, designed to stimulate interest in government careers and research with a view toward building a better government.
"We are honored to welcome Leo Varadkar to the Center for Public Leadership," said Anthony Foxx, CPL Director and Emma Bloomberg Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership. "At a time of deep public leadership challenges around the world, his experience working across difficult divides to advance progress and deliver for the public good offers lessons for us all.”
Leo Varadkar was Taoiseach, or Prime Minister, of Ireland from 2017-2020 and again from 2022-2024. He served in cabinet for 13 years in the Ministries of Transport, Tourism & Sport, Enterprise, Trade, Employment, Social Protection and Health.
"I am truly honored to accept the position of Hauser Leader at the Kennedy School, and I am looking forward to spending time at Harvard this spring,” said Varadkar, adding “It's going to be a great opportunity for me to learn as well as to mentor the next generation of public leaders.”
As Taoiseach, Varadkar successfully helped lead Ireland’s public health and economic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. He led Ireland through Brexit, maintaining Ireland's place at the heart of the European Union and upholding the Good Friday Agreement. The Governments he participated in lifted Ireland’s ban on abortion and improved LGBT rights, including the introduction of marriage equality and a gender recognition law. Throughout his career in public service, Varadkar has promoted Ireland’s contributions to global prosperity and he has remained dedicated to advancing gender equality, public health, workers’ rights, public infrastructure, arts and culture.
“More so than ever, our world turns on knowledge, information and ideas. This is a really exciting opportunity and after more than twenty years in elected politics, it's going to be great to do something really different for a while,” said the former prime minister.
As a Hauser Leader, Varadkar joins a growing body of consequential leaders who have promoted and advanced principled, effective leadership around the world. Current and former Hauser Leaders include the Rt Hon Dame Jacinda Ardern, Ambassador Wendy Sherman, Nobel Peace Laureates Maria Ressa and Tawakkol Karman, former CDC director Rochelle Walensky, Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, and U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.
For more information about the Hauser Leaders Program, contact: hauser_leaders@hks.harvard.edu
Click here to read bios for all spring 2025 Hauser Leaders. The Hauser Leaders Program is made possible by the generous support of Rita E. Hauser and Gustave M. Hauser.
About the Center for Public Leadership
Center for Public Leadership’s mission is to inspire and enhance the capacity for principled, effective public leadership in government, politics, civil society, and business. We pursue our mission in a learning community of students, scholars and educators, practitioners, staff, and alumni, to bridge theory and practice through scholarship, education, and community.