Responding to a recognized need for enhanced leadership training for mid-level professionals, Drake University has established the Drake Executive Education Center which will offer a new flagship leadership readiness series titled “Building Leaders from the Inside Out.” 

The initial leadership class that begins this summer will consist of 24 participants who will be selected from a cross-section of industries, said Shannon Cofield, Drake’s senior advisor for external affairs. The first class, “Leading Others,” will entail about 100 hours of orchestrated learning over a 12- to 18-month period in which individuals will move through a four-part program. 

The center will also offer about a dozen skill-building programs initially, and within the next several years, begin hosting a lectureship in business and entrepreneurship. 

“We have to develop leaders,” Cofield said. “There is so much emphasis on the technical components, hiring people who are highly technical in their skill set. But once they were getting six to 10 years into their career, their need to provide greater leadership was beginning to exceed their ability.”

The center will be funded by a $2.5 million endowed gift from the Martin Bucksbaum family, which will provide $125,000 in income annually to establish the programs. 

The initiative emerged from a series of meetings that Drake board members held with CEOs from throughout Greater Des Moines in an effort to further develop its external partnerships, Cofield said. 

“After about six visits, I heard the same theme being articulated; that companies would really like Drake to be their academic institutional partner around professional development,” she said. “We realized the level not being served in the Des Moines area was really around mid- to higher-level individuals that companies are trying to develop into a leadership pipeline.” 

To further refine companies’ needs, Cofield assembled an advisory council made up of human resources executives from a cross-section of 12 of Greater Des Moines’ largest employers. 

“What the group saw as a huge benefit, was the cross-industry peer-learning component of (the program),” Cofield said. “Being able to build a network of local peers they can learn from in similar roles and responsibilities is a huge benefit.” 

The leader readiness programs will have three components: Leading Others, Leading Self and Leading the Organization. 

Cofield said the Leading Others class is being offered first because that’s where the greatest market need was identified.

Individuals who complete the programs will earn credit toward a Drake M.B.A or Master of Communication Leadership degree. 

Cofield said a goal is to begin using revenues from the new center within about three years to bring in a few speakers per year for The Bucksbaum Lecture Series for Business and Entrepreneuralism.  

“Once we have all pistons firing, so to speak, the revenue from operations will be transitioned to bring in notable speakers,” she said.