The Rodel Institute hosted the Rodel Fellowship Reunion in Washington, DC from April 8 to 10, 2022. A key aspect...
Read MoreRodel Fellowship
The nation’s premier leadership development program for state and local elected officials.
Rodel Fellowship
The Institute’s signature program is the Rodel Fellowship. Created in 2005, the Fellowship is the nation’s premier leadership development program for elected leaders. Each year, the program selects 24 outstanding state and local-level leaders, divided equally between the two political parties, to come together for a series of three multi-day seminars held over a two-year period. Working with leading scholars as moderators, the Fellows read and discuss classic texts dealing with ethical values, democratic principles, and wise and effective leadership. Those texts include the Declaration of Independence, the preamble to the United States Constitution, and writings by Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr., among many others.
Following completion of the Rodel Fellowship seminars, Fellows have an opportunity to gather periodically with alumni of the program to discuss critical questions of public policy and public leadership in a nonpartisan setting. Over 380 elected leaders have completed the program. These Fellows have gone on to serve as United States senators, governors, mayors, party leaders, Cabinet secretaries, members of Congress, and Vice President of the United States.
OUR FELLOWS
Rodel Fellow Class of 2019

Rodel Fellow Class of 2006

Rodel fellow class of 2017

Rodel Fellow Class of 2013

Class of 2023

Danny Early Britt, Jr.
State Senator
North Carolina

Demi Busatta
State Representative
Florida

Eddie Charbonier Chinea
State Representative
Puerto Rico

Dereck E. Davis
State Treasurer
Maryland

Siobhan Dunnavant
State Senator
Virginia

Ebo Entsuah
Councilmember, Clermont City Council
Florida

Paige Gebhardt Cognetti
Mayor of Scranton
Pennsylvania

Jon Godfread
Insurance Commissioner
North Dakota

Samara Heavrin
State Representative
Kentucky

Christina Henderson
Councilmember, Council of the District of Columbia

Craig V. Hickman
State Senator
Maine

Jacey Jetton
State Representative
Texas

Zach Klein
City Attorney of Columbus
Ohio

Quinton Lucas
Mayor of Kansas City
Missouri

Lauren Matsumoto
State Representative
Hawaii

Jason S. Miyares
Attorney General
Virginia

Raj Mukherji
Assemblyman
New Jersey

Tram T. Nguyen
State Representative
Massachusetts

Mattie Parker
Mayor of Fort Worth
Texas

Mike Pellicciotti
State Treasurer
Washington

Matt Pinnell
Lieutenant Governor
Oklahoma

Regina Romero
Mayor of Tucson
Arizona

Rob Sand
State Auditor
Iowa
Mentoring Program
In 2022, the Rodel Institute launched a Mentoring Program to support the next generation of American elected officials. The Mentoring Program connects the most recent classes of Rodel Fellows with the more than 350 high-achieving current and former elected officials who have completed the Rodel Fellowship since its founding in 2005. The Mentoring Program offers unparalleled opportunities for networking and professional and personal guidance for individuals with a unique set of shared experiences.


All-Class Reunion
Every other year, Rodel’s All-Class Reunion brings together Rodel Fellows from all fellowship classes for substantive briefings, group discussions, and informal networking. The purpose of the All-Class Reunion is to provide a forum for discussion of major public policy challenges, offer leadership development training, decrease political polarization, and strengthen relationships among American political leaders.
Rodel+ Seminars
Inaugural Women’s Retreat
Rodel welcomed 23 current and former Fellows to Chicago for the inaugural Rodel Women’s Retreat this past June. Attendees came...
Read More