Leadership Ohio Application Form

Leadership Ohio is a statewide, nonpartisan fellowship that develops leaders who build trust, bridge sectors, and steward institutions for the benefit of their own communities and the civic health of our state. In 2027, our 35th year, up to 44 Fellows will travel to sites across the state for nine months of immersive executive education. Ohio is our classroom.

•     Priority deadline: November 10, 2026
•     Final deadline: December 15, 2026. Admissions are rolling, so we encourage you to apply well before the deadline.
•     Interviews: December 2026 through January 2027
•     Class of 2027 announced: February 26, 2027, Ohio Statehouse (Fellows are asked to hold 1:00–3:00 PM)
•     Opening retreat: Thursday–Saturday, March 18–20, 2027 (mandatory). The full session schedule is in Section 4.

Required fields are marked with .*
A $100 nonrefundable application fee is required before your application can be processed.

Section 1: About You

First Name

Last Name

Home Address

Mobile Phone

Best Email Address

In which Ohio county do you live?

Please indicate your Metropolitan or Nonmetropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)

Name of the person who nominated you for Leadership Ohio *

How is your nominator connected to Leadership Ohio?

What is the URL of your LinkedIn profile?

Facebook profile URL

X (formerly Twitter) profile URL

Instagram profile URL

TikTok profile URL

Section 2: Your Work and Service

Employer Name

Title

Work Street Address

Work Email

Tell us about your employer

Describe your role and its scope: what you are responsible for, how many people you lead, the budget you oversee, and the geography you serve.

0 / 500 characters

Which option below best describes your industry or sector? Please select only one

Are you related to a member of the Leadership Ohio staff or Board of Trustees?

List the boards, commissions, and community or civic roles you currently hold.

0 / 500 characters

Have you completed other leadership programs? If yes, please provide the program name, location, and graduation date.

0 / 500 characters

Are you in the military or a military veteran?

If yes, please describe your service history.

Upload your resume

Documents or images · 4 MB max

Section 3: Your Leadership

These questions follow the three stages of the Leadership Ohio Civic Capacity Framework™: Personal Growth, Relational Growth, and Contextual Growth. Be specific and be yourself. We would rather read one real story than a list of accomplishments.

Personal Growth: Self & Integrity

What sense of purpose, mission, or duty guides you in your life

0 / 1,000 characters

Describe the greatest impact you have ever created. What was the need, what did you do, who did you do it with, and how do you know it made a difference? What did it teach you about leadership?

0 / 1,500 characters

What motivates you to apply to Leadership Ohio, and why now

0 / 1,000 characters

Relational Growth: Trust & Collaboration

Tell us about a time you brought together people or organizations with different values, views, or interests (across sectors, if possible) to accomplish something none of you could have done alone. What did you have to share or give up to make it work?

0 / 1,500 characters

Civil discourse is rooted in our ability to engage our differences constructively through discussion. Speak to a recent occasion when you were challenged to carry out civil discourse on an issue of a political nature. Be real. What was the issue? What happened? What role did you play? What are your reflections?

0 / 1,500 characters

Leadership Ohio is nonpartisan and non-ideological and intentionally fosters viewpoint diversity within the cohort. This is about ideological diversity, not simply using the language below in place of Republican/Independent/Democrat. Please indicate where you identify on the spectrum. Be authentic in your response.

How will you raise the level of effectiveness of the cohort if you are one of 44 individuals chosen to become a Leadership Ohio Fellow? What will you bring peer to peer?

0 / 1,000 characters

Section 4: Commitment to Engage

The Leadership Ohio fellowship runs for nine sessions, March through November 2027. Sessions take place on the Friday and Saturday of the third week of each month at sites across Ohio. The opening retreat runs Thursday through Saturday. Saturday sessions typically end around 2:00 PM. In total, Fellows spend roughly ten working days away from work over the year.

• Attendance: Fellows are expected to attend every session in full. Attendance at the opening retreat is mandatory; an admitted Fellow who cannot attend the opening session will have their invitation withdrawn.

• Tuition: $7,500. Travel and lodging are not included; Fellows typically stay one to two nights per session, depending on location.

Please Review 2027 Session Schedule

*The June session moves to the following weekend so that it does not fall on Juneteenth. Session sites will be announced before the Class of 2027 is introduced on February 26, 2027.

Are you committed to engage as outlined above if you are selected for the Class of 2027 of Leadership Ohio?

Has your employer committed to pay your tuition?

Have you previously applied to Leadership Ohio?

If yes, in which years?

Interviews take place December 2026 through January 2027. Please note any dates when you will be unavailable.

0 / 500 characters

Section 5: Scholarship (optional)

Would you like to be considered for a partial scholarship?

What is your household annual gross income? Include all adult household members

Describe your financial need.

Have you looked into additional sources of financial support to pay your tuition should you be selected for the Class of 2027 (employer, community groups, local clubs, place of worship, friends and family, other)? Please describe those efforts and any anticipated sources of support, including dollar amounts.

Section 6: Demographic Data

What is your age in years?

How do you describe your gender identity?

If you answered Other above, please write in below.

Which category best describes you?

Which category best describes your education? Please choose one.

Please list your highest degree earned, the awarding institution, city, state, and year.

Are or were you a first-generation college student? First-generation students come from families where their biological parents (if known) did not complete a four-year college degree.

Section 7: Certification

I certify that the information in this application is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge.

Full name (typed signature)

Date

Leadership Ohio Application Form

Required fields are marked with *. A $100 nonrefundable application fee is required before your application can be processed.

Section 1: About You

Section 2: Your Work and Service

Section 3: Your Leadership

These questions follow the three stages of the Leadership Ohio Civic Capacity Framework™: Personal Growth, Relational Growth, and Contextual Growth. Be specific and be yourself. We would rather read one real story than a list of accomplishments.

Personal Growth: Self & Integrity

Relational Growth: Trust & Collaboration

Section 4: Commitment to Engage

Please Review 2027 Session Schedule

*The June session moves to the following weekend so that it does not fall on Juneteenth. Session sites will be announced before the Class of 2027 is introduced on February 26, 2027.

Section 5: Scholarship (optional)

Section 6: Demographic Data

Section 7: Certification

Required fields are marked with .*
A $100 nonrefundable application fee is required before your application can be processed.