Leadership
​Saint Paul

Leadership Saint Paul (LSP) is the premier program in the Twin Cities for emerging and current civic and business leaders that prepares, challenges and engages emerging and existing leaders to strengthen the St. Paul/East Metro region. 

Leadership Saint Paul Class of 2021 is underway. If you are interested in applying for 2022, contact us to get on the application list.​

Anyone in the metro area can apply to Leadership Saint Paul. The application process consists of a written application and virtual interview.  
​If you know of a candidate who would be a valued participant, please refer them to the program.  ​

Why LSP?

Since 1980, more than 2,200 graduates have been given the unique opportunity to connect with other leaders by meeting people with a shared commitment to community in addition to building a diverse, long-term network and promoting the organization they represent.

Cultivate skills and knowledge by:

• Building skills in leadership, communication and citizenship
• Gaining knowledge about challenges and issues facing the
  St. Paul/​East metro area
• Exploring the interrelationships of government, business and
  the broader community

Contribute to the vitality of the St. Paul/East metro area by:

• Helping people who live in the communities they care about
• Ensuring the continued health and well-being of the St. Paul/
  ​East metro area
• Giving back to St. Paul/East metro area

Program Overview

Leadership Saint Paul supports a vital, positive community, with engaged and well-informed leaders. Each year, LSP selects up to 50 emerging and existing leaders from private, public, and nonprofit sectors of the community to participate in the ten-month program. 

LSP curriculum is designed to raise awareness of the needs and challenges that affect the Saint Paul/East metro region and enhance individual leadership skills with a focus on community stewardship.  The program offers participants exceptional “insider” access by bringing in top-level business, civic, and government leaders to facilitate productive conversations around critical issues that influence our region.

Curriculum Elements

Monthly Program Days: Day-long sessions, focusing on significant challenges facing the region such as community effectiveness, education, health care, regional economic development, and criminal justice.  
Each program day strives to enlighten, inspire and transform participants by exposing them to a vast array of perspectives, resources and mentors. Program Days are always the second Thursday of the month.
​ 
Community Projects: Each participant will form a team with
4 to 6 classmates and partner on a community service project to apply what they are learning and gain experiential knowledge in community stewardship. Recent projects include: starting a local farmers market to drive traffic around area businesses, creating a video highlighting a nonprofit’s clients for use on their website and in funding requests,
​and organizing a color guard event for the St. Paul Winter Carnival’s 100th Anniversary.

Leadership Saint Paul has been one of the most impactful professional development programs I have experienced in my career. Benefiting from the outstanding reputation of the St. Paul Area Chamber; Leadership Saint Paul offered incredible access to political, business, non-profit and thought leaders in our community who shared their ideas and insights about St. Paul and the East metro. Equally impactful to the knowledge I gained from the presentations, were the relationships I made with the fifty energized and talented professionals that made up the LSP class of 2012. Through the learning, challenging, debating, and collaborating that LSP demands of its participants; I emerged with
​a professional network and friends that I will have for years to come."

JIM MULROONEY | WELLS FARGO

​Staff contact:  
Please contact Kathleen Lohmar Exel for more information at kathleen@stpaulchamber.com.