Nomination Criteria

Nominate A Candidate

The 2024 Class of Henry Crown Fellows has been announced! Nominations for the 2025 Class will be accepted August 1-15, 2024. Please contact Stacy Zimmerman for any questions or additional information.

Individuals recommended as candidates for the Henry Crown Fellowship Program should:
  • Be Between 30-46 Years Old - They must be 46 or under as of June 30, 2025.
  • Be successful – We want primarily domestic, for-profit leaders – we appreciate success is defined in many ways, but our overwhelming preference is for business leaders and they will always form the bulk of any class. We realize success in some fields does not yield financial rewards. We do have limited scholarship funds available to assist Fellows with travel to the seminars.
  • Be entrepreneurial – We look for a track record of starting things. With some candidates, this is hard to tease out of a bio and resume, so it’s important for the nominator to address this in their letter of recommendation.
  • Have resilience and grit – We like to see candidates who have weathered challenges, even failure, either professionally or personally.
  • Be at an inflection point – This is challenging, but vitally important. Essentially ready to paint on a broader canvas.
  • Understand the time commitment – We expect 100% participation and we publish our seminar dates in advance. Help us by stressing this non-negotiable. Offers of just missing a bit or calling in are not acceptable. As Henry Crown Fellows, the bonding process is of utmost importance for each individual and the class as a whole.
  • Understand the venture requirement – The Henry Crown Fellowship was designed to provide a pause that recalibrates, refreshes and inspires; but, equally important, the Fellowship was designed to encourage entrepreneurial thinkers to step up with creative solutions to some of society’s more intractable challenges.
  • Not be fully-baked – There are many business people and social entrepreneurs already doing great things for society and we want to create more of these people by finding candidates who need a nudge to apply their business acumen and entrepreneurial talents to improve the world.
  • Be willing to come to the table fully open and engaged – We look for candidates with a willingness to be fully present, authentic, vulnerable and kind; individuals willing to listen to differing points of view with an open mind and heart.
  • Bring diversity to our candidate pool – We look for diversity of gender, race, ethnicity, geography, industry, size of company, politics, religion, marital status, age and more.

Dates for the 2025 Class of Henry Crown Fellows
Seminar 1: 
August 12-17, 2025 in Aspen, CO
Seminar 2: May 13-20, 2026, Location TBD
Seminar 3: Choose between several seminar offerings between Dec. 2026 and March 2027
Seminar 4: August 16-21, 2027 in Aspen, CO

 

Nomination Procedures

NOMINATION PROCEDURES
Individuals may not apply to the Henry Crown Fellowship Program; they must be nominated by recognized leaders of business and community organizations or by Aspen Institute trustees, Fellows, or members of the Henry Crown Fellowship Board.  Nominators are asked to submit a letter stating their reasons for recommending the candidate, with a special focus on (a) the candidate’s entrepreneurial experience and (b) why you think this is the right time in their life and career to participate in the program. Please include a résumé indicating the candidate’s professional and educational background, current position, age, email and phone number, voluntary activities and any information that will help us evaluate their qualifications for the program. Please contact Stacy Zimmerman with questions or candidate suggestions.
 
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