2020-New-Board-Members

Global Leaders From Business, Nonprofits, and Education Join the International Leadership Association Board of Directors 

The world has a deep and pressing need for leadership. It is what inspires and enables humanity to face the challenges in a complex, diverse, and ever-changing world.

The International Leadership Association (ILA) was created in 1999 to bring together professionals with a keen interest in the study, practice, and teaching of leadership. Today, ILA is the largest worldwide community committed to leadership scholarship, development, and practice. We accomplish our mission through the synergy that occurs by bringing together our members and partners; collectively having a multiplier impact on leadership and change.

ILA’s Board of Directors embody our values (Inclusion, Integrity, Interconnection, Interdisciplinary, International, and Impact) and includes leaders from around the world in business, nonprofits, academia, healthcare, and more. We are pleased to welcome the following individuals who will be joining ILA’s board beginning July 1, 2020.

Tasha CoppettTasha Coppett is the Assistant Director of Off-Campus and Graduate Housing at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She came to MIT from Brown University, where she directly supervised 44 residential peer leaders, including Minority Peer Leaders and Women Peer Leaders. Coppett has worked in higher education institutions in the United Kingdom and the United States, and she has created and facilitated leadership programs for youth leaders in the U.S., U.K., Haiti, and India.


Mikinari HiganoMikinari Higano is an economist who, as a professor at Rikkyo University, established the very first leadership development program for undergraduate students in Japan. Higano moved to Waseda University in 2016 and set up his third leadership program from scratch. A consultant to other universities on the introduction of leadership education curricula, Higano envisions a future where all universities and high schools in Japan offer a leadership program to their students.


Kathryn JohnsonKathryn E. Johnson served as the CEO of Health Forum for twenty-five years and retired in 2002. She is the Co-Founder of the Center for Global Service and an active consultant on global health issues. A former W.K. Kellogg Foundation Fellow, Johnson has served on numerous boards and advisory boards including Food Commons, OmniMed, We Care Solar, MedShare, and UN Women of Northern California. She is a Global Advisor for HOW WOMEN LEAD. 


Raj NarangRaj Narang is AVP, Director of Inclusion and Diversity Strategies for Fifth Third Bank headquartered in Cincinnati, OH and has led several high impact initiatives for the Bank in Inclusion and Diversity and in environmental and social responsibility. Narang is concurrently finishing her doctorate in Leadership Studies. She has over three decades of work experience in two continents spanning several different industries. She works with several non-profits on economic inclusion of minorities in the region.


Gillian SecrettGillian Secrett leads the Leadership Programmes Portfolio at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. She supports major global corporations to integrate sustainability into the way organizational leaders are developed and works to build leadership capability to innovate and drive value for stakeholders that meets society’s needs and is influential in shaping the future we want. Working at the individual, team, and organizational level, Secrett believes in collaboration and partnership to maximize impact.


Mike Hardy, ILA’s Board Chair, shared: "I am both delighted and excited, in equal measures, that this year's Board recruitment has surpassed all aspirations: new ideas and energies from three continents, from education, business, and the health sector, all with exceptional tracks in practical and effective leadership. It will be a privilege and honor to serve with them."

For more than twenty years the ILA has convened extraordinary talent across sectors, cultures, disciplines, and generations. Learn more at www.ila-net.org.


Debra DeRuyver Photo

For more information, contact:
Debra DeRuyver
Communications Director
International Leadership Association
dderuyver@ila-net.org | 1.202.470.4818 x102