Defining Moments
The life and leadership of quiet revolutionary Frances Hesselbein
Peter Drucker famously proclaimed Frances Hesselbein to be "the best CEO in America".
This new featurette-length, award-winning documentary about Frances’s groundbreaking leadership service is available to be seen at private screenings around the United States and abroad.
Frances Hesselbein, 1980, former CEO of the Girl Scouts.
Photo provided by the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Forum at the University of Pittsburgh.
Frances Hesselbein (November 1, 1915 – December 11, 2022) was the CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA, from 1976 to 1990, where she led the complete transformation of the Girl Scouts, tripling minority membership, leading a staff of 780,000 volunteers, and growing total membership of Girl Scouts to two and a quarter million girls. She was the first woman to grace the cover of Business Week and the first woman to chair a United Way campaign. She was 1951 Class Chair at West Point for two years and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work as a “pioneer for women, volunteerism, diversity, and opportunity.
In 1990, Frances, Dick Schubert, and Bob Buford, along with Peter as honorary chairman (1990-2002), founded the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Non-Profit Management. The Foundation was renamed the Leader to Leader Institute, then the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute, and later became the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Forum at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA).
The global impact and the importance of values-based leadership, so central to the collaboration and shared vision of Frances and her close friend and mentor Peter Drucker, is an important theme expressed throughout the film.
“The best CEO in America.”
Frances Hesselbein and Peter F. Drucker.
Photo provided by the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Forum at the University of Pittsburgh.
About “Defining Moments”
Awards
Nomination for the Leo Award for Best Musical Score in a short documentary by the British Columbia Film and Television Industry.
Silver Telly Winner for Documentary, The Telly Awards honor excellence in video and television.
Film Credits
Executive Producer + Story Consultant Sarah McArthur
Executive Producers The Alan Mulally Family, Chris & Irma Fralic, Hortense Le Gentil-Joly & Hubert Joly Gail Miller
Director David Schler
Producer Beverly Jacobson-Schler
Editor Dave Wruck
Director of Photography Mark Burr
Composer Daryl Bennett
