Public Management Initiative
The tools to create positive social change
Our Public Management Initiative brings together government, business and social leaders to develop the collaborative approaches required to take on the complex and interrelated challenges affecting the public sector today.
Placing research and learning at the service of the public sector, this initiative offers executives the tools to promote and influence positive social change. The initiative’s research efforts and programs help executive participants to think with academic rigor and social awareness about public service and the impact that policies have on people, markets and institutions.
Our programs
We offer international development programs for senior executives in public administration. Our goal is to provide the education in policy leadership and public management needed to improve action programs and organizations.
Centers & Chairs
Our research
We carry out five lines of work in public management: public leadership; public administration strategy and regulation; the ethics of public decision-making and political thought; good governance: evaluation and improvement of public policy; and, lastly, civil society and social leadership. Interdisciplinary research is structured through the following chairs and research centers:
Public-Private Sector Research Center
The Public-Private Sector Research Center was created in October 2001. Its mission is to foment research on the relationships between the private sector and public governments and institutions.
Research results will be published through different academic conferences, research seminars, publications, forums and talks. With this we hope to open the door to cooperation and the exchange of ideas and initiatives.
In addition to research, the center, under the direction of Professor Xavier Vives, will promote IESE’s educational activities and meeting of experts in the field through seminars and conferences.
José Felipe Bertrán Chair of Governance and Leadership in Public Administration
The José Felipe Bertrán Chair of Governance and Leadership in Public Administration was created with the aim to develop a conceptual framework and promote deep and rigorous reflection on public leadership, which will translate into improvements in management and competitiveness.
Directed by Santiago Álvarez de Mon, the Chair will analyze, among other issues: the function of leadership; managing the motivation of individuals; outsourcing; private management of public services; introducing management by goals and competencies; and the intensive use of new technologies.
Faculty team
Faculty team
International academic advisory board
International academic advisory board

Robert D. Behn
Lecturer on Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School

José A. Gómez-Ibáñez
Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy at Harvard University

Herman B. Leonard
Professor of Public Management at the Harvard Kennedy School

Dan Levy
Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and Faculty Chair of MPA Programs
Executive team
Executive team

Cristina Sádaba
Executive Director, Center for Public Leadership and Government