Organizational and Leadership Development Program

Local Government Leadership Academy

Creating Tomorrow’s Leaders Today

The Local Government Leadership Academy (LGLA) is a nine-month, cohort program that includes in-person workshops, virtual sessions, online self-study, and goal-setting to develop local government leadership skills.

As leaders apply the skills they learn, they create intra-agency improvements (e.g. strategic decision-making) that ultimately improve the overall functioning of local governments as organizations, and thus their capacity to provide quality services to Wisconsin communities.

News & Impacts

Latest news and impacts from the Local Government Leadership Academy program.

Using leadership to tackle the ‘crisis points’ of local government

Alumni Updates

Stories about LGLA alumni. If you are an alumni and want to share your updates, email us at lgla@extension.wisc.edu.

Graduates & Class Photos

Barry Hottmann elected Mayor of Dodgeville, WI (April 2024)

Julia Arata-Fratta is the City of Fitchburg’s First Latina Mayor: Right Person, Right Time (The Capital City Hues, October 2, 2023)

Meet Sheboygan County’s new Administrator, Alayne Krause (Sheboygan Sun, March 29, 2023)

Recent graduation video from the 2024 WCA Conference.

Mark O’Connell talks about why LGLA is such an important program.

Alumni Testimonials

I recently got promoted to a lead position in my department. The class has helped me to better manage different types of personalities within the department and with public.

I try to recommend the Academy whenever I can! I think it had such a great mix of topics, and it was so great to learn from each other in addition to the facilitators and guests. I especially liked that the program had a mix of virtual and in-person.

Our Sponsors

The Local Government Leadership Academy began as a collaborative effort between the Wisconsin Counties Association, Leadership Wisconsin Inc., and UW-Madison Division of Extension.
Wisconsin Counties Association annually supports the program by donating and hosting the graduation at their association’s annual conference.
The Local Government Leadership Academy is also made possible by the generous support of Mr. Patrick Thiele. He contributes scholarship support for participants from rural communities.