International city leaders head to ‘mayor school’

Forty mayors and 80 senior municipal leaders from nine countries and six continents are taking part in this year’s Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, a year-long professional management training programme.

Mayors in the seventh cohort include Femke Halsema, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Tory Whanau, Wellington, New Zealand; Karen Bass, Los Angeles, US; Fahad Albuliheshi, Madinah, Saudi Arabia; and José Sarto Nogueira Moreira, Fortaleza, Brazil.

Todd Gloria, Mayor of San Diego, California, took part in a previous year.

“I’ve called the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative ‘Mayor School’ because that’s what it’s been for me,” he said. “The curriculum helps you to learn. T...