Flinn-Brown Academy At a Glance
- Accomplished Peers: The diverse Fellows chosen from throughout Arizona each year for Flinn-Brown are recognized broadly as strong leaders ready to go further.
- Rich Experience: The Fellowship begins with 11 full-day Academy sessions on Thursdays and Fridays, with supplementary readings tied to seminar topics, plus participation in the annual Flinn-Brown Convention.
- Tuition-free: There is no cost to participate in the Flinn-Brown Fellowship. Mileage reimbursement and hotel accommodations are provided for participants outside of Maricopa County. Meals and supplies for seminar days are provided.
- Nonpartisan Design: The focus is on policy, politics, and solutions to Arizona’s pressing challenges. Interactive sessions include essential facts and figures, examination of policy choices, and articulation of key perspectives.
- Exceptional Presenters: They include highly experienced elected and appointed officials, executives, judges, scholars, and other experts engaged in decision-making at highest levels, plus political analysis from active state-level practitioners.
- Personal Growth: Offering unique components for self-assessment and practice of leadership, skills-focused learning events, individualized connections, long-term support, and leadership opportunities.
- Great Expectations: All Fellows commit to advance toward their civic-leadership goals in the near term, and to offer and seek support from colleagues in the Flinn-Brown Network beyond the Flinn-Brown Academy.
2023 Flinn-Brown Academy Schedule
The Academy sessions are typically held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a few evening events:
August 2023
Thursday, August 10: Economy & Demographics with Meet-and-Greet (evening event)
Friday, August 11: Government and Budget
Thursday, August 24: PreK-12 Education
Friday, August 25: Higher Education
September 2023
Thursday, September 7: Public Health and Health Care (with evening social hour)
Friday, September 8: Human Services
Thursday, September 21: Environment
Friday, September 22: Infrastructure
October 2023
Thursday, October 5: Criminal Justice (with evening social hour)
Friday, October 6: Communications and Media Relations
Friday, October 13: Civic Participation/Fellows Projects and Recognition Reception (evening event)
November 2023
Friday, November 3: Annual Flinn-Brown Convention
(Schedule subject to change)
Flinn-Brown Academy Facilitators
The Flinn-Brown Academy sessions are facilitated by two political consultants who are leading experts in Arizona policy and politics: Stan Barnes of Copper State Consulting Group and Chad Campbell of Lumen Strategies Arizona.
An Arizona native, Barnes was elected as a Republican to the Arizona House of Representatives in 1988 and served a combined three terms in the Arizona House of Representatives and the Arizona State Senate. He leads Copper State Consulting, a lobbying and public-affairs company, and is a go-to expert on Arizona politics for national and local media. He began his role with Flinn-Brown in 2016.
Also an Arizona native, Campbell served as a Democrat from 2007 to 2015 in the Arizona House of Representatives, concluding his political career as House Minority Leader. He is the co-founder of Lumen Strategies, a firm specializing in campaign management, public affairs, and issue advocacy and is a leading political consultant and lobbyist on high-profile issues for several national public-affairs consulting firms. Campbell joined Flinn-Brown in 2019.
Policy experts co-facilitate individual Academy sessions with Barnes and Campbell. In 2022, this group included nearly a dozen individuals, including current and former state-level officials, executives in key community and business roles, and seasoned leaders in the trenches with vast experience implementing policy. Learn more about these exemplars of civic leadership.
Applying for Flinn-Brown
About 25 Arizonans are selected each spring for the Fellowship in a highly competitive application and interview process.
The 2023 Flinn-Brown Academy application is closed.
Please contact Jennifer Papworth with any questions.
Stay up-to-date about the Flinn-Brown Fellowship and application timelines, as well as additional Arizona Center for Civic Leadership programming and news, by joining our email list.
