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CSA partners with SDA Bocconi to design world's first executive education programme on geopolitical leadership for chiefs of staff

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASERome | 16 April, 2026The Chief of Staff Association and SDA Bocconi School of Management have launched a new executive education programme – the first in the world designed specifically to prepare chiefs of staff for the geopolitical dimensions of their role.The programme expands the CSA's global education portfolio, alongside the University of Oxford and Harvard Business School (HBS). Where Oxford focuses on organisational impact and HBS on interpersonal leadership, this programme addresses the external environment: the geopolitical and institutional forces shaping every strategic decision chiefs of staff support.The programme is built around four areas: geopolitical context and global risk; regulatory and institutional complexity; decision-making under uncertainty; and the chief of staff as strategic interpreter.Participants who complete the programme will be awarded the Certified Chief of Staff® credential by the Chief of Staff Association. They will also receive an SDA Bocconi certificate of attendance.Completion includes a capstone project in which participants prepare a strategic brief for their principal on a real business transformation or change initiative – consistent with the capstone methodology used across CSA's Oxford and Harvard Business School programmes.The programme is delivered as a residential experience in Rome, including a gala dinner. The format is consistent with the CSA's approach at Oxford and HBS, where peer relationships and shared experiences are a deliberate part of the learning design.Trent Smyth, Chief Executive Officer, Chief of Staff Association:'Chiefs of staff are operating in a world defined by geopolitical disruption, regulatory complexity, and institutional change. No executive education programme has ever been designed specifically to prepare them for that reality. This programme does. We are proud to be building it with SDA Bocconi, which has the European institutional proximity and research depth to make it genuinely world-class.'Gimede Gigante, Director of the Programme, SDA Bocconi School of Management:'Chiefs of staff sit at the intersection of organisational decision-making and the forces reshaping the world. SDA Bocconi has spent decades studying that intersection – in European institutions, in regulatory frameworks, in global business strategy. This programme puts that research to work. We are proud to build it with the CSA.'

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About the Chief of Staff AssociationThe Chief of Staff Association is the world's largest membership organisation for chiefs of staff and the executives they serve. Its mission is to help organisations navigate complexity and lead with clarity, giving chiefs of staff and their principals the tools, knowledge, and community to make better decisions at the highest levels. The Association delivers professional certification, executive education, research, and a global peer network spanning more than 75 countries. Its education portfolio includes programmes developed with the University of Oxford and Harvard Business School. Through its recent acquisition of Vannin Chief of Staff, it also provides executive search and fractional placement in the role.About SDA Bocconi School of ManagementSDA Bocconi School of Management is the international school leading the transformation of individuals to improve the future of people, organisations, and society. Alongside its urban campus in Milan, renowned as the most sustainable in the world, the school also has a location in Rome and a pan-Asian hub in Mumbai. SDA Bocconi's programmes are built on rigorous and original research, offering MBAs, Specialised Masters, and Executive Master programmes, as well as open and custom executive education.According to the Bloomberg Businessweek ranking, SDA Bocconi is the leading business school in Europe. The most recent Financial Times rankings place it third in the world for custom executive education and sixth in Europe among business schools.Media enquiries

The Chief of Staff Association
Nicholas.Langford@csa.org 
SDA Bocconi School of Management
comunicazione@sda bocconi.it
sdabocconi@brunswickgroup.coENDS

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