CCL-Europe - News

Multinational Business Expert Takes Charge of the Center for Creative Leadership's Northern Europe Region

Brussels, 25 February 2009: George Manka is the new Regional Director for the Center for Creative Leadership's (CCL^®) operations in Northern Europe, a market that covers Belgium, the Netherlands, and the Nordic countries.

Holding dual Australian and Italian nationality, George Manka has worked across Europe and Asia-Pacific for organisations with international reach. "With the current financial crisis, many companies in Europe are demanding real tangible results for their investment in leadership development," he says. "We're seeing a need for a greater alignment of leadership strategy with business strategy in areas such as innovation, reorganisation, redefining business models, and talent management -- including succession planning."

CCL designs and operates executive education courses including the Leadership Development Program (LDP)^®, the world's best-attended leadership course. CCL also provides executive coaching and assessment, as well as toolkits for in-house workshops such as "Developing and Articulating a Vision."

"We are seeing continued growth in our custom solutions and executive coaching business in Europe, in spite of the economic downturn," says Rudi Plettinx, VP & Managing Director EMEA, Center for Creative Leadership. "For example, George just landed an international coaching contract with a major chemical company. There's recognition that the current crisis is one of leadership - it is not just a result of bad banking practices."

About the Center for Creative Leadership
The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL^®) is a top-ranked, global provider of executive education that unlocks individual and organizational potential through its exclusive focus on leadership development and research. Founded in 1970 as a nonprofit, educational institution, CCL helps clients worldwide cultivate creative leadership - the capacity to achieve more than imagined by thinking and acting beyond boundaries - through an array of programs, products and other services.

Ranked among the world's top providers of executive education by BusinessWeek and the Financial Times, The Center for Creative Leadership is an internationally recognised resource for maximising the leadership capabilities within organisations. Every year, over 20,000 professionals attend CCL programmes worldwide.

While our focus is learning and development, we differ from many academic institutions in that our R&D efforts are practitioner-oriented. We strive to design and produce practical tools that our clients can use to change themselves and their organisations in fundamental ways, in keeping with our mission of working for the benefit of society worldwide.

Media Contact

CCL's Europe, Mid East and Africa headquarters is in Brussels, headed by Rudi Plettinx, Vice President & Managing Director, EMEA.