Senior leaders in the human services community met to strategize on ideas and hone leadership skills
Last fall, Mountain Lake native Kelly Harder, the Director of Community Services for Dakota County in Minnesota, was one of the session/workshop leaders at the 2013 Human Services Summit: “Leadership in an Era of Disruption,” held October 25, 2013 to October 27, 2013, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The fourth-annual summit, designed to help human services senior-most leaders achieve value in this era of disruption, was developed by Leadership for a Networked World, convened by the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard, in collaboration with Accenture (a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company) in partnership with the American Public Human Services Association. The Summit provided an unparalleled opportunity to learn from – and network with – the world’s foremost cross-sector human services practitioners and Harvard faculty and researchers, and select industry experts.
The Summit featured informative case studies, peer-to-peer problem-solving sessions and topical workshops designed to help participants envision an actionable transformation plan and hone leadership skills. Summit participants will able to gain membership to a community of peers and experts, and leave the Summit prepared and poised to not only lead their organizations through challenges of this demanding new era, but also deliver the best possible outcomes for individuals, families and communities.
Harder works within a county that has a population of 398,552 – making it the third most populated county in Minnesota. Within Community Services, Harder has oversight of social services, public health, community corrections, income maintenance, child support, veteran services and extension programs/4-H. In recent years, he has been at the point of key, county-led, state legislative initiatives around redesigning the county’s service delivery system, focusing on transparent and accountable outcomes. Currently Harder is looking at ways to implement the social impact financing strategies, coupled with return on tax payer investments (ROTI) tools for programmatic impact. He is the son of Brian and Carol C. Harder of Mountain Lake and is a graduate of Mountain Lake Public High School. Harder earned his Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and Social Work from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota and his Masters in Social Work from the University of North Dakota in Bismarck, North Dakota.