World's first executive education program on geopolitical leadership for chiefs of staff

A strategic initiative of SDA Bocconi's Rome Campus, the program expands the Chief of Staff Association's global education portfolio for chiefs of staff.

ROME, ITALY, April 16, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Chief of Staff Association (CSA) and SDA Bocconi School of Management have today announced the launch of a new executive education program co-designed and co-delivered by both institutions.

The program is the first in the world designed specifically to prepare chiefs of staff for the geopolitical dimensions of their role. It will be available exclusively through SDA Bocconi School of Management and the CSA and will form the third pillar of the Association's global education portfolio, alongside programs at the University of Oxford and Harvard Business School.

The program is grounded in The Chief of Staff Revolution: A European Viewpoint, a study developed by I.C.E – Innovation and Corporate Entrepreneurship with Deloitte, which tracked the diffusion and evolution of the Chief of Staff role across leading European organizations and identified geopolitical complexity as a defining challenge shaping the role today.

The CSA’s University of Oxford program focuses on the organizational impact a chief of staff drives – including alignment and transformation – and the Harvard Business School program builds the interpersonal skills needed to lead effectively, including negotiation, communication, and stakeholder management.

This new program with SDA Bocconi addresses the external environment: the geopolitical and institutional forces that shape every strategic decision a chief of staff supports.

Drawing on SDA Bocconi’s decades of research in international management, regulatory environments, and European institutional dynamics – and on faculty who work directly with global corporations, public institutions, and policymakers – the program gives chiefs of staff practical frameworks for navigating shifting trade relationships, regulatory divergence, political instability, and institutional change on behalf of their organizations. It is the only program of its kind.

Participants who complete the program – including a capstone project assessing real strategic work within their own organization – will be awarded the Certified Chief of Staff^® credential by the Chief of Staff Association. They will also receive a SDA Bocconi certificate of attendance and six months of complimentary CSA membership, providing immediate access to the Association's global community and resources.

The capstone methodology aligns the SDA Bocconi program with the Association's Oxford and Harvard Business School programs. Participants prepare a strategic brief for their principal on a real business transformation or change initiative, evaluated against six criteria: strategic alignment, big-picture thinking, stakeholder focus, problem solving, analytical rigour, and clarity of communication.

The program is delivered as a residential experience in Rome. The residential format – including the gala dinner and other extracurricular elements – is consistent with the CSA's approach at Oxford and Harvard Business School, where peer relationships and shared experiences are a deliberate part of the learning design.

Trent Smyth, Chief Executive Officer of the 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, Program Director at SDA Bocconi School of Management: ‘Chiefs of staff sit at the intersection of organizational 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 program puts that research to work. We are proud to build it with the CSA.’

The Chief of Staff Association is the world's largest membership organization for chiefs of staff and the executives they serve. Its mission is to help organizations navigate complexity and lead with clarity, equipping chiefs of staff and their principals with 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 programs 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.

SDA Bocconi School of Management is the international school leading the transformation of individuals to improve the future of people, organizations, 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 programs are built on rigorous and original research activities, offering MBAs, Specialized Master, and Executive Master programs, as well as open and custom executive education.

According to the Bloomberg Businessweek ranking, SDA Bocconi is the first 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, Director of Communications
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SDA Bocconi School of Management
comunicazione@sda bocconi.it
sdabocconi@brunswickgroup.com

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The Chief of Staff Association
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