State Rep. Paul S. Baumbach selected as CSG Toll Fellow

Delaware state Rep. Paul S. Baumbach is one of 48 state policymakers from across the country selected as a Council of State Governments’ Henry Toll Fellow for the Class of 2015.

The Class of 2015 Toll Fellows represents 33 states and Puerto Rico, with 35 serving in the legislative branch, four serving in the judiciary and nine hailing from the executive. A nine-member committee of state leaders, many who are Toll Fellows themselves, reviewed a record number of applications to select the class.

Named for CSG founder Henry Wolcott Toll, the Toll Fellowship program is one of the nation’s premier leadership development programs for state government officials. Each year, the program brings 48 of the nation’s top officials from all three branches of state government to Lexington, Ky., for an intensive six-day, five-night intellectual boot camp.

“For myself and for my constituents, I wish to be the best elected official I can be, and I feel that CSG is well positioned to provide this guidance,” said Baumbach, D-Newark.

The program’s agenda includes a lineup of dynamic speakers and sessions designed to stimulate personal assessment and growth, while providing priceless networking and relationship-building opportunities. While each year’s program is unique, previous programs have included sessions on leadership personality assessment, media training, crisis management, appreciative inquiry, adaptive leadership and much more.

“The Toll Fellowship remains the oldest and most prestigious of all leadership development programs for elected officials,” said David Adkins, CSG’s executive director/CEO. “Its impact is profound and its quality is renowned. As a Toll Fellow from 1993, I know firsthand the impact the program has on elected officials.”

Adkins was a 1993 Toll Fellow when he served as a Kansas state representative.

Toll Fellows alumni include U.S. Rep. John Carney, a former Delaware lieutenant governor; former U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, a former Hawaii state Senate president; U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita, a former Indiana secretary of state; former North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue and former U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.

Baumbach said programs like Toll Fellows prepare state officials for public service.

“I hope to have many years of public service ahead of me, and I am convinced that I can help Delaware by having a solid network of colleagues across the country, which I can tap to discover some best practices already working elsewhere,” Baumbach said. “We don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”

This year’s program will be held Aug. 28-Sept. 2 in Lexington.