Twenty three of Central America's most entrepreneurial young leaders from the worlds of business, civil society, and government came together at the Managua campus of INCAE (Central America's leading business school) for their first of four Central America Leadership Initiative (CALI) seminars. During The Challenge of Leadership Seminar, Fellows explore the attributes of leaders from Martin Luther King and Gandhi to Margaret Thatcher and Ricardo Semler. They determine what effective and enlightened leaders do and what they do not do, and create leadership handbooks of their own. They also begin to develop the relationships and networks across the region that will sustain them in their quest to move "from success to significance" in their leadership endeavors.

CALI Fellows commit to participate in four seminars over 18 months. They will meet three times in Central American and once at the Aspen Institute in Aspen, Colorado. Fellows range in age from 30 – 45 and represent Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.

The seminars, modeled after those of the Institute's Henry Crown Fellowship Program, focus on building and refining the leadership values they will need to move "from success to significance" – applying their proven talents to make a difference in their communities, countries and region. The seminars include, The Challenge of Leadership, In Search of "The Good Society", Leadership in an Era of Globalization, and The Promise of Leadership. In the Aspen spirit of moving ideas into action, each CALI Fellow undertakes a leadership project of his/her own design to address a pressing need in their society.