Columbia mayor selected for Bloomberg Harvard initiative.

• Position: Daniel Rickenmann of Columbia, South Carolina

Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenmann is one of 40 mayors from around the world selected to take part in the sixth class of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative. The yearlong education and professional development program aims to equip mayors with the leadership and management tools to handle complex challenges in their cities and improve their residents' quality of life.

To kick off the program, Rickenmann and the other mayors are in New York City this week with Harvard faculty and well known management experts for a four-day immersive classroom experience. Two senior leaders from each of the cities will also participate, with their classroom experience to begin in August.

Rickenmann joins three other mayors from the Southeast who were selected for the program: Andre Dickens of Atlanta, Ga., Elaine O'Neal of Durham, N.C. and Kenneth Welch of St. Petersburg, Fla.

Then sixth class is extremely diverse, according to statistics from the Initiative. More than half of the mayors identify as people of color, 70% are from the United States and 30% percent are from...