The role of the academic department chair is arguably one of the most challenging in institutions of higher education, yet for the most part these academic leaders receive little training for the variety of management and leadership functions they are expected to perform. The lack of training for chairs is due to a number of factors, including cost, differing levels of skill among chairs from the novice to the experienced, and the lack of a training curriculum with specified learning outcomes. This article proposes a research-based leadership development program designed for academic chairs to enhance specific leadership skills and abilities. The program is intended to be facilitated by an institution's Department of Faculty Development or other appropriate division. To develop a curriculum specifically designed to enhance the leadership proficiency of academic chairs, a study was conducted to identify the leadership competencies of academic chairs in institutions of higher education. The study included two components. First, a review of leadership programs for academic chairs that focus primarily on competencies was conducted. In addition to a review of existing leadership programs, academic chairs at the university were interviewed. A grounded theory methodology was employed to identify conceptual categories of leadership competencies from interview data which were systematically obtained and analyzed.