This study sought to identify the most important factors, resources, and promising practices to consider when designing a student leadership development program. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to investigate the research questions. Fifteen leadership experts from both in and out of higher education were surveyed on their experiences with designing student leadership development programs. Additionally, four of those experts volunteered for and took part in semi-structured phone interviews. The survey and interview results provided several themes for practitioners to consider when designing a student leadership development program. Based on these findings the researcher created the acronym LAUNCH. LAUNCH stands for Learning outcomes and goals, Assessment, Understand needs, Navigate resources, Choose frameworks, and Hone programmatic elements. This framework is a tool for leadership educators to utilize when designing student leadership development programs. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]