Cohort Reflections
Daring Fearlessly
Deanna Weik Human Services Agency, HR Director – County of Ventura “High stakes. Political powerbrokers. Government insiders. Public affairs. There were multiple prominent and substantive speakers at our Sacramento session, but Jennifer Fearing’s presentation stood out the most to me. Not because she’s a fellow UC Davis alumnus, but because of why she launched Fearless…
Read MoreWe All Have One Mission
Reina Bejerano Director/Chief Technology Officer – Oxnard Union High School District As an educator I am always in awe of how effortless it is for us to come together as an education community to support our students and families. Whether you work in K-12, Higher Education or for the Ventura County Office of Education, we…
Read MoreAn Encouraging Day
Nick Sondergoth Sr. VP – Investments, Wells Fargo Advisors During our most recent VCLA session, we had the opportunity to hear from a fantastic lineup of speakers that each held an impressive breadth of knowledge within their respective disciplines. In particular, the front half of the day was particularly impactful, as the focus turned towards…
Read MoreThe Economy and Transportation
Nelson Buss Realtor – Aviara Real Estate We opened our session at the Port of Hueneme with a report on the local economy from Bruce Stenslie, CEO of the Economic Development Collaborative. Key takeaways for me included Ventura County being the #1 ranked county in the nation amenities index and ranked near the top in…
Read MoreKeeping Our County Running
Erin Larner Manager of Operations – Ventura, Aera Energy LLC At our most recent VCLA session, I learned so much about the breadth and depth of what the Public Works Agency does to keep the County running. A huge thank you goes out to David Fleisch and the Ventura County Water & Sanitation Department in…
Read MoreLeading in Crisis
Nathan Hickling Community Impact Officer and Executive Assistant to the COO, Ventura County Community Foundation Each member of our cohort is required to blog or “reflect” on an individual session, and my assumption was that most of my fellow cohort bloggers would share about our time at the Situation Room Experience at the Ronald Reagan…
Read MoreTeam Presentations from Cohort XXVIII
Kyle McIntosh Lecturer & Program Director for the MBA/EMBA/MSM Programs, California Lutheran University The Community Exploration session with VCLA on October 6, 2022 was a day that I’ll remember for years to come. Let’s start with the morning. As a member of Team Oxnard, I was privileged to spend time at the Boys and Girls…
Read MoreThe Ripple Effect
Natalie Hernandez Public Information Officer, Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Our 2nd VCLA session really communicated to me the profound effect that everyone has on their wider community and how what we do and the choices we make are much more far reaching than what we may perceive. Jennifer Duston’s exercise on societal trust made me…
Read MoreInformation Overload
Misty Perez Council member, City of Port Hueneme The first session of VCLA’s cohort XXVIII was a day full of “information overload”; from learning about fellow cohort members, to group sessions and starting our first group assignment. The drum circle was a nice mental break but still, at the end of a great day, I…
Read MoreJeopardy, VCLA Style
Dr. Lorelle Dawes Director of Expanded Learning, Ventura Unified School District The first day when Ventura County Leadership Academy (VCLA) Cohort 28 met as a group at the National Search Dog Foundation training site was a hit! We learned about each other—our experiences, our fears, our hopes—and we planned to make this an epic year…
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