Schedule Details

• Strategic Thinking, Decision Making, and Leadership Impact (Thursday, September 18^th, 2025)
• Leadership with a New Perspective (Wednesday, September 24^th & Thursday, September 25^th, 2025)
• Ethical Leadership and Innovation in Public Service (Thursday, October 2^nd, 2025)
• Organizational Strategies around Employee Engagement (Thursday, October 9^th, 2025)
   

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Leadership with a New Perspective

This seminar examines the challenges and rewards of a leader's role and discovers the intrinsic drives of a leader. High-trust teams are built on relationship intelligence; in this seminar, participants learn how to be effective leaders through a deep dive into understanding how their leadership strengths, weaknesses, and motivations affect their communication and relationship-building capacity in the organization.

Ethical Leadership and Innovation in Public Service

This seminar provides an opportunity to discuss essential aspects of leadership ethics and innovation in the public service sector. Participants review and discuss their personal and professional ethical standards, learn to understand the role of ethics in leading employees and organizations and learn how to harness creativity and innovation to improve organizational efficiency.

Strategic Thinking, Decision Making, and Leadership Impact

This seminar explores various leadership styles and demystifies key factors in successful leadership. Participants learn practical skills on how to solve problems through effective communication, strategic thinking, and decision-making. Participants also develop abilities in creating peak-performance teams, inspiring organizational change, and cultivating a culture of growth.

Organizational Strategies around Employee Engagement

This seminar provides leaders with the necessary tools to effectively build, coach, and maintain a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment. Participants will learn how to define diversity, understand its various forms, and analyze the demographic changes taking place in today's workforce. The seminar also guides participants in recognizing and managing unintentional and unconscious biases and adopting best practices for mitigation.

• Network with existing senior level employees 
• Taught by senior level leaders in government positions 
• Meet and collaborate with counterparts 
• Increase the efficiency and effectiveness of communication and management 
• Learn strategic thinking strategies and decision making 
• Improve negotiation skills 
• Rejuvenate innovative motivation for process improvement and human resource management

John Gillison

John Gillison has been the City Manager of Rancho Cucamonga for more than twelve years. Prior to his current position, he was the Assistant City Manager and Deputy City Manager for Rancho Cucamonga. John also previously served as the City Manager for the City of Sierra Madre. During his over 30 years of public service, he has served in various leadership roles in five agencies across Los Angeles and San Bernardino County. John holds a bachelor's degree in political science with a minor in criminal justice and a master's degree in public administration from California State University Fullerton. As a licensed California attorney, John is a certified trainer in sexual harassment prevention as well as a Core Strengths SDI facilitator for improved communication for individuals and teams.

Richard Belmudez

Richard Belmudez has over 30 years of urban planning experience serving in both private-sector land development and local government. Prior to his lectureship in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Cal Poly Pomona, Richard served as Perris City Manager for over 14 years, where he led the organization through a population growth of nearly 50%. During his tenure at Perris, he championed the revitalization efforts of the City’s historic downtown district, completed an aggressive Capital Improvement Plan, and enhanced civic engagement through the “Live Well Perris” wellness program and Centennial celebrations. Richard’s interests include public policy, economic development, and historic preservation.

Zoot Velasco

Zoot Velasco currently serves as the executive director at Friends of Fullerton College Foundation. He is also an author, researcher, TEDx conference producer, and a registered historical scholar with the California Humanities Council. In his 30 years of community work, Zoot led countless projects, including building four new art centers for the City of LA, a Boys & Girls Club in Harbor City, and a Theatre for the City of Long Beach. Zoot is a past president of the Rotary Club of Fullerton, and he last served as director of the Gianneschi Center for Nonprofit Research at California State University Fullerton’s College of Business and Economics, where he created the successful Gianneschi Fellowship for Social Impact Leadership and the G3X Conference. Zoot holds a bachelor’s degree from St. Mary’s College of California, an MBA in nonprofit management from Hope International University, and professional designations in leadership, fundraising, arts education curricula design, management, and conflict resolution.

Stacey Lewis

Stacey Lewis is the Founder/CEO of HR Interrupted (www.hrinterrupted.com). HRI is a consultancy firm dedicated to providing expert and proven resources to business thought leaders who have GRIT to unapologetically disrupt outdated workplace ideologies, principles, and practices that impact the People, Business, and Culture experience. She is the former Chief Human Resources Officer for the Port of Long Beach, the second-busiest seaport in the United States, with approximately 600 employees and generates annual operating revenues in excess of $300 million. Stacey has over 35 years of professional experience in human resources, spanning both the private and public sectors.  She is an instructor/program liaison for the Human Resources Management Certification program at California State University, Long Beach. A dynamic and highly sought-after “transformational” speaker and self-proclaimed disruptor, Stacey received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of the Pacific. She also holds a Human Resources Management Certification from Loyola Marymount University, a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Certification from Cornell University as well as several other professional HR designations/certifications.