A who’s who of local government, business, and nonprofits has an ambitious goal of building stronger relationships among current leaders and providing training for an emerging set of newbies. The newly formed Leadership Council of San Mateo County is led by two women who ran the San Mateo Chamber of Commerce Leadership program, Margi Powers and Kaarin Hardy (Erica Wood is now heading that program).
Here’s a sample of some of the people involved: The Advisory Council includes Michael Brownrigg, Burlingame City Council; Michael Claire, chancellor, San Mateo County Community College District; Quita Highsmith, vice president and Chief Diversity Officer, Genentech; Jennifer M. Johnson, president and CEO, Franklin Templeton; Dave Pine, San Mateo County Board of Supervisors; Jackie Speier, U.S. congresswoman; Kate Wilson, senior director, Public Affairs, Gilead Sciences; and Rachel Del Monte, district vice president, YMCA.
Founding members include Tracy Avelar, police chief, City of Foster City; Noemi Avram, Gumbinger Avram Architects; Nirmala Bandrapalli, , XTRIM Bollywood; Emily Beach, Burlingame City Council; Tish Busselle, advisor to the superintendent, San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District; Marie Chuang, Hillsborough City Council; Gayl Del Pero, Mary Kay Cosmetics; John Delaney, Boston Private Bank; Georgia Farooq, Thrive Alliance of Nonprofits for San Mateo County; Joseph Ibe, chiropractor, True Health Centers; Sarah Lucas, Lucas Venture Group; Rita Mancera, Puenta de la Costa Sur; Kletra Newton, San Mateo County Event Center.
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A primary goal is to train potential new leaders. Leadership Council will be launching its flagship Leadership CORPs program this fall, with applications available in March.
The organization hopes to attract a pool of diverse candidates while providing opportunities to strengthen existing networks, such as the county’s 20 cities. And with district elections, there is no shortage of new, inexperienced leaders, some without having previously served on a city board or commission or on the education side who have never participated in a school site council, PTA or other school community activity.
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As a first offering, Leadership Council will help raise funds for the county’s COVID relief efforts through the San Mateo County Strong Fund by hosting a virtual fundraiser 11 a.m. Feb. 26 with Tom Rath, leadership thought leader and #1 New York Times bestselling author. Rath will be interviewed by Raj Mathai, news anchor for NBC Bay Area nightly news. Tickets are free and all donations and sponsorships will benefit the Strong Fund, which supports individuals, families, small businesses and nonprofits most affected by COVID-19. Companies and individuals interested in sponsoring this event and supporting the fund should contact the Leadership council SMC at info@leadershipcouncilsmc.org.
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There will be two open seats on the Board of Supervisors next year as both Carole Groom and Don Horsley are termed out. Belmont Mayor Charles Stone has been running for Groom’s seat for the past two years. And it has paid off. He has amassed an impressive and far-reaching list of endorsements ( including Assemblyman Kevin Mulllin, Supervisor Dave Pine, most of the councilmembers in the district) and has money to spend. It looks as if he will follow in the footsteps of the two people who have occupied this seat, Jerry Hill and Groom, who were elected without opposition (Groom was first appointed to the Board in 2009 after Hill left for the Assembly). And he has important experience, as a councilmember, as member of the SamTrans and Caltrain board and other regional and county committees.
Most of the voters in this supervisorial district live in San Mateo so it was expected there would be a candidate from San Mateo. Earlier it was rumored that Rick Bonilla and former police chief Susan Manheimer might be interested. But Bonilla is supporting Stone. Manheimer only recently retired from her stint as acting police chief in Oakland and my guess she wants to stay with police work of some form. Rumors San Mateo Councilwoman Diane Papan might be interested are at this stage just rumors. She is the only San Mateo councilmember who has not endorsed Stone. But it would be a stretch for her to catch up. Meanwhile, her sister Gina Papan is interested in running for Dave Pine’s seat, opening in 2024, and voters might not like two members of the same family on a five-member board.
I will be interviewing candidates for Horsley’s seat in future columns. Right now that’s the race with several serious challengers.
Sue Lempert is the former mayor of San Mateo. Her column runs every Monday. She can be reached at sue@smdailyjournal.com.
Leadership Council of San Mateo County? who makes up these councils and who is asking for them. Seems like a grooming organization for Democrat politicians, large business leaders and organized labor to make sure the "newbies" think just like the "oldbies". How many young Republican's and conservatives will be asked to join the Leadership Council of San Mateo County? Just another unelected council that should be ignored and scorned by the taxpaying public as a vehicle to carry on the agenda of the left in our county.
Don't complain about it. Why don't you apply for one of the councils or run for City Council and put your ideas in the pot if you don't like the way things are done.
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(6) comments
Leadership Council of San Mateo County? who makes up these councils and who is asking for them. Seems like a grooming organization for Democrat politicians, large business leaders and organized labor to make sure the "newbies" think just like the "oldbies". How many young Republican's and conservatives will be asked to join the Leadership Council of San Mateo County? Just another unelected council that should be ignored and scorned by the taxpaying public as a vehicle to carry on the agenda of the left in our county.
The YMCA has free anger management classes.
Don't complain about it. Why don't you apply for one of the councils or run for City Council and put your ideas in the pot if you don't like the way things are done.
Hello, Patrick
Check out the Leadership Council's website https://www.thrivealliance.org/board-staff-1
Looks like a lot of nice people with some impressive business, education and non-profit experience... but true community leaders? I'm not so sure...
I'd be interested in looking at the curriculum they have developed to train the "newbies."
They might want to choose a different name, as it very close to the Housing Leadership Council, which is a different organization.
Great article Mayor Lempert.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.