New Central Coast Director

By Pattie Braga | March 29, 2024 |

Congratulations to Hollee King Winegar (Cohort XXVIII), was elected as the new Central Coast Director for the California Chapter of the American Planning Association, and as a member of the APA CA’s State Board. Hollee is the Entitlement Planning Lead for MNS Engineers, a firm based in Santa Barbara.

On the Concours

By Pattie Braga | November 6, 2023 |

Since moving to Palm Desert in 2019 Dr. Rick Eberst (cohort XVIII), who served LVC as a past board member and was the former Interim Program Director has kept up his leadership efforts by recently becoming engaged in new leadership roles in the Coachella Valley. Most recently, he began serving as a VIP Docent at…

City Leadership

By Pattie Braga | September 1, 2023 |

Congratulations to LVC alumni Bill Ayub (cohort XXIII) on his recent appointment as the City Manager for the City of Ventura. Bill was a member of LVC Cohort XXIII and was also honored as the 2022 Public Sector Leader of the Year at our annual Journey to Leadership Awards event.

Making Waves in Oxnard

By Pattie Braga | August 10, 2023 |

LVC alumni Vincent Stewart (cohort XXVII) was not only sworn-in to serve on the Oxnard Planning Commission in March (and quickly voted to the Vice Chair position), but he also joined the board of the Oxnard College Foundation earlier this month. Thank you Vincent for giving so much of your time and talents to our…

Santa Paula’s New Commander

By Pattie Braga | August 1, 2023 |

Congratulations, Commander! Congratulations to Eric Starna (cohort XXVII), for being sworn in this morning as a Commander with the City of Santa Paula Police Department. Many of his fellow LVC alum came out to support him, including Andrew Salinas (cohort XIV), Mark Stadler (cohort XXVII), Kasey Sirody (cohort XXVII), Michael Shanklin (cohort XXVII, Gloria Martinez…

New Board Member

By Pattie Braga | July 10, 2023 |

We’re excited to announce that Dhruv Pandya (cohort XXVI), has joined the LVC board for a two-year term. Dhruv is the Director of Information Security at a video, marketing, and hosting company, Wistia, based out of Cambridge, Massachusetts. In addition to serving on the LVC board, Dhruv also serves as Chair of the board for…

#Take5 – LVC Reads 2023

By Pattie Braga | May 26, 2023 |

Thank you to all of the LVC alumni who took part in the First 5 Ventura County #Take5VC program, which encourages us to read, talk, and sing to the children in our lives. Some of the featured readers were Stacie Galang (cohort XX) with the Ventura County Star, Dorina Timbol (cohort XXVIII) with For The Need Foundation, Dustin Gardner (cohort XXI)…

Our Alumni are Experts

By Pattie Braga | May 2, 2023 |

An expert from her own cohort! Loredana Carson, Senior Lecturer and Academic Advisor with California Lutheran University was able to call on her fellow cohort XXII member Heather Sumagaysay, Communications Manager and PIO for the City of Ventura, to lead a class on communications for public sector managers. Heather talked about the importance of a…

Santa Barbara News

By Pattie Braga | April 30, 2023 |

Congratulations to Kirk Lagerquist (cohort XXVII) on being appointed as the General Services Director for the County of Santa Barbara! Kirk recently concluded a 27-year career with the United States Navy Civil Engineer Corps, where he served as the military equivalent of a Public Works Director at both large and small Navy installations. The Santa…

New Position

By Pattie Braga | April 7, 2023 |

Congratulations to Arturo Zaragoza (cohort XXIV), who was recently promoted to director of financial equity programs at Ventura County Credit Union (VCCU). Zaragoza has served as a branch manager at VCCU for nine years and has more than 16 years of experience working in the financial services industry. He has been the recipient of awards…