Programs

​Sonoma County Forum offers an exciting array of speakers including leaders in business, education, health care, the arts, and local government. Our speakers provide an excellent way to gain knowledge of the community and learn about its vast resources. Meetings are held on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month at 8am at the Epicenter, off of Piner Road, west of Coffey Lane in Santa Rosa.

Scroll below for information about upcoming 2023 speakers.
For biographies of past speakers, by year, click here.

Upcoming Speakers

May 18, 2023

Leilani Clark, LandPaths

Leilani Clark

LandPaths (Land Partners Through Stewardship) is an environmental education and conservation leader with the mission to foster a love of the land in Sonoma County.  The organization was founded in 1996 to connect the people who live, work, and play in Sonoma County, to nature in expansive, creative, educational, and inspiring ways.  LandPaths believes that equitable access to nature and stewarding the land together builds a stronger, healthier community.  Leilani Clark, the Communications Lead at LandPaths, joined the organization in 2018.  A former high school teacher and staff writer at the North Bay Bohemian, she was a 2014 California Endowment Health Reporting Fellow at USC’s Annenberg School for Journalism, and in 2019 received the Discovered Award for Emerging Literary Artists from Creative Sonoma.  Come learn how this amazing organization has protected Sonoma County’s open space and engaged thousands of local residents to help care for the land and the environment.

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June 1, 2023

Ethan Brown, The Role of the Sonoma County Economic Development Board

Ethan Brown

Ethan Brown is the Interim Executive Director for the Sonoma County Economic Development Board (EDB). During his eleven-year tenure at the EDB, Ethan has also served as the Director of Business Development and Innovation, Business Retention and Expansion Program Manager, and Entrepreneurial Services Program Manager. In those roles, he connected local businesses of all sizes and stages with resources to help them navigate regulatory frameworks, expand their markets, access capital, and find talented employees. In addition, Ethan has extensive experience through working with businesses to prepare, respond, and recover through multiple natural disasters and the coronavirus pandemic. Prior to joining the Economic Development Board, Ethan was a principal in a local general contracting firm, which he helped launch and grow into a successful business. Ethan graduated from Sonoma State University where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Government. Outside of his professional role, he enjoys travelling with his wife, riding motorcycles, and can still occasionally be found swinging a hammer when the occasional home improvement project pops up. Ethan will speak about the role of the Economic Development Board, current initiatives underway, and a new vision for countywide economic development that was recently approved by the Board of Supervisors.

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June 15, 2023

Chief John Cregan: City of Santa Rosa's inRESPONSE Program

Police Chief John Cregan

With more than 23 years of experience in law enforcement and 17 years with the Santa Rosa Police Department, John Cregan was selected last July as the City of Santa Rosa’s new Police Chief. Chief Cregan holds a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice Administration and a master’s degree in Law Enforcement and Public Safety Leadership from the University of San Diego, and is a graduate of the California P.O.S.T. Command College and the Leadership Santa Rosa program.  As an officer, Chief Cregan worked multiple specialty assignments which included: motorcycle officer in the traffic division, Hostage Negotiator, Gang Crimes Detective, Field Training Officer, and he taught the GREAT Program and the DARE Program in local elementary schools. Chief Cregan later served as the Gang Crimes Team Sergeant and then the Lieutenant in charge of the Investigations Bureau. He spent three years as a Captain managing both divisions of the police department before promoting to Chief of Police.  Chief Cregan serves on the Board of Directors for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and is passionate about creating long term solutions to help police officers better serve those suffering from mental illness in our communities.  He led the effort to reimagine the City of Santa Rosa’s mental health response model and to create the inRESPONSE program which launched in 2021.  inRESPONSE is designed to respond to calls for service with a mental health first approach. While inRESPONSE works in partnership with the Santa Rosa Police Department, the inRESPONSE team is unarmed and best equipped to support and provide mental health resources to individuals and families experiencing a crisis.  Chief Cregan lives with his wife Angela and their two school-aged daughters in Santa Rosa.

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2023 Program Schedule

	Speaker
Jan. 5	​(rescheduled due to inclement weather)
Jan. 19	Duskie Estes, Farm to Pantry
Feb. 2	Jennielynn Holmes, Caritas Village
Feb. 16	Dr. Steve Charbonneau, Superintendent, Piner Olivet Union School District, "School District Consolidation"
March 2	Janae Franicevic, General Manager/Owner, Sunce Winery
March 16	Laura Lorman, "Inexpensive Travel Options and How to Travel Safely"
April 6	Brittany Mundarain, General Manager, Montgomery Village "Vision for Montgomery Village"
April 20	Margaret Press, CEO, Co-Founder of the DNA Doe Project
May 4	Alethea Larson, Deputy Director, The Living Room
May 18	Leilani Clark, LandPaths
June 1	Ethan Brown, Sonoma County Economic Development Board
June 15	John Cregan, Chief of Police, City of Santa Rosa
July 6	Jane Engdahl, Sonoma County Fair
July 20	TBA
Aug  3	Michelle Frydenlund, Program Director, Inspired Spaces Foundation
Aug 17	TBA
Sep  7	TBA
Sep 21	Marakeshia Smith, City Manager, City of Santa Rosa
Oct  5	Sonoma County Library: Vision for the Future/Technology​
Oct 19	TBA
Nov  2	Sarah Tendall, Roseland University Prep's Mentorship Program
Nov 16	TBA
Dec  2	TBA
Dec 21	Holiday meeting (for members only)