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 2025 speakers.
For biographies of past speakers, by year, click here.

Upcoming Speakers

April 17,  2025

Karen Wise, The Museum of Sonoma County

Karen Wise

The Museum of Sonoma County opened its doors in 1985 as the Sonoma County Museum and was housed in the historic 1910 post office on 7th Street in downtown Santa Rosa, a landmark on the National Register of Historic Places.  Today the museum includes two buildings, multiple galleries and a sculpture garden.  The museum maintains a permanent collection of over 18,000 objects, documenting the region's rich history and celebrating local artists, and features multiple changing exhibitions each year. Earlier this year Karen Wise was named the new Executive Director of the Museum of Sonoma County.  Born in San Francisco and raised in the North Bay, Wise had been working in the museum field in Los Angeles since 1992.  An independent museum consultant since 2017, she served for 25 years at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History in multiple capacities, most recently as Vice President of Education and Exhibitions.

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May 1, 2025

Alan Butler, The Petaluma River-A Sketch Journal and Brief Historical Overview

Alan Butler

For a dozen years, particularly during the pandemic lockdowns, retired architect Alan Butler began to visit the Petaluma River. He found the Petaluma River to be rich sketching environment with feed mills, housing, commercial and industrial lining the river. In 2023 he compiled a book of sketches and historical information in a limited-edition book: Journey Down the River.
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The Petaluma River was the hub of North Bay commerce in the mid to late nineteenth century.  Working with local Petaluma historian, Katherine J. Rinehart, this new edition, The Petaluma River- A Sketch Journal and Brief Historical Overview, is a more comprehensive portrait of the river and its history. Katherine was invaluable in locating historical photographs and resources for the book.
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His sketches and watercolors of Petaluma and Japan can be found at www.sonoma-sketcher.com and at www.miyagi1951.com
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2025 Program Schedule

	Speaker
Jan. 2	Kelly Lister, Educational Services Consultant with CORE​ Equity and Science of Reading​​
Jan. 16	John Guariglia, Santa Rosa Police Department, "Avoiding Frauds and Scams"
Feb. 6	Book Exchange (members only)
Feb. 20	Allison Goodwin, CEO, Redwood Empire Food Bank
March 6	Kevin Marx and Callie Charleton, Engineers Without Borders
March 20	Kent Porter, Pulitzer Prize Winning Photographer
April 3	Sasha Ponomareva Sonoma County Water Agency
April 17	Karen Wise, Executive Director of the Museum of Sonoma County
May 1	Alan Butler, The Petaluma River- A Sketch Journal and Brief Historical Overview
May 15	League of Women Voters: Future of the Electoral College
June 5	Dr. Anish Shaw, Compassionate Solutions for Mental Health Care
June 19	David Laurice, Bird Rescue
July 3	Meridith Wiseman, Go Local
July 17	Drew Rose, Positive Images
August 7	Inga Aksamit, author of Between Worlds: An Expat's Quest for Belonging
August 21	Alethea Larsen, The Living Room
Sept. 4	TBA
Sept. 18	TBA
Oct. 2	TBA
Oct. 16	TBA
Nov. 6	TBA
Nov. 20	TBA
Dec. 4	TBA
Dec. 18	Holiday Party (members only)