October 15

Dr. Lynnette Zelezny was appointed to serve as the fifth president of California State University, Bakersfield, effective July 1, 2018, and is the first woman to serve in the role.

Dr. Zelezny’s appointment as president was historic because it was a tipping point. With her appointment, the California State University system, the largest public higher education system in the nation, has a majority of women presidents.

President Zelezny has devoted her entire professional life – first in her 30-year career at Fresno State and now at CSU Bakersfield -- working to raise the educational level of students throughout California’s Central Valley and developing graduates who turn into leaders, decision makers and contributors to communities in the region.

President Zelezny came to CSU Bakersfield after serving for three decades at Fresno State. She served as the provost and vice president of academic affairs for Fresno State – the University’s chief academic officer – from 2014 until her appointment as President of CSU Bakersfield.

Dr. Zelezny has served as a visiting professor at the University of Stockholm in Sweden, an American Council of Education Fellow at Towson University in Maryland, and as a Fulbright Scholar in Germany.

She was a nominee for the U.S. Professor of the Year awarded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. An applied social psychologist, Dr. Zelezny has published research related to the environment, health, leadership and student success for underrepresented students.

A product of the CSU, Zelezny earned bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology from Humboldt State University, a Ph.D. in applied social psychology from Claremont Graduate University and an M.B.A. with distinction from the Craig School of Business at Fresno State. She has also earned professional certificates in management from Harvard University and in executive leadership from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Jerry Tardivo Alcoser currently serves as General Manager of Operations in SJVBU a role she took in June 2018. She was previously the Business Planning and Development Manager for Chevron’s Deepwater Exploration and Projects Strategic Business Unit. She assumed this position in 2014 and is responsible for the development of the deepwater business and strategic plans, optimizing deepwater Gulf of Mexico capital investments, and corporate reporting.

Jerry began her career with Chevron in 2002 after graduating with a degree in Petroleum Engineering from Marietta College in Ohio. Jerry has held a variety of leadership positions throughout her career, including Drilling and Completions Engineering Manager for the Mid-Continent U.S. Business Unit; Advisor to the Vice President of Drilling and Completions, Performance Engineer and Drilling Engineer in Angola, West Africa; and Drilling Engineer and Rig site Manager in the Gulf of Mexico Shelf.

Jerry is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. She received the 2016 Outstanding Young Alumni award from Marietta College and currently serves on the colleges’ Leadership Advisory Board.

Jerry is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and currently resides in Bakersfield with her husband and 2 daughters. She enjoys traveling, cooking, reading, gardening, yoga and spending time with her family. Her passion is to inspire others to achieve things they never thought was possible.

She holds a Bachelors of Science in Petroleum Engineering from Marietta College in Ohio and is a graduate of the JMW Leader of the Future Program.

Hap Cluff, was Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the cities of Norfolk, Virginia and Fresno, California. Prior to that he was a Vice President for ValliWide Bank. He also served in elected office as councilman and Mayor of El Monte, California.

He served as Staff Assistant to President Gerald Ford and was a White House Press Advance Representative to three (3) U.S. Presidents (Ford, Reagan, & H.W. Bush); he handled Press Advance for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to the United States

While at Norfolk (2nd largest city in Virginia), he focused on organizational readiness, business processes automation, and workflow optimization, lowering the entire City's cost of operation by over $900,000 a year with innovation and BPM automation. He prepared the Technology (IT) staff to provide leadership for all other City Departments in project management (PM) methodology and skills development.

Tremendum has 3 feature films currently showing on Prime and elseware and a 4th being marketed right now. All made right here in Fresno. The 1st film The Gallows purchased by Warner Brothers, is still today the lowest budget movie in history to go direct to nationwide and worldwide release. It opened in 2722 U.S. theaters and 63 countries. The 2nd The Gallows Act II was purchased by Lionsgate, the 3rd titled PREY, was joint with Blumhouse. Look for the 4th soon titled “HELD.”

Hap has a Master in Public Administration from CSU, Long Beach and a Bachelors in Communications from Brigham Young University. He has taught as a Certified Facilitator for the “4 Disciplines of Execution” and “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”

Phil Weinzimer is president of Strategere Consulting and works with clients to develop business and IT strategies that focus on achieving business outcomes.

Phil is working on his 3rd book(STRATEGIC IT GOVERNANCE 2.0: A Business Imperative for Competitive Success, forthcoming in 2020), lays out the business case/ methodology, case studies, and implementation framework for establishing an Enterprise-Wide Governance initiative

His previous book,The Strategic CIO: Changing the Dynamics of the Business Enterprise, focuses on how strategic CIOs leverage information and technology for competitive advantage.

His first book, Getting IT Right: Creating Customer Value for Market Leadership focused on how to transform into a customer focused organization using a 3 P methodology; Prepare your workforce to work as a team. Perceive customer needs. Provide superior value in the form of new products and services.

Mr. Weinzimer speaks regularly on the subject of How Strategic CIOs are Changing the Dynamics of the Business Enterprise, writes on strategic IT for CIO Magazine, CIO.com, AITS.org and has co-authored a Harvard Case Study. Additionally Mr. Weinzimer conducts video interview series for Strategic Thought Leaders for SarderTV-IT, and for Accelerating IT Success-The Strategic CIO: Managing in the 21st Century.

Jennifer is one of the world’s foremost LinkedIn experts, and the ONLY one who has 20+ years of advertising and sales experience. Jennifer has trained thousands of business professionals to optimize and maximize their LinkedIn results. She is the author of Increase Your Sales Leads with LinkedIn: 52 Tips for Sales Success. Jennifer holds a Master’s Degree in Management.

LaVonne Banks is the Manager of the Enterprise Project Management Office for Kern Health Systems. LaVonne spent 20+ years in the financial aid industry where she was introduced to project management over 15 years ago. Currently, and for the last 7 years, she has enjoyed leading project managers and providing portfolio management in the healthcare industry. LaVonne recently joined the board of the Central Valley Chapter of Project Management Institute as their VP of Professional Development. LaVonne is completing a Master’s degree in Administration at California State University Bakersfield and received her Project Management Professional (PMP) certification in 2016.

Claudia has project management experience in IT, telecommunications, e-commerce, food, energy, government and consumer electronics. During her career, she has managed multiple mission critical projects, including a period as vice-president of Consulting Services for a nationally known consulting firm.

Currently, Claudia is an independent consultant focusing on PMO consulting and training. Claudia regularly speaks at PMI chapter meetings and teaches at Colorado State University, Front Range Community College and PMI SeminarsWorld.

This session will provide attendees with an understanding of how strategy is developed and then delivered through the Organizational Project Management value chain. We’ll explore the different types of PMOs as well as why the strategic PMO is essential to value delivery.

Greta has extensive experience as an executive and consulting IT professional, both domestically and internationally. Her areas of experience include program management, project management, agile development, and business analysis, with emphasis in the areas of customer relationship management (CRM), business intelligence (BI), continuous improvement, system implementations and conversions.

She is a certified project manager (PgMP, PMP, PMI-PBA, PMI-PBA and CDAP) whose extensive experiences enable her to concurrently manage multiple high-risk, high-tech projects. She has the proven leadership capacity, superior communication skills and the ability to interact and build strong relationships with customers, staff, management and vendors.

What a person or organization needs to know to move towards disciplined agile.

Zuly is an enthusiastic Project Management consultant, Project Controls Manager and Corporate Trainer. While at Chevron, Nestle, and Baxter Int’l, she contributed directly to the delivery of enterprise major capital projects safely, on time and on budget. She developed and implemented policies and procedures to guide the improvement of profitability. As a consultant and trusted business advisor she influences leaders to make the best possible decision for their organizations.

STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT ABCs:

A Identify all stakeholders. Evaluate support: Advocate, Neutral, Blocker
Get buy-in from each. Key to converting blockers into advocates

B Write plan to manage each
Focus on High power, High influence

C Anticipate decision points, engage with pre-reads plus formal/informal reports. Give Warm fuzzies

Marlon Argueta is a success, management and leadership expert who has over 16 years of work and business experience in the areas of Management, Leadership and Personal Development.  Marlon also has “hands on experience” managing billion-dollar projects in Fortune 500 Companies.  He has been coached and trained by Tony Robbins and Brian Tracy.Marlon’s message helps connect engagement, passion, and purpose to help people take action and reach their true potential. Marlon has a degree in Electrical Engineering, a MBA in Finance and a Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification.  He is also a Brian Tracy Speaking Academy Certified Speaker.

On this presentation, Marlon will share proven leadership and change management principles that will help us lead and bring people together in these socially distanced times. 

We are going through some of the most challenging times in human history. And these times remind us to lead responsibly and with compassion. Now more than ever, people are looking for guidance and clarity to navigate this Covid-19 world. 

These principles will help us bring people together and inspire us to take action and lead people in these uncertain times.