Fifteen years ago, a group interested in solving the philosophic question of what it takes to build strong leaders in a community was the catalyst that eventually sparked the formation of Cascadia Center for Leadership.  Humboldt Area Foundation staff:  Kathy Moxon, Barbara O’Neal (formerly with HAF) and Alex Reid and then Plaza Design owner Julie Fulkerson participated in those early conversations that took place over the course of several years.

 “I can’t remember who said it, but someone said there was a lack of leadership in Humboldt County,” Fulkerson recalled. “It just pushed a button for me.”

Fulkerson, who was transitioning from a stint on the Arcata City Council to the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, thought that there was some evidence to the contrary —particularly in the formation of successful entrepreneurial pursuits like Kokatat, Holly Yashi and Yakima.

Moxon said she found herself noticing the same faces at community meetings and functions and feared for the future when the existing community leadership would be looking to pass the torch on to a new generation of leaders. “We were worried that we were never going to be able to retire,” she said.

As a result, Humboldt Area Foundation spearheaded an out-of-the-box effort to develop organizational and community leaders and created Cascadia Center for Leadership.  A fundamental goal of the program was to develop effective communicators capable of engaging the community across the invisible divides between business, government, nonprofits, and educational organizations.

Patrick Cleary, a Manhattan transplant looking to make his roots in Humboldt, was among the first set of students to graduate from the Cascadia 10-day program. Cleary was interested in networking with other community leaders and thought the program could be of benefit. Cleary went on to become an interim general manager of the North Coast Co-op and turned the struggling organization around and later went on to help found Lost Coast Communications.

“I’ve heard people say that you can’t create a leader, but nobody is a born leader,” he said. “We all step up because we want to see something happen, because we care about something, or because we think no one else will.  But it is a process of trial and error and it’s helpful to have a support group and really be able to have a plan as to how you can effect change.”
Cleary has on numerous occasions sent members of his own staff through the Cascadia program, and to Cascadia workshops and leadership luncheons, and is now a member of Cascadia’s advisory group.

Cascadia’s co-directors, Mary Gelinas and Roger James, joined the organization in 2002 taking the reins over from Fulkerson who directed the organization until that time. Gelinas and James left the fast-paced life of corporate organizational change consulting for the quieter realities of life beyond the redwood curtain. Gelinas and James both earned their doctorates in organizational development from the University of Massachusetts, and in 1989 co-founded Gelinas-James, Inc. in the SF Bay Area. Some of the clients they have consulted for include Intel, Kaiser Permanente, PG&E, Levi Strauss, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Genentech.

Cascadia graduate and former faculty member Kristin Johnson has been involved with Cascadia Center for Leadership since 2003. Johnson, director of the Northern California SBDC Lead Center at HSU, said she thinks the Cascadia Leadership Program is unique because participants have the opportunity to work with a varied cross-section of the community. 

 Cascadia plays an important role in this generative process. It continues to be funded in part by the Humboldt Area Foundation.