Dr. June Schmieder-Ramirez

Dr. June Schmieder-Ramirez

Dr. June Schmieder-Ramirez is the founder and the CEO of the International Center for Global Leadership. Dr. June has extensive experience in education, business consulting, and international studies. Dr. June has served as a Superintendent, College Professor and has authored and co-authored numerous texts and scholarly articles. She is currently the Academic Program Director and Chair of Organizational Leadership Doctoral Graduate program at Pepperdine University. Dr. June specializes in Leadership Training, Higher Education Policies and Accreditation, Change Theory, Central American Leadership, and International/Intercultural Studies.

Dr. Trishan S. Wickramasinghe

Dr. Trishan S. Wickramasinghe

Dr. Trishan S. Wickramasinghe received his Medical Degree at Kasturba Medical College in Manipal India. He has been in the field of medicine for the past six years. As a doctor, he is interested in the field of trauma and emergency medicine. He is a member of multiple medical organizations. Trishan has been involved in multiple charity organizations for the past 15 years. His areas of interest consist of operating urgent care clinics and trauma centers worldwide. He is currently developing medical applications in detecting warning signs of serious medical emergency conditions. Trishan’s professional research interest aside from the medical field consists of leadership, personal integrity and international cultural values. His other interest consists of nature, wildlife and travel photography.

Dr. Amanda S. Wickramasinghe

Dr. Amanda S. Wickramasinghe

Dr. Amanda Wickramasinghe is a speaker and educator in the fields of global competencies, global mindset, women’s leadership, organizational development, and global HR. She is both the Director of Education for ERA Brokers, overseeing education initiatives across multiple states and an adjunct professor at National University and University of Massachusetts, Global. Additionally, she serves on multiple international outreach committees, creating global strategic partnerships. She has traveled extensively internationally, interviewing global leaders for her contributions to literature about foreign policy and global leadership. She earned her EdD and PhD at Pepperdine University and has co-authored publications on global leadership, organizational development, international affairs, and global women’s leadership.

Dr. Dalia Juarez

Dr. Dalia Juarez

After twenty years working in the community college system Dalia Juarez left post-secondary education and is currently serving as the Department Chair of English at Cushing Academy. Her professional experience includes curriculum review, assessing and coordinating Student Learning Outcomes, serving as a Learning Team’s Coordinator, teaching in First Year programs, and serving all-male courses. Dalia’s professional areas of interest include first year programs that support first-generation students, programs and curriculum that assist minority, male students, and faculty-student interactions as a component in student success. Dalia has an interest in working with student-focused programs that serve first-generation students. Dalia earned her Master’s Degree in English Literature with an emphasis in Rhetoric and Composition from California State University, Dominguez Hills. Her graduate work earned her the Sally Casanova Forgivable Loan to further her studies. Dalia earned her Bachelor’s degree from California State University, Dominguez Hills where she studied American and British Literature. Other areas of interest include servant leadership, global leadership, and post-secondary education. As a doctoral student at Pepperdine University her dissertation examines how the faculty-student interactions contributes to the perceived sense of belonging of first-generation African American and Latino students.

Email Dalia R. Juarez

Dr. Arthur Townley

Dr. Arthur Townley

Dr. Townley is the co-author of School Personnel: A California Perspective, School Law: A California Perspective, and School Finance: A California Perspective along with Dr. June Schmieder-Ramirez. Dr. Townley was a superintendent of Wrightwood School District in San Bernardino where he made many, much-needed, curricular changes which have made the district a “lighthouse” in the San Bernardino school system. He currently resides in Vista, California where he ensures that the textbooks he has co-authored are edited annually and reflect current California law and finance regulations.

Dr. Randy Bertin

Dr. Randy R. Bertin

For the past two decades, Dr. Randy Bertin has been a leader in independent boarding schools. Before joining Cushing Academy as the 13th Head of School on July 1, 2018, he spent twelve years at Besant Hill School of Happy Valley in Ojai, California, serving seven of those years as Head of School, where he was also awarded the honor of Head of School Emeritus.

During his tenure as Besant Hill Head of School, Randy was recognized for his leadership and is one of only two independent school heads to receive the CASE District VII CEO Leadership Award. Before becoming Head of School, Randy served there in multiple leadership positions, including Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, Director of Advancement, and Assistant Head for Advancement. He also served as the school’s Varsity Boys Basketball Coach, earning California Southern Section Division V Coach of the Year in 2010. Randy previously spent seven years at Stoneleigh-Burnham School in Greenfield, Massachusetts.

Randy is an expert in school leadership, international fundraising, and boarding school admissions, and he has presented several times on these topics. Other topics that he has presented and written about have included the Head of School’s Role in the Admissions Process, Financial Health Indicators for Heads of Schools, Integration and Immersion of International Students at Boarding Schools in the United States, and Perceptions of Independent School Leaders in California: Global Issues, and Leading an Independent School through Covid-19. Randy was elected to the Cushing Academy Board of Trustees in 2019 and also serves on the Boards of the IECA Foundation and the International Center for Global Leadership.

 

Dr. Chris Najera

Dr. Chris Najera

Dr. Chris Najera is a professor of business at CSU Long Beach as well as a Director with Willdan Group Inc. At Willdan Dr. Najera focuses on “moonshot” projects, helping his organization identify, frame, and execute complex business initiatives. Over the years Dr. Najera has worked in marketing & business development, information technology, and most recently in business process innovation. Besides teaching in the CSU system, Dr. Najera has been associated with the UC system and several private universities throughout Southern California. Dr. Najera is married to Ms. Balsells.

 

Dr. Santor Nishizaki

Dr. Santor Nishizaki

Dr. Santor Nishizaki is a project manager in the construction industry and an adjunct business professor at California State University Los Angeles.  Santor previously worked for a Fortune 100 Company overseas on an 18-month assignment in Shanghai, China, and JPL/NASA before that.  Dr. Nishizaki’s research while obtaining his doctorate at Pepperdine was focused mainly on Millennials in the workplace, but has recently published an article about creating high-performing teams in a lean construction environment.

Dr. Willo Rodriguez

Willo Rodriguez, Ed. D.

When Willo Rodriguez took over as West Valley’s men’s water polo head coach in 2016, he had some big flip-flops to fill. Rodriguez succeeded the legendary Bruce Watson, now the head man at San José State and the winner of six CCCAA state championships at West Valley. Rodriguez has filled those shoes admirably, taking home three NorCal and three Coast Coach of the Year trophies.

Rodriguez was an All-American for Watson when the Vikings won their first title in 1998 and again in 1999, when West Valley went undefeated, and then was a two-time All-American at Pepperdine. After assistant coaching stints at Pepperdine, the University of La Verne, and USC, Rodriguez returned to Saratoga in 2016 to lead his community college alma mater. The San Juan, Puerto Rico native, who graduated from Bell Gardens High School in southern California in 1998 was also the head coach fo the Puerto Rico Men’s National Team that competed in the 2019 Pan-Am Games. He earned his BA at Pepperdine (2003), his Master’s at Azusa Pacific (2010) and his Ed.D at Pepperdine (2019).

He has compiled an 89-26 overall mark at West Valley. More impressively, his Vikings are 24-1 in the Coast Conference, going 8-0 in 2016, 2017 and 2018. The 2016 Vikings finished third in the state, as did the 2018 team. Under Rodriguez in 2017, WVC finished second in the state, dropping a 10-8 heartbreaker to Golden West in the title game. West Valley has won the Coast Conference Championship postseason tournament in each of Rodriguez’s four seasons.

Rodriguez teams have featured explosive offenses, tenacious defenses and premier goaltending. His Vikings have outscored opponents 1657-392 overall, 563-72 in the Coast, in four years. He has produced 25 All-Americans in water polo (and many in swimming), 22 All-NorCal players and 28 All-Coast players. Vikings have been named the Coast MVP four straight years – Sina Gonzalez Lara (2016), Ivan Stefanovic (2017), Misael Andino (2018) and Ben Fleming (2019). Gonzalez Lara, Stefanovic and Xavier Domingo were NorCal Players of the Year from 2016-2018.

His biggest influences have been Terry Schroeder, the Pepperdine and Olympic head coach, and Watson. Topping his list of favorite WVC memories is shaving Watson’s trademark mustache after winning the 1998 state championship. Like Watson, Rodrigues expects “excellence” from his athletes in the water and in the classroom. His self-described demanding, yet “fun” coaching style fits in perfectly at West Valley, which he says, can offer a student athlete, the “best facilities, the best connections and the best education in one of the most beautiful places in California.”

Rodriguez wants his Viking players to take “great memories and friendships” with them when they graduate. Great memories, great facilities, a great education and a championship-caliber water polo experience. These are more than just words to Willo Rodriguez. He, after all, left Saratoga to seek his dreams and then returned to ensure the Viking men’s water polo legacy continued.