Coach and Program Facilitator![]() Carolina Caro is Leadership Pasadena's Leadership Coach and Program Facilitator for the 8-month Leadership Pasadena program. Carolina is Founder of Core Centered Leadership, specializing in developing conscious leaders and mindful workplaces through a lens that cultivates potential, enhances engagement and celebrates diversity and inclusion to achieve results that benefit the collective good. She is a sought after coach and key note speaker across the country as well as a contributor on Forbes Coaches Council. www.carolinacaro.com/
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Executive Director![]() Kaya Plansker is the Executive Director of Leadership Pasadena. Before jumping into the nonprofit world, Kaya spent 15+ years working as a brand and business director within advertising agencies such as Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco and 72 and Sunny in Los Angeles serving corporate clients like Samsung, Starbucks, Air New Zealand, and Hyundai. Kaya believes Communication is a gateway to human connection and finds inspiration in its constant ability to inform, unite, and reveal pieces of our shared world. After getting her masters in Human Development with a focus in Social Change from Pacific Oaks College in 2018, she saw an opportunity to strengthen a sense community in Pasadena through programs that bring people together in service of creating a more equitable and resilient community. In her non-work time, Kaya reads, caters to her two children's needs, and spends far too much time scrolling through Instagram and drinking coffee.
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Advisory Council
GREG APODACA
CEO and Vision Holder, Community 2.0 CYNTHIA BENGTSON Former Executive Director Leadership Pasadena WILLIAM BOGAARD Former Mayor (1999-2015), City of Pasadena GEORGE BRUMDER VP, Past President, Pasadena Education Foundation CARLA BUIGUES Founder, The Buigues Group (The Agency) LISA CAVELIER Executive Director, Boys and Girls Club of Pasadena TOM COSTON President, Light Bringer Project JOSHUA DRISKELL Partner, Lagerlof Law Group KIM FERREIRA President, Junior League of Pasadena JOUSLYNN GRIFFIN Founder, Griffin Consulting |
WHITNEY HARRISON
Division Manager, Social & Mental Health - City of Pasadena CYNTHIA KURTZ (Recused while acting as Interim City Manager) Former Pasadena City Manager, National CORE MELISSA LEE Community Engagement Specialist, Concordia JOE LUMARDA SVP, Capital Group Wealth Advisors KATHLEEN O'SULLIVAN CEO, KShift TOM SELINSKE Co-Founder, Focus Out/Business Consultant and Educator MARTHA SHENKENBERG Kaiser Permanente GORDON SQUIRES Director of IPAC Communications, Caltech/JPL JINGHUAN TERVALON Global Strategic Insights, The Coca-Cola Company |
Community Contributors
Our ongoing thanks to the talented Leadership Pasadena alumni and community leaders who donate their time and expertise to every cohort - to ensure our participants learn from those leading and influencing the sectors driving our progress, innovation, and culture.