Fall 2026

Rewriting the Rules: A Career Inside San Francisco's City Hall

Sean R. Elsbernd '97 (September 16, 2026)

Sean Elsbernd's career in San Francisco politics has followed an unusual pattern: a garage-door cover letter, unsolicited calls from a Mayor and a U.S. Senator he had never met, and, after twenty-five years of being sought out, a return to pursuing his own next chapter as President/CEO of the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Center (“SPUR”). Drawing on that path, from Supervisor Tony Hall's living room to Mayor Gavin Newsom’s office to the halls of the United States Senate, back to San Francisco Mayor London Breed's office, and now at SPUR, Elsbernd will share career lessons for students charting their own way into public life.

He will then turn to his other Claremont McKenna connection: the Rose Institute of State and Local Government, where he worked as a student and now serves on its Board of Governors. The Rose’s 2023 report on San Francisco's government design diagnosed a City Hall structurally unable to govern itself. Elsbernd traces how that diagnosis shaped SPUR’s 2025 report, “Charter for Change,” and how both reports converged in Mayor Daniel Lurie's three charter reform measures now before San Francisco voters.

Spring 2026

The Future of City Control Over Housing
(4th Annual  Housing Symposium)

Co-hosted by The Olson Company

• Ken Miller, Director, Rose Institute
• Gov. Gray Davis - 37th Governor of California
• Kathryn Barger - LA County Supervisor, 5th District
• Karen Davis - Mayor Pro Tempore, City of Glendora
• Jathan Pai '28 - Research Assistant, Rose Institute
• Richard K. Green - Director, USC Lusk Center for Real Estate
• Caroline Bhalla - Director of Civic Engagement, USC Lusk Center for Real Estate
• Alex Fisch - Special Assistant Attorney General for Housing, California Department of Justice
• Jennifer Hernandez - Partner, Holland & Knight
• Paul Rohrer - Co-Chair, Real Estate, Loeb & Loeb
• Fernando Villa -  Partner, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips
• Jesse Zwick - Councilmember, City of Santa Monica
• Michelle Keldorf - Councilmember, City of El Segundo, Director of Acquisition, The Olson Company
• Peter Grant -  City Manager, City of Yorba Linda
• Steve Jones - Former Mayor, City of Garden Grove
• Anish Saraiya - Director of Altadena Recovery, LA County Board of Supervisors
• Dan Kalmick - Former Huntington Beach City Councilmember
• David Cheung - Senior Account Executive, Esri
• Scott Laurie - President and CEO, The Olson Company

Spring 2026

Budget Policy Seminars (February 2026)

• Scott Ochoa '93, City of Ontario City Manager
• Christopher Townsend '82, President of Townsend Public Affairs
• Eric Figueroa '92 P'21, former City Manager
• Deborah Gonzalez'85 P'14, Director of Government Affairs, Public Policy Institute of California
   

Spring 2025

The Compounding Housing Crisis: Solutions for a Better Future
(3rd Annual Housing Policy Symposium, April 9, 2025)

• Gray Davis, former Governor of California
• Ken Miller, Director, Rose Institute
• Katrina Foley, Vice Chair, Orange County Board of Supervisors and Chair of the Orange County Housing Finance Trust
• Joyce Ahn, Mayor, City of Buena Park
• Jathan Pai ’28, Research Assistant, Rose Institute
• James Gore, Supervisor, Sonoma County
• Kelly Seyarto, State Senator, 32nd District; Former Battalion Chief, Los Angeles County Fire Department
• Richard Green, Director, USC Lusk Center for Real Estate
• Jason Elliott, President, Vesus Solutions; former Deputy Chief of Staff, Governor Newsom
• Alicia Velasco, Planning Director, City of Cypress
• Ted White, Deputy City Manager, City of Anaheim
• Thomas Wong, Councilmember, City of Monterey Park
• John Reekstin, Executive Vice President for Community Development, The Olson Company
• Scott Laurie, President & Chief Executive Officer, The Olson Company

Housing Panel (March 26, 2025)

• Wes Whitaker ’18, Senior Consultant, California State Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation
• Catherine Charles, Government Relations, New California Coalition
• Mark Stivers, Director of Legislative and Regulatory Advocacy at California Housing Partnership

The Tiger and the Octopus: Political Reform, New York, California, and the Crisis of American Politics (November 18, 2024)

• Andrew Sinclair ’08, Assistant Professor, Claremont McKenna College

Fall 2024

A Conversation with the Honorable Willie Brown (October 30, 2024)

• Willie L. Brown, Jr., former two-term mayor of San Francisco and longest-serving Speaker of the California State Assembly

California's Choices: 2024 Ballot Measures (October 9, 2024)

• Ken Miller, Director, Rose Institute
• Various students, Rose Institute

Spring 2024

The Policies and Politics of California (February 28, 2024)

• Anthony Rendon, Speaker Emeritus, California State Assembly

A Task for Us All: Promoting Civic Engagement and Politics of California (April 10, 2024)

• Tani Cantil-Sakauye, President and CEO, Public Policy Institute of California

Is Policy Leading to Production? (April 26, 2024)

• Gray Davis, former Governor of California
• Holly J. Mitchell, Supervisor, Los Angeles County
• Scott Wiener, State Senator
• Buffy Wicks, Assemblymember
• Sharon Quirk-Silva, Assemblymember
• Jason Elliott, Deputy Chief of Staff, Governor Newsom
• Tomiquia Moss, Secretary of Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency
• Jenna Hornstock, Senior Advisor for Housing, Mayor Bass
• Megan Kerr, Councilmember, City of Long Beach
• Jed Leano, Councilmember, City of Claremont
• Damien Arrula, City Administrator, City of Placentia
• Brian Saeki, City Manager, City of Whittier
• John Reekstin, Executive VP of Community Development, The Olson Company