ALF Silicon Valley’s 2025 Exemplary Leadership Celebration lived up to its name: more than 40 (of 45) Senior Fellow classes plus seven current Fellows packed into Sharon Heights’ ballroom. You bought all 280 available seats. You invested more than $150K in our first-ever fundraising paddle-raiser at an EL dinner. You generously offered two gifts at $25k, one at $15k, and four at $10k. And Grace Liu matched the first $50k with a five-year gift for class scholarships in honor of her late husband, Senior Fellow Thang Do, from Class XXXVIII (the best class).
John W. Gardner awardee Mike Gaulke (Class XXIII, the best class) and his friends bought four tables. Friends of John W. Gardner awardee Cindy Chavez (Class XII, the best class) filled a table. They held up “big head,” photographs of Cindy, courtesy of Cindy’s fellow former Santa Clara County Board of Supervisor and ALF Silicon Valley board member, Ken Yaeger.
The Asian Pacific American Leadership Institute (APALI) took home the Greg Ranstrom Network Leadership Award—and made their presence known loudly throughout the night.
Board Chair Heather Rangel revved up the room and invited Senior Fellows who might be interested in board service to let her know so she can pass along names to the ALF Nominating and Governance committee.
Our outgoing CEO, Suzanne St. John-Crane, gave her final 7-minute talk, exhorting the room to lean into the head-spinning opportunity for community leadership otherwise known as 2025.
The dinner also marked the debut of the book that has been Suzanne’s dream for five years. With a group of editors and 20 Senior Fellow authors, A Guide to Human Citizenship: The ALF Way became a reality. Every donor received a copy, and lots of attendees also picked up copies of Jim Morgan’s classic Applied Wisdom: Bad News Is Good News and Other Insights That Can Help Anyone Be a Better Manager.
It was a warm, raucous night — AND WE ENDED 20 MINUTES EARLY!!!
WATCH VIDEOS AND VIEW PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT!
