Mandara Meyers, Executive Director of the States Project https://statesproject.org/about-us/ is our guest speaker this Friday, March 27. Mandara has driven the strategy and expansion of The States Project's electoral and governance work since 2020, positioning TSP as the largest outside funder of state legislative campaigns to advance policy goals including paid family leave, climate action, and education funding. It is not considered nonpartisan, as it funds and works to el

This Friday, March 20, Mongolia’s Consul General B. Munkhbaatar will meet with the Seminar to discuss the state of Mongolia's diplomatic, economic, and cultural relations with Russia. Learn a bit about Mongolia at https://sanfrancisco.consul.mn/subcategory/250 and Mongolian history at https://sanfrancisco.consul.mn/page/169   RSVP TO ATTEND any upcoming seminar. To assist the kitchen staff with planning for our Friday lunchtime meetings, please notify DENNIS WHEATLEY at denn

This Friday, March 13 ( Friday the 13 th ! ) Chair Ryken will be leading a Sac Sem roundtable. It’s even possible that the IRAN WAR will arise as a discussion topic.   RSVP TO ATTEND any upcoming seminar. To assist the kitchen staff with planning for our Friday lunchtime meetings, please notify DENNIS WHEATLEY at dennis@triticum.com NO LATER THAN MID-DAY ON the WEDNESDAY BEFORE EVERY SEMINAR if you plan to attend and indicate if you’ll be bringing a guest . Dennis DOES NOT

Mary Noel Pepys is our speaker for Friday, March 6 th . Mary Noel will be reflecting on her 30-year journey, during which she has lived two lifestyles that are worlds apart—one in the United States, where she enjoyed the privileges of living in a democracy, and the other abroad where she had worked to advance democratic reforms in more than 45 countries. A Seminarian, Mary Noel is a director emeritus of UC Law – San Francisco (formerly Hastings College of Law.) She will be i

Alan Wong, the newest member of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors is the Seminar’s guest on Friday, February 20. Supervisor Wong was appointed by Mayor Dan Lurie to the board’s Sunset District-centered District 4 seat on December 1. The post had been held by Supervisor Joel Engardo until he was recalled over the conversion of the Great Highway to Sunset Dunes Park. A Lincoln High Grad, Supervisor Wong received degrees from UC San Diego and a master’s degree in public

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Carl Nolte will return to Sac Sem on Friday, February 27. Carl writes the “ Native Son ” column on page 2 of each Sunday Chron. A lifelong San Franciscan, Carl was a beat reporter with the “ Voice of the West ” starting in the 1970s. He will focus on recent shifts in the business of journalism (technologies, mediums, and impacts). Chair emeritus Dick Spotswood will introduce our guest.   RSVP TO ATTEND any upcoming seminar. To assist the k

“Ace” Smith is our guest this Friday, February 13. Averell “Ace” Smith is the campaign guru behind Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom. Capitol Weekly says he’s  “a legend among California political consultants, the San Francisco-based Smith has handled campaigns for president, governor, senator, local contenders and, perhaps most memorably, his own father.” (Past Seminarian and San Francisco District Attorney) Arlo Smith . https://capitolweekly.net/oral-histories/ace-smith-pol

There’ll be a Sac Sem roundtable this Friday, January 30 starting at 12:15 p.m . The roundtable’s topic will be, Greenland , Trump, the Nobel Prize and post-Davos . Many seminarians tell us that they miss roundtables. They’ll be scheduled more often in 2026. In the years after the Seminar was established, roundtables were the norm and Friday speakers the exception.  Food for thought for this roundtable from The Atlantic .   Daniel Yudkin and Stephen Hawkins write,  “ Tru

U.C. Berkeley Professor Eric Schickler, recognized as a top Congressional scholar and a leading expert on American politics, government and policy, is our featured speaker this Friday, January 23 at 12:15 p.m.    Prof. Schickler appears regularly in national and international media — an example, Thomas Edsall’s recent weekly NY Times column addressing “ Why Does Trump Get Away with it? ” — in which Prof. Schickler is noted for directly addressing the question posed by his co

This Thursday, January 15, 2026, Sacramento Seminar is co-sponsoring with the University Club (atop Nob Hill at California and Powell Streets) a conversation with Richard Lyons, the Chancellor of UC Berkeley. Check him out at https://chancellor.berkeley.edu/about/chancellor-lyons-biography   The event is moderated by Seminarian Mike Fitzgerald. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. which means there’s a 30-minute cocktail half hour before the program starts at 6:00 p.m. This is your

Sac Sem starts off 2026 on Friday, January 9 with a much-requested roundtable led by Chair Ryken. The lead topic is summarized in one word: Venezuela.   RSVP TO ATTEND any upcoming seminar. To assist the kitchen staff with planning for our Friday lunchtime meetings, please notify DENNIS WHEATLEY at dennis@triticum.com NO LATER THAN MID-DAY ON the WEDNESDAY BEFORE EVERY SEMINAR if you plan to attend and indicate if you’ll be bringing a guest . Dennis DOES NOT need to know

As the Christmas-Hanukkah Holiday season is well under way with most of us a bit overwhelmed, there is no seminar this Friday, December 16. Christmas being on Thursday, December 25, there will also be no semina r on Friday, December 26, the day after Christmas, St. Stephen’s Day in Ireland most of Europe aka Boxing Day in the UK, nor on the day after New Year’s Day, Friday, January 2, 2026.   Your Weekly Update newsletter will next be emailed on January 5, 2026. Happy New Y

Sac Sem annual Christmas-Hanukkah-Quanza Holiday Party is set for this Friday, December 12 at the North Beach Restaurant starting at Noon .  There is no charge. Your complementary holiday meal is one of the benefits of being a paid Sac Sem member. The complementary wine is courtesy of the North Beach Restaurant. Drink up! Seminarians may, if they choose, bring one (1) guest. There is no charge for that guest. If you haven’t’ already signed up, please do so now. As Sac Sem is

Friday, December 5 will see Assemblymember Chris Rogers as our guest speaker at the North Beach Restaurant starting at 12:15 p.m. The past Santa Rosa mayor, a Democrat, represents the counties of Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, northern Sonoma, and Trinity in California's Assembly District 2.   https://a02.asmdc.org/biography  He will be introduced by Seminarian Bruce Raful. Chris started his career in public service as a legislative aide and senior staffer to State Senator

No seminar is scheduled for this Friday, November 28 (e.g., the day after Thanksgiving, a.k.a. “Black Friday,”) Chair Greg Ryken will be having his lunch at the North Beach Restaurant this Friday. Seminarians who have the time are invited to join him. Greg will be seated upstairs. Just drop by at Noon.                                                                ***   RSVP TO ATTEND any upcoming seminar. To assist the kitchen staff with planning for our Friday lunchtime me

This Friday, November 21, Sac Sem’s speaker is Isaac Stone Fish, CEO and founder of Strategy Risks, a business intelligence firm which quantifies corporate exposure to China. They help companies and entities manage and reduce their China risk. The Columbia University grad is the author of America Second (Knopf, 2022), a book about Beijing's influence in the United States. Formerly a Beijing correspondent for Newsweek, Stone Fish spent seven years living in China: Previously

California’s most prominent pollster and a Seminarian Mark Dicamillo, https://igs.berkeley.edu/people/mark-dicamillo is our speaker this Friday, November 14 at 12:15 p.m.                                                      *** RSVP TO ATTEND any upcoming seminar. To assist the North Beach Restaurant’s kitchen staff with planning for our Friday lunchtime meetings please notify Dennis Wheatley at dennis@triticum.com NO LATER THAN MID-DAY ON the WEDNESDAY BEFORE EVERY SEMINA

TIME CHANGE: URGENT. Da’Mayor, Willie Lewis Brown, Jr., will be Sac Sem’s guest on Friday, November 7.  Due to a scheduling conflict, Mayor Brown will arrive a bit before 11:30 a.m. and depart around 12:15 – 12:30 p.m . Given the large crowd, Seminarians are urged to arrive by 11:15 a.m. If this time change is impossible for you to meet and requires you to cancel, please immediately email Dennis Wheatley at dennis@triticum.com so that he can provide an accurate attendance

The new Consul General for Italy, Hon. Massimo Carnelos, will be our featured speaker this Friday, October 31. https://informaconnect.com/bioeurope-spring/speakers/massimo-carnelos/  He’ll be introduced by Seminarian Dan Riley.                                                                               *** RSVP TO ATTEND any upcoming seminar. To assist the North Beach Restaurant’s kitchen staff with planning for our Friday lunchtime meetings please notify Dennis Wheatley

San Mateo County District Attorney, Steve Wagstaffe , is our speaker on Friday, October 24. Read about DA Wagstaffe in The San Mateo Daily Journal: https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/wagstaffe-cuffed-to-law-at-a-tender-age/article_0d502991-3d9c-55d3-923f-65f045886db1.html                                                                          *** RSVP TO ATTEND any upcoming seminar. To assist the North Beach Restaurant’s kitchen staff with planning for our Friday lunc