Friday, September 19, 2025 at North Beach Restaurant: Sean Elsbernd, President of SPUR
- tarmour2
- Sep 18, 2025
- 5 min read
Sean Elsbernd is our speaker this Friday, September 19. He’ll be introduced by Sac Sem chair emeritus Dick Spotswood. Sean is a past member of San Francisco Board of Supervisors, was Chief of Staff for Mayor London Breed and is now president and CEO of SPUR. https://www.spur.org/about/staff/sean-elsbernd
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Annual dues: Your Board of Directors has agreed to keep Sac Sem annual dues for 2026 at $200.00. The first request for dues and details for payment will be included in a mid-October Weekly Update. Your board is also working on a members’ poll to get opinions and suggestions on the qualities of our weekly meetings, the quality and cost of food offered at the North Beach Restaurant, ideas on future speakers, and your ideas on how to improve our collective experiences at future Seminars.
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@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 you are not attending. Valet Parking: If there are less than (10) ten sign-ups, there will be no valet. To Register for Valet Parking for future seminars, contact Chair Greg Ryken at (415) 215-3775 or email him on the Wednesday before each seminar at Greg@rykenlaw.com
UPCOMING SEMINARS:
NOT THIS YEAR. Past Congressmember Jackie Speier was set to be our guest on Friday, September 26. The current member of San Mateo County’s Board of Supervisors must reschedule. The new date will likely be in early 2026. Instead, September 26 will be a roundtable. Chair Ryken will announce the discussion topic in the next Weekly Update.
Philip Yun, the Co-President and CEO of Commonwealth World Affairs (CCWA), is our speaker on Friday, October 3. https://worldaffairs.org/team/philip-yun-2/ Philip will be introduced by Seminarian Ron Boring. CCWA is the product of a merger between the World Affairs Council of Northern California, founded in 1947, and The Commonwealth Club of California, established in 1903. A graduate of Brown University and Columbia’s School of Law, Mr. Yun was a presidential appointee at the U.S. Department of State (1994-2001), serving as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
On Friday, October 10 Sac Sem’s guest will be Silicon Valley investor Chris Larsen who has bankrolled several high-profile San Francisco political campaigns. He will be introduced by the Seminar’s chair Greg Ryken. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Larsen
Sac Sem’s speaker on Friday, October 17 will be Professor Jack Citrin. His UC colleague, Seminarian Alan Unger will make the introduction. Professor Citrin teaches in the field of political behavior including political trust, direct democracy, national identity, and ethnic politics, including immigration and language politics. Professor Citrin received his B.A. and M.A. from McGill University in Montreal and his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley.
Among Professor Citrin’s books are American Identity & the Politics of Multiculturalism (2014), Public Opinion and Constitutional Controversy (2009), Tax Revolt, Something for Nothing in California (1982,1985), After the Tax Revolt: Proposition 13 Turns 30 (2009) and Nominating the President: Evolution and Revolution in 2008 and Beyond (2009).
San Mateo County District Attorney, Steve Wagstaffe, is our speaker on Friday, October 24. Read about DA Wagstaffe in The San Mateo Daily Journal:
The new Consul General for Italy, Hon. Massimo Carnelos, will be our featured speaker on Friday, October 31. https://informaconnect.com/bioeurope-spring/speakers/massimo-carnelos/ He’ll be introduced by Seminarian Dan Riley.
Da’Mayor, Willie Lewis Brown, Jr., will be Sac Sem’s guest on Friday, November 7. Chair Greg Ryken will have the honor of introducing “A man who needs no introduction.” Speakers Chair Mike Fitgerald arranged this program which will be very well attended. Don’t miss out. Please reserve your place now.
California’s most prominent pollster as well as a Seminarian, Mark Dicamillo, https://igs.berkeley.edu/people/mark-dicamillo is our speaker on Friday, N0vember 14 at 12:15 p.m.
NEW DATE: Representative Ro Khanna (D-Santa Clara County) will be Sac Sem’s guest on Friday, November 21 starting at Noon “On-the-dot” as he must depart by 1:30 p.m. https://khanna.house.gov/about/about-rep-khanna The Philadelphia born congressmember’s commitment to public service was inspired by his grandfather who was active in Gandhi's independence movement. Prior to serving in Congress, he taught economics at Stanford University and served as deputy assistant secretary of commerce in the Obama administration.
There will be no Seminar on Friday, November 28, the day after Thanksgiving a.k.a. Black Friday.
Friday, December 5 will see Assemblymember Chris Rogers as our speaker at the North Beach Restaurant. The past Santa Rosa mayor, a Democrat, represents the counties of Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Sonoma, and Trinity in California's Assembly District 2. https://a02.asmdc.org/biography
SAVE THE (NEW) DATE: Annual Sac Sem Christmas-Haunkah-Holiday Party is set for Friday, December 12 at the North Beach Restaurant starting at Noon. Details will soon follow.
Due to Christmas being on Thursday, December 25, there will be no seminar on Friday, December 26, the day after Christmas, St. Stephen’s Day in Ireland most of Europe aka Boxing Day in the UK.
Our first speaker of the new year will be Josh Fryday, Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor https://joshfryday.com/ The date is January 3, 2026. The time is 12:15 p.m. A past mayor of the City of Novato and chair of the Governor's Office of Service and Community Engagement is a member of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s cabinet. The U.S. Navy veteran will be introduced by Seminarian and past State Assemblymember Dion Aroner.
John Kabateck, California Director of the Natonal Federation of Independent Businesses https://www.nfib.com/california/ is January 16th speaker. NFIB’s philosophy is that “Small businesses are not smaller versions of bigger businesses. They often have different difficulties in remaining solvent and policies that lump all business together often do more harm than good.” The Glendale native and USC grad attributes part of his success in working with people to having grown up in a Hollywood family. His mother was musical director for the Ernie Kovacs Show, and his father produced the Criswell Predicts TV program.
U.C. Berkeley Professor Eric Schickler will be our featured speaker on Friday, January 23rd. Professor Schickler is considered one of the foremost scholars on Congress.
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OTHER THOUGHTS: “You can go live in Germany or Turkey or Japan, but you cannot become a German, a Turk, or a Japanese. But anyone, from any corner of the Earth, can come to live in American and become an American.” Ronald Reagan
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