Rebekah Cearley, Partner at Murdoch, Walrath & Holmes

Rebekah is a legislative advocate for education entities including the Coalition for Adequate School Housing, the Community College Facility Coalition, and the County School Facilities Consortium. She has over ten years of experience in the state advocacy sector, helping clients from small associations to large companies navigate the state budget, legislative, and regulatory processes. She previously served as a consultant to school districts participating in the State School Facility Program, assisting them with accessing state grant dollars for facility projects. Rebekah has a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

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Leonard Kahn, Chief Business Officer at Lodi USD

Leonard Khan is the Chief Business Officer with Lodi Unified School District and is responsible for all aspects of district operations, risk and construction planning. He started his career as a financial securities professional in 1983 and moved into the public sector working for schools in 2001 at Val Verde Unified School District. Leonard has his CASBO CBO certificate, is a member of INACOL and a member of CCIS. He serves as the President of the Statewide Educational Wrap Up Program (SEWUP) JPA providing leadership to the largest public wrap up program dedicated for public education. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia and has received post graduate degrees at National University and the University of Southern California.

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Sherman Wong, Lawyer at Public Agency Law Group

 

Sherman was admitted to the California State Bar in 1980. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, cum laude, from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1977, where he was also on the Dean’s list and received Departmental Honors. Mr. Wong received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Davis in 1980, where he was a member of the U.C. Davis Law Review.
 

Sherman’s practice is devoted to representing public education institutions in construction, facilities and general business matters. Mr. Wong is a director of the Community College Facilities Coalition (CCFC). He is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and is admitted to practice in all courts of the State of California, all United States District Courts in California and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

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Ronald L. Lujan, J.D., OCIP Claims Analyst at Keenan

 

Ronald joined Keenan in 2015. He has an Independent Casualty Adjusters license in 32 states including California and has managed claims for Construction Defect, General Liability, Products, E&O and several other lines of business since 1990. He supervised Owner Controlled Insurance Programs (OCIPs) during his 14 years at Argonaut Insurance Company and, until joining Keenan, managed residential construction and commercial property defect losses for Pulte/Centex/Del Web. He graduated from the University of California, Irvine and received his Juris Doctorate degree from Western State University College of Law. Ron is responsible for oversight of all Builders Risk, General Liability, Pollution and Owner’s Professional Protective Indemnity losses under the Statewide Educational Wrap Up Program (SEWUP) managed by Keenan & Associates where he acts as client advocate and liaison with the insurance underwriters for the program and manages the claims under the Self Insured Retention.

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Greg Sassi, Director of Security at Gilbane Building Company

Gilbane’s Director of Security has 39 years of law enforcement and corporate security experience. A veteran of federal law enforcement for over 30 years, he has held positions with the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Customs Service and the Department of Homeland Security, where he was the Resident-Agent-in-Charge. Greg has held a top-secret security clearance and was responsible for leading complex investigations focused on national security, financial crimes, transnational gangs, human trafficking, child exploitation, and narcotics smuggling.
 

Greg has provided training to students, parents, teachers, and SROs. He has completed the Advanced Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design course for schools and attended the School Safety Advocacy Council and Campus Safety Conferences.

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Edward W. Schmitt, Partner at Koeller, Nebeker, Carlson and Haluck
 

Mr. Schmitt enjoys the challenges of assisting clients achieve solutions to complex problems within the circumstances of the clients’ goals in the marketplace and the constantly evolving statutory and case law. Hard work and creativity are necessary to keep all factors in mind while working toward solutions that protect the clients’ immediate interests in litigated matters and complement the long-term vision clients may have with the business relationships they value. Mr. Schmitt maintains a varied practice, which includes construction law (primarily the defense of general contractors and developers), contracts, torts, insurance and general civil matters.

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Sharon M. McBrian, Vice President of Construction Services at Keenan
 

As a leader of the construction services group, Sharon works together with school districts to evaluate their exposure and propose risk transfer solutions to construction related risks.

During her tenure at Keenan, Sharon has been instrumental in the growth of the Statewide Education Wrap Up Program (SEWUP) JPA, expanding its membership into the largest owner-controlled insurance program available to California schools and colleges with over 600 projects insured and valued at over $6.5 billion.
 

Sharon formed effective, strategic partnerships throughout the public agency construction industry to include community college districts, public schools, construction managers, contractors, architects and attorneys. Through her collaborative efforts and strategic partnering, SEWUP has steadily improved which has led to reductions in combined loss ratios of over 30% under her leadership which has led to economic improvements to its members.

Sharon has been managing wrap up programs for over 23 years beginning with her instrumental role as an OCIP Administrator for the J.F. Shea Co. (Developer) which started the nation’s largest rolling wrap-up for a privately held residential home builder, at the time.

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José D. Nuñez, Vice Chancellor of Facilities Planning,
Maintenance & Operations/Public Safety at San Mateo County Community College District

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In his current position, Vice Chancellor Nuñez is responsible to the Board of Trustees for the executive leadership, strategic planning, organizational development and operations of all facilities maintenance, capital construction, and public safety matters throughout the district.

Vice Chancellor Nuñez has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Chaminade University of Honolulu, Hawaii, and a Master of Arts in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas, Austin Texas, and is a graduate of the United States Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He is a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional (LEED AP) and Design Build Institute of America (DBIA) certified. His professional affiliations include DBIA, Community College Facility Coalition (CCFC), Leadership in Educational Facilities (APPA), and Society for College and University Planning (SCUP). Vice Chancellor Nuñez also serves on a myriad of Statewide California Community College Chancellor’s Office Facilities committees to include, Association of Chief Business Officials (ACBO), Facilities Task Force, California Community Colleges Investor Owned Utilities (CCC/IOU) Partnership, and Proposition 39 Steering Committee. Mr. Nuñez currently chairs the Northern California Facilities Group composed of seventeen regional Community College Districts.

Mr. Nuñez also served 23 years with the U.S. Army retiring as a Major. During his career in the military, “Major” Nuñez served in numerous infantry and diplomatic assignments around the world.