July: Leadership Visalia Alumni

Name: Michael E. Rivera

Company: Valley Business Bank

Title: Vice President / Operations & Marketing Administrator

What year did you graduate from Leadership Visalia? 2004

Where do you currently work and what is your role? County of Tulare (General Services Agency)

  • Community Outreach Specialist – Responsible for all public relations involving Tulare County Parks and the promotion of events and activities of parks which include park sponsorships, and event oversight. Also responsible for all media contact involving the parks as well as the management of the Parks social media platforms.

How has Leadership Visalia impacted your personal or professional life? When I went through Leadership Visalia in 2003-2004, I had recently relocated back to the area from Southern California but had been raised in Tulare. Since I was a career banker at the time, I felt it was necessary to become more involved with the community to cultivate more meaningful relationships. The time that I spent going through Leadership Visalia exposed me to many aspects of our community including local leaders, and government. This exposure brought opportunities to sit on local boards, including Pro-Youth HEART as well as chairing the Tulare County Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Committee which I served on for more than 7 years. My time going through Leadership Visalia also showed me how critical the local government, volunteerism, and community involvement is to ensure that the community has enough resources to support the population.

What is one leadership lesson or moment that has stuck with you since the program? I’ve been in management for over thirty years and going through Leadership Visalia helped me utilize those skills with my peers that went through the program with me. With so many strong personalities, it was critical that effective leadership was in place which I must say that Vicki Stasch was an excellent facilitator. Since my graduation from Leadership Visalia, I was promoted into a high-level leadership position with Valley Business Bank which assisted me with my daily responsibilities including the involvement in the community and the management of my subordinates. Effective listening and team building were critical and used often.

What are you most passionate about in your career or community work? I’ve learned that you need to be passionate about your job to be effective. When you are passionate about something, you are more inclined to want to do whatever it takes to be successful. Building meaningful and lasting relationships with members of the community falls in line with that.

What advice would you give someone thinking about joining Leadership Visalia?Go in with an open mind and be prepared to change the way you think about certain things. The beauty of Leadership Visalia is that you are amongst a group of professionals and working as a cohesive group can bring challenges and navigating through those challenges can be a reward in itself.