Shawn Spano, Ph.D.
PDC President and Senior Consultant
Shawn Spano is a founding member of the Public Dialogue Consortium, with over 25 years of experience designing and facilitating stakeholder meetings, training workshops, community forums, and off-site retreats with executive staff, elected officials, middle managers, commissions and boards, and local residents.
Shawn is a Professor in the Communication Studies Department at San Jose State University, teaching courses and conducting research in organizational communication, small group communication and public dialogue. He has published numerous articles and chapters, including the book, Public Dialogue and Participatory Democracy.
Linda Blong, Ph.D.
PDC Senior Consultant
Linda Blong brings twenty-five years of experience working with public agencies at the state and local levels within and outside of California. Her experience and expertise includes large and small group facilitation; community engagement; participatory planning processes; professional development design and implementation; collaborative learning and communities of practice; collaborative management strategies; personal and organizational development; interpersonal and group communication; program evaluation; systems change; and project management.
Linda also serves as Senior Project Specialist at the Napa County Office of Education and as Program Leader and faculty for the Dialogue, Deliberation, and Public Engagement Certificate Program at Kansas State University.
Jennifer Mair
PDC Executive Director
Jennifer Mair has over a decade of experience working toward quality public engagement in our communities. She provides facilitation, public and stakeholder engagement, situation and stakeholder assessment, strategic planning and process design, and training services to local, regional and state agencies and organizations. Jen facilitates collaborative decision-making and conflict-resolution processes in many contexts, with extensive experience working in government, corporate, small business, non-profit, and educational environments. She is committed to providing creative platforms for diverse stakeholders to voice their interests and perspectives.
Jennifer also works as a senior facilitator and project manager with Zephyr Collaboration. She has a decade of experience teaching communication studies and community engagement strategies at San Francisco State University, University of San Francisco, and Skyline College.
Keiva Hummel
Junior Consultant
Keiva Hummel works with Public Dialogue Consortium as the Social Media Coordinator, and skillfully facilitates conversations during meetings and events. During her time with PDC, she has worked with community members, students, and government employees from the City of Milpitas, Half Moon Bay, San Bruno, and the Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District; with a focus to ensure that voices from the community were represented and the community’s wishes reported back with detailed accuracy.
Keiva also works as Communications Coordinator with the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD), a network of thousands of practitioners and innovators in public engagement, dialogue, and deliberation. She graduated cum laude from San Francisco State University with a B.A. in Communication Studies, Minor in Global Peace, Human Rights and Justice Studies, and a Certificate in Conflict Resolution Studies.
Isabella Guzman
Junior Consultant
Isabella Guzman has over eight years of translation experience ranging from facilitating small community groups to translation for large-scale governmental agency contracts. Whether it’s interpreting for Spanish-speaking community members in public meetings or translating for official training videos in Francophone Africa for the Millennium Challenge Corporation, Isabella bridges communication in diverse situations and communities. Isabella’s work in local and international community initiatives has equipped her with the skills necessary to connect with others across diverse backgrounds, as well as to effectively utilize digital tools to manage campaigns. Isabella’s experience includes small to mid-size group facilitation, advocacy, community organizing, and collaboration with local and international policymakers