March 2026 Presidential Message

Dear Cal-ICMA Members,

I am honored to serve as Cal-ICMA President for my 2026-2027 term and would like to begin my first President’s message by thanking Immediate Past President Dr. Peter Pirnejad for his leadership from 2025-2026, as well as outgoing Past President Hazel Wetherford and incoming President Elect Brett Channing. This Executive Leadership Team, combined with the entire Cal-ICMA Board, dedicated Committee members, ICMA Senior Program Manager Kaci Fullerton, and ICMA West Coast Regional Director Pat Martel, have launched Cal-ICMA to new heights from the shoulders of all previous years’ leadership teams, deepening and strengthening how Cal-ICMA delivers value to local government leaders in California.

We are off to a great start in 2026. With a successful Board strategic planning workshop and Board meeting in early February, we adopted an updated and aggressive 3-year workplan with the following immediate priorities for 2026:

·         Governance and communication improvements

·         Activating the Partners in Local Governance training initiative in collaboration with other affiliate organizations

·         Supporting a revamp of the ICMA Senior Advisory Program

·         Supporting efforts to make ICMA 2026 Long Beach immensely successful.

More details are included in the workplan [here].

Having recently retired from my Pacifica City Manager role and now being able to primarily focus on Cal-ICMA, I’ve reflected a lot in recent months (years actually) about the state of local government executive leadership and challenges in our communities. While we are faced with difficult challenges, our profession and the generations to come are filled with incredible talent, problem solvers, and leaders working towards solutions. And Cal ICMA, ICMA, and all our Affiliate Organizations are working collaboratively to support these efforts.

I’m reminded of a phenomenon that occurs in the mountains:

When looking up at a mountain and scouting the obstacles that appear in the way to the top, more often than not, when you confront each obstacle and get up close, you find there’s a way around it.  And if it turns out to be impassable, you pivot to other routes that are passable. 

This phenomenon often applies to the work we do.  We tackle difficult challenges and find ways around obstacles, or alternative ways to reach the goal.

I’m excited and heartened by our collective work towards local government leadership excellence and look forward to our adventures together in 2026 and beyond.

Kevin Woodhouse

President, Cal-ICMA (2026-2027)