Master Municipal Clerk and Clerk of the Board Academy Trainers
Dawn Abrahamson, MMC
Dawn is currently the City Clerk in the City of Vallejo. Dawn, a native Californian, has over 30 years of experience working in municipal government. Her career began with the City of Pinole in 1984 where she served in a variety of capacities including Deputy City Clerk, Human Resource Analyst, Executive Assistant to the Mayor and Council, Assistant to the Risk Manager, and staff to the Pinole Centennial Committee and Youth Commission. Dawn was officially appointed Deputy City Clerk for the City of Pinole in 1994 and performed all duties and responsibilities of both the elected City Clerk and Deputy City Clerk. Prior to coming to Vallejo, she served as City Clerk in Pleasanton and Fremont.
She has served on numerous committees of the City Clerk’s Association of California (CCAC). Dawn is a past member of the CCAC Board actively serving from 1998 to 2018. She is a Past CCAC President serving from 2005-2006, Immediate Past Professional Development Director serving from 2008-2010 and 2012 to 2018, and Legislative Director from 2011-2012. Dawn served on the League of California Cities Administrative Services, Environmental Quality and Public Safety Policy Committees. Dawn received the President’s Award of Distinction in 2002 in recognition for her contribution to both CCAC and her community and in 2008, received the President’s Award of Distinction in honor and recognition of her professional achievements in the category of Legislative Procedures. In 2009, Dawn received the “Clerk of the Year” award in recognition of her contributions to the City of Fremont and its community and in recognition of her many professional contributions to CCAC. In April of 2017, Dawn received the “Pat Hammers Spirit Award” in recognition of her devotion to promoting the advancement and professional growth in clerks and the profession.
Dawn is the current Vice President of the International Institute of Municipal Clerks (IIMC) after successfully being elected in March 2023. She is a past Region Director representing Region IX on IIMC’s Board of Directors. Region IX Directors represent the states of Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington.
Dawn and her hearing canine companion, Every, are active volunteers for Canine Companions and a part of the Leadership Team for the East Bay Chapter serving in the capacity of Vice President. Dawn is a past participant with Team & Training, The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society having volunteered as both Honoree Captain and marathon runner.
Britt Avrit, MMC
Britt began her career in local government with the City of Lancaster in 2001 in the office of the City Clerk and has spent her entire government career in the Clerk’s office. In 2014, she was appointed City Clerk in Lancaster after serving as the Administrative Assistant, the Records Clerk, and the Assistant City Clerk. Britt became the City Clerk for the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea in 2019 and City Clerk for the City of Saratoga in 2021.
Britt obtained her Certified Municipal Clerk designation in 2009, her bachelor’s degree in public administration in 2010, and her Master Municipal Clerk designation in 2017. She is a graduate of Continuing Education for Public Officials (CEPO) and the Training for Trainers program, has served multiple terms as the Recording Secretary for the City Clerks Association of California (CCAC) and is a trainer for the Master Municipal Clerks Academy.
Britt loves working with others in her profession and enjoys training others to deepen their knowledge of the Clerk profession. Britt is passionate about football and her family, she enjoys listening to music, camping and laughing with friends.
Michelle Bigelow, MMC, CPMC
Michelle is the City Clerk and Public Information Officer for the City of Morgan Hill, serving as the liaison between the public and the City Council, leading community engagement processes, and developing communications for distribution to the community and media. Her work with Communications and Engagement is currently focused on improving the City’s process for informing and engaging its residents about development projects within the community and implementing the City’s first Communications, Outreach, and Engagement Plan.
She has been with the City of Morgan Hill since 2008 when she started as an office assistant in the Building Department. After holding several positions in her 15 years with the City, she became the first appointed City Clerk for Morgan Hill in 2020, and in 2021 she became the City’s first City Clerk/Public Information Officer. She completed Technical Training for Clerks and the Master Municipal Clerk Academy earning Certified Municipal Clerk in 2013, Master Municipal Clerk in 2018, and California Professional Municipal Clerk in 2019. Michelle recently served as the City Clerks Association of California Region 14 Director.
Outside the office, Michelle enjoys spending time with her husband, Brit, and two adult sons, Cole and Caleb. As a family, they enjoy hiking, camping, traveling, and exploring the outdoors. Michelle also serves on her local South Valley Symphony Board of Directors, working to keep music in the community.
Joelle Fockler, MMC
Joelle started her government career in 1986 working for the City of Pleasant Hill. There, she worked in the Finance, Human Resources, City Manager, and Community Development Departments until 2000. Wanting to spend more time with her two young children, Joelle then went to work at the Contra Costa Centre Association where she was a transportation and childcare program coordinator for the public/private partnership. In 2007, Joelle returned to work full-time in the City of Concord, California, where she worked as an Administrative Assistant in the Economic Development/Redevelopment Department. In 2011 an opportunity came up to apply for the Concord City Clerk, and Joelle found her passion.
At that time, Joelle went back to school to earn her BS degree and enrolled in every possible training to earn the Certified Municipal Clerk (CMC) designation. Things didn’t work out quite the way they were planned at Concord, but she seized an opportunity to work for the City of Walnut Creek as its Assistant to the City Clerk. Gaining experience and education at Walnut Creek, Joelle returned to the City of Concord in 2014 as its Deputy City Clerk and became City Clerk in November 2014. She earned the CMC designation in 2012 and a Bachelor of Applied Studies and Master Municipal Clerk designation in 2016. Joelle has served as the Communications Chair and Vice President of the Northern California City Clerks’ Association (CCAC) Region 15 Director, and as 2nd Vice President of CCAC.
Major projects include district-based elections, a voter-approved half-cent local sales tax, a voter-approved extension of half-cent and increase to one-cent local sales tax, cannabis regulations, and the redistricting process.
Joelle is the coordinator of the Contra Costa Local Governance Leadership Academy and a trainer at CCAC Nuts and Bolts Workshop, Technical Training for Clerks (TTC), and the Master Municipal Clerk Institute Academy (MMCA).
Diane Gladwell, MMC
Diane Gladwell has been the President of Gladwell Governmental Services, Inc. for over thirty years. She has assisted over 250 California local governments with elections management, records retention, electronic records management, e-mail, and document imaging programs (ECMS).
Diane was the City Clerk for two different cities, managing organization-wide records management and document imaging programs (and elections, of course.) Before becoming a City Clerk, Diane managed the payment systems for the Food-4-Less chain for 9 years, where she had 120 people reporting to her.
Diane has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and is a Master Municipal Clerk. In addition to being listed in Who’s Who of Professionals, her work has won many prestigious awards in the Records Management and Document Imaging Industry as well as from state and international associations. Diane also received the prestigious Woman of Distinction Award, California 23rd Senate District in 2017.
Pamela Miller, CMC
Pamela Miller has decades of experience working in public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Having worked years for others in the fields of executive management and organizational training and development, Pamela started her own consulting group in 2014. Practiced in facilitating adult education, she successfully incorporates her leadership and life experience into her human and organizational development work.
In addition to her work with individual agencies, Pamela currently serves as the co-director of the Contra Costa County and Alameda County Local Government Leadership Academies and is a co-founder of the Sacramento Valley Local Government Leadership Academy, the Marin-Sonoma Counites Leadership Academy, and the Greater Sacramento Valley Local Government Executive Leadership Institute.
Prior to starting Miller Management & Consulting Group, Pamela served as the Executive and Program Director for Continuing Education for Public Officials, Inc. (CEPO, Inc.), a nonprofit organization that provided leader development and training to current and emerging leaders in the public sector in California.
Pamela served as the Executive Director for the California Association of Local Agency Formation Commissions (CALAFCO) from 2012 to 2022. Prior to returning to California in 2012, she lived in Benton Harbor, Michigan, where she worked as Vice President for The Consortium for Community Development, a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization. Her work there included systems and individual capacity building as well as community development.
Her public sector experience includes serving as Administrative Manager for the County Executive Office and Clerk of the Board of Supervisors for Napa County, as Deputy City Clerk for the City of Vallejo and as a consulting analyst to the Contra Costa County Flood Control District’s clean water program.
Pamela earned a master’s degree in organizational leadership and bachelor’s degree in business management; is certified in the Table Group’s Six Types of Working Genius; is a certified practitioner of Everything DiSC™; holds a certification in Total Quality Management; and is certified in the delivery of the communications styles instrument Success Signals©. She is also a member of Women Leading Government and a practicing consultant with Municipal Resource Group, LLC.
Stephanie Mizuno, MMC
Stephanie Mizuno is a municipal government professional with a full range of advanced municipal clerking expertise that is strengthened with extensive administrative and operational experience achieved during 33 years of service with the City of Sacramento. Stephanie delivered proven results in a demanding and fast-paced political environment utilizing strengths in political acumen, leadership, adaptability, accountability, independent and collaborative decision making, inter-personal relationships, problem solving, resource utilization, and coaching and mentoring for success.
As a city clerk professional, she makes use of her considerable election expertise combined with a proactive approach to process and customer service to successfully navigate an election from inception to certification. This includes management of statutory requirements and deadlines; candidate nominations; campaign disclosure filings; ballot measures; and initiative, recall and referendum petitions.
In addition to election consulting, she has a broad range of management, personnel function, budget, policy and resource development, customer service, and citizen interaction skills that are applicable to client needs. Her knowledge and experience in these areas, combined with a professional and straight forward approach, is an important part of her effectiveness. She quickly assesses current environments, identifies stakeholders, finds areas for improvement, and clearly communicates assessments and recommendations to clients. She understands the importance of leading teams to success and that building collaborative and trusting relationships with diverse stakeholders is vital to reaching successful outcomes.
Stephanie is certified as an MMC, a distinguished city clerk master certification, and holds a bachelor of science degree in business administration and management from the University of Phoenix. She served many years on the City Clerk’s Association of California legislative committee and League of California Cities policy committees. Stephanie is also a trainer for the master municipal clerk academy, which is a certified instructional academy providing advanced clerking and leadership certifications to those in the city clerk profession.
Marsha Moore, MMC
Marsha Moore is currently the City Clerk for the City of Dublin. As the City Clerk, she administers the City’s records and information management program; maintains an accurate legislative and historical record; ensures the City’s compliance with the Political Reform Act, Public Records Act, and Conflict of Interest Code; conducts municipal elections; manages the agenda preparation and review process for the City Council and the City’s commissions and committees; administers the City’s commission and committee recruitment process; and oversees passport services. Major projects include transition to district-based elections, referendum (that ended with a repeal of the ordinance), and two attempted recalls.
Marsha has more than 23 years of experience, having started her career in federal government working for U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell in Washington, and then transitioning to local government with South County Fire where she was exposed to the City Clerk world. Prior to joining the City of Dublin, she worked as the Deputy City Clerk for the City of Concord.
She holds a master’s degree in public administration from Eastern Washington University, and a bachelor’s degree from Linfield University. Marsha grounds herself by being very active in her profession. She earned her Certified Municipal Clerk in 2013 and her Master Municipal Clerk in 2019. Marsha is a fan of Athenian Dialogues and serves on the Athenian Dialogue Committee for the City Clerks Association of California and was recently appointed as the Region 15 representative.
Marsha lives in Dublin, CA and has a daughter starting her freshman year at Portland State University. In her free time, she enjoys the outdoors and reading good books.
Colleen Nicol, MMC
Colleen served over forty years in the municipal clerk profession and retired in 2021 from her position as City Clerk for the City of Riverside, CA.
Colleen served fifteen years on the City Clerks Association of California Board of Directors and as its President in 2000-01. She trains at California’s Technical Training for Clerks and the Master Municipal Clerk Academy. Colleen served as the 2012-13 President of the International Institute of Municipal Clerks and currently supports municipal clerk education programs and scholarships as a board member of the IIMC Foundation.
Colleen received the Quill Award in May of 2002, the City Clerks Association of California City Clerk of the Year in 2006, and the Pat Hammers Spirit Award in 2018 for achievements in mentoring, teaching, and promoting the profession of municipal clerk. She holds Master Municipal Clerk status, a master’s degree in public administration, and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics.
In retirement Colleen continues her work with the IIMC Foundation and as Secretary to the Riverside Philharmonic. Colleen enjoys spending time with family, friends, music, dancing, and traveling.
Patrice Olds, MMC
Patrice is the City Clerk for the City of San Mateo since January 2012 and prior to that served as City Clerk for the City of Walnut Creek where she was honored to be named Employee of the Year for Walnut Creek in 2011. Prior to joining local government, she worked in the private sector in roles ranging from Business Manager to Accountant to Property Management. She has attained her MMC certification, is a graduate of Continuing Education for Public Officials and the Training of Trainers program.
She served as President for the California City Clerks Association in 2019-2020 and is a core trainer for the Master Municipal Clerk Academy. She has been a trainer on topics ranging from managing dysfunctional meetings to project management to ethical leadership to crucial conversations to honing public speaking skills. Patrice has a passion for the clerk profession, coupled with a deep commitment to individual life-long learning, she encourages everyone to jump in with both feet and commit wholeheartedly to all the possibilities this profession provides.
Wandzia Rose, CIC
For over 25 years, Wandzia Rose has assisted individuals as well as government, education, and non-profit agencies in enhancing their performance in delivering high-quality services. Prior to going into private practice, Wandzia held key positions in medium and large public sector and educational institutions in which she served as division manager, department head, assistant city manager, and interim city manager. Wandzia led, managed, and transformed complex organizations and implemented, among others, staff and organization-wide development training programs resulting in widespread organizational transformation and community benefit. She is a founding member of the Leadership San Leandro program and from 1991-2014, served a tenured trainer for the Continuing Education for Public Officials (CEPO), a leadership development program and its associated Train-the-Trainer program. During her career, she served as a member on a number of League of California Cities Policy Committees as well as on the Government Technology Conference (GTC) Advisory Board.
Wandzia now owns a successful management consulting and coaching practice. She co-created the Performance Leadership program, a comprehensive leadership development program designed to assist leaders at all levels to understand the complex dynamics that impact organizational performance. She is an Integrative Coach Professional certified by The Ford Institute for Transformational Training and is certified in the Integrative Enneagram. She is also a certified trainer in Success Signals, a communication skills training program. Wandzia currently serves as a senior trainer for the City Clerks Association of California’s (CCAC) Master Municipal Clerk Academy offered through Miller Management and Consulting Group. She is also one of three Co-Directors for the Alameda County Leadership Academy, the Contra Costa County Leadership Academy, the Greater Sacramento Valley Leadership Academy, the Marin-Sonoma Counties Leadership Academy, and the Sacramento Valley Executive Leadership Institute. Wandzia earned a B.A. degree from the University of San Francisco and is working on her master’s degree in Consciousness and Transformational Studies.
Stephanie Smith, MMC
Stephanie D. Smith, Director of Elections Services for Best, Best & Krieger, is a Master Municipal Clerk and has served on the Executive Board for the City Clerks Association of California, most recently as President in 2018-2019. With 33 years’ experience in municipal government, she has worked for the cities of Paramount, Perris, Lake Forest, and Murrieta before retiring from City employment and moving to the private sector, where she heads up the firm’s Election Services division, providing Municipal Clerks with election advice and redistricting demographic and public hearing services. She holds a bachelor’s degree in management and is a 30th Anniversary Year graduate of the Advanced Leadership Program through Continuing Education for Public Officials (CEPO). She is also a graduate of the CEPO Training for Trainers Program.
Stephanie is the author of over 100 published articles on a variety of topics, including workplace change initiatives, personnel issues, business management, work/life balance, and financial planning. Her first book, ‘Values-Based Goal Setting: How to Dream Big and Live the Life You Were Meant to Live” was an Amazon #1 bestseller in the Vocational Guidance and Business & Money Short Reads categories. She trains regularly for the City Clerks Association, Master Municipal Clerk Academy, California Building Officials Association, and facilitates Athenian Dialogues throughout the western United States.
Jennifer Woodworth, MMC
Jen Woodworth is currently the City Clerk for the City of Hollister, which she joined in 2022. She previously served as the District Clerk for the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District for nine years and worked in the Sunnyvale City Attorney’s Office and for the Santa Clara County Superior Court. Jen has officially worked in the public sector since 2008 but feels like she’s done it her entire life as she often accompanied her father to the Mississippi Senate floor while he served as a legislator during her childhood. As a clerk, Jen is committed to transparency and helping the public understand and access their local government.
Jen earned her Certified Municipal Clerk certification in 2013, Master Municipal Clerk certification in 2015, and Certified Professional Municipal Clerk certification in 2020. She is active in the International Institute of Municipal Clerks and City Clerks Association of California (CCAC), previously serving as the CCAC Region 14 Director and Northern California City Clerks Association Communications Chair. Jen trains at the California Master Municipal Clerk Academy (MMCA), Nuts & Bolts, and CCAC regional education workshops. Jen is passionate about training her fellow clerks and helping them continue their pursuit of lifelong learning and increasing their technical and leadership skills. Jen’s favorite topics to train include the Brown Act, Working with your City Manager and Elected Officials, and Effective Written and Oral Communications. Jen earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from Brigham Young University in 2005.
When she has it, Jen enjoys spending her free time with her two children, Madison and Jackson, and her husband, Dan.