Mike Staver

How did you get into public speaking?

I was an administrator in a hospital. Our doctors did seminars and nobody ever came. My boss asked if I would do one. She said, “People tend to listen to you.” I said “OK, but I have to have the same budget that doctors get, and I can speak on whatever I want.” So I did a workshop called how to recover from a broken relationship, and we had over 100 people come. At the end, I said how many would come back next month if I did a seminar on how to have a healthy relationship, which at that age I knew nothing about. I would have to study a lot. We had over 160 show up. A woman came up at the end and said, “You could do this for a living,” and I said, “You can make money talking?” I wish my firstgrade teacher knew that. I wouldn’t have been sitting out in the hall as much as I was.

I started doing occasional speaking engagements. Then I auditioned for an organization called Career Track. They told me that I lacked the professionalism to be a professional speaker.

I re-auditioned. I stood in my kitchen with a cassette recorder. I had the evaluation on my right and the outline of the seminar they wanted me to teach on my left and I did everything exactly as the critiquer wanted me to do it. I sent my tapes back to the same person. And she said, “Biggest transformation I’ve ever seen. Welcome to the industry.”

Was the critique correct?

Yes. I missed marks; I missed points; my timing was off. I was too casual with the material. I was young.

I got a C in speech class at CBU. I just got up and talked. There’s a difference in being able to speak and being able to speak professionally.

What advice would you give people on public speaking?

First get some good coaching. Join Toastmasters. You don’t have to be a professional, but I think you need a good coach.

Secondly, you need to understand that speaking is not about the speaker, it’s about the listener. The reason people get so uncomfortable speaking is because they’re focused on themselves. If I’m speaking, and I believe I have a gift and I want to share that gift with you, I don’t have time to be worried about me. Focus more on your audience.

And the third thing is practice. You got to get out there and do it. Even now, doing as many gigs as I do, I’m always refining, practicing and critiquing.

What does it mean to you to be inducted into the Speaker Hall of Fame?

It’s an enormous validation from my peers. I’m a certified speaking professional, which is a designation held by fewer than 10% of professional speakers in the world, but I earned that. I jumped through the hoops. I got the certification. To be in the Speaker Hall of Fame, it’s a peer-nominated, peerelected designation, so it means that I have been recognized by my peers, and that’s very humbling to me.

I often say my purpose in life is to help people perform better. And if I can help somebody along the way, then my living will have been worth it, so I think it’s a validation of that.

How did your business of coaching and leadership come about?

I graduated from CBU (with a business administration degree), and then my graduate work is in psychology. I moved up the ladder pretty fast as an executive. I had a lot of leadership experience. My firm was managing speakers and trainers for other companies, and somebody asked me to come speak on leadership.

I started thinking through it one day and I thought, this is probably the place I need to be focused. The intersection of psychology and business as it relates to leadership is often overlooked. I thought we had a space where we could have a meaningful impact on leaders.

What drives you?

The primary thing that drives me is the knowledge that I was blessed with a purpose to help people perform better and live better lives.

I don’t believe in to-do lists; I do accomplishment lists. They’re pretty straightforward. I want to have a positive impact in somebody’s life, have a positive revenue impact in the business, and have a positive impact in my physical, spiritual and emotional health.

Betty Barks (Miller, ’59) and Jim have been married 57 years. They have two children and seven grandchildren. Betty was an elementary school teacher for 16 years.

1 Dr. J. Dean (’66) and Sheryl J. Hane (’66) celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on July 20, 2022.

2 Claude Mariottini (’68) published a book, “Divine Violence and the Character of God” (2022). Claude is a professor emeritus at Northern Baptist Seminary.

3 Merle (’72) and Gale Wiseman (’74) celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Merle is a physician in a mental health clinic in El Dorado, Arkansas. Gale is a retired Christian school teacher and helps her daughter homeschool her grandchildren.

Fred (’73) and Roberta DeBerry (Roth, ’72) celebrated their 50th anniversary on Jan. 27, 2023. Fred served as pastor to the Deaf at Calvary Baptist Church in Renton, Washington, for 40 years. He retired in 2018.

Keith (’73) and Peggy McLellan (Russell, ’73) celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in September 2022. Keith retired from college administration. He serves as chaplain with the local city fire and police departments and the county fire department. Peggy retired from the local school district and volunteers with community and church groups. They live on the central coast of California.

Steven Johnson (’76) retired in September after 40 years of practicing dentistry in Riverside.

David Leonard (’77) resigned from the Riverside County Planning Commission in January 2023 after serving as chairman.

Bonnie Kee (’72) traveled to Ecuador on her 16th short-term, international mission trip.

4 Dr. John “Jack” Bracy (’78) retired in May 2022 after 44 years of pastoral ministry. He served the last 34 years at New Hope Community Church in Apple Valley, California. He was also an adjunct professor at Gateway Seminary. His wife, Jean (Tibbets, ’79), retired after working 33 years for local government agencies. The couple celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary in August 2022. They have two daughters and two grandchildren.

Melinda (Phillips, ’79) and Dr. Robert Russell spent the last six years in China. Roger works in education. Melinda published her second book, “The Star ... Der Stern,” on Jan. 1, 2023.

5 Heather Baker (Clark, ’81) and husband Tim own Caring Transitions South Bay Palos Verdes. They help senior citizens relocate and downsize.

6 Dale Almer (’83) and his wife, Mishelle, celebrated their 25th anniversary on Sept. 6, 2022. Dale is an adapted physical education specialist for the Alvord Unified School District. They have two sons.

7 Kevin Cannon (’86) is the director of federal programs for the Trenton Independent School District in Trenton, Texas. He is also a first-time grandfather with the birth of Gracie Marie Cannon, born Nov. 8, 2021.

Jon Bratta (’88) is vice president of emerging brands for Monster Energy Corp. based in Corona.

8 Jaquitta Brown (’91) earned her Master of Social Work from Loma Linda University in 2000. She is a supervising social service practitioner in San Bernardino County.

9 Scott Scorse (’92) and his wife, Brigitte, celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.

Beau Christian (’00, ’18) earned a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) from Frontier Nursing University and is assistant director of undergraduate nursing at Carson-Newman University.

10 Jessica Garcia (Mosebach, ’03) received two Nevada Press Foundation 2022 Awards of Excellence: first place in Explanatory Journalism (rural) and third place in Profile (rural).

11 Sandra Hughes (Bennett, ’05) published a poetry collection, “Why Faeries Bite: Poems from RockRiver Hill.” The title poem was first published in The Dazed Starling Unbound.

12 Ja'net Young (’05) started Alliance for Young Women and Girls, a nonprofit organization based in the Los Angeles area in 2014. The organization empowers young women and girls from marginalized communities to pursue careers that lead to upward economic mobility and professional growth through leadership and employability training.

13 David Haglund (’06) is the superintendent of schools in Pleasanton Unified School District in the San Francisco Bay Area.

14 Lawson (’07) and Laura Moore (Bugbee, ’07) live in California. Lawson is on the advancement team at The Cambridge School in San Diego. Laura owns LKM Studios, providing marketing and mentoring to small businesses. They have three children: Judah, 14; Jordyn, 12; and Jericho, 10.

15 Stefan Chapman (’08, ’18) published a young adult science fiction novel, “Escaping Justice: Book One, Earth Two - The New World Journey Trilogy.” He is a Spanish teacher for Bishop Stang High School in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts.

16 Amy Estep (Martinez, ’09) performed in the play “Fools” by Neil Simon in Santa Clarita, California.

Brett (’11) and Ashley Baldwin (Gonzales, ’12) celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary in August 2022.

April Martin (’11) is an assistant library services manager in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

17 Brittany Raulino (O’Connell, ’11) is a registered nurse. She and her husband, Jason, reside in Vista, California, with their 2-year-old daughter.

18 Nathan Devlin (’11, ’14) received the Excellence in Client Service Award from Homesnap and Homes.com for the second consecutive year.

19 Teresa Serrano (’11, ’14, ’22) graduated with a Doctor of Social Work from CBU. She is CEO and president of Hope Wellness Counseling Inc.

20 Brendan King (’12) finished in 10th place in the North American Championship Series for Spartan Obstacle Course Racing in the males 30-34 division.

21 Chris (’13) and Kayla Rabbich (Jech, ’13) have a 2-year-old son, Owen.

22 Kevin Marstall (’14) published his first novel, “Discoveries: The Omniscients.”

23 Angela Perry (Finney, ’14) and her husband, Vernon, celebrated 40 years of marriage on June 27, 2022.

24 Kiersten Laxamana (’15) is manufacturing and process manager at Bioseal.

25 Sherry Manoly (Aziz, ’16) graduated from occupational therapy school in 2021. She is a pediatric occupational therapist at Gallagher Pediatric Therapy and HealthBridge Children’s Hospital. Sherry married in 2020.

Alejandra Villa (Estrada, ’16) received the Teacher of the Year award for the Hesperia Unified School District. She is a special education teacher.

26 Reneisha Wilkes (’16) appeared on the final episode of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” with the group Ellen’s Lucky 13. Wilkes was honored for her community contributions. She had been featured on the show more than 10 times.

27 Nicole Hennessey (’16, ’17) is head softball coach at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

28 Cassidy Mihalko (’17) is in her eighth season playing professional basketball overseas. She has played in countries such as Australia, Germany, Cyprus and Greece. Cassidy’s team won the Cyprus League Championship and the Cyprus Cup Championship for the 2021-2022 season. She is in Melbourne, Australia, playing in the NBL1 professional league.

29 Morgan McCutcheon (Sherman, ‘17) is a per diem nurse at Kaiser Permanente in the GI lab. She and her husband, Christian, reside in Laguna Nigel, California. They have a daughter, Addison.

30 Megan Bastreri (Cordova, ’18) and her husband, Marc, live in Texas. She is a second-grade teacher at Lindsey Elementary. The couple was married in January 2022.

31 Sara Lariviere (’18) is a project manager at the City of Hope.

32 Bridget Avila (’18) is in the Master of Science in Counseling Psychology program at CBU.

33 Emily Done (’18, ’22) is a speech-language pathologist for Chula Vista Elementary School District.

34 Staci Holt (’18) is a communications manager for United Services Automobile Association.

Lukas Stauderman (’18) is general manager for D-BAT Aggieland, an indoor baseball/softball training facility.

35 Julia Brushett (’19) is a data analyst in bioinformatics for Bionano Genomics, a biotechnology research and development company.

36 Moriah Mesina (’19) opened a coffee shop, Chrome Coffee, in Antioch, California.

37 Genaro Gonzalez Silva (’19) works for SoCalGas, where he received an Up and Comer Award in November 2020. In June 2022, he became a licensed professional engineer.

38 Cherica Bell (’19) is an assistant director for the California State University, San Bernardino Education Talent Search. She received the WESTOP Achiever’s Award in March 2022.

Michael Gonzalez (’20) is a manufacturing engineer at Ortho Clinical Diagnostics. He graduated from Keck Graduate Institute in May 2022 with a Master of Science in Medical Device Engineering.

39 Macy Lange (Mascarenas, ’20) works in real estate with Wathen Castanos Homes. She is married to Joseph.

Alfredo Solis (’20) is a construction business owner. He is married to Irene.

Elizabeth Vander Weide (Pollock, ’20) works in the neonatal intensive care unit at Doctors Medical Center in Modesto, California. Her husband, Nicolas (’20), is a reliability maintenance engineer at E&J Gallo Winery.

40 Riley (’20) and Leslie Forristel (’20) live in Corpus Christi, Texas. Riley is training to become a pilot for the U.S. Marine Corps.

Vanessa Mendiola (’20) works for EPIC Management in Redlands, California, as a quality improvement transformation facilitator II.

Bailey Borup (’21) is the clinical director of Altitude Recovery Community, a diagnosis substance use and mental health treatment center.

Dr. Pattie Soltero Sanchez (’21) became a board certified professional in healthcare quality. In October 2022, she was appointed associate chief quality and informatics officer at the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services-Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center.

41 Ashlee Crispo (’21) is a therapist at Rite of Passage for at-risk foster youth.

42 Brittney Murray (’21) is a teacher in the Oro Grande School District in California. She was asked to attend a filming of “The Kelly Clarkson Show” after current and former students sent letters to the show expressing their appreciation for her.

43 Joseph Brown (’21) is a manager at Apple Inc.

44 Jennifer Penner (Smithwick, ’22) is an adoption social worker at Olive Crest and an adjunct professor at CBU.

45 Faith Padilla (’22) is a member of the 2022 NFL Seattle Seahawks dance team.

46 Rachel Payne (’22) is a labor and delivery nurse at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital.

47 Sarah Valenzuela (’22) is in the Master of Education program at UCR.

Leandra McLaurin (’22) started JNL Consulting LLC, which provides professional growth training and coaching. She and a business partner also started JNL Foundation Inc., a nonprofit that supports minority and marginalized women in the field of maternal health.

48 Joey Aszterbaum (’22) is a teacher at Cristo Rey San Diego High School. He teaches advanced placement government, economics and world history.

Michael Lipps (’22) is a mental health professional at Dinuba Children’s Services.

Andrew Zuniga (’22) works at Riverside University Health System Public Health. He leads the Riverside County Monkeypox Community Response Branch Team.

49 Madison Tassi married Ocean Lee (’19) in July 2022. The couple lives in London and are working on their master’s degrees at the University of Roehampton.

50 Anna Saviage (’21) married CJ Lucas on Nov. 20, 2022, in Rochester, Minnesota. Anna is a financial advisor at Thrivent Financial.

51 Alexa Hanley (’15) married Karl Eckmann in December 2021. She received a MSc in Occupational Therapy from the University of Alberta in Canada. She works for the Anchorage School District as an occupational therapist for children with special needs.

52 Nicole Van Dyke (’14) married George Grayson on Oct. 1, 2022. The couple live in Frankfort, Kentucky. Nicole works as a therapist at Better Help, and George is a sergeant with Louisville Veterans Affairs.

53 Akera Briscoe (’22) married Jeremy Evans on April 10, 2022, in Glendale, California.

54 Brynna Hayes (’21) married Adrian Rominu (’20) on Aug. 27, 2022.

55 Jayne Gales (’87) married Donald Solley in Maui on March 6, 2020. Jayne retired as financial and administrative officer for the Department of Philosophy at UCR in 2013. The couple live in Gardnerville, Nevada.

56 Robyn Glessner (’05) married Michael Luna on Aug. 5, 2022, in Orange, California. Robyn is an adjunct professor of history at CBU and Oak Valley College.

57 Michaela Malneritch (’17) married Mitchell Myjak on March 25, 2022. Michaela works as a museum educator at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. She participated in the game show “The Price is Right” and won the showcase of four trips. The episode aired March 1, 2022.

58 Alyssa Gowling (’20) married Michael Bailey (’20) in January 2022. Michael graduated with a master’s in May 2022 from West Texas A&M University. He is a strategy analyst for The Wonderful Company. Alyssa graduated with her master’s from Loma Linda University.

59 Hannah Doerfert (’21) married Nathaniel Wong (’21) on May 27, 2022. Hannah works as a graphic designer, and Nathaniel is a mechanical engineer. They live in Northern California.

Shelbi Lackey (’22) married Adan Tello in December 2021.

60 Jessie Adkins (’17) married Jacob Waste (’17) on Oct. 31, 2021.

61 Jana Moore (’19) married Zachary Cunningham on July 3, 2022, in Prescott, Arizona.

62 Kyle (’18) and Analy Jarboe (Garcia, ’18) welcomed a daughter, Cheyenne, in July 2022.

63 Anthony (’21) and Nilla Williams welcomed a son, Adonnis Nehemiah Williams, on Sept. 23, 2022.

64 Chris and Molly Anderson (Knight, ’22) welcomed a daughter, Grace, on Oct. 6, 2022.

65 Chris and Rebecca Forry (McCullah, ’03, ’08) welcomed Norah Sage, born in October 2021. She joins sister Lily, 3, and brothers Silas, 4, and Carver, 7.

66 Corey (’07) and Shannon Rhoads welcomed a son, Bradley Alan, on March 2, 2022.

67 Jorge Terrones (’14) and Nancy welcomed a girl, Madeline, on June 14, 2022.

68 Caleb (’21) and Catherine Deveau (’21) welcomed Eloise Josephine on Sept. 1, 2022.

69 Noe and Desiree Oseguera (’21) welcomed their fourth child, Micah, on Aug. 15, 2022.

70 Tyler (’12) and Lauren Aagard (Knuppe, ’13) welcomed a daughter, Nora Judy, in March 2022.

71 Mariah Flores (’22) welcomed a girl, Gianna Ayla, in January 2022.

72 Baron and Kylee Jones (’12) welcomed their third child, a girl, on Sept. 9, 2022. Kylee earned her licensed clinical social worker credentials on Aug. 31, 2022.

Marilynn Sue Blackaby (’60)

Rev. William “Bill” Hann (’65)

Joanne Hann (’66)

Bjorn “Bud” Hjalmarson (’72)

Dr. Melissa Conway Luther, Library Director