What makes the Leadership Summit unique is the opportunity to learn directly from professionals who have walked in your shoes!

That’s why we are so excited about this year’s opening panel - featuring two former communicators plus a leader who was named 2024 Woman of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal.  The panel features Leslie Arroyo, City Manager – City of Saratoga, Kimbra McCarthy, City Manager of the City of Mountain View and Heather Sumagaysay, Deputy City Manager – City of Simi Valley. Moderating the panel is Maureen Tobin, Advisory Council member for the Davenport Institute.

Public-sector communicators are often positioned at the center of an organization: they advise executives, interpret community sentiment, manage crises, translate policy, and help departments operate with greater clarity and credibility. Those responsibilities can become a powerful foundation for broader executive leadership, but the transition requires more than technical communications expertise.

This opening keynote brings together leaders whose careers illustrate different pathways from communications and public engagement into senior organizational leadership. The panel will examine how communicators build executive presence, earn organizational trust, navigate political and operational complexity, and determine whether their next step is a communications-director role, an assistant city manager position, the city manager’s office, or private-sector leadership serving government.

Their perspectives will offer something that can’t always be learned from a textbook: real-world experience.

This summit is a chance to move beyond the day-to-day tasks and gives you a chance to focus on the person behind the position: the leader you are becoming, the influence you want to have and the impact you want to make.

Other topics covered at the leadership summit include:

• How PIO Skills are a Fast Track to Leadership
• Leading through Loss, Change and Growth
• Moving Innovation Forward in Risk-Averse Organizations
• Ethical Leadership
• Building Trust prior to a Ballot Measure
• Leading In-House Creators
• Small Shop. Big Imact.
• Calm Direction for High-Performing Crews
• Mastering Difficult Conversations
• Generative AI that Works
• Building Trust Across the Organization

From navigating difficult conversations to building confidence as a leader, the sessions are designed to give attendees practical ideas they can take back to their agencies and put into action.

The 2026 CAPIO Leadership Summit takes place September 10–11 at the Shannon Community Center in Dublin, California. If these topics are speaking to you – REGISTER TODAY!  CAPIO’s hotel rate at the AC Dublin Hotel is open through Monday, August 24.  BOOK YOUR HOTEL HERE.

Thank you to our Event Supporters!