Trudy T. Arriaga, Ed. D. served the Ventura Unified School District for 14 years as the first female superintendent. She began her career as a bilingual paraeducator and enjoyed 40 years of service in education as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, director, superintendent and university instructor at all levels. Trudy retired as superintendent in July 2015 and was honored by the naming of the VUSD District Office, The VUSD Trudy Tuttle Arriaga Education Service Center. She is currently on the Cal Lutheran University faculty in the Educational Leadership Department in the Graduate School of Education. Trudy is the co-author, with her esteemed colleague Dr. Randall B. Lindsey of Opening Doors: An Implementation Template for Cultural Proficiency which delivers a compelling account on how leaders can create and expand cultures of social justice and equity by dismantling and crafting new organizational policies and practices on behalf of the students they serve. Her second book, “Leading While Female: A Culturally Proficient Response to Gender Equity”, released in March, 2020 and co-authored with Dr. Delores Lindsey and Dr. Stacie Stanley offers a counter narrative and strategies to overcome the barriers of women in educational leadership. It has been her privilege to assist educational institutions and organizations throughout the United States through keynote speeches, workshops, leadership and equity institutes and online professional development to align the actions of the organization with their stated values and principles in their effort to build a culturally proficient and inclusive organization for each and every one.

Stacie L. Stanley, Ed.D. is the Co-Author of Leading While Female: A Culturally Proficient Response for Gender Equity. She is a fierce advocate for ensuring women are positioned to move into executive leadership roles – including a special focus on women of color. Stacie has served as the Superintendent in the southwest metro of the Twin Cities in MN since July 2021. Dr. Stanley has served in a variety of education roles including math teacher, school principal, director of curriculum, assessment and instruction & associate superintendent. She earned a doctorate degree from Bethel University in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where she researched the impact of intercultural development on K-6 administrative leadership practice. Dr. Stanley served as a contributing author for the text Innovative Voices in Education: Engaging diverse communities (2012). Stacie is as a Senior Training Associate at the Center for Culturally Proficient Educational Practice, and doctoral program adjunct faculty member and advisor at Bethel University in Minnesota. She lives with her husband, and enjoys being an empty nester, power walking, and spending time with their grandchildren.

Delores B. Lindsey, Ph.D., retired as Associate Professor of Education at California State University, San Marcos, CA, but did not retire from the education profession. She continues writing and consulting with school district and coaching leaders. As a former middle grades and high school teacher, assistant principal, principal, and county office of education administrator, her primary focus is developing culturally proficient leaders. She helps educational leaders examine their organizations’ policies and practices, and their individual beliefs and values about cross-cultural communication. Her message to her audiences focuses on socially just educational practices, culturally proficient leadership practices, and diversity as an asset to be nurtured.

Dr. Lindsey facilitates educators and groups to develop their own inquiry and action research. Her favorite inquiry/reflective questions are: Who are you? and Are we who we say we are? Delores and her husband, Randy, co-founded The Center for Culturally Proficient Educational Practice. They developed a curriculum using the 4 Tools of Cultural Proficiency for equity leaders of schools and organizations. Delores and Randall, her favorite Sage/Corwin author, continue to co-write about the application of the four Tools of Cultural Proficiency.

Delores’ most recent publications are Culturally Proficient Schools: All Means All! (2018) with Jacqueline Thousand, Cynthia Jew and Lori Piowlski, and bestseller, Leading While Female (2020) with Trudy Arriaga and Stacie Stanley, and My Leading While Female Journey: A Guided Reflective Journal, 2023 with Trudy Arriaga and Stacie Stanley.