SVL refers to "Silicon Valley Leadership", which is a Silicon Valley educational organization based in Sunnyvale, California whose mission is to develop and empower individuals from our diverse community to become effective leaders through training in the fundamentals of leadership and community awareness skills. This 501c(3) non-profit company was established in 2000, taking over responsibility of the Leadership Sunnyvale program from the Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce. CitySkills is another program which with the City of Sunnyvale and SVL are partners. For more information visit the SVL page.
SVL is not associated with Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG) which used to be called the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group (SVMG). SVLG has been a sponsor in the past of the Leadership Sunnyvale program through a long time partnership. Leadership Sunnyvale's first class of the year starts off by participating in the Projections Conference organized by SVLG.
Leadership Sunnyvale is a program of SVL that provides the class that serves to fulfill the SVL mission. The program started training in 1985 with its first class graduating in 1986. For more information visit the Leadership Sunnyvale page.
Please contact the Executive Director, Jim Telfer, to answers your questions about SVL and its flagship program Leadership Sunnyvale! Email Jim, at or call him at (408) 716-1837. Do not hesitate to call. For more information on other contacts, please visit the Contact page.
In the early 1980's, in response to a national and local concern of declining resident applicants for commissions, boards, committees and city council seats, the University of Illinois proposed starting local leadership programs. The concern was that, as openings occurred in local government, it was becoming more difficult to recruit citizens to serve. In an effort to generate greater interest in civic opportunities and develop leaders for the future of our community, the City of Sunnyvale and the Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce, in 1984, initiated a program that provided participants with an overview of the Sunnyvale community and showed them how they could become actively involved. Leadership Sunnyvale as well as our neighboring programs are based on the early 1980's models.
The Leadership Sunnyvale program continues to develop leaders for the future of our community, to provide participants with knowledge and information on local government and the community, and to encourage participation and active involvement in the community.
For more information, visit History.
This refers to "Sunnyvale Leadership Development Institute," (SLDI) which was the first company name for the non-profit that is now called SVL. There may be references in old documentation and news stories that contain this acronym.
The Board of Directors, comprised of Leadership Sunnyvale Alumni & community leaders, oversees SVL and all present and future programs of SVL.
Leadership Sunnyvale is a more in-depth program with a greater time commitment than neighboring programs. We provide networking opportunities based on a wide mix of people who represent different aspects of the community - business, civic, non-profits and educational.
The biggest commitment for many people will be the time. Leadership Sunnyvale requires a full day once a month, usually on a Thursday, as well as half a day on one Saturday a month. Even with this high-level of attendance commitment, class members with extremely busy work and/or family schedules, successfully graduate as we always strive to work around any conflicts. However, students do not graduate who do not meet the minimum attendance requirements. (contact Jim Telfer, Executive Director for more information)
Tuition is $1600 for the program. Financial assistance will be made available after the class interviews, so all interested persons are encouraged to apply, regardless of financial consideration. A payment plan is available and can be discussed with the Executive Director, Jim Telfer.
Visit the application page. Note: A potential candidate's participation in the Leadership Sunnyvale program has never been prevented by an inability to cover the full tuition costs.
Leadership Sunnyvale has always worked with applicants, as needed, to find the financial means to cover the costs of this program. Economic diversity within the class has been a great strength of our program. No one who has passed the interview and has an interest in taking the program has been turned away for financial concerns.
Absolutely not. We have alumni who have worked, lived, once lived or who have just wanted to take the program based on its reputation of making more effective citizens in the region. Other candidates have simply wanted to participate in this program due to its reputation for regional networking on many levels within the community.
An early criticism of the Leadership Sunnyvale program was that few graduates were applying for City of Sunnyvale boards and commissions as well as running for City Council. Since the mid 80's, much has changed. We have had multiple alumni running for the same elective office and a greater impact on boards and commissions. Now the concern by many applicants is that this is the only reason for people to take Leadership Sunnyvale. What is not as obvious is the impact on school districts, children's athletic organizations, church groups, other community services, as well as the impact on families, from the more effective leaders who are graduates. Leadership Sunnyvale's impact has had depth and breadth; the program is designed for all concerned community members.
Leadership Sunnyvale has had classes historically as large as the mid 30's and as small as the mid teens. Usually we loose a class member or two each year from a change of job or a move. And we have not graduated some students for lack of meeting our requirements. Today, there is a minimum class size of 15 and a maximum class size of 30. Above 30 students was found to be too impersonal for the kind of ideal group we wanted to serve, and the program has defined a minimum to reach its basic financial requirements.
That's a good question. One or more students may be asked to join the board of directors. There will be opportunities noticed in our Alumni Newsletter as well as this website for upcoming events and volunteer activities in the region. We would also appreciate any graduate who may want to be used as a mentor for a following year's student. Some leadership programs require a second year commitment to help run the following class. Today, there is no second year requirement of involvement. We expect and hope that people will be using their training and connections at some time. It maybe immediate or take years for every graduate to be able to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.
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Originally there was no meaning, but as the SVL Board made the present logo from an earlier version, we came up with naming three boxes "enlightening, empowering, enabling" with the fourth box being "you" to complete the picture. Some might prefer to have the logo with out any meaning. |
CitySkills is a program of SVL that provides an abridged orientation to becoming more effective within the City of Sunnyvale. The pilot program in early 2005 was completed and considered a success. The basic training program teaches how to effectively work with government to address community issues. The program is a partnership between the City of Sunnyvale and SVL. This is a four week training program which will be announced to the public when a new class will be offered. If you are interested in participating, or would like to nominate someone to participate, you can contact the Executive Director, Jim Telfer, of SVL, at , or call (408) 716-1837. This program is a intended to fill a basic community need, but does not replace the leadership training provided by Leadership Sunnyvale.
In short, CitySkills helps people with a number of basic concerns by providing targeted training to be able to deal with the City of Sunnyvale in a productive way. Leadership Sunnyvale not only covers this area of training, but expands on it greatly. Leadership Sunnyvale also builds community and personal resources; that spending a day and a half per month for 9 months can only create. These relationships require the time and energy as well as the hundreds of volunteers in the class room and behind the scenes each year that contribute to the Leadership Sunnyvale being a life-changing activity.
The Leadership Summit is a conference of over 33 invited leadership programs who share in their experiences of running programs throughout the San Francisco Bay and Northern California area. In the past, the California Association of Leadership Programs (CALP) organized yearly conferences for members. At this time, CALP is not holding its yearly conference while in 2006 Leadership Mountain View and SVL worked together to work on a regional rather than statewide summit with the sponsorship of Synopsys Corporation.
The Leadership Summit brings a wide variety of programs together. This is an opportunity for programs (including SVL) to steal the best ideas from our neighboring programs and to avoid the worst pitfalls of running a leadership program. Information of trends in community needs and the economics of running a successful program can mean all the difference in keeping a program viable or helping programs off the ground and helping programs make a more successful program after going on hiatus for a year or more in the future. SVL believes that strong local programs are important to its own strength.
As long as you are 18 or older you are the right age for Leadership Sunnyvale. We have had retired class members as well as those right out of high school. Age diversity adds to our program making it a team of people you will not see anywhere else. This is the strength of our program.
In the first few years of the program, there was a report that the class created outside of the class. Today, the program is a more hands-on program with fewer talking head like lectures. There is no homework today. We are very proud of our Saturday leadership programs that have replaced the yearly reports.
