SDSU Leadership Summit explores 'shifting of the sands' featuring skateboarding icons Kanten Russell, Amelia Brodka

Effective leadership evolves, moves and pivots through challenges and adversity. It embraces change and adapts to said change fluidly, navigating difficult situations to find the steady calm needed to move an organization forward. 

To that end, the 2024 San Diego State University Leadership Summit will center around the theme “Leadership in Motion.” The 15th installment of the one-day, on-campus leadership conference for college students takes place March 9 throughout Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union. 

“In this time of change — where we find ourselves dealing with a constant ‘shifting of the sands’ of what we believe and we know as truth — leaders need to be prepared to inspire and guide while being sensitive to differing cultural and political perspectives,” said Randy Timm, associate vice president and dean of students. “The SDSU Leadership Summit supports student exploration and inspiration as they navigate these unique contemporary issues.”

Timm, who has co-chaired the event since its 2009 inception, said the event continues to grow and attract student leaders from across Southern California and the West Coast. Last year’s event, which included 24 presenters, drew more than 720 participants from 29 schools across the West Coast, up from the 600 participants in 2022. 

Registration is now open for this year's Leadership Summit, whose purpose is to help students develop their leadership skills and personal styles for success in their personal passions and professional careers. 

This year’s conference will feature keynote speakers well-versed in leadership and motion — San Diego County residents Kanten Russell and Amelia Brodka, who are fixtures in the international skateboarding scene. 

Russell, who skateboarded professionally, is now an internationally recognized skate park designer. He has led the design process of over 300 skate parks across the country, including the world’s first green skate park in St. Cloud, Minnesota; a skate plaza in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, which converted a brownfield into an active space to help combat childhood obesity; and the Alga Norte Community Skate Park in Carlsbad.

Brodka, also a professional skateboarder, co-founded Exposure, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering women, girls, trans and nonbinary individuals through skateboarding. Exposure’s signature event, called 'Exposure: A Women’s Benefit Event,’ is held at Encinitas Community Park and fields hundreds of competitors annually from more than 20 countries and at one point offered the largest prize purse in women’s skateboarding. 

“We have a dynamic and exciting conference schedule that is guaranteed to offer opportunities for reflection, skill building, knowledge sharing and networking,” said Chelsea Lombrozo, the assistant director of the Glazer Center for Leadership & Service, which hosts the summit. “Fitting the theme of ‘Leadership in Motion,’ our keynote speakers are professional skateboarders who will share their leadership successes and lessons learned along their career paths.”

The event will include a breakout session in both the morning and afternoon, when attendees can choose from panel discussions on topics ranging from salary negotiation to understanding introverted leaders. You will be able to select the panel discussions you want to attend when you register. 

Registration ($30 plus processing fee for SDSU students; $40 for other students) includes an SDSU-embossed padfolio and lunch. The summit is hosted by the Glazer Center for Leadership & Service under the Division of Student Affairs and Campus Diversity. Learn more about the conference here and register.