Universal Leadership & Associates
About
Universal Leadership & Associates
Universal Leadership & Associates (ULAA) consists of leaders from various leadership roles within the TK-12 school system looking to provide guidance and support to leaders looking to improve their working conditions, improve their leadership skills, align their mission with finances, build a strategic plan, provide staff training on various topics to create a quality service for their target audience. ULAA is committed to providing guidance and support to leaders looking for a safe space to process, build and plan for various activities within their organization. The ULAA team is prepared to leverage personal experiences and lessons learned throughout our careers to ensure your success.
Whether you are just starting out or looking to restructure, ULAA is prepared to support and guide you through the process.
Meet Our Team
Each member of the ULAA team has over 20 years of experience within various levels of the TK-12 educational system. Collectively, this group of professionals is equipped to support, guide and lead practitioners in reaching their goals. Your organizational and leadership needs will be appropriately matched with associates for maximum results.
Roxanna B. VillaseÑor
Roxanna Villasenor is an experienced educational leader with over 23 years of experience in public education, most recently serving the Stockton Unified School District as Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services where an approximate 6% increase in graduation rates and 160% increase in the Reclassification of English Learners. Ms. Villasenor began her educational journey as a classroom teacher in the areas of Science and Math, where she focused on making learning relevant for each individual student. As a site administrator, Ms. Villasenor has served stakeholders at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, resulting in increased student data benchmarks at each of her sites. Ms. Villasenor has also served as a founding principal for a California Public Charter School, where she was able to build strategic systems and structures from the ground up. Ms. Villasenor is passionate about coaching and creating a systems-thinking approach to her work, this mindset has led to staff growth and student success in her previous positions as an Executive Director of Secondary Education and Executive Director of Student Services, respectively. Ms. Villasenor is active in academia, always pursuing learning opportunities, and is involved with Association of California School Administrators (ACSA), and California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators (CALSA) at the state, regional, and local levels.
Dr. Juan M. Santos
Holding a Bachelor of Arts in History/Political Science, a minor in Ethnic Studies, a Masters in Teaching, a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and a Pupil Services Credential in Counseling, Dr. Santos emphasizes the need to extend our capacity to learn for the betterment of professional and personal growth, and more importantly, to serve others. Dr. Santos has served diverse students in both suburban and inner city communities across elementary, middle school, high school and university settings for over 20 years, before serving at the county level. Currently, Dr. Santos is the Chief Human Resources Officer for the Ventura County Office of Education, serving a diverse set of communities with over 250 schools and over 140,000 students. Remarkably, in his free time, Dr. Santos serves as the Director of Mentoring for the California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators (CALSA) which aims to serve administrators throughout the State of California. As a protégé in CALSA Cohort 6 mentorship program, and then serving as a mentor in CALSA Cohort 9 and 11, Dr. Santos sees the value of mentoring administrators seeking guidance in their day to day activities. Dr. Santos is motivated to build and facilitate training and mentoring for aspiring leaders/superintendents throughout California, promoting the mindset of excellence for the students they serve. Dr. Santos hopes to create aspirations for leaders to tell themselves to “Be Your Best" in all that they do!
DR. LISA GONZALEs
Dr. Gonzales is currently the Chief Business Officer for the Mt Diablo Unified School District in the Silicon Valley, a district of 29,000 students and an annual operating budget of $425M. She was President of the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA), the nation’s largest organization for school leaders. She is a graduate of the University of Southern California’s School Business Management and Urban Superintendent programs, as well as the Stanford University Executive Program for Education Leaders. Her doctorate in Organizational Leadership is from the University of LaVerne, her MBA is from Georgia Southwestern, and her Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership is from San Jose State University.
Dr. Gonzales was one of 100 Superintendents selected as #FutureReady by President Obama and Secretary Arne Duncan for her leadership in technology and innovation, and also serves as a cadre member for TICAL, California’s Technology Information Center for Administrative Leadership. She previously served on the state’s Ed Tech Task Force and Create CA Arts Task Force.
- Dr. Gonzalez is most passionate about mentoring other leaders in the public school world. Her advocacy work around instructional technology, closing the digital divide, connectivity, and funding at the state and federal level has resulted in numerous awards, including ACSA Leadership Matters Legislative Award, National “Women in Leadership” Award from AASA, Commendation for Public School Leadership from the City of San Jose, and Tech & Learning’s national award as “Leader of the Year.” Committed to female leadership, she helped resurrect ACSA’s Women’s Leadership Network and speaks statewide and nationally on a number of topics around women’s issues in leadership, branding, networking, and technology. She is a Director for CASBO Northern Section and is working at the state level to build out women’s leadership groups for both CASBO and CASH, the Coalition for Adequate School Housing. Lisa has written dozens of articles on topics related to leadership, safe schools, strategic planning, and leadership support programs for principals and other educational leaders.
Her areas of expertise include leadership coaching, coaching specifically for women, facility master plans, district communication and effective board presentations, salary comparison studies, department restructuring, product/service implementation from needs assessment to implementation, and other operational support functions.
Dr. Mohammad Warrad
Dr. Warrad is a Vice Principal at Franklin High School in the Elk Grove Unified School District. Dr. Warrad began working in the EGUSD in 2007 as a Social Science Teacher and Football Coach, working his way into educational leadership and administration. Additionally, Dr. Warrad serves as an adjunct professor at Sacramento State University and Brandman University/ UMass Global University, teaching graduate-level courses for future school site administrators. Dr. Warrad is involved with the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) at the state, regional, and local level. Dr. Warrad has also served on working committees with the California Department of Education (CDE), WEST Ed., and the California School Board Association (CSBA). Dr. Warrad earned his Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences, Teaching Credentials, and Master of Arts in Educational Leadership from Sacramento State University; advancing to earn a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Drexel University, focusing his research on teacher stress & burnout prevention. Dr. Warrad would describe himself as a “life-longer learner”, who is inspired by his family, colleagues, and students on campus.
Dr. Teresa Alonzo
Dr. Alonzo holds a B.S. from UC Davis, an M.A.Ed. from CSU Los Angeles, and an Ed.D. from the University of Southern California and currently serves as the Associate Director of School Network, Educational Leadership and System Design at WestEd. Dr. Alonzo began her career as a Dual Language teacher and coordinator for the Los Angeles Unified School District. She worked as the Assistant Director with the California Reading and Literature Project, Reading RESULTS initiative where she worked with schools across CA to promote district-wide literacy improvement efforts. Prior to joining WestEd, Dr. Alonzo served as an instructional coach, elementary and intermediate school principal and Administrative Services Director for the Montebello Unified School District (MUSD). With the skills acquired over time, Dr. Alonzo seeks to partner with school and district leadership teams to facilitate learning networks designed to build instructional leadership capacity and promote high quality teaching and learning and advance equity across their system. During her free time, Dr. Alonzo has offered her support and guidance to others by serving as the institute facilitator for the Association of California Superintendents and Administrators academies. Today, Dr. Alonzo spends her free time to serve as a mentor in the California Latino Superintendents and Administrators (CALSA) Mentoring Program to support administrators throughout the state attain their leadership goals.
Dr. Isaac Huang
Dr. Huang has extensive experience in meeting the academic, social emotional, and physical well being of the whole child for the past 20 years. His passion and work in the field of education has spanned the entire continuum- ranging from infants to adult learners.
Dr. Huang is a firm believer in growth mindsets and building a culture of active learners rather than passive students. In addition to this, he is focused on equity and diversity and currently serves on the Conejo Valley Unified School District’s Inaugural Equity Task Force. Furthermore, Dr. Huang is an advocate in the power of mentorship and supports others to become the best version of themselves. A graduate of the CALSA Mentoring Program- Cohort 12, Dr. Huang dedicates his free time serving others through his work on the CALSA Mentoring Committee and is working with fellow Asian administrators in the formal development of CAAPLE (California Association of Asian Pacific Leaders in Education). He started his career teaching toddlers and preschool aged children before becoming an elementary school teacher and then TOSA (Teacher on Special Assignment) focused on curriculum and second language acquisition. Dr. Huang has also spent time teaching learners at Rose City Continuation High School in Pasadena and Post Secondary candidates in the MAT Program at the University of Southern California as an Adjunct Professor.
ALVARO VENEGAS
Consultant, Founder and Motivational Speaker
Born and raised in Salinas, California, Alvaro Venegas, affectionately known as Coach Al, has been cultivating hope since 2007. Through public speaking and writing, he has partnered with many educators and community leaders to impact hundreds of schools throughout California. He has also successfully founded a wellness and health organization that provides inspirational training and personal development to students in schools, teachers, families and military personnel. Coach Al’s mission is to continue to support communities by elevating those who serve and contribute to a positive and unified culture. Coach Al believes in the power of self-confidence, self-love and self-pride. Through On a Mission assemblies, students are highlighted when demonstrating effort, encouragement and focus. By spotlighting and guiding these actions, the goal is to support the development of emotional well-being.
Additionally, Coach Al currently serves as a board member for the Washington Unified School District in West Sacramento. His contributions to his community has allowed for many students, families and community members to feel heard, valued and represented. Coach Al functions from a space of integrity, purpose, and vision, resulting in positive and student centered decision making practices.
Joe Dominguez
Educational Technology and Business Partner
As an English Learner, in the Gifted and Talented program, Joe saw first hand the value in opportunities available to students, given the appropriate support and resources. Through the appropriate guidance, Joe was successful in obtaining degrees in Political Science and French Language Arts, earning his biliterate certification in French (called Delf Delf in France). His skills and experience have contributed to varied experiences in the technology industry; however, his true passion stemmed from his desire to leverage his skills for the benefit of students in need through the use of technology.
For the past 12 years, Mr. Dominguez has immersed himself into the world of educational technology. This work has contributed to his ability to work with various school districts to shaping their organization and effective use of data surrounding student information systems, performance management solutions, various learning management systems (from core curricular resources to supplemental instructional resources), as well as leveraging assessment tools used to measure the academic success and instructional needs of students in a timely manner. The ability to merge a System’s Thinking approach with the use of data for the benefit of student needs has remained a priority for Mr. Dominguez, and a responsibility he deeply believes in.
Mr. Dominguez’s skills and passion are complimented with his knowledge and awareness of an ethical business mindset. The support in ensuring Universal Leadership and Associates continually works to be responsive to the needs of leaders looking to improve the learning conditions for students, while functioning from a place of integrity and accountability is what our collective team desires to function from.
Our Partners
