December Event Details

Congresswoman Norma J. Torres represents California's 35th Congressional District in the Inland Empire which includes Bloomington, Chino, Fontana, Montclair, Ontario, Pomona, and Rialto. She previously served as a State Senator, Assembly Member, and as a Mayor and Council Member in the City of Pomona. Throughout her career in elected office, she has worked to make government more responsive to the needs of Inland Empire residents.

Now on her third term in Congress, Torres currently serves on the powerful House Appropriations and Rules Committees. The Appropriations Committee is responsible for appropriating all federal spending, domestic and abroad. As a member of the Rules Committee, she helps determine the consideration of all legislation on the House floor.

Torres immigrated to the United States from Guatemala at age five and is a longtime resident of the Inland Empire.  She resides in Pomona with her husband Louis, and their two sons Robert and Matthew. Her third son, Christopher, is an Air Force veteran. Torres received her bachelor’s degree in Labor Studies from the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Pete Aguilar represents the 31st Congressional District of California. He was most recently re-elected in 2020 and serves on the House Appropriations Committee. In the 117th Congress, Rep. Aguilar holds the leadership position of Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus.

Raising his family in the community his family has called home for four generations, Representative Aguilar understands the challenges that Inland Empire families face today.  He started his first job at the age of twelve, working with his grandfather at the San Bernardino County Courthouse cafeteria. He then put himself through college with the assistance of student loans and federal grants, and later established a life in public service to give back to his community.

Representative Aguilar is a voice for middle-class families throughout San Bernardino County and prioritizes legislation that will nurture a more fair economy, where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. He is committed to policies that create jobs, support our students, reform our broken immigration system, and safeguard vital programs for seniors and veterans.

Representative Aguilar previously served as the Mayor of Redlands, where he earned a reputation for his bipartisanship and steadfast commitment to making his community a better place to live, work, and raise a family. He resides in Redlands with his wife Alisha and their two sons.  

Kimberly Benson serves as Administrator of the UAS Center at San Bernardino International Airport.  With years of experience as an entrepreneur in international trade, Kim is focused on the intersection of infrastructure, advanced technology and economic development.  She is recognized for her expertise in trade policy and government affairs.  Kim serves as the Chair of the Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Small and Minority Business in Washington, DC, to which she was appointed by the US Secretary of Commerce and the US Trade Representative.

Francie Palmer: After a near 16 year full-time career with the City of Rancho Cucamonga as Communications Manager, Francie is currently serving in a part-time role with a single focus as Senior Advisor for the Cucamonga Station / HART District for the City of Rancho Cucamonga. A nationally recognized public sector communications leader, Francie Palmer has had a varied career spanning private, nonprofit and public sector organizations. Francie earned her bachelor’s degree in Business Management from the University of Phoenix and her Masters of Science in Leadership & Development from the University of La Verne.  

Her professional accomplishments include being selected as the 2017 California Association of Public Information Officers (CAPIO) “Communicator of the Year,” in 2018 she was honored with the CAPIO lifetime achievement “Paul B. Clark” Award. Francie proudly adds to her resume having been an Instructor with the California State Library “Staff Innovation Fund” program and for the Cal Poly Pomona Leadership Academy for several years. 

Professor Barth received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering/Computer Science from the University of Colorado in 1984, and M.S. (1985) and Ph.D. (1990) degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Professor Barth was also a member of the technical staff in the Advanced Technologies Division of General Research Corporation, Santa Barbara from 1985 to 1986. From 1986 to 1987 he conducted research at the University of Tokyo as a visiting research student. Upon completion of his Ph.D., Professor Barth was a visiting researcher at Osaka University, Japan, conducting research in systems engineering from 1989 to 1991. Dr. Barth joined the University of California-Riverside in 1991, conducting research in Electrical Engineering and at the Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT), where he is currently Director and the Yeager Families Chair. Professor Barth’s research focuses on applying engineering system concepts and automation technology to Transportation Systems, and in particular how it relates to energy and air quality issues. His current research interests include Intelligent Transportation Systems, Vehicle Activity Analysis, Transportation/ Emissions Modeling, Electric Vehicle Technology, and Advanced Sensing and Control. Professor Barth is active in the U.S. Transportation Research Board currently serving on the Transportation and Air Quality Committee and the Intelligent Transportation Systems Committee. He was awarded the TRB Pyke Johnson Award for TRB outstanding paper in 2007. In 2011, he was one of the winners of the Connected Vehicle Technology Challenge sponsored by U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA). He has also served on a number of National Research Council (NRC) committees. Professor Barth has also been very active within IEEE Intelligent Transportation System Society for many years, participating in their conferences as a presenter, invited session organizer, session moderator, program chair, associate editor of the Transactions of ITS, and member of the IEEE ITSS Board of Governors. He was the IEEE ITSS Vice President for Conferences from 2011-2012, President-Elect for 2013, President for 2014-2015, and Past-President for 2016. He recently received the IEEE ITSS Outstanding Research Award.

Shanthi Srinivas, PhD, is currently the Interim Dean of the Jack H. Brown College of Business and Public Administration. In this role she is responsible for the nationally ranked and internationally recognized college comprising of five academic departments, the recently established school of entrepreneurship and seven centers of excellence.

Srinivas has more than 35 years of higher education experience having held a variety of administrative and faculty positions at Cal Poly Pomona. Most recently she served as presidential fellow for Leadership Excellence for Institutional Development at Cal Poly Pomona. She is the past State Chair of the Women’s Leadership Network, Southern California region for the American Council on Education.

She has significant experience in leadership training, faculty development, budget management, enrollment management, strategic planning and assessment. During her career, she has been instrumental in successfully leading numerous initiatives involving faculty and student diversity, technology in education and accreditation of the university and business college.

As a faculty member she was awarded numerous teaching awards at the undergraduate and MBA levels. Her research and publications are in the areas of job commitment, stress, employee performance and satisfaction, gender diversity and more recently, sustainability.

Her community involvement and volunteer work include serving on human relations and accreditation committees of local public schools, being a keynote speaker and providing training to various state agencies. She has offered numerous workshops in the area of management including performance management, strategy, leadership and team building to academic audiences as well as to executives in the U.S. and overseas.

Srinivas earned her doctorate in business administration from The Pennsylvania State University and her master’s degree in social work and bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Madras.