Bernadette Austin is an award-winning woman of color with two decades of experience from the boardroom to the C-suite. She cultivates collaborative cross-sector partnerships and develops solutions for the greatest challenges that communities face with a balance of pragmatism and ingenuity. Her areas of expertise include community development, economic development, land use planning, social equity, environmental sustainability, state and local government collaboration, and inclusive leadership. She played a leadership role in several civic innovation projects, including Sacramento’s first true transit-oriented development, West Sacramento’s first urban farm stand, the Regional Small Business Utilization Center (RSBUC) with support from the California Office of the Small Business Advocate, and the first project in the country to implement a federal program combining housing vouchers and health services for disabled adults.
As Chief Executive Officer of CivicWell, she supports local leaders transforming vision into action in their communities. She leads a nonprofit organization with a 40-year track record of inspiring, equipping, connecting, and cultivating leaders working toward a more sustainable and resilient future. She led a hybrid team based in multiple states as they navigated a culture shift, re-branding, adoption of a new accounting system, and organizational restructuring while emerging from the impacts of the pandemic. She oversees a diverse portfolio of projects community design consultation, regional convenings, statewide conferences, capacity-building, technical assistance, and coalition-building and administration. She supports program development and event planning for several signature events that draw hundreds of cross-sector attendees, including the CivicWell Policymakers Conference, California Adaptation Forum, and California Climate and Energy Collaborative Forum.
In her prior role as Executive Director of the Center for Regional Change at the University of California at Davis, Bernadette participated in statewide efforts to reduce barriers to community engaged learning and research. Her research projects included inclusionary housing, gentrification and displacement, regional migration, transportation equity, and carbon neutrality. Prior to her work at UC Davis, she founded a consulting firm specializing in community development. She has also worked for the state's largest ethnic chamber of commerce, an affordable housing developer, redevelopment agency, community development financial institution, and several nonprofit community health organizations.
Bernadette is President of the California Planning Roundtable and serves on the Board of the California Chapter of the American Planning Association. She also serves as Second Vice Chair on the Board of Directors for SAFE Credit Union. She is an active member of and content contributor to several professional organizations for the real estate and land use planning industries, including the Urban Land Institute, American Planning Association, and Lambda Alpha International. She has also served as an advisor to the California Department of Public Health's Office of Health Equity, the California Department of Housing and Community Development, and the California Strategic Growth Council.
Bernadette has been recognized as an Asian Pacific Islander Changemaker by the Sacramento Bee and a notable woman leader by Sacramento Magazine and Comstock's Magazine. The Sacramento Business Journal included her on their 40 Under 40 list in 2013 and their feature on new CEOs in 2023. She holds a Master of Science in Community Development from UC Davis and a Bachelor of Science in Community Health from St. Mary’s College of California.
As Chief Executive Officer of CivicWell, she supports local leaders transforming vision into action in their communities. She leads a nonprofit organization with a 40-year track record of inspiring, equipping, connecting, and cultivating leaders working toward a more sustainable and resilient future. She led a hybrid team based in multiple states as they navigated a culture shift, re-branding, adoption of a new accounting system, and organizational restructuring while emerging from the impacts of the pandemic. She oversees a diverse portfolio of projects community design consultation, regional convenings, statewide conferences, capacity-building, technical assistance, and coalition-building and administration. She supports program development and event planning for several signature events that draw hundreds of cross-sector attendees, including the CivicWell Policymakers Conference, California Adaptation Forum, and California Climate and Energy Collaborative Forum.
In her prior role as Executive Director of the Center for Regional Change at the University of California at Davis, Bernadette participated in statewide efforts to reduce barriers to community engaged learning and research. Her research projects included inclusionary housing, gentrification and displacement, regional migration, transportation equity, and carbon neutrality. Prior to her work at UC Davis, she founded a consulting firm specializing in community development. She has also worked for the state's largest ethnic chamber of commerce, an affordable housing developer, redevelopment agency, community development financial institution, and several nonprofit community health organizations.
Bernadette is President of the California Planning Roundtable and serves on the Board of the California Chapter of the American Planning Association. She also serves as Second Vice Chair on the Board of Directors for SAFE Credit Union. She is an active member of and content contributor to several professional organizations for the real estate and land use planning industries, including the Urban Land Institute, American Planning Association, and Lambda Alpha International. She has also served as an advisor to the California Department of Public Health's Office of Health Equity, the California Department of Housing and Community Development, and the California Strategic Growth Council.
Bernadette has been recognized as an Asian Pacific Islander Changemaker by the Sacramento Bee and a notable woman leader by Sacramento Magazine and Comstock's Magazine. The Sacramento Business Journal included her on their 40 Under 40 list in 2013 and their feature on new CEOs in 2023. She holds a Master of Science in Community Development from UC Davis and a Bachelor of Science in Community Health from St. Mary’s College of California.
