Meet The District Leadership Trio - Where Leaders Are Made

The Toastmasters District “Trio” includes the District Director (DD), Program Quality Director (PQD) and Club Growth Director (CGD). They work together to ensure that

The District, Clubs, and Members continue to grow
Club officers are trained and supported in their roles
Members and Clubs meet their goals, and
District leaders receive the resources needed to properly lead and succeed

District Director

Ed Cullen

The district director is responsible for administration and overseeing the district’s day-to-day operations, finances, and human resources. The district director does this with the help of a strong team of more than 70 District leaders. As a team, the District leadership works toward the district mission, to build new clubs and help more than 150 clubs and their 3000+ members achieve excellence, while supporting each other in their leadership development.

Ed Cullen has been a Toastmaster since April 2011. During that time, he held six of the seven club offices, in various clubs, some offices as many as six times. Ed became an Area Governor in the 2013-2014 Toastmasters year, Division Governor in the 2014-2015 year, Public Relations Manager in 2015-2016 and 2020-2021 years. Some of his greatest personal growth and opportunities to be of service have been in District roles like TLI Dean, Speechcraft Chair, Club Extension Chair, Club Coach, Pathways Guide/Ambassador. Ed’s roles as Club Growth Director in 2021-2022 and Program Quality Director have been extremely rewarding in terms of team building and given him a new vantage point.

Program Quality Director

Sally Philbin

The Program Quality Director (PQD) is responsible for training events such as club officer training, additional educational programs, the annual conference and contests in the district. The PQD is part of the district leadership team, working closely with the district director and the club growth director.

Sally J Gibbons Philbin was a member of Berkeley Speakeasy before moving to Oakland with University of CA, Office of the President (UCOP) in 1989. She helped found Lakeside Speakeasy by taking over the charter of a one year old club that was not able to continue.

She has been President & Vice President of Education of Lakeside Speakeasy and is a past Area D26 Governor/A2 Director & Division D Director. In 2014 she earned her Legacy DTM (Distinguished Toastmaster). She has held several District Chairs. She is now D57 Program Quality Director.

Sally has been a guest speaker at the Mayflower Society and at the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and won the Dist 57 Eval Contest once.

She loves horses and genealogy (Thank-you Cousin-Roger Howland)

She is now retired from the University of California, but not from Toastmasters!

Club Growth Director

Linda Patten

As the Club Growth Director (CGD), I am responsible for all aspects of marketing, club-building, and club-retention efforts within the District. This includes creating a Team that allows more Toastmasters to become involved in the District’s efforts to charter new clubs and build all existing clubs to Excellence. We have been working to reinforce the outreach efforts of our District Members and to encourage all members to see the value in maintaining their membership in Toastmasters.

Linda Patten, a Leadership Trainer and Mentor, joined Toastmasters in December of 2019. Since then, she has skyrocketed into speaking and leadership. She has completed the Triple Crown and been awarded the OATM (Outstanding Award Toastmaster) every year since, 4 in total, and was awarded her DTM (Distinguished Toastmaster) on July 1, 2021. She was also named the Toastmaster of the Year 2021 for District 57.

Linda has held roles at all levels including: Secretary and now President of Heart2Heart Toastmasters, the club she joined in 2019, Treasurer for Leaders Worldwide, a club she helped charter in October, 2020 and to mentor. She has co-led 4 Speechcraft programs, one of which, Leaders Worldwide, chartered with 50 members. Linda has been a club mentor and coach.

At the District level, she was the District Finance Officer for 2020-2021, was the D30 Area Director 2021-2022 and was the Division Director for Division G along with being 2 of the 3 Area Directors as well.

Linda was the Education Speaker for 2021 D103 Annual Toastmasters Conference April 24, 2021 titled Zoom Etiquette and Beyond. She has given speeches in clubs around the District, the country and the world thanks to the magic of Zoom.

In her life outside Toastmasters, Linda has presented her highly regarded SUE Talk, Awaken the Leader and is the founder of Dare2Lead with Linda. She is an international speaker and best-selling author of No One Stood Up When I Entered the Room: One Woman’s Journey from Command to True Leadership, The Art of Herding Cats: Leading Teams of Leaders, Thoughts on Leadership: Reflections from Experience and 6 other complications.

This woman knows how to lead with her heart and her head.