After more than two decades of driving regional public policy on transportation, housing and other key challenges, Carl Guardino will step down this year as president and CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.
“Twenty-three years in any CEO role is a very long run,” Guardino said. “I just felt that the organization is strong and getting stronger. It’s in a good place.”
Guardino, 58, said he and his wife, Leslee, contemplated the decision over the holidays, and he called Steve Milligan, CEO of Western Digital and chair of the Leadership Group’s board, to break the news last Thursday. He reached out to the remainder of the 15-member executive board over the weekend and told them he would stay on until a search for his replacement is completed, a process he said could take anywhere from 3 to 9 months.
“I don’t know a person who has had a greater impact on bringing our region together to tackle our great challenges than Carl Guardino, whether in creating a housing trust, leading several transit measures or simply bringing 25,000 people together on Thanksgiving morning to run together in turkey outfits,” said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, a good friend of Guardino’s who first worked with him on the Measure A campaign in 2000.
Don’t expect Guardino to be on the sideline for very long, either. He considers this move a “transition” not a retirement. And while he doesn’t have a future role in mind, he says he’ll be looking for one that fulfills his dual passions — the innovation economy and community engagement.
“I like to think the best days are ahead, and I’m really excited about what may be next in my career,” Guardino said.
He’ll also continue to have a role in shaping statewide policy on the California Transportation Commission, a role he was first appointed to in 2007. His current term runs through 2023.
A native of west San Jose who graduated from San Jose State University, Guardino worked for then-Assemblyman Rusty Areias until he became vice president in 1991 of what was then the Santa Clara County Manufacturing Group, which was started in 1978 by Hewlett-Packard co-founder David Packard. In 1994, Guardino was hired away to be a vice president at HP but he returned to the Manufacturing Group in 1997 to succeed then-CEO Gary Burke, who took an executive position with NASDAQ.
During Guardino’s tenure, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group nearly doubled in size, from about 175 companies to more than 350 mostly high-tech firms today. Soft-spoken but laser-focused, Guardino has been a high-profile public face for the organization throughout the state and in Washington D.C. as it addressed issues of housing, traffic and economic expansion. An avid cyclist and triathlete, Guardino quickly gained a reputation for his abundant energy and a clock-resistant work ethic, often rising before dawn to send emails or touch base with colleagues around the globe.
In a letter sent to his board of directors, Guardino reflected on what he believed were the group’s biggest successes, including being the driving force behind four transportation sales-tax initiatives that provided more than $30 million in funding for regional transit and road improvements and three statewide housing bond campaigns totaling $11 billion.
But Guardino said he’s equally proud of the creation of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group Foundation, which has provided an avenue for the association’s philanthropic efforts. He and his wife founded the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot in 2005, and the Thanksgiving Day race has provided nearly $10 million to housing, health and food nonprofits since its inception. Following its model, two other runs — the Santa Run Silicon Valley and the Hearts & Soles run — supported downtown San Jose holiday events such as Christmas in the Park and Downtown Ice and funded salad bars in Bay Area public schools.
His departure shouldn’t slow down those runs at all, said Guardino, who plans to be involved in all three this year and hopes to continue playing a role in the future. “They’ve become traditions and institutions for our community,” he said, “and I don’t see that changing.”
Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian said Guardino — and the Leadership Group by extension — has exhibited an understanding that the vitality of the business community is contingent on the vitality of the larger community. “The Leadership Group under Carl’s tenure has understood the community’s array of concerns — transportation, housing, education — more than other business groups might acknowledge,” said Simitian, who has worked with Guardino while serving on both the Board of Supervisors and the state Legislature.
Simitian also remarked on Guardino’s persistence that has helped him succeed. “If there’s a way to a ‘yes,’ he will get to ‘yes,’ ” Simitian said, recalling a tough negotiation over a transportation sales tax ballot initiative in 2016. “He’s a dog with a bone, and I mean that as the highest compliment.”
Even if he doesn’t agree on a particular issue, Simitian said, Guardino is always willing to collaborate on other issues. “There are a lot of people who talk, but there are relatively few people who ‘do,’ ” Simitian said, “and Carl has been a doer.”
