OUR TEAM : team members : steering committee : partners

Team Members

Kim McNulty
Program Manager

Kim is a native of Palm Springs, California. She attended the University of San Diego and graduated cum laude with a degree in English. She is currently a consultant to the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership, leading the Career Pathways Initiative. In November 2006, this James Irvine Foundation funded initiative was recognized as a national best practice by the Ford Motor Company Fund through their Next Generation Learning Community initiative.

Kim's professional experience includes serving as Executive Director for the Palm Springs Economic Development Corporation; six years as Director of Marketing for Maryanov Madsen Gordon & Campbell, CPAs and thirteen years with the Palm Springs Desert Resorts Convention and Visitors Bureau as Film Commissioner and Communications Manager for the desert resort communities.

Kim serves on the Business Education Resource Group for the CA Department of Education and is a member of the Riverside County Workforce Development Board's Eastern Region Committee. In addition, she helped pioneer Xavier College Preparatory High School in Palm Desert, CA and currently serves on Xavier's Board of Regents.

Sheila Thornton
Healthcare Industry Council Coordinator

Sheila Thornton is a healthcare, education and leadership consultant who has served as the Healthcare Industry Council Coordinator for CVEP's Career Pathways Initiative since its inception in 2005. In that time, she has guided the development of the council, growing it to more than 150 representatives of the valley's health and education organizations.

Sheila holds a B.S. in Applied Math from Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. Her professional experience includes serving as the Director of Community Services for Downey Regional Medical Center in Downey, CA and as Research Analyst for Micronomics, Inc, a Los Angeles-based economic research and consulting firm.

Across the past 10 years, she has provided project management, leadership development and coalition building expertise to a variety of industry and community organizations including, the Desert Healthcare District, Palm Springs Unified School District, San Bernardino Catholic Diocese, Coachella Valley Autism Society, Queens Care Foundation Los Angeles, and HMA Southern California.

Sheila currently serves on the California Health Professions Consortium, and presents regularly on regional health workforce pipeline development at state and national conferences.

Vicki Martinez
Project Coordinator

Vicki has worked for Riverside County Economic Development Agency (EDA) for 8 ½ years. She is currently the Project Coordinator for CVEP’s Career Pathways Initiative. During her 8 ½ years working at EDA Vicki has worked on numerous healthcare projects which include the Economic Development Guiding Education (EDGE) project, where the Riverside County Healthcare Industry Council (RCHIC) was formed. The Nurse Workforce Initiative (NWI) grant and the Healthy Communities Forum (HCF) grant, which trained Registered Nurses. Vicki also worked on an Employment Training Panel (ETP) contract for nurse training and Individual Training Accounts for the Healthcare Industry.

She was the coordinator and a participant in 3 annual Valley Wide Employment Expos and various Job Fairs. She has been the Project Manager and facilitator of the Operation Team Work (OTW) project. Vicki also worked as a Career Coach and provided job seekers services to clients in the Desert Hot Springs Family Resource Center.

Vicki has over 20 years experience in Aerospace working as a Cost Control/Budget Analyst, which included development and tracking budgets, planning and tracking Engineering work structures associated to Government contracts, and preparing financial reports in compliance with those Government contracts.

Vicki also worked in the Marketing Department at Fleetwood Enterprises Inc., Riverside’s largest manufacturer and the nation’s largest manufacturer of recreational vehicles and manufactured housing.

Vicki is a member of the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership (CVEP) Healthcare, Advanced Technology, and Arts, Media and Entertainment councils. She is also a member of the Regional Health Occupations Resource Center (RHORC) Advisory council, Healthy Communities Forum (HCF) Advisory Committee, and California Nurses Educational Institute (CNEI) Healthcare Advisory council and Riverside County’s Eastern Workforce Development Board. She served on EDA’s Workshop Alignment Workgroup (WAW), Quality Improvement Committee and the Employee Recognition Committee.

Education:Vicki has a Bachelor of Science/Business Administration degree from the University of Phoenix.

Larry McLaughlin
Advanced Technology Industry Council Coordinator

Larry McLaughlin is the Director of the Advance Transportation Technology and Energy (ATTE) Center at College of the Desert and serves as the Advanced Technology Industry Council Coordinator for the CVEP Career Pathways Initiative. The ATTE is one of ten centers established by the California Community College System to develop curriculum and conduct training for workforce development in emerging transportation and energy industries. Larry has worked in higher education for 28 years, overseeing technical education, research dissemination, and professional development programs. His work has included directing training initiatives in alternative transportation fuels, solar energy, and wind energy. He holds a Masters Degree in Technology Education and a Bachelors of Fine Arts.

Donna Sturgeon
Work-Based Learning Programs Coordinator

Coachella Valley Economic Partnership
Career Pathways Initiative

Donna Sturgeon has been a Coachella Valley resident for over twenty years. As a mother, teacher, business owner, and professional consultant, Donna is committed to workforce excellence and as such adds value to the team as an Education/Industry Liaison developing programs around work-based learning opportunities.

Donna attended The University of Western Ontario in London, Canada and holds degrees in English, Health, and Education. Donna has also begun studies at University of California Riverside-Palm Desert Graduate Center’s campus in the M.B.A. Program of Entrepreneurial Studies. She joined the CPI Team in October of 2007 and has been active since that time as a work-based learning programs consultant. Donna is also professionally trained through Ford’s Partnership for Advanced Studies as a Professional Development Provider.

Donna’s professional experience includes secondary education teaching where she has served as a faculty member in various departments at four secondary schools. Her most recent full time teaching position was in the English Department at Palm Desert High School, where she still serves as a substitute teacher and as Fundraising Chair. Additionally, Donna partnered in the development, build-out, operation and sale of four successful automotive/car wash centers in Southern California. She retains partner ownership in one remaining car wash center located in Palm Desert.

Donna is an active member and volunteer with the local chapter of National Charity League, and with Women Leaders Forum.