Executive Seminar Program for Natural Resources

Executive Seminar Program in Natural Resources Leadership is a professional education program for mid-career natural resource professionals in public, private, tribal, and non-profit organizations. The program centers on live case studies of complex natural resource issues as catalysts for advanced leadership development and enhanced understanding of governance principles.

About ESP

The Executive Seminar Program in Natural Resources Leadership (ESP) is a Portland State University Hatfield School of Government Center for Public Service case study-based professional program. ESP helps mid-career natural resource leaders explore and expand leadership competencies and pathways for career-long leadership learning. 

Each year, the program visits communities throughout the West to connect with local leaders wrestling with their own natural resource challenges. Through presentation, conversation, guided study, field trips, and peer-to-peer sharing and teamwork, cohort members deepen their sense of leadership, build networks of support, and witness many different styles and approaches to solving complex leadership challenges.  

Recurring themes include understanding the role of civic capacity, collaborative governance, empathy, engaging the full spectrum of affected communities, diversity, leadership self-awareness and situational awareness, operating in uncertainty and ambiguity, and coping with risk.  

ESP consists of four components: three seminars, or cases, of one week each held on site at various locations and a one-day capstone session held on campus at PSU to conclude the program with a review of leadership principles, techniques for policy resolution, and a summarization of insights gained by participants.

Download the complete list of case studies since 2000 - 2025

2025-26 Program Year

"Leading Through Dramatic Change and Uncertainty - the Importance of Partners and Public Engagement"

• The First Foods Management Approach of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (Pendleton, Oregon)
• Collaborative Governance in a Complex Situation - The Levee-Ready Columbia (Portland)
• Enough To Go Around - The Deschutes Basin Water Collaborative (Central Oregon) 
• Capstone (PSU Campus)

Dates: October 20-24, 2025; February 23-27, 2026; May 18-22, 2026; June 16, 2026

Advisory Board

The Executive Seminar Program Advisory Board is a diverse group of senior natural resource leaders from across the Pacific Northwest. The Advisory Board is crucial to the ongoing guidance, direction and success of the program. Advisory Board members provide general program oversight and feedback; forecast specific emphases or needs for leadership development in their agencies; suggest possible program year themes or areas of focus; suggest specific case study ideas and contacts for further exploration of cases; and assist with program outreach. Most Advisory Board members are also ESP alumnae.

Download the ESP Advisory Board Roster

Who should attend?

Participants in the program come from natural resource agencies, tribes and NGOs from across the West with emphasis in the Pacific Northwest. Many participants are approaching mid-career, and have managed specific initiatives, sub-programs and projects.

Fresh insights and skills gained through the Executive Seminar Program help participants build their leadership portfolios and prepare for agency—and organization-wide leadership roles. Past ESP alums have gone on to senior and regional leadership roles including agency directors, policy advisors and program managers.

Here's a link for more information about program content.

What do participants say about the program?

"ESP was one of the most rewarding training experiences I have ever participated in. It challenged my assumptions about leadership in public service and helped me identify goals for improvement as well as cultivate leadership skills in my staff. I learned the value of establishing relationships and maintaining communication with stakeholders and others because they had direct ramifications on the success of natural resources outcomes. ESP provided me with the opportunity to meet and develop long-lasting friendships with other natural resource agencies, whom I will continue to learn from and seek partnerships."

"There is tremendous value ESP brings through the selected case studies, the participants, and the reflections. Thinking about the issues and the intersection of the collective knowledge and experiences is invaluable. ESP allowed us to learn through that sharing."

Registration & Cost

• Registration: Open through August 31, 2025
• Program Cost: $11,200 for the full program or $4,500 per individual case. Both include the Capstone at no additional cost.

Past and Current Participating Organizations

• Bonneville Power Administration
• Bureau of Land Management
• Bureau of Reclamation 
• Clackamas Soil and Water Conservation District 
• Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission 
• Columbia Slough Watershed Council 
• Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes 
• Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde 
• Environmental Protection Agency
• International Paper Company 
• Hancock and Lone Rock Timber Companies, Montana State Forester Office
• National Marine Fisheries Service 
• National Park Service 
• Natural Resources Conservation Service 
• Oregon Department of Environmental Quality 
• Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife 
• Oregon Department of Forestry 
• Oregon Forest Industries Council 
• Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board
• Port of Portland
• Portland Water Bureau 
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 
• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service 
• U.S. Forest Service
• Washington Department of Ecology 
• Washington Department of Natural Resources 
• Willamette Partnership

Executive Seminar Program Faculty & Staff

Elizabeth Holmes Gaar, Program Director
elizabg@pdx.edu | 503-341-4019 for program questions and general questions

Paul Manson, Academic Lead
mansonp@pdx.edu

Brandon Kurtz, Program Coordinator
brandonk@pdx.edu | (503) 725-5190 for program details, logistics questions, and general questions

Dr. Craig Shinn, ESP Emeritus
shinnc@pdx.edu

Social Media

instagram.com/psu_esp