10 YEARS WORKING FOR THE BEST PEOPLE CALIFORNIA HAS TO OFFER

by CCA Vice President of Government Affairs Kirk Wilbur

By the time you read this I will have celebrated 10 years at the California Cattlemen’s Association.

There’s a story I like to tell about interviewing at CCA back in May of 2013. I’d been out of law school for about a year, and it had been six months since I had passed the California Bar Exam. But the job market in 2012 and 2013 wasn’t great (a fact distressingly highlighted at my graduation by keynote speaker Tani CantilSakauye, then-Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court), and I’d spent the months since taking the Bar Exam unemployed.

When I stumbled upon the job listing for CCA’s Membership & Office Administrator position, it did not strike me as my dream job. But it did strike me as a paying job, so it got added to the long list of job applications I had submitted. Unlike most of those applications, though, this one elicited a response; just over 24 hours later, CCA Executive Vice President Billy Gatlin offered me an interview.

Ultimately, of course, I ended up being offered and taking the job. I’d subsequently learn that Lisa Brendlen, CCA’s Director of Finance, had lobbied against Billy offering me the job –she reasoned that I was over-qualified, was just looking for a quick paycheck and that I’d quickly leave for greener pastures. CCA would be back at square-one hiring for another Membership & Office Administrator.

I love telling this story mostly because it tends to embarrass Lisa, which is no easy feat. But what typically gets lost in the telling is that Lisa was absolutely right – I had no intention of sticking around, but I badly needed to start earning some money (as evidence of that, I accepted the offer just 65 minutes after Billy emailed it over). I figured I’d just jump ship once a ‘better’ job offer came in.

So what changed that I’ve now been at the Association for a decade?

For one, CCA’s Midyear Meeting took place at Thunder Valley Casino in Lincoln just a month after I started. I met dozens of you, and to my pleasant surprise you greeted me with open arms despite me not knowing the first thing about ranching (then-CCA President Tim Koopmann used to tell folks he’d taught me which end of a cow was which, and that’s not far from the truth; I’ve picked up a thing or two in the 10 years since!).

At Thunder Valley I met Lassen County’s Jack and Darcy Hanson, two of the kindest

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...CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 people I’m likely to ever meet. Jack Lavers and Hugo Klopper showed me a good time at the bar. Several of you – I won’t name names – endearingly hazarded your best attempts at karaoke.

I came away from that event realizing these are good folks.

A lot has changed since then. Nine months later, when there was an opening for the Director of Government Affairs, Billy agreed to let me put my legal education to use (so Lisa was proven right about one thing – it was back to square one hiring an administrative assistant). After Justin Oldfield successfully lobbied to pass the Cattle Council Law and left CCA to helm that organization, Billy took another chance on me and offered me the position of Vice President of Government Affairs.

The trust and leadership Billy provides is part of the reason I’ve been so loyal to the Association this past decade (and I suspect the same is true of my coworkers). In addition to providing me those opportunities for growth, Billy has largely trusted me and CCA’s contract lobbyist, Jason Bryant, to get the job done and to get it done well. There’s no micromanagement, but when we want his input or advice – or need to leverage his relationships in the Capitol community – he’s eager to assist.

Our small office is also a lot like a tightknit family (and not in the trite way you usually hear from mega-corporations).

Between CCA and the California Cattlemen’s Foundation there are only seven of us, 10 if we count folks who contract with CCA and the foundation (and we should count them, because they’re also very much part of the family!). We joke with each other just as I tease my own siblings, but at the end of the day we trust one another, rely on one another and unwaveringly we have one another’s backs.

The work is difficult and can sometimes feel grueling, but it matters, and you all make your appreciation well-known in every interaction. It’s truly rewarding.

And the membership is great even outside of the work we do. Scott Violini will often call me early in the morning or late in the evening – and that’s fine, because he’s usually just calling to shoot the breeze for a bit. After any given Gonzaga Bulldogs game during March Madness it’s now tradition for me to get on the horn with Rick Roberti to chat about the game (and any time I see his wife, Carolyn, she’s sure to sneak me some candy). The first thing many of you ask when you see me is how my run streak is going, and I genuinely appreciate your support for my silly little hobby.

I’d like to recognize more of you who have made this a job worth having for a decade, of course, but there is a word limit to these articles! Just know that I appreciate every last one of you.

So yes, Lisa was absolutely, 100 percent right back in May of 2013 when she suggested that the association should be cautious about hiring a law graduate to answer the phones. But I’ve stuck around for a decade simply because at CCA I’ve had the pleasure of working with and working for the best people in the State of California.