Luminary: J. Manuel Herrera

Luminary: J. Manuel Herrera

J. Manuel Herrera, an elected official in San Jose/Silicon Valley, envisions the transformation of the public square in our communities and an emerging 21st Century politics that is whole, generative, and personally transformative. Manuel is a Trustee for the East Side Union High School District in San Jose, California, first elected to the Board in 1990. He is an Adjunct Professor with San Jose State University, in his 14th year of teaching for the Professional Certification Program, Nonprofit Management. He is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, based in Palo Alto, California. Manuel’s career is in public policy and administration, working with city managers, elected officials, and nonprofit agencies, a Program Executive with the National Conference for Community & Justice, a national human relations organization.

Over the years, Manuel has served as Director of Planning for United Way of the Bay Area, Ombudsman for the City of San Jose, and legislative aide on Capitol Hill and in the California State Legislature. He has been a Democratic Party official in Silicon Valley, and has served on the Executive Board of the California State Democratic Party. Manuel is writing a book about integrating principles of the spiritual quest with public leadership, politics, and the public process, titled “The Reconciliation of Love & Power.� Manuel’s book unveils conflict, power, and compromise as alchemical pathways for spiritual evolution. He integrates these political elements into an emerging 21st Century consciousness based on a new and higher rationality that expresses as love and power in our personal and public lives.

Manuel has a BA Degree in Social Sciences and an MA Degree in Urban Studies, from the University of the Pacific and Occidental College. He was awarded a National Urban Fellowship that included study at Yale University and assignment as Special Assistant to the Mayor of Seattle. On scholarships, Manuel studied in India and Mexico and traveled worldwide, visiting Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok, New Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay, Athens, Rome, Geneva, Paris, Madrid, Lisbon, New York, Mexico City, and more.

John Robbins, author of Diet for a New America has described Manuel as "a visionary who brings spirit and politics together in a unique and utterly profound way." Barbara Marx Hubbard, author and futurist, has said that "Evolution has found a likely suspect; Manuel represents an archetype that is much needed in politics."