“I have been a volunteer at Pride for a number of years,” said Ron W. Ortega deHarte, Jr., “and I always looked at getting more involved in the organization in some capacity, but I just never had the time to do more than what I was doing as a volunteer.”

This year, however, deHarte’s schedule has changed, and he is doing more than volunteering; deHarte has been appointed as San Diego Pride’s new executive director.

“I wasn’t necessarily out looking to get involved in the executive director capacity of a program like this, but the timing was right, the event was right, the organization was right, and the community was right,” he said. “I felt real good going forward and talking to the board about how I can come in and bring some of my management skills and leadership experiences to help take the organization to another level, hopefully a more mature level.”

DeHarte comes to Pride with experience as an event marketing professional and business leader in nonprofit and publicly held companies. He has served as executive vice president and chief operating officer for the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, and most recently served as executive director of Bravo San Diego.

“We are delighted and honored to be working with a man of Ron’s caliber,” said Pride board of directors co-chair Philip Princetta. “His placement as executive director brings a fresh new perspective to the face of Pride.”

The Pride board requested the resignation of the previous executive director, Suanne Pauley, shortly after last year’s Pride event, because, according to Princetta,“She was not forthright with information when we needed to act.” At the time, Pride was dealing with community outrage when it was discovered days before the 2005 event that four Pride workers were registered on the Megan’s Law Web site, the state’s public registry for sex offenders.

“I think part of the challenge for any organization is always learning from your past experiences. Last year was a great example of what we’ve got to learn from,” deHarte said. “What Pride went through isn’t necessarily something that can only happen to the Pride organization. That experience is an experience that all organizations have to face with now.

“Our society has changed. The public has changed. Perceptions have changed. Five to 10 years ago, the public perception was not as in tune with the issues of the day as they are today. One of the challenges is the realization that we’re in a changing time, and the organization does need to adapt with the community and modify how we go about and organize and execute the overall event.”

Beyond the challenge of the issues that came up last year, deHarte said Pride faces many challenges common to any organization as large and as old as San Diego Pride. The local GLBT event turns 32 this year and is considered the largest civic event in the city – second only when San Diego hosts the Super Bowl.

“We’ve got challenges of a community that doesn’t see themselves in the Pride week celebration,” he said, adding, “We have challenges in increasing awareness both for a much broader community and a younger community. How do we keep delivering this message to a broad spectrum?”

He looks forward to overcoming those challenges, and already has hopes of a bigger and better Pride event this year.

“I think some of the things I am looking forward to, personally, is just being involved in trying to help the event grow, be a little more to more people, and attract a greater audience,” he said. “We have to do the one better, as difficult as that may be. I think that’s what we really have to do this year. Go that one step better; create something a little different to bring more people out.

“It’s going to be time for people who have not come to Pride for a few years to come back, because they are going to see a lot of things they have not seen before,” he continued. “There are going to be new offerings that are going to be fun and exciting.”

Only a week on the job, deHarte could not list details of any specific additions or particular changes to this year’s Pride events. The only change – the biggest change, he says – is himself. “I applaud Pride because I think it shows the board was really looking beyond the scope of a small organization. They are really looking at bringing a sense of business savvy to the organization,” he said. “They are looking down the road, they are looking into the future, and trying to find somebody that can take the organization to another level.”

DeHarte is hoping the community will back him in evolving the Pride organization to that next level of maturity. His first main task is to introduce himself around San Diego and seek advice and input from the local community.

“Change is good because that brings about new ideas, a new set of eyes, a new way of looking at something,” he said. “I am encouraging people’s opinion, encouraging the volunteers, encouraging everyone who has worked with the event to bring forth their suggestions of how we can improve. That will help us create something new, exciting and different. That will help us overcome the challenges that would come with any organization 32 years old.”

San Diego Pride weekend is scheduled for July 28-30. This year’s theme is: “Equality! No Turning Back.”

“As long as we learn from the input and all the contributions that were made from the community last year, this will be a better organization,” deHarte said.