Steve Nelsen has resigned as Downtown Visalians executive director, while a conflict of interest investigation continues.
Nelsen had been on paid administrative leave since late March. He resigned on April 21, but his departure was not announced by Downtown Visalians until its April 28 meeting.
At the same meeting, Downtown Visalians Board President Duane Rodriguez also announced that Valerie Felix was selected as the organization’s new executive director and Gabrielle Jones was named as its new assistant executive director.
Downtown Visalians promotes small businesses in its area through marketing, special promotions, events, and programs. The organization also works to keep the downtown attractive with seasonal décor and flowerbeds.
Addressing concerns
The April 28 meeting maintained a positive tone despite the long-standing concerns expressed by one of the group’s members.
“I am here today to raise serious concerns regarding governance, transparency, and the conflicts of interest within this organization,” business owner April Treona Lancaster said. “For over three years, I have raised concerns regarding financial oversight, executive conduct and compliance obligations.”
Some of Lancaster’s concerns have culminated in an audit and a “related investigation process that has not been transparently reported to this organization’s membership,” she said.
“Despite the initiation of a multi-year financial review in January and references to both a standard and forensic audit, the membership has received little to no substantive information regarding the scope, status, or findings of those efforts,” she said.
Rodriguez acknowledged Lancaster’s concerns.
“Where we’re at, the attorneys and we have all agreed, there was an issue,” Rodriguez said. “The executive board had questions they wanted answered.
“In regard to the audit update, we still have not done any audit at all, nothing, zero,” he said, explaining that there were challenges in hiring an auditor, but the board has identified some prospects. While Rodriguez didn’t discuss specific issues with hiring an auditor, he said that the prospects are “all out-of-town folks.”
“No one in town wants to touch this for whatever reason,” he added.
However, the board confirmed it is planning to conduct a forensic audit.
“We all want to know what has happened,” business owner Paula Falcone said. “Unfortunately, we can’t unmess up something that took years of messing up in just a couple of months. As soon as we find out something, we’re going to share all of that information with you.”
“Moving forward, you have my word, as well as your executive board’s, that we will have total transparency,” Rodriguez said. “Eyes on everything, that’s our objective moving forward.”
Meanwhile, Nelsen, who serves on the Visalia City Council, said he is also focused on moving forward.
“I was blessed to be CEO for nine years,” he said. “The way it was handled in transferring of leadership I feel was incorrect, and I decided that I would rather resign. I think the timing was inappropriate. It went down a week before I was going to be stepping away for major surgery, but overall, I’m pleased. I’m happy I left with what I was able to sustain.
Nelsen said he is stepping away with his head held high.
“I brought the agency to a new level that I hope is sustainable. I know I had the support of a lot of people. I’m blessed with some really good board members,” he said. “I firmly believe we brought downtown Visalia to a better place, and we are still the envy of everybody when it comes to downtown.”
Downtown Visalians’ new leadership
The new Downtown Visalians executive director had been serving as its marketing and events manager since December 2024. Her duties included managing all 12 of the organization’s events, its website and social media, and handling office administration during a very busy time.
“We gained a lot of momentum in 2025,” Felix said. “We’ve sold out many events in 2025, and we’re still continuing to. The demand for tickets seems to increase for every event that we have.
“Obviously, that’s a big part of the organization, but another part that we really want to focus on is the members, being able to help and support the businesses in downtown,” she said. “For instance, if they have an event that they want us to partner with, if they have a grand opening, we want to highlight that.”
Felix is among those wanting Downtown Visalians to be transparent.
“We just want to be more open and honest, letting everyone know during meetings what income we’re making from the events,” she said, adding that she plans on “sharing things that maybe weren’t shared before. That’s kind of how we got into this dilemma.”
As assistant executive director, Jones plans to work closely with Felix. She handled most of the administrative duties while Felix was on maternity leave.
“There’s not really a clear separation of roles,” Jones said. “I believe that’s something that the board is going to work on as they restructure a little bit.”
Felix is focused on looking ahead and keeping things “as positive as possible because we obviously don’t want anything to overshadow what we’ve done and what we’re going to continue to do.
“Our focus is still simple, is to bring people to downtown, not just once but continuously, and we’re doing that through events,” she said. “We’re doing that through our marketing efforts, and we will continue to do that.”
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Steve Nelsen resigns as Downtown Visalians CEO
Reporting by Steve Pastis, Visalia Times-Delta / Visalia Times-Delta
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
