Tom Cesarini, PhD

Tom Cesarini was appointed the Italian honorary consul in San Diego in 2019 and proudly serves the community in this important role, helping co-nationals with a variety of needs.

As an advocate for the local Italian community, Tom Cesarini has helped to promote Italian arts, culture, and heritage for numerous local Italian cultural organizations. Noting an absence of a singular point of reference for San Diego’s myriad Italian groups, Tom founded Convivio in 2003 with the goal of establishing a multifaceted Italian cultural center and museum in San Diego. Tom’s vision for a collaborative cultural venue includes a reference library, media lab, historical archives, performance and event space, cafe and market, and an exhibition area. Currently, through Convivio, Tom directs the AMICIBAR Caffè + Center in Little Italy, which serves as the event, heritage, and visitor center for the community.

Tom also has extensive experience in the social sector as a consultant with a focus on narrative building, writing and editing, group relations, nonprofit-organization infrastructure, resource development, program design, and capacity building. He also established Chiaroscuro Consulting, providing a host of services to social-sector organizations in a consulting role.

Tom holds a PhD in leadership studies and an MA in nonprofit leadership and management from the University of San Diego. Tom’s doctoral dissertation is titled, The Multiple Meanings of San Diego’s Little Italy: A Study of the Impact of Real and Symbolic Space and Boundaries on the Ethnic Identities of Eight Italian Americans. For this work, Tom was a nominee for the university’s William P. Foster Outstanding Dissertation Award. In this research study, Tom examined identity perceptions of San Diego Italian Americans with a connection to Little Italy by analyzing narrative constructions of the participants’ life stories.

Tom’s academic interests include leadership theory and practice; group relations; adult development; organizational culture; communications studies; arts and humanities; cultural and ethnic studies; film and society; ethical, philosophical, and psychological components of leadership; Emergent Leadership Theory; Integral Theory; and nonprofit-sector trends.

Tom’s family members hail from Aspra, Sicily, and he remains grateful for their stories, lessons, and experiences as immigrants. Tom credits his parents’ and grandparents’ emphasis on preserving their cultural heritage for his passion and his commitment to San Diego’s Italian American community.