14 Dec A Conversation With Randy Witt

A Conversation With:

Randy Witt

Randy Witt Productions
Owner

How long have you been volunteering in the community?

I moved to the San Fernando Valley in 1984. Having been originally from Chicago, where politics and civics are practically a sport, as popular as the Bears and Cubs, I continued my involvement when I moved here. I started volunteering in Chicago during junior high school in 1964. Over the years, I was a judge for Southern California theatre competitions, coached T-ball, Pitch-t, and Little League baseball teams, and held leadership positions in my temple. Those functions were all related to our family, where my wife Lori and I are the proud parents of two sons and a daughter.

Professionally, my first career in Los Angeles was as a builder and developer. As a Vice President of a million dollar development company, I was an active volunteer in the BIA. I participated in the Sales and Marketing Council as well as the Purchasing Council. My life in the Valley included stops in Sherman Oaks, Northridge, Woodland Hills, Chatsworth, and Sylmar. I guess you could say I touched every corner of the Valley. When I built our home in Chatsworth, I was an active member of the Chamber of Commerce. First I was the Vice President of Events, and oversaw both the construction as well as the grand opening celebration of the Chatsworth Train Depot. The event featured Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, which should give you some idea of how long ago it was. At the time, I was the host and producer of a local home improvement show called, “House Talk.” Being on TV all the time made me a Valley celebrity and I was asked to be the master of ceremonies for the Tri-Chamber of Commerce (Chatsworth, Northridge, Granada Hills) and California State University, Northridge’s  4^th of July celebration. This was a major event in the San Fernando Valley and it drew nearly 20,000 people every year. My experience with volunteering was a tremendous amount of fun.

I am most proud of the opportunity to bring the high school robotics program to Southern California. Boeing approached the Chatsworth Chamber of Commerce while I was President and with the help of many volunteers, including Jerry Rymers from Boeing and many of our local business owners, the program was not only a huge success but has spread to high schools all over the Valley and beyond.

How long have you been volunteering for The Valley Economic Alliance?

My involvement with The Valley Economic Alliance began literally days after the earthquake of 1994. Gary Thomas was our Chatsworth Chamber President and one of the founders of The Valley Economic Alliance. He was our liaison, keeping us involved and informed about the progress of The Alliance. Shortly thereafter, Bob Scott, The Alliance’s first President and Wendy Brogan, an early Alliance participant, approached my wife and I to assist them in attaining funding for The Alliance as it was snagged in major red tape as we had experience in such matters as developers. Early Alliance leaders, particularly David Fleming, had the visionary wisdom that The Alliance would be far more successful with private funding, rather than through the government. I was an active participant in the hiring of Bill Allen as the first paid President of The Alliance by both suggesting him and helping convince Bill to take the job. With the help of many, many community leaders, The Alliance has been thriving now for over 20 years. During that time, I have been a member of and co-chair of The Alliance’s Marketing Initiative.

I also was the chair of the Joint Co-chairs committee which included an Education Workforce Committee, Business and Development Committee, Livable Communities Committee, and the Sales and Marketing Committee. To this day, I am actively involved as the Secretary of The Valley Economic Alliance on the Management Team.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I am the owner of Randy Witt Productions, a production company that has produced television shows, historical documentaries, videos and commercials. I like to say that my best skill is one of vision and writing checks by bringing together talented collaborators, including writers, camera operators, audio experts, editors, etc. I love what I do and hopefully it shows. Most people who are reading this have probably seen some of the videos that we have produced. Our videos have made people laugh and cry and truth be told, have even saved some lives.

Nothing is more important to me than my family. My wife, Lori is both beautiful and brilliant and has been a partner in one of the nation’s leading law firms for years. She practices medical mal-practice defense and without prejudice, is the most brilliant attorney I have ever met. She frequently writes the scripts for our videos and television industry leaders have commented that her scripts are phenomenal as well. She is a great wife who laughs with me everyday. As a mother, which is not an easy task as a career woman, her love and nurturing continues today even as our children are young adults and out of the house. Our three kids, well not kids anymore, Heather, Trevor and Ryan are successful in the paths that they have chosen. Heather sells real estate in Beverly Hills and the West Los Angeles region. Trevor is a coffee expert and dreams of opening his own establishment. His real ambition is bringing peace to the Middle East. Ryan wants to cure cancer and as a VP in a pharma start-up, I would never bet against him.

For more information visit my LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/randywittproductions

What is one of your Passion Projects that you are working on?

My Passion Project right now is balancing my many Passion Projects. That includes my marriage, my business, and my continued involvement in The Valley Economic Alliance.

Why do you continue to be a member of The Valley Economic Alliance?

The San Fernando Valley is one of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas that to this day, it is erroneously considered a Los Angeles suburb. It is in fact, a city. Though not legally a city, it deals with every issue including housing, healthcare, jobs, poverty, transportation, education, etc. The Valley Economic Alliance is one of many organizations that finds solutions to our region’s substantial issues, with numerous successes over the past 20 years. I am a member of The Alliance to both be a small part of those successes and hopefully be apart of spreading the word as to just who we are and what we do.