14 Dec The Valley Economic Alliance Newsletter March 2016 Highlights
San Fernando Valley’s top manufacturers presented latest innovations at TradeX-Trade Connect
San Fernando Valley manufacturers and international companies attended TradeX-Trade Connect on Thursday, March 17th, hosted by The Valley Economic Alliance (TVEA) and the Port of Los Angeles at Los Angeles Mission College.
A manufacturing executive policy roundtable kicked off the day, where manufacturers discussed policy issues with Council District 3 Councilmember Bob Blumenfield and other city representatives. TVEA shared findings from a 25 year review of top industries in Los Angeles County that had lost and gained employment. Kenn Phillips, President and CEO of TVEA shared that manufacturing is still a strong industry with 360,000 employees, however has lost more than 450,000 jobs in the past 25 years. In the past year, California has seen a 3.7% increase of manufacturing jobs, a majority of which are in Northern California.
TradeX-Trade Connect followed the meeting, where 3 top manufacturers demonstrated their latest products to a panel of industry experts. Richard Brent, CEO of Louroe Electronics presented an impressive gunshot detector system that recognizes firearm discharge within seconds of a gunshot and sends immediate notification through video management systems.
Panelists critiqued the marketability and export potential of the each product in various markets.
Primo Wind’s President William Fitzmaurice demonstrated energy from thin air with their compact rooftop wind turbine for commercial buildings and small-scale community installations. The turbine offers the same of energy as a rooftop solar system, with half the footprint and 2/3 the price. Bobrick Washroom Equipment’s Marketing Projects Specialist Beth White demonstrated their top of the line automatic foam soap dispenser.
The panel included executives from U.S. Commercial Service, U.S. Export Import Bank, Los Angeles Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association and Kogon Trade Consulting.
The Valley Business Expo ’16 Recap
The Valley Economic Alliance (TVEA) Board of Governors and commercial and retail brokers met at the Sportsmen’s Lodge on Thursday, March 17 for a board meeting and presentation on LocateLA, a property and community search tool.
Ricky Rivers, TVEA intern and UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs student, also presented his urban and regional planning research project on “The Ease of Doing Business in the San Fernando Valley,” with the help of economist Carol Blakeslee. Attendees included City of San Fernando Mayor Joel Fajardo.
The meeting was followed by The Valley Business Expo ’16. Over 60 exhibitors networked with exhibitors and showcased their products and services.
Attendees won raffle prizes sponsored by the L.A. Kings, L.A. Galaxy, Fancifull Baskets, Microsoft and VIVI Jewelry. Event sponsors included Van Nuys Los Angeles World Airports, Woodbury University, Republic Services, TMK Attorneys, Chase and VEDC.
Visit the Facebook album for more photos from the event.
A Valley rail line, better transit for CSUN students, on wish list at Transportation Summit
As bus and rail ridership sags across the region, the drumbeat rose this week for a likely sales tax measure that could fund transit projects into the middle of the century – with a “fair share” finally devoted to the San Fernando Valley.
But at the 11th hour of planning for Valley rail upgrades from the Orange Line to Van Nuys Boulevard to the Sepulveda Pass, many requested Cal State Northridge be added to the tax measure mix. Project proposals for a November ballot are expected to be released this month.
“It’s hard. It’s difficult,” said state Senator Robert M. Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, co-host of a second Valley Transportation Summit at CSUN on Thursday, March 3rd. “I have my own view of fair share. But a plan is not a plan until you include CSUN – (with) 50,000 individuals without good public transportation.”
The nearly three-hour summit, co-hosted by The Valley Economic Alliance, Hertzberg and CSUN, aimed to draw attention to the Valley’s pivotal role – and transit dividend – in passing a tandem 1-cent sales tax proposal now known as a Measure R extension and Measure R2.
“No part of the county should not get its fair share – and today that means the Valley,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti, a Valley boy who recalled a working bus system as a kid. “The time is now that no area of the San Fernando Valley be left behind.”
The push for more transit dollars comes as fewer Angelenos opt for Metro trains and buses. In January, weekday boardings averaged 1.27 million, according to the transit agency. A year earlier, it was 1.39 million. And in January 2014, 1.45 million passengers rode by bus or rail. Meanwhile, weekday boardings on the Orange Line fell from 29,000 in September to 23,000 in January – while L.A. gridlock lived up to global fame. Read Full.
Welcome to TVEA’s Management Committee
Dr. Erika Endrijonas
President
Los Angeles Valley College
Dr. Erika Endrijonas has been the President of Los Angeles Valley College since August 2014. Los Angeles Valley College is one of the largest of the nine campuses of the Los Angeles Community College District with more than 18,000 students in the eastern portion of the San Fernando Valley. It primarily serves the communities of Valley Glen, Van Nuys, North Hollywood, Valley Village, Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Lake Balboa, Panorama City, and Burbank. Erika began her career in higher education at USC as an academic advisor in 1992. She was previously Executive Vice President and Accreditation Liaison Officer of Oxnard College and spent nine years at Santa Barbara City College, where she was Dean of Educational Programs.
Kim Guard
Franchise Owner
Express Employment Professionals
Kim Guard moved from Portland, OR and opened her second franchise of Express Employment Professionals in Glendale, CA. Her Portland office was ranked in the top 10 offices out of over 700 offices in the world for many years. Express Employment Professionals is a staffing provider in the U.S., Canada and South Africa founded in 1983. They help job seekers find work and help businesses find qualified employees. The company generated $3.02 billion in sales and employed a record 500,002 people in 2015.
Alfred E. Mann Leaves Legacy
Serial entrepreneur and 1999 Valley of the Stars Gala business honoree, Alfred E. Mann died on Thursday, February 25th. He was 90.
Mann founded and helped fund 17 companies during his career, including aerospace company Spectrolab Inc. in Sylmar, retinal prosthetics developer Second Sight Medical Products Inc. in Sylmar and insulin pump manufacturer MiniMed Inc., which was later acquired by Medtronic Inc.
Some of his enterprises developed groundbreaking devices, such as the insulin pump and the first rechargeable pacemaker, as well as reliable batteries for medical products and the aerospace industry.
More than half of Mann’s companies were acquired for a combined total of nearly $8 billion. In addition, two of his businesses went public, including MannKind Corp. in Valencia, which develops an inhalable insulin known as Afrezza.
Earlier this month, Mann resigned from his executive chairman and board member positions at MannKind Corp., and was named chairman emeritus of the company.
Mann died in Las Vegas, where he has a home. He leaves behind his wife Claude and seven children.
Source: San Fernando Valley Business Journal
CSUN and Valley Leaders Collaborate to Push for Better Transportation Options
California State University, Northridge (CSUN) administrators and student leaders joined with state Senator Bob Hertzberg on February 29th to call for better transportation options for CSUN’s almost 50,000 students, faculty and staff.
The campus sits in the middle of a transportation desert of sorts, devoid of subway or light-rail connections and sorely lacking in the number of rapid bus lines. University officials are hoping to change this – to benefit the surrounding San Fernando Valley community and bring relief to the thousands who face challenging and inefficient commutes to and from CSUN.
“We have story, after story, after story of students spending hours on public transportation to get here,” said CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison. “CSUN students represent the diversity and vitality of Los Angeles. Mass transit is an essential link in their aspirations for a better life.
Any transportation plan for the San Fernando Valley must include CSUN,” Harrison continued. “I am very grateful to the area leaders who have made CSUN a key part of their transportation planning, and I would urge them and the Metro transit board to support these plans.”
The university is committed to reducing traffic and other impacts on the surrounding neighborhood, Harrison said. Members of the CSUN community make an estimated 200,000 single-occupant vehicle trips to and from campus each week.
CSUN’s transit priorities include a number of proposals, several of which Colin Donahue, CFO and Vice President of Administration and Finance, shared: establishing rapid bus transit service from campus to the proposed East Valley Transit Corridor rail system, via Nordhoff Street; providing rapid bus transit service between the Orange Line and campus, along Reseda Boulevard; expanding the capacity of the CSUN Transit Center on campus; and relocating the Northridge Metrolink station slightly east to Reseda at Parthenia Street.
Source: CSUN Today