Read more about Whiz Kids
In the picturesque town of San Luis Obispo, California, a small but mighty business named Whiz Kids has become the talk of the town. Founded and led by Lesa Smith, this women-owned business has not only captured the hearts of locals but has also conquered the challenges…
Read more about Hella Nuts
Kami and Mieko Scott founders of Hella Nuts started their plant-based journey in 2018. Their goal was to come up with vegan options that had no chemicals, fillers, or soy. Nothing but all natural ingredients. As a black-owned and women-owned business, Hella Nuts aims to…
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The first “State of Diverse Small Businesses in California” report details the statewide impact of minority-owned small business, noting that, annually, they contribute $192.8 billion in economic output….
Chair
Lenny Mendonca is the former chief economic and business advisor to Governor Gavin Newsom. He is also a senior partner emeritus of McKinsey & Company, a lecturer on inequality at the Stanford Business School, and chair and primary owner of the Coastside News Group.
He founded McKinsey's US state and local public sector consulting practice and led the firm's knowledge development efforts, overseeing the McKinsey Global Institute and the firm's communicationsΓÇöincluding the McKinsey Quarterly. He served for a decade on the McKinsey Shareholder Council.
Over the course of his career, he has helped dozens of government, corporate, and nonprofit clients meet their most difficult management challenges. He was formerly the chair of New America and Children Now, co-chair of California Forward, and chair of Fuse Corps. He is chair emeritus of the Bay Area Council and their Economic Institute.
He also previously served as the vice chair of Common Cause, the vice chair of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Council, and a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development. He served on the boards of Fidelity Charitable, Western Governors University, UC Merced, the Educational Results Partnership, the College Futures Foundation, California Competes, the Opportunity Institute, Commonwealth Club, the National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers, and theguardian.org.
He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the board of trustees for Junior Statesmen of America, and the advisory boards of Y Analytics, QB3 and the Haas Center at Stanford University.
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Vice Chair
Maria S. Salinas is the President & CEO of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, the largest business association in Los Angeles County representing member companies and serving the interests of more than 235,000 businesses across the Los Angeles region. Ms. Salinas took the helm of the organization in August of 2018 and became the first woman and Latina to lead the Chamber in its 132-year history. An accomplished business woman, entrepreneur and a determined community leader, Ms. Salinas' business acumen and financial expertise provides her with the right experience to lead the L.A. Area Chamber.
Ms. Salinas, a steward of the Chamber's new vision, A Thriving Region for All,has reimagined the role of the Chamber. The Chamber looks to the future with a vision to build an inclusive economy and lead in three pillar areas of focus: advocacy work, global engagement and through community collaboration for economic growth and mobility.
The Los Angeles region, which is the 14th largest economy in the world, and the Chamber membership represents a broad spectrum of industries, small businesses, corporations, academic institutions and nonprofits, all are examples that the Los Angeles economy is diverse, dynamic and that business is a force for good.
Ms. Salinas is an appointee to Governor Gavin Newsom's Commission on the Future of Work and named to his Business and Jobs Recovery Task Force. She was appointed to the US Chamber of Commerce's Committee of 100, a distinction reserved for the top 100 Chambers across the country.
Salinas represents the Los Angeles business community in state- wide policy initiatives with the Coalition of Regional Economic Association Leaders (R.E.A.L.), she is a member of the Board of Directors of Mobility 21, a regional transportation effort, and an appointee of Mayor Eric Garcetti to the MEXLA Commission, a foreign policy initiative between Mexico and Los Angeles. Salinas serves on the Board of Directors of The Music Center, Pacific Council, UnidosUS and Southern California Leadership Network among others.
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Vice Chair
Gurinder S Ahluwalia is an executive advisor to Thomas H. Lee Partners. Ahluwalia brings over twenty-five years of operating and financial services experience with a proven track record of building, fixing and growing businesses, most recently in wealth management. Ahluwalia has provided strong leadership in a number of different roles including Chief Operating Officer (COO), Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President, and Chief Risk Officer. Mr. Ahluwalia is currently a director of Hightower Advisors and was a co-founder of 280 CapMarkets, a fintech capital markets company.
Prior to joining Thomas H. Lee Partners, Gurinder S Ahluwalia was an advisor and COO at Ovo Cosmico, Inc., a VC-backed start-up with a mission of making credit affordable and accessible everywhere. He was also president and CEO of AssetMark, Inc., where he focused the company's strategy on growth through advisor engagement, improved execution, and product and service innovations.
As President and CEO of GE Private Asset Management and Genworth Wealth Management, Ahluwalia transformed the unit from a boutique business to one with industry-leading profitability. He previously served as a Senior Vice President at GE Insurance and Chief Risk Officer at GE Edison Life Insurance.
Gurinder S Ahluwalia holds an M.S. cum laude from New Jersey Institute of Technology in Electrical Engineering, a B.S. of Computer Science from New York University College of Arts and Sciences, and a B.E. of Electrical Engineering from Cooper Union.
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Allison Kelly
Allison Kelly is deeply committed to fighting economic inequality through innovation and out-of-the box partnerships at ICA, a venture capital-certified non-profit CDFI where she has served as CEO since June 2019. Under Kelly’s leadership, ICA has nearly tripled its net assets, quadrupled its number of investments, grown the number of companies served through our programs and more than tripled the organization's revenues.
In 2018, Kelly started an initiative called The Wisdom Fund, conceived to create a new debt product around the needs and characteristics of women of color entrepreneurs. In 2019, CNote took leadership of the initiative; The Wisdom Fund now is a fixed income vehicle for investors that increases capital access and lending for women-owned businesses.
In 2022, Kelly led the launch of the ICA Impact Note, an innovative investment structure that helps entrepreneurs prioritize social impacts–like good jobs, workforce diversity, and employee wealth creation–as they grow their businesses. As companies meet these impact milestones, the investor returns equity ownership percentages back to the company. Through this structure, the investor and the company are able to work in long-term partnership to create social returns for the community by growing local businesses.
For more than 15 years, Ms. Kelly has been working within the CDFI industry supporting underrepresented small businesses. Before joining ICA, Kelly was head of strategy and innovation at CDC Small Business Finance where she led the effort to bring on more than $40 million in new impact investments for non-SBA small business loan products. Prior to CDC, Allison spent seven years in various leadership positions at Pacific Community Ventures, a nonprofit social enterprise focused on helping small businesses thrive through affordable capital and free business coaching.
Ms. Kelly serves on the Board of Goal 5, a women’s apparel company dedicated to gender equity in sport, the CDFI Coalition. Mal Warwick Donor Digital and the Advisory Board of CNote.
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Brett Melone
Brett Melone is the Chief Business Strategies Officer at California FarmLink, a statewide nonprofit Certified Community Development Financial Institution with a mission to invest in the prosperity of farmers and ranchers through lending, education, and access to land. FarmLink also serves fishers throughout the state.
In his role, Melone oversees FarmLink’s education and lending activities serving hundreds of agricultural and fisheries businesses annually. He became a board member in 2004, served as a member of its Loan Committee, and eventually joined the staff as a loan officer in 2013.
Prior to that, Melone held numerous leadership positions at nonprofits serving farmers and rural communities in Latin America and California, with a particular focus on ensuring equitable access to resources, and supporting their business success and natural resource management.
Melone currently serves on the boards of several nonprofit organizations, including Sustainable Agriculture Education, MEarth, and Feed the Hunger Fund, and is an adjunct instructor of sustainable agriculture policy at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. He has a BA in International Relations, Business and Spanish from the University of San Diego and a MA in International Environmental Policy from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.
Brett Melone grew up in a rural community in South Florida, where his parents worked in agriculture. That experience has shaped his professional pursuits and his personal commitment to ensuring rural communities, and farmers and ranchers in particular, have access to economic opportunity and the tools they need to steward natural resources.
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Carolina Martinez
Carolina Martinez is the CEO of CAMEO - the California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity-, a statewide association representing more than 300 lenders, training programs, chambers of commerce, job creators, agencies and individuals dedicated to furthering Microbusiness development in the state. CAMEO advocates for its members and builds their capacity to support the more than 84,000 very small businesses they serve.
Martinez has more than 15 years of experience working in economic development and business consulting. Her vision has been defined by the variety of experiences she’s had with nonprofits and universities in South and North America. She has developed bilingual, culturally appropriate entrepreneurial training programs; trained and coached pre-venture and startups; developed international networks promoting partnerships among private corporations that boost industries; provided consulting services to vulnerable communities to explore entrepreneurship as a way to generate wealth; and owned her own business consulting firm.
Martinez served on the Pennsylvania Governor’s Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs as well as on the boards of the Berks County Latino Chamber of Commerce and the Kutztown University Foundation. She serves on the Advisory Boards of two CDFI microlenders: Mission Economic Development Agency Adelante Fund in San Francisco and Accion Opportunity Fund, the largest national microlender. Carolina serves on the Community Advisory Boards of Comerica Bank and Cathay Bank and is a board member of the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) and Pacific Community Ventures (PCV). She served on California Governor’s COVID-19 Small Business and Innovative Startup Recovery Subcommittee and is a Member of the Executive Committee and Chair of the Policy Committee of the California Coalition for Community Investment (CCCI) a statewide coalition of CDFIs. She has an MBA and BA in Industrial Engineering.
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Danetta Jackson
Statewide Supplier Diversity Program Manager
As Statewide Supplier Diversity Program Manager within the California Department of General Services (DGS) Procurement Division (PD), Danetta Jackson is a member of the PD executive team focused on developing and implementing statewide strategic objectives, supported by data to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in state contracting. In Jackson’s previous role as the state’s Business Outreach Program Manager for 13 years, she oversaw outreach engagement strategies, external partnerships, communications, state contracting goal compliance, as well as the department’s Small Business Advisory Council. Ms. Jackson has over 30 years of public service.
Jackson is a passionate leader committed to breaking down barriers in state contracting for California’s diverse small business sector and finding ways to create more opportunities for underrepresented, marginalized micro businesses. She has formed strategic collaborations with diverse business organizations throughout the state at the private, local, state, and federal levels and has led other government entities in the development of their respective supplier diversity programs. In September 2021, Jackson was influential in the University of California’s (UC) adoption of their 25 percent diverse business contracting goal and development of their Small Business First Program and certification reciprocity partnership with DGS.
Since Jackson has assumed her leadership role in supplier diversity, she is co-leading the development and implementation of a comprehensive technical assistance and training program to help diverse small and disabled veteran businesses navigate the state’s contracting process specific to procurement and bidding requirements that will launch in the Fall of 2023. In April 2022, she led the implementation of a voluntary supplier diversity data collection in the state’s Cal eProcure system aimed to capture the demographics of state bidders and suppliers that will help inform where outreach and support is needed among various communities.
Jackson serves on various collaborative workgroups, such as the UC Supplier Diversity Advisory Council, Governor’s Minority Small Business Procurement Task Force, California Statewide Coalition on Diversity Initiatives, and the Health in all Policies Task Force. Jackson’s education includes a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from CSU, Sacramento and certificate in their Management and Executive Leadership Programs. Jackson currently serves as a subject matter expert panelist on the Source Diverse Source Local Initiative administered by California Office of the Small Business Advocate.
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David Fazio
David Fazio is the Founder, and President, of Helix Opportunity LLC, a social enterprise that specializes in the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the workforce, as well as the consumer marketplace, through organizational development and inclusive design consulting, training, and staffing. He is also an Invited Expert to the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Accessibility Initiative, where he develops global digital accessibility standards alongside multiple Working Groups.
Mr. Fazio is a person with cognitive, and mobility, disabilities, having survived a softball-size hemorrhagic stroke, at the age of 13, that left him completely paralyzed on the entire left half of his body, along with severe brain damage.
Through Helix Opportunity David has worked with major global corporations to “Unlock the Power of Human Inclusion” by achieving what he calls “Harmony at Work”, that perfect intersection between accessible and meaningful experience. It is his belief that all human beings are unique, each of us with differing functional, and sensory, strengths and weaknesses. Yet, there are ways in which all people are alike. The essential aspects of the human experience, such as birth, death, love, struggle, and emotion, unite us all.
Products, environments, services, and economies, can connect all people through their shared human experience by engaging each person's strongest combination of senses and abilities. This is the essence of what it means to achieve Harmony at Work. It is the core of who David is and what he does. All of Mr. Fazio’s work, from organizational development to product design, is driven by this vision.
To that end, Mr. Fazio has worked with major global corporations to staff and support qualified STEM candidates with disabilities around the world, design inclusive products, environments and services, and develop inclusive corporate cultures. He has also provided strategic advising, and product innovation mentoring to start-ups and entrepreneurs with disabilities. You can follow David’s work, on LinkedIn, here. and keep up to date with Helix Opportunity, on LinkedIn, here.
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Debra Gore-Mann
Debra Gore-Mann is the President & CEO of The Greenlining Institute. Debra has over 25+ years of leadership experience in nonprofit and private research universities and over twelve years of private sector business development expertise having worked in investment banking, international infrastructure development and engineering. She serves on multiple nonprofit and foundation boards that work to serve communities whose works include criminal justice, nonviolence, youth educational opportunities, supporting young adults in sports and economic opportunity. Debra received her B.S. in Management Sciences and MBA from Stanford University.
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Drew Simpson
Drew began his professional career in the United States Marine Corps, stationed at Camp Pendleton and serving in the Artillery unit Alpha 1/11. Drew’s experience with the Marines took him to Africa, Kuwait and the Philippines. Deployed as a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), Drew led a 10-man crew and participated in additional training missions with Allied Forces.
Following the Marines, Drew entered the construction industry serving as an operator, foreman, estimator, and manager before founding Amerivet Contracting.
Amerivet Contracting is one of the fastest growing DVBE/DBE/SBE/MBE companies in California. The Company self-performs a unique combination of diverse services and owns an array of specialized equipment. The company’s construction division specializes in PSA & PLA projects, with a distinctive capability to fill scope gaps. The company’s disaster relief division is a market leading provider of emergency mobile support equipment and services. The company also provides procurement services for government entities. Amerivet recently received a 2022 Veteran-Owned Small Business of the Year award from the SBA.
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Eric Hiatt
As an accomplished founder, investor and real estate developer, Eric Hiatt builds the foundations for communities to thrive.
Born and raised in Redding CA with a burning passion for Far Northern California, Eric has taken his self-made success and invested it back into the economic development of his region. He has established and guided his own companies from idea to exit, he invests in local founders, while also overseeing prominent real estate developments that revitalize cities.
He co-founded Security One Lending, building it into the country’s largest reverse mortgage originator before it was acquired by Walter Investment Management Corporation in 2012. Eric then co-founded Synergy One Lending, which was acquired by Mutual Of Omaha Bank in 2018.
In the midst of playing in the lending game, Eric also founded Reverse Focus, which he continues to oversee as CEO, a company providing software solutions for the reverse mortgage banking market with over 4000 active monthly users and 200 banks and broker firms on its books.
The financial rewards of Eric’s journey have given him a rare opportunity to extend his impact through his role as Founder/Executive Director and investor with the angel investment group, Shasta Angels. Eric led the group through its first investment, Limelight Health, which sold for $75 million.
Eric’s commitment to building environments that facilitate success takes on a literal form, too. As the co-founder of Downtown Collection, Eric has a list of property developments across commercial, retail, industrial and housing markets, playing a major role in the revival of downtown Redding.
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Erin Kilmer-Neel
As Executive Director and Chief Impact Officer, Erin oversees strategy and operations of Beneficial State Foundation and facilitates the development of social and environmental impact standards for Beneficial State Bank and for banking systems change. She is thrilled to be working to address social and environmental injustices in the banking system. She has a Master of City Planning from MIT, teaches Social Impact Measurement at Mills College, and serves of the boards of the CDFI Coalition and the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation, where she chairs the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. She loves smart comedy, biking, paddling, and anything that involves playing in lakes, rivers, mountains, and beaches with her fabulous husband, Beau and her feisty Australian Shepherd, Scout.
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Geri Yang-Johnson
Geri Yang-Johnson is the Director of Green Jobs and Entrepreneurship for Dream.org - Green For All. Geri’s decades of experience improving communities through advocacy, philanthropy, and community development are integral to the work within Green For All. Geri leads the Green For All Business Council, a council composed of Black and Brown cutting-edge CEOs in the clean energy and green sector while working alongside Climate Pledge companies to ensure they make more equitable pledges and commitments.
Previously, Geri served as the Vice President and Social Impact and Sustainability Sr. Specialist at Wells Fargo, where she implemented the company’s community and economic development programs. In this role, she maintained the company’s social impact and sustainability initiatives that support underserved populations and represented the company in all aspects of community relations.
Geri is a 2017 Bankers Without Borders Global Fellow and a 2014 Funders Network PLACES Fellow. She currently serves on the board of The California Wellness Foundation and the James B. McClatchy Foundation where she oversees efforts implementing solutions to California’s most pressing social and economic issues. Geri also served as an Executive Committee Member for Fresno DRIVE, the boards of The Women’s Foundation of California, Access Plus Capital (Fresno CDFI) and Reinvent Stockton Foundation.
In 2021, Geri was recognized with the Fresno State Top Dog Alumni Award for her “contributions to her profession, the University, and the community.” In 2019, Geri was recognized with the Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP) Margaret Ashida Leadership Award for demonstrating leadership in her work. In 2015, the City of Fresno honored Geri with the Women Leading the Way Award. In 2018, Geri founded the Mala Scholarship Fund with Central California Asian Pacific Women to support first-generation AAPI students in their pursuit of higher education.
Geri is a first-generation Hmong American who was raised by a refugee, farmworker family in the Central Valley. Geri has profound interest in rural and agricultural-based economies worldwide. She has traveled to India to work with Navdanya, a network of seed keepers, and organic producers. Geri earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Women Studies from California State University, Fresno.
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Gurbax Sahota
President & Chief Executive Officer,
California Association for Local Economic Development (CALED)
Gurbax Sahota has led the California Association for Local Economic Development (CALED) – California’s largest economic development association – for the last ten years and believes in the importance and need to collaborate and create meaningful partnerships in order to accomplish the goal of creating healthy, wealthy communities. She turns this belief into action by bringing together and leading multiple organizations aligned with the goal of helping businesses thrive in order to create economic opportunity for California’s residents. Gurbax holds senior positions with CALED, the California Academy for Economic Development, and the California Enterprise Development Authority. She uses her commitment to thoughtful leadership and organizational knowledge, as well as collaboration with her 800 economic development member peers throughout California, to support the start, growth and sustainability of private enterprise in California.
Having worked her way up through CALED, Gurbax has either worked on, created, or had a significant role in most of the organization’s successes over the past two decades including the creation of key tools to support economic development in California. Most notably, she:
As CALED’s President & CEO, she is focused on helping communities as they adapt their economic development strategies to stay ahead of the a changing economy as well as on building strategic partnerships to promote the value of economic development. Gurbax believes by creating a stronger voice for economic developers at the state and local level, she can share and champion practical solutions that grow the economy in a way that creates opportunity for all.
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Jason Paguio
Jason Paguio is the President and CEO of the Asian Business Association San Diego and the Asian Business Association Foundation. Jason was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs and by San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria to the City of San Diego Small Business Advisory Board and the Asian Pacific Islander Advisory Group. As a recognized leader, Jason brings vision and expertise across a multiplicity of sectors, including development of minority-owned business; establishment and coordination of high-impact multi-agency collaborative efforts; advocacy for the state’s many diverse communities; and first-hand experience as a first-generation Filipino-American.
Since leading the Asian Business Association organizations, Jason has grown them to their largest in more than 30 years, expanding their collective impact through community-based outreach and partnerships while more than tripling its office size to provide a free cultural co-working hub for local Asian and Pacific Islander nonprofits. In 2021, Jason helped to formally designate the Convoy District in Kearny Mesa as the “Pan Asian Cultural and Business Innovation District” in the City of San Diego.
In an historic effort, Jason partnered to establish the Strategic Alliance, comprised of San Diego’s three largest ethnic chambers of commerce: the San Diego County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the County of San Diego Black Chamber of Commerce and Asian Business Association. As the Strategic Alliance, this trio of agencies operate as the Alliance Small Business Development Center (SBDC), focusing on delivering a comprehensive array of services to minority-owned small businesses. Focusing on economic equity for the region’s underserved communities, Jason led his organization through the recent pandemic by assisting thousands of minority-owned small businesses, helping them receive no-cost technical assistance and tens-of-millions of dollars in COVID-19 disaster relief capital.
Jason’s additional civic commitments include the Board of Directors, NTC Foundation (Arts District Liberty Station), LEAD San Diego, San Diego Community Housing Corporation, and serving as a volunteer member of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary. He is a resident of Coronado and serves on the City of Coronado Mobility Commission.
Jason was twice named “CEO of the Year" by the San Diego Business Journal and the youngest person recognized as one of "San Diego's 500 Most Influential People''.
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Jay King
President/CEO Jay King, is a Grammy award-winning singer, songwriter, record label executive, radio personality, and small business advocate. Appointed as President and CEO of the CBCC in June 2019, Jay’s visionary leadership and tireless work ethic sets the tone for the CBCC. A champion for African American Small and Microbusiness owners, Jay serves as the Chair for Caltrans’ Statewide Small Business Counsel (SBC), African American Ad-Hoc Committee. He is also a member of the CA Department of General Services, and CA High Speed Rail Small Business Counsels, as well as the founder and Chairman of the North Sacramento Leadership Council, and the Founder and Interim President of the Greater Sacramento Financial Literacy Group. Jay is also a Board Member for the Neighborhood Wellness Project, and the United College Action Network, Inc. Jay is determined to put an indelible mark on the Small Business community throughout the State of California.
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Jesus Martinez
Jesus Martinez is Executive Director of the Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative (CVIIC), a Fresno-County based nonprofit organization created in 2014 to empower immigrant families and immigrant serving organizations in the region. As a coordinator of regional efforts, CVIIC and its partner organizations serve immigrants in the region extending from Kern County in the south and San Joaquin County in the north. Before heading CVIIC, he was Coordinator of the Central Valley DACA Project for the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (2012-2015) and, previously, worked as a consultant (2008-2013) in a variety of projects commissioned by nonprofit and federal government agencies. Martinez served in the Michoacán (Mexico) State Congress from 2005-2007 before being appointed Director General at the Institute for Michoacanos Abroad, the state immigration affairs agency. In the academic world he taught Political Science at Santa Clara University (1991-1998), completed a postdoctoral stay at the Instituto de Investigaciones Dr. José María Luis Mora in Mexico City (1999-2000) and taught Latin American and Chicano Studies at CSU Fresno (2000-2004). He obtained a B.S. in Political Science at Santa Clara University, as well as an M.A. in Latin American Studies and a Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkley. His areas of expertise include international migration, U.S.-Mexican relations and public policy.
As Executive Director of CVIIC, he has developed projects dealing with immigration legal services and community education, health access, the 2020 census, immigrant entrepreneurship, among others. An objective of CVIIC has been to promote regional coordination and collaboration in immigration and related topics.
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Jill Osur
Founder and CEO, Teneral Cellars
A former UC Berkeley softball player, Jill Osur still draws on her athletic background to hone her leadership style and overcome obstacles. Deeply moved to elevate women and inspire meaningful change, her values have guided her career—first as a savvy political fundraiser, then in marketing with Special Olympics Northern California & Nevada, and now, as an entrepreneur. Jill has helped launch numerous consumer product companies and ventures focused on “doing well by doing good.” Previously the co-founder and director of California-based winery group GL Enterprises, Jill founded a digital winery, Teneral Cellars, in 2020. Teneral Cellars is driven by Jill’s belief that wine can be a conduit for change; a force for gender equity and social justice within the wine industry and our culture at large.
Jill is a captivating public speaker who helps female executives and entrepreneurs learn how to strengthen their leadership by tapping into the “head, heart, and gut.” As said by one attendee, Jill “puts a firecracker in the room” with her energizing, moving presence. A champion of female power, Jill coaches audiences and clients to embrace their brilliance, leverage full capacity thinking, and show up in alignment with their authentic selves.
Jill is a member of Women Presidents’ Organization, C-Sweet, was a founding board member of the John F. Kennedy University Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership, and is a current advisory board member for Enterprising Women, Women Business Collaborative, and board member of Hilinski’s Hope Foundation, which provides integrative mental wellness programs for student athletes.
Awards:
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Jim Roberts
Jim Roberts has been a resident of Mendocino County for more than 25 years. In 1997 he founded Taylor Roberts, a design firm located in Philo offering services to regional and national home builders on the west coast. The creative think tank garnered regional and national attention with gold awards in The Nationals, platinum BALA awards, and a Gold Nugget award for design and architecture.
Jim is currently an owner/operator of The Madrones and The Brambles, two travel destinations in Mendocino county, as well as co-owner of Wickson Restaurant, The Bohemian Chemist, Sun & Cricket and Sugar Hill Farm. Over the past several years he has launched The Bohemian Chemist line of cannabis products showcasing sun-grown flower sourced from his family's farm and available at retail partners throughout the state.
A lifelong entrepreneur, he is vested in the economic development of Mendocino County with a focus on building the regions tourism marketshare while being vested in bettering the quality of life for local residents and supporting fellow stakeholders. He is a board member of West Business Development Center as well as Mendocino Cannabis Alliance, two non-profits serving the local community.
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Josaline Cuesta
Josaline Cuesta is the Director of Outreach, Government Affairs and Policy for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC). Previously she managed the execution of Small Business Majority’s programs and initiatives throughout the state of California in collaboration with the California team.
In addition to serving on the Task Force, Josaline also serves on the Coordinating Council for Inland Economic Growth & Opportunity (IEGO) and is a co-lead on the CA FWD’s Entrepreneurship and Small Business Ownership by People of Color policy work group.
Prior to LAEDC, Josaline worked in the private and public sector for almost two decades. Most recently Josaline led community engagement initiatives and large-scale outreach programs for local government. She has also directed office operations for a state elected official and spearheaded the creation of a customer service department for an online startup company. In her spare time, she is a member of the National Charity League, Inc. Riverside Chapter, a board member of the Riverside County Parks Foundation, and a board member of the Pick Group of Young Professionals. She's fluent in Spanish.
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Kristin York
Vice President, Sierra Business Council
Kristin leverages 25 years of experience in strategic planning, finance, operations, marketing, circular economy models, ESG and entity transformation to help businesses and organizations thrive economically while understanding their environmental and social impact. Kristin directs all SBC programs including economic development, small business development center, climate and energy and community affairs. Kristin has worked with clients across broad sectors including hospitality, real estate, construction, energy, manufacturing, food systems and local governments. She is known as a creative problem solver and natural team builder with a unique holistic, systems perspective to complex situations.
Prior to joining SBC, Kristin worked as Chief Development Officer for Cutting Edge Capital where she deeply engaged with mission driven clients to design alternative financing strategies and climate action plans for local governments and businesses. Her previous experience includes Lean Manufacturing Director for Hexcel Corporation and Senior Manager at Andersen Consulting (Accenture) where she specialized in financial and operational restructuring, strategic business planning, high conflict crisis mitigation, and advising businesses in their return to financial viability.
Kristin serves on the board of the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation and as Chair of the Truckee Donner Recreation and Parks District Board. She is an Adjunct Professor of Sustainable Business at Presidio Graduate School, and holds an MBA in Finance as well as an Executive MBA in Sustainable Business.
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Lorraine Salazar
Lorraine Salazar and her brother Karl are 3rd generation partners of Sal’s Mexican Restaurants, “A Valley Tradition Since 1942.” The family business was started by their father Sal who wanted a better life for his family than he could provide working in the fields picking peaches.
From a young age, Lorraine learned the basics—and the hard work—of operating a small business working alongside her father and grandparents preparing her grandmother’s signature recipes in the kitchen, sweeping the floors and working the cook line preparing orders for the restaurant guests.
Her father also taught her to value higher education, something denied to him because he worked in the fields and started Sal’s Place when he was just 17. He encouraged Lorraine to pursue her studies and she graduated from UCLA (Class 1982), expecting to continue on to law school. Her father’s illness and death intervened and she returned to help manage the family business.
Celebrating 80 years in business in 2022, Sal’s employed 150 dedicated team members in three restaurants before the Coronavirus crisis. Lorraine’s son Aaron, and Karl’s two oldest sons, Sal and Roman and daughter Karly, are also active in the business.
Lorraine’s passion for the culinary history of Mexican cuisine led her to pursue yearly travels to various states in Mexico learning to cook the specialty foods of that region from local chefs and home cooks. She is proud to have trained with acclaimed chefs Rick Bayless (Oaxaca, Veracuz, Mexico City); Diane Kennedy (Michoacan); Susana Trilling, (Oaxaca); Patricia Quintana (Mexico City and Puebla); and both Roberto Santibanez and Ricardo Munoz Zurita (Mexico City, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Yucatan, Campeche, Guanajuato and Morelos). Seasonal menu items are inspired by her travels.
Lorraine and Karl are the recipients of the 2017 California Faces of Diversity by the California Restaurant Association. Lorraine was named “California Restaurant Association Fresno Chapter Restaurateur of the Year” in April 2011 and March 2018. The Madera Hispanic Chamber in 1997 named her “Business Woman of the Year.” Sal’s Mexican Restaurants received the 2001 California Small Business Award and is recipient of numerous California Restaurant Association “Best of the Valley” and Fresno Bee “People’s Choice” awards.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Lorraine to The California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley in 2005. She served as co-convener of The Partnership’s Higher Education and Workforce Development Group. Former Fresno Mayor Lee Brand appointed her to his Mayoral Transition Team in 2016 and she served as co-chair of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee. In 2017, she was appointed to serve on the Foundation Board of Governors for California State University, Fresno. She is humbled to be honored as one of the Top 10 Professional Women for 2022 by the Marjoree Mason Center.
Lorraine is a Past Chairperson of the California Restaurant Association (CRA) State Board. She served as past Chairperson of the CRA Political Action Committee and a board member of both the California and Fresno Restaurant Associations for over 20 years. Lorraine served as the 2015 Chairwoman for the Greater Fresno Area Chamber of Commerce and as the Chair of the Chamber PAC. As a spokesperson for CRA and the National Federation of Independent Business, Lorraine advocates on behalf of small business concerns in both Sacramento and Washington D.C.
Lorraine’s varied interests include culinary and wine travel, relaxing on any beach, attending concerts, movies, professional sports and especially, enjoying time with her husband Tom, and three grandsons, Ethan, Tyler and Landon.
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Maria Kim
Maria serves as the President and CEO of REDF – a venture philanthropy that invests in and drives demand for businesses that break down barriers to employment. They partner with social entrepreneurs — providing capital, capacity, and community — to amplify the success of their businesses and the people they employ. Prior to REDF, Maria served as CEO of Cara Collective – a nationally recognized employment social enterprise helping people experiencing homelessness and poverty get back to hope, jobs, and opportunity.
Maria serves on the advisory boards of Procure Impact, First Women’s Bank, the Leadership Society Initiative, and the University of Chicago Inclusive Economy Lab. She is a 2008 Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow, a 2012 American Marshall Memorial Fellow, a 2018 Vital Voices Global Ambassador, a former co-chair within Mayor Lightfoot’s 2019 transition team, a 2020 Presidential Leadership Scholar, and a 2022 Distinguished Alumni in Public Service from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, from which she received her MBA.
A social impact enthusiast, advocate, and entrepreneur, Maria knows firsthand we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us; and our job – or more like our opportunity – is to pave the way for others to stand on ours. She writes about that journey as it relates to her time leading Cara in Voice and Vocation: A workforce practitioner’s guide to building hopes, jobs, and opportunity.
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Maria Salinas
Maria S. Salinas is the President & CEO of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, the largest business association in Los Angeles County representing member companies and serving the interests of more than 235,000 businesses across the Los Angeles region. Ms. Salinas took the helm of the organization in August of 2018 and became the first woman and Latina to lead the Chamber in its 132-year history. An accomplished business woman, entrepreneur and a determined community leader, Ms. Salinas’ business acumen and financial expertise provides her with the right experience to lead the L.A. Area Chamber.
Ms. Salinas, a steward of the Chamber’s new vision, “A Thriving Region for All,” has reimagined the role of the Chamber. The Chamber looks to the future with a vision to build an inclusive economy and lead in three pillar areas of focus: advocacy work, global engagement and through community collaboration for economic growth and mobility.
The Los Angeles region, which is the 14th largest economy in the world, and the Chamber membership represents a broad spectrum of industries, small businesses, corporations, academic institutions and nonprofits, all are examples that the Los Angeles economy is diverse, dynamic and that business is a force for good.
Ms. Salinas is an appointee to Governor Gavin Newsom’s Commission on the Future of Work and named to his Business and Jobs Recovery Task Force. She was appointed to the US Chamber of Commerce’s Committee of 100, a distinction reserved for the top 100 Chambers across the country.
Salinas represents the Los Angeles business community in state- wide policy initiatives with the Coalition of Regional Economic Association Leaders (R.E.A.L.), she is a member of the Board of Directors of Mobility 21, a regional transportation effort, and an appointee of Mayor Eric Garcetti to the MEXLA Commission, a foreign policy initiative between Mexico and Los Angeles. Salinas serves on the Board of Directors of The Music Center, Pacific Council, UnidosUS and Southern California Leadership Network among others.
Ms. Salinas lives in Pasadena, California, with her husband and their four sons.
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Matt Horton
Matt Horton is a director at the Milken Institute’s Center for Regional Economics and California Center. In this role, he interacts with government officials, business leaders, and other community stakeholders in directing research driven programming and policy. Overall Matt’s programmatic work at the Institute is focused on identifying a variety of best practices, financing, and collaborative models that Federal, State and local leaders can deploy to enhance access to capital as well as community and economic development through investments in housing, workforce, small businesses and infrastructure. Previously, Matt worked for the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), the nation’s largest metropolitan planning organization. There, Matt served as the primary point of contact for external and government affairs, coordinating regional policy development with elected officials as well as subregional, state, and federal stakeholders in Los Angeles and Orange counties. In this role, he developed plans with leaders across Southern California to address growth, build resiliency, and improve quality of life throughout the region.
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Matthew Cauthron
Matthew Cauthron serves as a Market Director of Community & Associate Wellbeing, for the Well Being Division of Adventist Health System. As a faith-inspired, nonprofit integrated health system, Adventist Health currently serves more than 80 communities on the West Coast and Hawaii including 23 hospitals and over 250 outpatient clinics respectively.
At Adventist Health, Community Well-Being reaches beyond the walls of the hospitals to build and sustain a community’s quality of life. Through strategically overseeing the investment of community benefit resources, the wellbeing division has partnered and collaborated to design, leverage and demonstrate evidence-based solutions that transform the well-being of people, well-being of places and equity. By strategically investing in California communities, Adventist Health continues to partner with local leaders in industry to improve the well-being of workforces within the communities in which it serves.
The solution for transformation is to create a repeatable, sustainable model of well-being that measurably impacts the well-being of people, organizations, and industries throughout California.
Cauthron is currently a life-long resident of Kern County, and serves on the Board of the Kern County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; past Chairman of the Board for the Delano Chamber of Commerce, two term member of The Kern County Workforce Investment Board - along with numerous other non-for-profit boards and organizations improving the quality of life for the residents of Kern County.
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Mihai Patru
Mihai Patru is the Executive Director of Caravanserai Project, a social impact venture providing business technical support and capacity building to mission-driven entrepreneurs and businesses. He also serves as Entrepreneur in Residence on Social Entrepreneurship at University of California in Riverside, Office of Technology Partnerships, and, since 2020, as Chair of the Inland Empire Capacity Builders Network. Prior, he served as a Senior Fellow at the School of Public Policy, University of California in Riverside where he designed and launched the first social entrepreneurship pre-accelerator at the University. He started his professional career as a diplomat with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania and later joined the Center for Transatlantic Relations, Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC, as a Senior Fellow. He is a recipient of the U.S. State Department Transatlantic Diplomatic Fellowship (2013/2014 cohort). He completed his graduate work at Central European University in Budapest (MA ’10) and Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington DC (MIPP ’17).
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Mike Daniel
Mike Daniel is the Regional Director of the Orange County Inland Empire Small Business Development Center Network, which assists current business and aspiring entrepreneurs throughout Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties and provides direct one-on-one consulting and training. The Orange County Inland Empire SBDC is the largest business development program in the region and consists of nine service centers with more than 125 employees and small business consultants. The OCIE SBDC is hosted at California State University, Fullerton through the College of Business and Economics.
As a business owner and entrepreneur himself, Mike started his career as the owner of a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory location in Manhattan Beach. He has gone on to open several additional locations throughout the region and currently owns stores in Huntington Beach and Long Beach. Mike is also the owner of Sugar Pop Sweet Shoppe in Long Beach, CA, which is an old-time candy store based on “fill-it yourself” options.
Mike is a graduate of California State University, Fullerton and resides in Huntington Beach. He has been married for 20 years and has two children that he is grooming to take over his businesses, so that he can retire.
Contact Information:
Cell – (714) 681-0389
E-mail – midaniel@fullerton.edu
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Schenae Rourk
Schenae Rourk is President and CEO of Redwood Resources, a strategic consulting firm providing outreach, marketing, procurement and business equity services. Rourk has more than twenty-five years helping real estate developers, A/E, other professional services, construction firms, and international firms strategically navigate through the procurement and contracting process with a specialty in the transportation and infrastructure industries. The firm also designs, manages and implements outreach and business equity programs with a community and inclusion lens for corporations pursuing projects using public land or public money. The firm recently launched a supplier diversity risk and audit assessment division to help corporations navigate today’s climate with diverse spend.
Ms. Rourk is active in the small and diverse business community and community at large. She serves in many advisory and council roles for the advancement of minority and women owned businesses including: Chair of the Transportation Business Advisory Council at Metro, Co-Chair of the Small Business Committee at BizFed, and Co-Chair of the Small Business Council at the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. She also serves as the volunteer President for the National Association of Women Business Owners - California (NAWBO-CA) and is the former President of one of the 11 chapters in the state.
Ms. Rourk was recently appointed to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) Executive Board by Supervisor Holly J Mitchell.
Ms. Rourk is the recipient of many honors and acknowledgements including the Small Business of the Year for the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, 2021 recipient of the WTS-LA Rosa Parks Diversity Award and COMTO Diversity Award for Women in Transportation 2022.
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Traco Matthews
Traco Matthews is the Chief Program Officer at CAPK. He brings extensive leadership skills and deep community connections to this critical position in Kern County’s official anti-poverty agency. His mission is to oversee the majority of CAPK programs which offer direct services to the public. Traco continually seeks to improve culture, processes, and outcomes through his work at CAPK and in the community. He uses his experience contributing strategic analysis, providing leadership development for administrators, delivering programmatic expertise, and building a trusted brand through proficient community relations to empower that commitment.
Traco’s life purpose and greatest passion is encouraging and coaching others. In addition to coaching employees at CAPK, he teaches business courses at Bakersfield College and California State University, Bakersfield, provides mentoring for leaders on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, and serves as a social pastor and community advocate. He graduated from the University of California, Davis with a bachelor’s degree in Economics in 2001, and from California State University, Bakersfield, with an M.B.A. in 2017. He is happily married to his wife of over 20 years, Dr. Jessica Grimes, a community college district administrator. Bakersfield serves as the home base for their frequent travels and life adventures.
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Vera Moore
Vera Moore has been an advocate for communities of color and low- and moderate- income communities her entire career. With nearly 15 years of experience in the private and public sectors, Vera is a Senior Vice President in Citi’s Community Investing and Development function. In this role, Vera oversees the West Community Relations team and is responsible for building authentic relationships with key stakeholders and connecting Citi’s people, expertise, resources, products and services to help expand equitable opportunities for all.
Prior to joining Citi, Vera served as the California Community Engagement Market Manager for JPMorgan Chase. Vera had a significant role in the firm’s commitment to invest $75 million in the Bay Area through its AdvancingCities initiative — a five-year, $500 million effort to create greater economic opportunity nationwide.
Vera held several leadership roles at national nonprofit organizations prior to joining the private sector. She served as the Director of the Urban Youth Empowerment Program at the National Urban League where she oversaw a $10 million workforce development, education, and training program for underserved youth and adults living in high-poverty, high-crime communities nationwide. Vera also managed the Consulting and Technical Assistance Division at Seedco, where she provided capacity building services to foundations, government agencies and nonprofit organizations focused on workforce development, asset building and work supports.
A former Manhattan Borough President’s Office Community Planning Fellow, Vera holds a Master’s of Urban Planning from New York University and a Bachelor’s of Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). In 2015, Vera completed a competitive fellowship with Coro Leadership New York. She also completed the African American Board Leadership Institute’s Board Leadership Program in 2018 and the Fresno Housing Policy Leadership Academy Program in 2020. Vera is an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., on the Coro Northern California Board of Directors, and recently joined Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center’s Women’s Leadership Council, dedicated to guiding and ensuring the success of aspiring women entrepreneurs in the Bay Area.
For her courageous commitment to nonprofit organizations, Vera has been recognized as a Community Reinvestment Visionary of the Year by ASIAN, Inc., a Powerful Woman of the Bay Area by Black Women Organized for Political Action and the Training Institute for Leadership Enrichment, and a Corporate Leader by the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. and the National Urban League. She also joined the San Francisco Business Times - 40 Under 40 Class of 2021.
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Vernice Nellon
Dr. Vernice Nellon, PhD is the owner of Kool Breeze Solar Hats, Inc & Kool Breeze Solar Hard Hats, Inc. She manufactures their own patented renewable energy solar cooling hats in Central California. She currently sells their hats all over the world and has been featured on the TODAY show, Make me a millionaire Inventor, on MSNBC, and CBS47 – just to name a few. She is the only Minority Women-Owned Solar Hat Manufacturing Company in the United States
Her hats are displayed and can be purchased in large box stores (Wal-Mart, Ace Hardware and others), as well as, many E-commerce platforms. Aside from being a CEO, Dr. Nellon is also a product & business development coach. She coaches women innovators and guides them in cultivating their business ideas to reality.
Dr. Nellon and her team embraces over 50 years of experience -, advocating for renewable resource options & healthy behaviors throughout the region. She was honored by the Obama’s Administration as a “Champion of Change” – an innovator in renewable energy.
Dr. Nellon holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration, a Master’s Degree in Human Resources, and a Doctorate in Administration and Organizational Management. She is also an active member of her Local Fresno Metro Black Chamber of Commerce, a board member of the San Joaquin Valley Manufacturing Alliance, Craig School of Business Institute for Family Business and Single Moms Excel.
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Vivienne Ming
Named one of “10 Women to Watch in Tech” by Inc. Magazine, Dr. Vivienne Ming wants to create better people—through technology. Whether she’s creating expression recognition AI or using cutting edge neuro-prosthetics, Vivienne’s goal is the same: to augment human potential.
Ming is a theoretical neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and author. She cofounded Socos Labs, her fifth company, an independent think tank exploring the future of human potential. She launched Socos Labs to combine her varied work with that of other creative experts and expand their impact on global policy issues, both inside companies and throughout our communities. In her free time, Ming has invented AI systems to help treat her diabetic son, predict manic episodes in bipolar sufferers weeks in advance, and reunite orphan refugees with extended family members. She speaks frequently on her AI-driven research into inclusion and gender in business. For relaxation, she is a wife and mother of two.
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Ana Medina
Ana Medina is the Sr. Social Impact Specialist for Wells Fargo. In this role, Ana is responsible for all community relations and implementation of enterprise-wide initiatives that promote and enhance the well-being of families and communities in the Central Valley and Coastal region, in the areas of Housing Affordability, Small Business Growth, Financial Health and Sustainability.
Ana Medina has a keen understanding of the desires, needs and challenges of underserved communities, she has an extensive network in the rural and Latinx communities throughout Central California.
In her previous role, Ana served as Director of Business Development and Services at Access Plus Capital, a Community Development Financial Institution serving fourteen counties, she was primarily responsible for all aspects of marketing and outreach, loan packaging and relationship management for various loan programs, as well as developing and implementing annual strategic goals for increased revenue leading to organizational growth. Ana was instrumental in injecting over $46.7 million into rural, minority, and women owned businesses in the Central Valley.
Prior to joining Access Plus Capital, Ana worked in public relations, marketing, and business development at Community Services Employment Training (CSET), Sequoia Energy Service (SES), subsidiary of CSET, Fresno Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (FAHCC) and former Assembly member Juan Arambula, 31st District Office.
Ana has over 15 years of experience in small business lending and one-on-one technical assistance programs, key to her current role is her experience with a large network of partners, including chambers of commerce, Small Business Administration (SBA), SBDC’s, SCORE chapters and municipalities. Ana was instrumental in organizing the first ever SBA SCORE training in Spanish “Simple Steps En Español” a program that is now being replicated in other parts of the State.
Ana has a bachelor's degree from Fresno State in Mass Communications & Journalism, and most recently joined the Business Leaders TV 40 under 40 class of 2022.
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Alonzo McDarment
I am a Tule River tribal elder . I currently serve on the Tule River economic board and the Tule River Housing Board.
I served in the military . I spent 12 years as the chief controller and project manager for Ocean Park Mechanical (OPM). I have done many projects across all of North America. With the help of Roger Hendrix, the owner of OPM, I started ASM Mechanical in 2004; it is now a successful plumbing and mechanical service company. In 2020, I retired and returned to the Reservation. At the present time I work as a consultant, estimator and trouble shooter for Capstone Mechanical, a Washington-state based company.
I enjoy working on my ranch and serving my community.
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Lauren Keane
Lauren Keane is a student at California State University, Chico majoring in Business Entrepreneurship and minoring in Marketing. While attending Chico State, Lauren is simultaneously fulfilling her Associate's Degree in Fashion Design at American River Community College. Ms. Keane works on the Chico State campus at the Center for Entrepreneurship where she welcomes students and helps them find resources for their business. She is also a member of the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization (CEO) club. Lauren and eight other Chico State students founded their own company in January 2023. Their startup is called Fusion NFC. They provide smart business cards that are sustainable, adaptable and seamless. She is part of the marketing team responsible for uploading and creating content for their social media accounts and the website. Lauren has started her own company as well, where she will provide accessible clothing for people who deal with disabilities and medical conditions. As Ms. Keane is Type 1 Diabetic and has been for 12 years, she knows the constant challenge of finding a place to put her medical device while wearing her favorite garments. Lauren has participated in many competitions for her business idea and has won all of them. Her most recent success was winning the elevator pitch at growTECH FEST 2022, which is the largest entrepreneurial conference in the NorCal region.
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Steven Orihuela
Steven Orihuela is the Tribal Council Secretary/Treasurer for the Bishop Paiute Tribe. In this capacity, he works alongside four other elected tribal officials to develop, promote, and provide instruction for all tribal stakeholders to ensure efficient delivery of social and economic services to the tribal community. He also serves as the Chairman of the Owens Valley Board of Trustees, an associate member of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association.
Before serving his community as an elected leader, Steven worked as the Bishop Paiute Tribe’s Chief Operating Officer where he provided operational oversight to the Tribe as well as ensuring maximum effectiveness in allocation of federal, state, or private funding to meet program objectives. Steven obtained Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science from Fort Lewis College and is planning to acquire his MBA in the near future.
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Tara Lynn Gray
Tara Lynn Gray was sworn in on April 26, 2021, as the 5th Director of the California Office of the Small Business Advocate. She serves as the voice for California’s 4.2 million small businesses in the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development.
Under Director Gray’s leadership, the California Office of the Small Business Advocate focuses on helping to bring about Governor Newsom’s California for All vision through further development of the state’s small business ecosystem and by ensuring that questions about equity and inclusion are the starting point for all of the state’s small business programs.
Gray’s first model of economic development was learned in her grandmother’s beauty shop. Her grandmother instinctively understood that her patrons needed credit as well as beauty services and she let them pay after services were rendered. This way, she kept the money circulating in the Black community and built a community of trust. She also imbued her granddaughter with her sense of compassion and indelible determination.
Running her own business for two decades, working with two small business development centers, and running a business association and a foundation has given Director Gray the requisite experience and expertise to advocate for small businesses.
Immediately prior to her appointment by Governor Newsom, Director Gray led the Fresno Metro Black Chamber of Commerce (FMBCC) and Chamber Foundation (FMBCF) as CEO. In her adopted city of Fresno, Director Gray engaged, educated, and empowered small businesses across California’s Central Valley. At the same time, she became deeply engaged in community service, leading the initiative “Betting Big on Small Businesses Owned by Women and People of Color” on behalf of the DRIVE Investment Plan, with the goal of increasing economic mobility for entrepreneurs in disinvested neighborhoods.
Closing opportunity gaps, the role of women and BIPOC business leaders, and diversity in procurement opportunities are recurrent themes in her advocacy work. She has also led green economy initiatives, employment & training programs, and working to advance electric vehicle ownership.
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Julie Baker
Executive Director
Californians for the Arts and California Arts Advocates (Sacramento)
As the Executive Director of California’s statewide arts advocacy organizations since 2018, Julie has worked to increase the legislative clout and visibility of the arts and culture communities by building coalition across the for and non-profit sectors of California’s creative industries, producing a month long arts awareness and advocacy campaign every April, and fighting for resources and legislation to serve and protect artists and cultural workers. She serves as the California State Captain to Americans for the Arts' National Arts Action Summit and as the co-chair of the Western Arts Advocacy network for WESTAF. She is on the board of California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project, a founding member of the Nevada County Relief Fund advisory council and was elected to the Nevada County school board in November of 2020. Julie is the recipient of the 2021 Americans for the Arts Alene Valkanas State Arts Advocacy Award that honors an individual at the state level whose arts advocacy efforts have dramatically affected the political landscape.
Over the years, Julie has owned a fine arts gallery for emerging artists, co-founded Flow art fair — a satellite to Art Basel Miami Beach — opened a consulting firm Julie Baker Projects and curated an annual music series at the Crocker Art Museum. Earlier in her career she was President of her family’s arts marketing firm in New York City and worked at Christie’s Auction house before moving to California in 1998. Julie also served for eight years as the Executive Director of The Center for the Arts, a non-profit performing arts venue and California WorldFest, an annual music and camping festival located in Grass Valley, CA. She is the recipient of the inaugural Peggy Levine Arts & Community Service Award from the Nevada County Arts Council.
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