|
|
||
|
| ||
|
Highlights of Previous California Capital Summit Meetings Friday, January 20, 2012 He Wants To Run L.A. Like a Business: Austin Beutner, Candidate for Mayor
If your career included being the
youngest person ever to become a partner at Blackstone, a leading private
equity and financial advisory firm, and then founding Evercore Partners,
a global investment banking firm
Instead, Austin Beutner took a dollar-a-year job in Los Angeles City Hall as the City's First Deputy Mayor and Chief Executive for Economic and Business Policy, trying to make Los Angeles more business-friendly. He also took the reins at the Department of Water & Power, cutting $263 million from its budget. Now Beutner, who was our January 20 breakfast speaker, is running for the office of Mayor of Los Angeles. He has the endorsement of the City's last business-oriented leader, Richard Riordan. His campaign stresses three key goals: leveraging Los Angeles's strengths; trimming waste; and making City government more responsive and accountable to its citizens and businesses. Why is he running? Because, he says, "We’ve had enough talk from career politicians. We need a leader who can and will bring together the best people and the best ideas from our business, labor, faith-based and academic communities, as well as from neighborhoods all around L.A. "We need a mayor who will roll up his sleeves and work tirelessly on behalf of all Angelenos. And we need to change the culture of City Hall from one that says 'no' to new ideas to one that says 'yes' — one that will turn those ideas into realities." We heard how the candidate called "the unpolitician" believes he can win the election and put the City on the right track, at our January 20 meeting. A video of the meeting is available on YouTube. Friday, December 16, 2011, 7:00 a.m. Two Early-Stage Food Companies With An Appetite for Growth OK, the economy is lousy. But you still have to eat, right? And if you have to eat, you might as well make it something a little special. That's the simple business concept behind the two companies that presented at our December 16 breakfast meeting. Liquid Assets markets Splash, a zero-calore liquid sweetener that delivers the taste and satisfaction of sugar without the chemicals of artificial sweeteners. Founder and CEO Seth J. Hersh chose to market stevia-based Splash in liquid form, using handy packets that allow the user to add just a few drops at a time to food or beverages. Hersh should know his flavors. Before founding Liquid Assets, the graduate of the University of Michigan and Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts was Chef de Garde Manger at Red O Restaurant on Melrose Avenue, a Rick Bayless restaurant listed as one of Esquire Magazines 10 Best in 2010. Charles & Company was launched by Lawrence Charles, a young entrepreneur and industrial designer who was looking for an affordable way to launch his first food industry venture. Using a luxury, high-touch approach, his company sells high-quality organic and kosher teas via appointment-only presentations to caterers, catering managers of top-tier hotels and residential properties and other who respond to an "only-the-very-best" product positioning. The food industry in the United States, from field to fork, totals about $9 trillion. Grabbing even a crumb of that huge pie can mean real success for entrepreneurs like Hersh and Charles -- if they can fend off much larger competitors and the ever-changing tastes of fickle consumers. Friday, November 18, 2011, 7:00 a.m. Michael Brown Peers Through The Gloom: Wells Fargo Economist Looks Ahead to 2012
Consumer confidence is at a
two-year low and seems to be skidding lower. Unemployment remains
stubbornly high, as do energy and food prices. It's easy to understand why
economics is called "the dismal science." Are there any signs that 2012 may be
less gloomy? We found out at our November 18 meeting, when heard a candid assessment of the outlook for next year and beyond from Michael A. Brown, an economist for Wells Fargo Securities. Based in Charlotte N.C., Mr. Brown joined us by videoconference. At Wells he is responsible for tracking national and regional economic trends. He also writes for the company’s Weekly Economic & Financial Commentary, and provides analysis and commentary on the national economy, business investment and state budget issues. His research interests include state budget issues, regional economics, information economics, and econometrics. His commentary has been featured in Bloomberg News, Reuters, and The Chicago Tribune. Prior to joining the economics group in 2010, Mr. Brown served as an economist and legislative analyst for the Arkansas Bureau of Legislative Research, which serves the Arkansas General Assembly. In this role, Michael focused his research on quantitative public policy analysis and the Arkansas economy. He is a member of the National Association of Business Economics (NABE) and the Charlotte Economics Club. Click here to download Mike Brown's PowerPoint presentation (4 megs) Friday, October 21, 2011 Rob Jernigan, of Gensler – The Outlook for Los Angeles and Beyond
We heard why, and much more about the outlook for real estate construction here and worldwide, from our October 21st speaker, Robert Jernigan. Mr. Jernigan is Managing Director of the 287-person Los Angeles practice of San Francisco-based Gensler. Under his direction the practice here has grown to be one of the largest in the region. Gensler has about 3,000 professionals in 38 locations, including a dozen offices in other countries. Projects Mr. Jernigan has personally been involved with include the 55-story Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Residences at LA Live, the renovation of the AT&T tower downtown, the transformation of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Campus, the Broad Contemporary Art Museum and the new Broad Museum downtown, and the new headquarters office of Creative Artists Agency in Century City. Gensler was also selected to design the $1 billion NFL stadium proposed by AEG for downtown. The planned 64,000 seat stadium, on the site now occupied by the West Hall of the Convention Center, is only a few minutes' walk from Gensler's new offices in a 3-story former bank building in City National Plaza, across the street from the Jonathan Club. Although the economic slowdown has put the brakes on many construction projects in California and across the country, Gensler is busy serving the global market. Last year the firm worked in 83 countries, serving nearly 2,000 clients and generating worldwide revenues of $463 million. Friday, September 16, 2011 Danny Simon, of JobSync.com – A Startup That Ignores Conventional Wisdom The economy is still limping, unemployment remains stubbornly high, and corporations are hoarding cash, not spending it on payrolls. This seems about the worst possible time to launch a new Web-based company that aims to match employees with their ideal jobs. Danny Simon, our September 16 speaker, believes it is precisely the right time, which is why he launched JobSync.com. The Santa Monica-based company aims to do for employment what sites like eHarmony and Match.com do for romance. The first online jobs site launched in 1993, and dozens of ventures have sprung up since then. Each aimed to do a better job of linking employers with workers who have the right skills and experience for their jobs. JobSync uses a proprietary algorithm to match candidates with jobs for which they are the best fit based on their experience, qualifications and personality. As a result, says Danny, instead of wading through a tall stack of applications, employers using JobSync get a short list of qualified, interested applicants who are a strong fit for their job. Following his presentation, a panel of CCS experts gave their perspectives on Danny's venture and discuss the obstacles he is likely to encounter, strategies to deal with them, and the likelihood that JobSync.com can emerges as the Monster.com of the coming decade. The Internet is strewn with the wreckage of companies that promised great results but stumbled. Will JobSync be an exception, and emerge as a truly disruptive new technology that will reshape the employment market? Danny certainly knows how to run an online company. The Harvard Business School graduate headed Disney's $100 million e-commerce business. His concept and his credentials are the reason that senior executives of companies like Bank of America, Kroger, Comcast and Lockheed Martin are considering using JobSync for their recruiting efforts. Friday, August 19, 2011 Rick Chance, of KPMG: A Mid-Year Update on Middle-Market M&A Activity Like other parts of the economy, merger and acquisition activity took a hit during the recession, then showed a strong recovery in 2010. The momentum in M&A kept building during the first few months of this year. Will the pace accelerate to something like the bubble environment of 2007? Are we in for a slowdown? What kinds of deals are getting snapped up, and which are languishing? We heard the answers, and a mid-year update on middle-market M&A activity at our August 19 meeting, from Ricardo "Rick" Chance, U.S. Group Head for the Special Situations Advisory Group of KPMG, and Managing Director of the firm's Corporate Finance Group in Orange County. Rick has more than 20 years of experience in M&A and corporate finance. He has advised both well-performing and underperforming companies, debtors, creditors, equity holders and others, and has represented both private and public companies in a broad range of industries. Prior to joining KPMG Corporate Finance, Rick was a Managing Director at BDO Capital Advisors/Trenwith Securities where he led the firm's national distressed M&A and western region practices. Prior to this period, he held senior management positions for various divisions of the Blackrock Group, an investment firm based in Toronto, Canada, that specialized in the acquisition, syndication and management of special situation assets. Rick has authored and been quoted in numerous national and regional publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Deal, Dow Jones, Bloomberg, Corporate Finance Week, ABF Journal, The M&A Advisor, and the Los Angeles Times. He holds an M.B.A. from UCLA's Anderson School, and a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Podcast of Rick's presentation: Click the triangle to play: Click here to see Rick Chance's PowerPoint Friday, July 15, 2011 Gunjan Bagla, of Amritt, Inc., on The Other Asian Powerhouse: India!
With 1.2 billion consumers, the largest democracy in the world, a strong legal system, liberal investment policies, an educated and English-speaking labor force with strong technical skills, and fast-growing trade with the U.S., India seems like a natural trading area for American firms. It is, said our July 15 speaker. But Gunjan Bagla, founder and managing director of Amritt, Inc.,.says American executives need to do their homework before buying a plane ticket to Mumbai. With a GDP of well over $1.4 trillion, India is an exciting market. But its huge land mass, 28 states and 23 languages make it more like Europe than a single country. Cultural and logistical issues can be daunting. Still, with U.S. exports to India likely to soar to $80 billion by 2015 from about $19 billion today, it offers exciting opportunities. India's companies are also investing in the USA, and the country is a great location for sourcing labor as well as manufactured goods. Mr. Bagla specializes in helping corporations do business in India. He has worked with Kraft Foods, Johnson & Johnson, Westinghouse, Raytheon, Boeing and Vivendi, as well as many smaller companies. He is the author of Doing Business in 21st Century India, has contributed articles to Business Week, Industry Week, CIO and other magazines, and has lectured at CalTech. Mr. Bagla is quoted often in the New York Times, has appeared on Bloomberg and BBC Television, and has been a guest multiple times on KCRW’s Radio’s To The Point with Warren Olney. A graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology in mechanical engineering, he earned his MBA with honors from Southern Illinois University. Speaker's PowerPoint, in PDF Format (1.5 megs) Friday, June 17, 2011 Can Business Models Save The World? Adlai Wertman, of USC's Marshall School Governments are going broke, and donations to charities are down. So where will the solutions to today's serious social, environmental and health challenges come from? The answer could be social entrepreneurs, using business models that have proven effective in solving problems in the corporate world. That's the view of our June 17 breakfast speaker, Adlai Wertman, Professor of Clinical Management and Organization at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business. He is also the founding director of the Society and Business Lab at Marshall, a center focused on using business education and resources to address global community needs. Prior to joining the faculty at Marshall, Prof. Wertman spent seven years as president and CEO of Chrysalis, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit devoted to helping homeless people find employment. Two programs he started at Chrysalis find jobs for more than 1,000 people each year. Earlier, he spent 18 years as an investment banker, including serving as managing director of Prudential Securites' West Coast public investment banking group. Friday, May 16, 2011
There was no breakfast meeting this month. Instead, if you had attended at least one California Capital Summit breakfast in the past 12 months you were invited to a purely social Mixer (no speaker) on Monday, May 16, hosted by CCS. The Mixer was intended to express our appreciation for your participation in CCS events, and to provide an additional opportunity for attendees to meet with their CCS peers. We met at the lovely Luxe Sunset Hotel on Sunset Boulevard for wine and hors d'oeuvres at 6:30 p.m.Attendance at the Mixer, including parking, was free, thanks to the generous support of our sponsors. Friday, April 15, 2011
The Outlook For Venture
Capital: Venture capital has fueled many of the innovative companies that are such an important part of California's economy. Now, when the state and the nation need that kind of jumpstart more than ever, some VC funds here will soon be running short of cash. That will create problems for the funds and for startups, but will also mean real value opportunities for some investors.
Terry is also the founder and chairman of The VC Roundtable, a private, invitation-only group whose members include the heads of venture capital funds, corporate strategic investors and leaders of angel investing organizations throughout California. "The problem is simple," he says. "Southern California-based venture funds have been raising less money than they have been deploying, and they are going to hit a wall. These funds simply have not been as successful with their portfolios as funds elsewhere, so limited partners are not re-upping." Many investors who in past years lined up for the chance to put money into VC funds have liquidity issues because of the global financial crisis. That means companies seeking venture capital will in many cases have to turn to investors farther from home, and are likely to have to accept lower valuations for their early-stage companies. What is needed, says Terry, is a new model that will help bridge this funding gap. He discussed his ideas for that new approach, and the outlook for local and national VC funds. Click for Terry Moore's PowerPoint Presentation Friday, March 18, 2011 A "Town Hall" Discussion with Gary Toebben, Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, on California's Dual Priorities: Jobs and a Balanced Budget Governor Jerry Brown and California legislators are wrestling with the state's multi-billion dollar deficits, and soon voters across the state may have to decide between more taxes or more deficits. Adding to the problem, California's economy seems to be recovering more slowly than the rest of the country.
What does this mean for Los Angeles
and businesses in this region? We talked Since taking the helm of the Chamber in July of 2006, Toebben has been a tireless advocate for the business community. He has served on the Mayor's L.A. Economy & Jobs Committee, the L.A. County Health Care Options Task Force and the City Council's Business Retention & Attraction Task Force. He has championed local and state ballot initiatives on transportation and economic development and represented the Chamber as one of four co-sponsors of Proposition 11 to create a citizen commission to redistrict California after each census. He is highly involved in statewide business groups including the CalChamber and a coalition of regional economic development associations spanning the entire state. Each year, Toebben co-leads the region's largest consensus advocacy trip to Washington, D.C. Toebben has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) in 2003 and is currently a member of the ACCE Board of Trustees. He holds a B.S. in mathematics from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Friday, January 21, 2011 Access To Capital and The Outlook For The Financing Market – An Update Middle-market companies have been essentially shut out of the capital markets for the past couple of years. Now there are signs that the situation is improving, if slowly. What is the outlook for the financing market in 2011 and beyond? Come hear the answers from a panel of experts at the January 21 meeting of CCS. Our panelists are: Rit Amin, Director, Houlihan Lokey Mr. Amin is in the Los Angeles office of Houlihan Lokey, where he is a member of the firm's Capital Markets Group. He focuses on raising senior, mezzanine debt and private equity capital for leveraged buyouts and acquisition financings, as well as recapitalizations and restructurings. Before joining Houlihan Lokey, Rit was a Director in Wachovia Securities' Leveraged Finance Group. He also worked there in High Yield Capital Markets and Merchant Banking. Rit has more than 10 years of investment banking and capital raising experience, and has led nearly 100 high yield and syndicated loan transactions, collectively raising over $27 billion in capital for clients. Matt Covington, Managing Director, Kibel Green Matt has more than a decade of experience in financial restructuring and merger and acquisition transactions. He has advised companies, creditors and financial sponsors in restructuring transactions across a wide variety of industries, executing transactions valued at over $11 billion. Prior to joining Kibel Green, Matt was a Senior Vice President at Chanin Capital Partners, a leading restructuring advisory investment bank. He holds JD and MBA degrees from the University of Chicago Law School and Graduate School of Business. Alisa Frederick, Managing Director, Caltius Mezzanine Partners Alisa Frederick is Managing Director of Caltius Mezzanine Partners, a Mezz investor. Alisa, who joined Caltius Mezzanine in 2000, is responsible for generating investment opportunities, due diligence and portfolio oversight. She also is a board observer on 6 Caltius Portfolio Companies. Before joining Caltius, she was a Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Fleet Capital Corporation. Earlier, she was with Chemical Bank in New York. Alisa received her B.A., cum laude, from Wellesley College. Moderator: Rachel Morris, Senior Vice President, Bank of America Merrill Lynch Rachel is a Senior Vice President and Senior Client Manager with Bank of America Merrill Lynch's Global Commercial Bank in Los Angeles. She works with middle-market, corporate banking clients and is also responsible for business development. Previously, Rachel was a member of Houlihan Lokey's Financial Restructuring Investment Banking Group where she focused on advising financially-distressed companies and their creditors on recapitalizations, capital raising, and mergers and acquisitions. Earlier she was with PNC Financial Services. Click here to download "Quika" sheets (7 megs) Friday, December 17, 7:00 a.m. Her Company Fights The Problem of Contaminated Food and Water Supplies: Dr. Rosemary Sharpin Click here to listen to Dr. Sharpin's presentation, with introduction by Robb Hagestad. Bacteria like E. coli and salmonella cost American industry and consumers billions in product recalls and medical expenses, hospitalize thousands and kill hundreds each year. Globally, losses to unsafe food and water are far higher. Lab tests can detect contamination, but require trained personnel and special facilities. Just as important, testing can take a day or two, and by that time the tainted food may have moved from the field to the packing house or to retailers' shelves. Dr. Rosemary Sharpin, our December 17 speaker, is the founder of B2P Inc., a global company whose products quickly and affordably test food and water, identifying contamination before the tested material can enter the supply chain. The B2P testing system, developed in New Zealand and Australia, includes a single-use water-filled container about the size of a baby food jar which receives the item to be tested. The jar is placed into a thermos-sized receptacle, which automatically warms the sample. If the sample is contaminated, the bacteria multiply. and the water changes color from blue to pink (the origin of the company's name.) Sensors in the incubator detect the color change and interpret the degree of contamination. The results are reported on a display panel on the incubator, and are transmitted to a B2P data center via the Web. No special training is needed to use the system. In Australia, road repair crews use the B2P system to monitor water supplies in rural areas. Just as important, the system produces results quickly -- in as little as 10 minutes for highly contaminated samples, and 14 hours if just a few bacteria are present. Even the longer period allows the problem material to be quarantined before it moves to the next stage of the supply chain. November 19, 7:00 a.m. Global Warming Is Good News For Economies of The Far North, Says Prof. Laurence Smith of UCLA Click here to listen to Dr. Smith's presentation.
Retreating ice sheets will open new shipping lanes, Canada's oil reserves will be second only to Saudi Arabia, and its cities will boom thanks to a rapid increase in population, Smith said. Prof. Smith's findings are presented in his book, The World In 2050: Four Forces Shaping Civilization's Northern Future, published in September by Dutton. His research was ranked by "Discover" Magazine as one of the top 100 scientific discoveries of 2005 Click here for 'Quoika' sheets October 15, 2010 Tax Credits a 'Game Changer' For Middle Market Companies: Brandon Edwards, of Tax Credit Co. Looking for a good way to put Americans back to work? We already have one — in fact, it has been around for 30 years, said Brandon K. Edwards, our October 15 breakfast speaker. It is the Research & Development Tax Credit, a federal credit which, combined with similar incentives offered by most states, can reduce costs of research and development by up to 13 percent. Edwards is president of Tax Credit Co., a consulting firm that specializes in finding this kind of incentive for companies. The R&D Tax Credit both creates American jobs and increases our global competitiveness, Edwards says.It encourages U.S. companies to do more R&D within our borders, specifically excluding benefits for work by employees outside the United States. The credit is for businesses of all sizes, not just large corporations with research labs. Any company that designs, develops, or improves products, processes, techniques, formulas, inventions, or software may be eligible. In fact, if a company has simply invested time, money, and resources toward the advancement and improvement of its products and processes, it may qualify. Despite its proven record and bipartisan support, the R&D Credit is a perennial political football. It expires annually, and currently it has expired, although it is expected to be renewed, with benefits paid retroactively to January 1 of this year. The R&D tax credit regulations allow eligible taxpayers to “look back” to all open tax years (typically three years plus the current year) for potential R&D credits that were never claimed. The credit costs an estimated $7 billion, but studies say it more than pays for itself in higher income taxes on well-paying jobs. President Obama wants to make the credit permanent, and increase its value. The Milken Institute says that could boost real GDP by over $200 billion and generate 510,000 jobs. September 17, 2010 The Regional, National and Global Economic Outlook — Scott Anderson, Senior Economist, Wells Fargo Securities Double dip? Deflation? Jobless recovery? Rebound? There are as many opinions about the future of the economy as there are pundits on cable TV. But unlike those talking heads, you have to make tough decisions that will mean capital investments made or postponed, and jobs filled or allowed to remain empty. For authoritative insights about the future direction of the economy, we heard Dr. Scott Anderson, Senior Economist at Wells Fargo Securities, at the California Capital Summit meeting Friday, September 17. Dr. Anderson has more than 15 years of experience in the field of macroeconomics. At Wells Fargo he is responsible for the analysis and forecasting of international, national and regional economic trends. He provides daily analyses of U.S. economic trends for the bank, authors the Wells Fargo California and Minnesota Outlook reports, and contributes to a wide range of other publications. He also covers the economies of Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. He has appeared on CNBC, Bloomberg, MSNBC, CBS MarketWatch, the BBC and NPR, and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Financial Times and many other media outlets. He received his bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Minnesota, and both his masters and doctorate in economics at George Washington University. Based in Minneapolis, he joined us by videoconference. August 20, 2010 Fast Pitch Program - CEOs of Three Early-Stage Companies Present Their Plans For Growth Success has a lot of ingredients, but the most important one may be a good idea. At our August 20 breakfast meetings, three entrepreneurs who have launched three very different kinds of companies each talked about the novel and exciting idea that led to the formation of their venture -- and how they plan to turn that concept into a profitable business. Our "Fast Pitch" presenters were:
This was a highly interactive meeting. Attendees were asked to critique the business plans, strategies and marketing approaches of the three CEOs, and appraise their likely success at raising the capital they need and of eventually turning a profit. July 16, 2010 For Early-Stage Companies, Venture Debt Can Be An Attractive Alternative to Giving Up Equity Entrepreneurs love venture capital as a source of cash to fuel their growth plans, but they generally hate having to give up equity to get that cash. For some early-stage companies, there is another option: venture debt. Our July 16 speaker, John R. Nelson, explained how and why venture debt can be an attractive option for companies that need growth financing. Mr. Nelson is Managing Director of California Capital Partners, a Los Angeles-based fund group that provides both equity and debt financing to tech-based businesses. Venture lending was only about 1% of VC activity in 2001, but is now over 10% of venture funding, and is projected to grow to 20% by 2013. Entrepreneurs in early-stage companies, who often are not yet eligible for bank financing, like venture debt because they can avoid diluting their ownership stake, while getting the cash they need. Today, when valuations are down, being able to avoid or delay equity dilution is especially attractive to business owners. Venture debt is not cheap, and many companies will not qualify, said Mr. Nelson. But he believes venture lending is quickly emerging as the healthiest segment of the troubled VC industry. Mr. Nelson has more than 24 years of experience in venture investing, and has also held senior positions with several tech companies. He has served as managing director of multiple venture capital management partnerships, and has extensive experience in international technology investments June 18, 2010 Looking for A Buyout Partner? Check The Lunchroom, Says Our Panel of ESOP Experts Employee financing, in the form of an ESOP, can be be a powerful tool to strengthen a company's balance sheet while improving morale and productivity. At our June 18 meeting we heard from a panel of experts who have successfully used Employee Stock Ownership Plans to achieve these goals. Our panelists are: Anthony Mathews, Director of the Beyster Institute at the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego. Tony has 30 years of experience in ESOPs, and has consulted with hundreds of companies on employee ownership plans. Previously he was a Vice President and Senior Consultant with the Principal Financial Group. David C. Wright, a tax partner in the Los Angeles office of Musick, Peeler & Garrett LLP. Dave's primary area of practice includes employee stock ownership plans. He has lectured on ESOPs at the ESOP Association of America and at UCLA. Christopher A. Kramer, a Managing Director of Strategic Equity Group in Santa Ana. Chris advises clients on structuring and negotiating transactions in a wide range of industries. Prior to joining SEG, he was the director of financial opinions for Pacific Corporate Group, a private equity advisory firm, and spent over five years with Marshall and Stevens, Inc., a national valuation firm. Kevin Trieber, ESOP Solutions Executive and Senior Vice President, Bank of America, leads a national practice of 30 professionals who deliver ESOP finance solutions, including origination and structuring, in connection with business ownership succession. Kevin has been with BofA for 15 years. Our panelists discussed the benefits and potential pitfalls of implementing an ESOP, and walked us through a case study of how a family-owned company introduced an employee ownership planMay 21, 2010 The Global Business of Going Green: David Nahai
There's a lot of talk about "going green," which is generating a lot
of business for t has also generated a lot of controversy. How big is an impact is the environmental movement having on industry in this country and around the world? What is that impact likely to be in the years ahead? We heard the answers at the CCS meeting Friday, May 21, when our speaker was H. David Nahai, an internationally renowned consultant to government and corporations on renewable energy, water conservation, energy efficiency and recycling. Until October of 2009, he was CEO and General Manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, the largest municipal utility in the nation. Under his leadership, the LADWP increased its renewable energy portfolio from 3 percent in 2005 to around 15 percent by the end of 2009. A leading expert on water issues, Mr. Nahai served for over 10 years on California's Regional Water Quality Control Board, which safeguards the quality of surface, ground, and coastal waters in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. An attorney, Mr. Nahai holds graduate and post-graduate degrees in law from the London School of Economics and the University of California at Berkeley. Currently he is a Senior Advisor to the Clinton Climate Initiative, launched by President Clinton's foundation to create solutions to the core issues driving climate change. These include increasing energy efficiency in cities, expanding the supply of clean energy, and working to halt deforestation. April 16, 2010 Get To The Next Level With Mezzanine Debt: Rick Shuart of Caltius Mezzanine, and Scott Savoie of Universal Services of America With banks still keeping a tight rein on credit, mezzanine financing is an attractive option to many companies that need cash for growth or transactions. Our April 16 breakfast meeting provided an update on the state of the mezz market, and will include a case study of one Caltius loan. Our speakers were: Rick Shuart,
Principal at Caltius Mezzanine,
and Rick Shuart joined Caltius Mezzanine at its founding in 1999. Caltius Mezzanine is currently investing out of its fourth fund, which closed in May 2008 with capital commitments in excess of $500 million. Previously, he was a Financial Analyst in the Construction and Forest Products Group at Dillon, Read & Company, where he was involved in several publicly and privately negotiated M&A and public financing transactions. He earned his BA at Columbia, and his MBA from the UCLA Anderson School.Scott Savoie has been CFO of Santa Ana-based Universal Services of America since December of 2005. USA, a Caltius mezz borrower, operates protection and fire/life safety companies: Universal Protection Security Systems and Universal Building Maintenance. The firm has become the largest regional security and janitorial company in the U.S., with more than 7,500 employees across the nation. Scott received his BS in Accounting from CSU-Northridge, and his MBA from USC. March 19, 2010 Venture Investing Today: Dan Peate, of Peate Ventures, and Harry Lin, of Lottay.com Venture investors hit the brakes hard when the economy slowed, the stock market slumped and the credit window slammed shut. But some entrepreneurs have found investors who are still willing to provide funding for exceptionally promising start-ups that have strong management teams.Dan Peate, our March 19 speaker, runs Peate Ventures in Ventura. Dan talked about the state of venture investing today, and the outlook for 2010 and beyond. Joining him was Harry Lin, CEO of Lottay.com, one of Dan's portfolio companies. Harry bring big-company experience, including several positions at Disney, to Lottay. The early-stage company offers 'virtual gift cards' -- online money transfers via PayPal which recipients can use to buy the gift suggested by the sender or for any other purpose they like.Both Peate Ventures and Lottay.com have benefitted from an innovative incubator program funded and housed by the City of Ventura. The city has created 10,000 square feet of incubator space right in City Hall, with everything from workstations with high-speed Internet access to foosball games, and invested $5 million alongside DFJ Frontier, a large venture fund. Ventura Ventures Technology Center has assisted 10 start-ups so far, and is actively looking for more. February 19, 2010 New Ways To Do A Deal When The Old Ways Don't Work Yes, said David Grinberg and James Vieceli, our Feb. 19 breakfast meeting speakers. The two Manatt partners told us how they have been managing to get deals to the goal line when traditional ways to do so would not work because of the current upheaval in the markets. They discusse various alternative capital-raising structures, such as at-the-market offerings, registered direct offering, and PIPEs, as well the current trends in the M&A market. They also us how a recent court ruling is signaling the need for a different approach to letters of intent and term sheets. January 14, 2010 Turning Near-Disaster Into Fast Growth: Tracy Quinn, CFO of Overhill Farms, Inc. Overhill Farms, Inc. (NYSE-AMEX: OFI) was growing quickly in 2001, manufacturing high-quality custom frozen foods for the restaurant industry, airlines and national brands. All that changed with the tragic events of September 11. Airlines, struggling with the aftershocks of the terrorist attacks, stopped serving meals on most flights, wiping out a significant portion of the Vernon-based company's business. Hotels and restaurants, also important customer segments, cut their purchases as their business declined. After several years of double-digit growth, Overhill Farms revenues dropped by 23% in 2002 - and slid further in each of the next two years. Adding to its woes, the company had committed to a major capital expansion, borrowing to build a large, new plant to replace several older ones. In the low-margin, highly competitive frozen food business, Overhill Farms didn't have the option of raising prices or quickly landing new customers. It had to pare costs to the bone while maintaining quality and mounting an effective sales campaign. It also had to service a heavy load of high-interest debt. The company's chief financial office, food industry veteran Tracy Quinn, described in detail how Overhill Farms managed a remarkable turnaround. Overhill Farms posted record revenues and profits in 2007 and 2008, and near-record earnings in 2009 despite the extraordinary challenges of this recessionary year. The company has landed major contracts from industry-leading new customers, and has formed marketing partnerships with two of the largest corporations in the food industry. December 18, 2009 Getting Back To A Growth Strategy In A Down Economy: Brad Grob, of The Cambrox Group Sure, the economy sucks, and there's little hope for a hockey-stick recovery. But that doesn't mean your company -- or your clients' companies -- have to sit on the sidelines and wait. Today it is more important than ever to look for ways to re-energize revenue growth and increase the top line. Is that even possible in this environment? Yes, said our December 18 speaker. Brad Grob is Managing Partner of The Cambrix Group. Brad will provide an overview of what businesses can do to increase revenues even under tough business conditions. Key issues he covered included:
The Cambrix Group Inc. is a consulting firm that provides strategy, marketing, and sales consulting to help companies achieve profitable revenue growth. Brad works with both growth companies as well as those with stalled or declining revenues. He has consulted to a wide range of emerging and Fortune 500 companies, including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, AT&T, Cox Enterprises, Xerox, Fastclick (ValueClick), GoToMyPC, Local.com, U.S. Container, Industrial Metal Supply, Whole Health Management, and many others. Prior to establishing his consulting practice, Brad was an executive at Xerox and Baker & Taylor.He then went on to become a senior executive at two emerging growth companies in which he played a critical role in driving significant growth and then completing successful initial public offerings on the London Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. Brad holds a degree in both Electrical Engineering and Economics from Duke University and an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He also taught eMarketing at UCLA. November 20, 2009 Like It Or Not, Uncle Sam Is Now Your Business Partner: Eugenio J. Aleman, of Wells Fargo Bank The economy seems to be moving toward recovery. So does that mean we will go back to business as usual? Don't bet on it. With the U.S. government a major shareholder in the nation's leading banks and some of our biggest manufacturers, the dominant influence on the credit markets, and likely to reshape the nation's health insurance sector - we're not in Kansas circa 1950 any more. What will be the long-term impact on your business of the role of government regulation and public policy in today's recovery, and on the economy in the future? We heard some answers at the CCS meeting November 20. Our speaker was Dr. Eugenio J. Aleman, Senior Economist and Vice President at Wells Fargo Bank. Dr. Aleman provides forecasts on national, regional, and international economic trends for the bank, with a primary focus on the U.S. economy and the credit markets. He is also an expert on the economies of Mexico and Latin America, and on U.S.-Mexican cross-border manufacturing and trade. He joined Wells Fargo as senior economist in July 2005. Previously he worked at Global Insight, a leading economic forecasting and consulting firm, as Managing Director for its Latin America Service. He holds a doctorate in economics with an emphasis in economic development and international trade and finance from Florida International University, and has taught economics at Drexel University and directed the MBA program at the Inter-American University in Puerto Rico. October 16, 2009 Turn M&A From a Coin Toss to an Effective Growth Strategy: Squire Junger, of Insight Consulting LLC, You've heard how mergers and acquisitions have been the fast track to growth for industries ranging from semiconductors to trash collection. But the cold truth is that 50% of most M&A transaction's don't pan out, producing results that range from disappointing to disastrous. Combining two companies isn't easy, and far too often the merger doesn't deliver the anticipated results. Sales decline, key people leave, expected synergies evaporate, and the real epitaph is a crippling impairment charge on the balance sheet. How do you make sure 'M&A' doesn't stand for misery & anxiety? Our October breakfast speaker, Squire Junger of Insight Consulting LLC, said the key is an integrated approach to due diligence and business integration throughout the M&A process. He showed us the specifics of what to look for in a potential deal, how to spot indicators of potential trouble, and the approaches and tools you can use to help put your deal in the "win" column. Basic due diligence by buyer and seller, even backed by great legal advice, are not enough, he says. Comprehensive diligence, combined with extensive integration planning and followed up by effective execution with both systems and personnel, will significantly boost the odds of success. Squire is a veteran of scores of transactions. He was a worldwide leader of transaction advisory services and real estate services for Arthur Andersen LLP. He and his business partner at Insight Consulting have developed a functional approach to diligence and business integration that has been successfully used with transactions from less than $10 million to over $30 billion, in many industries and geographic areas. Prior to his 30-year career at Anderson, Squire earned his BS and MBA degrees with honors from Cornell. September 18, 2009 Richard Zinman, of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, on The Best Social Networking Strategies and Tools for Business Development LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Orkut, MySpace, Web 2.0 -- are these just vaguely familiar names to you, rather than an intrinsic part of your marketing efforts? If so, your competitors must be LOL! Like it or not, Social Networking is key to your business today, and to the business of your clients. If all that stuff is still a bit mystifying, don't despair, you should have come to the September 18 breakfast meeting of the California Capital Summit. Our speaker was Richard Zinman, a maven on the topic of Social Networking. His use of these new "virtual community" tools has helped propel his success in building his wealth management practice. Rich was an early adopter of online business networking. He joined his first site in 2001, and he has been an active user of LinkedIn since January 2004. He has integrated online networking into the building and maintenance of his wealth management practice, and speaks often on the topic actively encouraging others to utilize it for their professional endeavors. Mr. Zinman began his career with the Capital Markets Group at Citicorp, moved to Drexel Burnham Lambert as Vice President of Corporate Finance, then was a Vice President and Financial Advisor with UBS before joining Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, where he is a Vice President in the Beverly Hills office. Earlier in his career, he was a motion picture and television producer involved in projects including the sports classic, “Rudy.” On a separate but related note, Mr. Zinman met his wife on Match.com. August 21, 2009 Brand Integration in Media, Entertainment and Advertising — What is Happening, and What You Need to Know Our speaker was Jordan Yospe, of Manatt, Phelps & Philips. Jordan is recognized as one of the country's leading brand integration experts and an authority on sourcing, negotiating, and managing brand integration deals for feature films, television, new media, music, and video games. Last year Jordan was named to the Hollywood Reporter's list of 100 Most Influential Attorneys in Hollywood. As former General Counsel/Head of Business & Legal Affairs at Mark Burnett Productions, he was integrally involved in numerous well-known network television series, including Survivor and Rock Star: INXS with CBS; The Apprentice and The Apprentice: Martha with NBC; and The Contender with NBC and DreamWorks. Jordan has worked with brands in virtually every consumer product/service category, as well as major film studios, broadcast and cable networks, and numerous advertising, media, and PR agencies.
|
||
|
California Capital Summit © 2010 - Serving the needs of the continuum of capital |
--
and along the way you helped reform the Russian economy after the
collapse of the Soviet Union -- you might be tempted to relax a bit.
The
real estate market has imploded, and acres of prime office, retail and
industrial space are vacant. So why is Gensler, one of the nation's
leading architectural firms, spending millions to move its Southern California
operations from Santa Monica to new 50,000 square foot state-of-the-art quarters in
downtown Los Angeles?
Every company
today, even struggling startups, seems to feel compelled to have a China trade
strategy. But how often do you hear CEOs talk about doing business with the
other huge Asian market, India?
That
was the view of our April 15
breakfast speaker, Terry W. Moore. He is the founder and managing partner
of Moore Venture Partners LP, a VC fund that has invested alongside some
of the nation's largest venture funds in life sciences and technology
companies in the San Diego area, where Moore Venture Partners is based.
about the possible solutions in an interactive "town hall" discussion with
Gary L. Toebben, President and CEO of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce,
at our March 18 breakfast meeting.
Global warming may wreak
havoc on the environment of warm areas of the globe, said UCLA Prof. Laurence C. Smith, our
fascinating November 19
speaker, but it will
unlock a treasure trove of oil, gas, fresh water and
other natural resources in regions that are now ice-bound. Because those
resources will be increasingly scarce in the rest of the world, their value
will soar. 
companies selling everything from hybrid cars and solar panels to carbon offset
credits. I