Chamber President Mike Foley
Cushman & Wakefield of California, Inc.
As the SFS Chamber fiscal year begins and I take time out to write a message to the membership, a few thoughts occur to me. For over the last 30 years, as an industrial real estate broker, I love having the opportunity to interact with the community and business leaders of Santa Fe Springs daily. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with a wide range of businesses from warehousing to manufacturing to professional service providers. By doing so, I am reminded of the diversity and strength of our community.
The Chamber is a resource of information and programs that can benefit a business. My goal this year is to communicate the value of membership and the manner in which it can enhance business growth.
I believe the best way to promote your business is to tap into those services. For those of you that have not partaken in the Santa Fe Springs Chamber networking programs, I challenge you to attend a morning business card exchange, attend a committee meeting, stop by a Networking @ Noon event or legislative forum.
All of the chamber’s upcoming events are detailed on the website at www.sfschamber.com, Add us to your list of “Favorites”! The Chamber is built on volunteerism and I promise, you will get more out of it than give.
June and July were busy months for the Chamber with the fireworks stand and the fundraising dinner. On behalf of the 2012-2013 Board of Directors, let me send out a special thank you to all of the membership that supported the Youth Enrichment Fund (YEF) dinner and auction that was held at Angel Stadium “Diamond Club” on June 29th. This special event was a huge success and the quality gets better every year. A special thank you goes to Kathie Fink, the YEF Board and dinner committee!
Over the last two decades, this annual event has funded over $350,000 in scholarships and the proceeds also help fund other youth activities such as the mentoring program, CHOICES seminars and more that benefit high school students in Santa Fe Springs. We are extremely proud of our involvement with the youth in this city as they are the future of our community!
As we approach the 2012 State and National elections, the Santa Fe Springs Chamber is a resource to understand the issues. We are also prepared to take a position on all pending State and Federal legislation.
Historically, at both the State and local level, the Chamber has supported the need for government to remove unfair obstacles to economic markets, keep our taxes low, reduce government spending and prevent over regulation of private enterprise. We have our work cut out for us!
I believe that this economy is poised for growth, if our state and national leadership can provide us with a blueprint that will instill corporate decision-makers with the confidence that they need to hire more workers rather than hang on to cash out of caution. The Chamber is here to support and encourage business growth!
The strength and diversity in the City of Santa Fe Springs is a direct result of the relationship between the business community, our city council and their management team led by the City Manager Thaddeus McCormick.
In the upcoming weeks, the City and Chamber will jointly organize quarterly business forums. While these meetings are in the formative stages, our objective is to open up direct communication with the city leadership and staff to improve upon the service the business community can expect from the city in these changing times.
The second forum will be to seek involvement from active industrial real estate brokers who are interested in meeting with the City to have open dialog on how we can improve on attracting new companies.
Let me close by thanking the entire Santa Fe Springs Chamber staff--CEO Kathie Fink, Bruce Bertram, Maricela Castellanos, Laura Guidera, Sue Grana, and Christy Lindsay--for the excellent service they deliver daily to our membership!
