IN THIS ISSUE:
Trends in North Bay business locations;
Employers take Action; Learn how in workshops;
NBLC announces June primary endorsements;
Issue #1: The Economy, moves to the top of the North Bay's concerns;
Members in the news...


Is the North Bay attracting and retaining companies here, or losing them?

NBLC explores this topic with SSU's Dr. Robert Eyler on May 15 in Petaluma

The North Bay is home to approximately 90,000 firms according to the last Census figures. Each of those businesses makes decisions whether they come to, stay in or leave the North Bay. The local economy hinges on having a thriving business community composed of a diversified mix of industry sectors and services. To better understand the latest trends and decision-making criteria used by businesses, North Bay Leadership Council (NBLC) commissioned Dr. Robert Eyler, Chief Economist at Sonoma State University, to prepare the latest Economic Insight Report on this subject.

Dr. Eyler found that "identifying the firms that locate in the North Bay can reveal what cost and revenue advantages this region has for fostering business growth both by attracting firms from outside the region and assisting firms born locally." Some companies must be located in the North Bay due to need or resources and climate, for example wineries, other agriculture, neighborhood-serving retail such as grocery stores and cleaners, and health services such as hospitals. Many companies could be located in other parts of California, other states or even outside of the U.S. The report focuses on those businesses that are located here by choice and studies the criteria by which these location decisions are made.

One of the significant findings of the report is that business owners or chief executives are willing to pay a premium to be in the North Bay. The attraction of being close to family and the lifestyle of the North Bay is a major driver in businesses choosing the North Bay as their home despite the higher costs of doing business and growing labor shortage. But as those costs increase and challenges multiply, there is good reason to be concerned that businesses may decide to move to more hospitable locations outside the North Bay.

Dr. Eyler will present the report with all of his findings and recommendations at a breakfast conference on May 15 at the Sheraton Hotel, Petaluma. Registration begins at 7:00 a.m. and the program starts at 7:30 a.m. Dr. Eyler will be followed by a panel discussion of North Bay businesses discussing why they have located to, stayed in or left this region. For more information about being a sponsor or registration, please contact Angela Colombo at acolombo@northbayleadership.org or at (707) 283-0028.  To download the registration form, click here or look under "Events."

About NBLC:

North Bay Leadership Council is a non-profit organization of employers committed to regional prosperity and quality of life. Seventeen years ago, business leaders founded the North Bay Leadership Council on a simple premise: We can accomplish more by working together.

Today, the Council includes over 30 select employers in the region. Our members represent a wide variety of businesses, non-profits and educational institutions, with a workforce in excess of 20,000. We are working together to advocate and sustain prosperity and quality of life in Sonoma and Marin Counties.

As business and civic leaders, our goal is to promote sound, regionally-focused public policy and support initiatives that make our region a better place to live and work.

NBLC is responsible for producing Economic Insight Reports, most recently on the "Economic Impacts of a Water Shortage in the North Bay." For more information please call 707.283.0028 or visit us at www.northbayleadership.org.

North Bay Transportation Summit spurs action and follow-up workshops for North Bay employers

As a follow-up to the sold out Transportation Summit: Employers Take Action, which took place on April 25, NBLC, in collaboration with 511 Regional Rideshare Program, is hosting hands-on, interactive workshops to further delve into how your organization can implement an employee commute program. All workshops will be held at Fireman's Fund Insurance Company (777 San Marin Drive, Novato). Pre-registration is required and these workshops are complimentary to organizations and companies interested in participating.

The workshops will take place as follows:

• TELE-WORK: Wednesday, May 21, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.*
  
• EMPLOYEE COMMUTE PROGRAM: Designing & Customizing: Wednesday, June 4, 2:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
  
• EMPLOYEE COMMUTE PROGRAM: Implementation & Sustainment: Wednesday, June 18, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.*
  
  * Bring your own brown bag lunch
  
  For more information or to sign-up contact Angela Colombo at (707) 283-0028 or acolombo@northbayleadership.org.
  
  To download the registration form, click here. To submit registration, follow instructions at the bottom of the form.

NBLC announces endorsements for June 2008 primary

NBLC is committed to fostering collaborative partnerships with like-minded elected officials in the North Bay region in an effort to influence sound public policy, thereby continuing to take a stake in sustaining the North Bay's quality of life. When NBLC endorses candidates for North Bay elections, the Board of Directors looks for key characteristics in selecting who the board will endorse. NBLC seeks candidates who have a good track record of sound judgment and problem-solving. NBLC proudly supports the following candidates for the June 2008 primary:

• California Third State Senate District: Joe Nation
• Sonoma County Third Supervisorial District: Sharon Wright
• Sonoma County First Supervisorial District: Supervisor Valerie Brown (incumbent)
• Sonoma County Fifth Supervisorial District: Efren Carrillo

It is predicted that there will be a low voter turnout for this election so it is imperative for committed voters to get to the polls to ensure that their votes count.

Issue #1: The Economy, moves to the top of the list of North Bay concerns

Like other Bay Area residents, North Bay residents identified the economy as their top concern in the latest poll produced by the Bay Area Council. The subject of the economy leaping to the forefront is remarkable as it wasn't even named as a leading concern just one year ago. Two-thirds of the North Bay thinks the Bay Area is in bad times economically (the North Bay is the second highest region in the Bay Area to answer that the economy is the number one concern). Most telling is the fact that the North Bay was a full ten percent higher than the Bay Area average in thinking that people and their families were worse off than one year ago. And most fear it will not be getting better anytime soon-the North Bay was above the average in thinking that things will be worse in the coming year.

In the Bay Area, transportation, last year's number one issue, fell to number two in the poll. But the North Bay was the exception in picking housing as their number two issue over transportation. For North Bay respondents, housing was just one percentage point behind the economy in their hierarchy of concerns. Even with the downturn in housing prices, the North Bay is still suffering from out of whack housing costs and the lack of workforce housing.

Unemployment rates rising

Concerns about jobs and the cost of living are leaving many people feeling uncertain and worried. Sonoma County's unemployment rate rose to 5.2 percent, a full percentage point higher than one year ago. Since March 2007, there has been a twenty-five percent increase (2,800) in joblessness in Sonoma County. While Sonoma has added 2,500 new jobs, job losses have outstripped those increases. Losses are in the public sector, financial activities (real estate and mortgage loan professionals), construction, and leisure and hospitality.

Unemployment in Marin County rose slightly from 3.6 percent in March 2007 to 4.1 percent this year. Marin County had the state's lowest unemployment rate. Industry specific numbers are not available for Marin as it is grouped with the counties of San Francisco and San Mateo in the reports.

Workers hours dropping; sign of a recession?

There are other ways that workers are feeling the pinch besides losing their jobs. To help deal with the economic downturn, some businesses are cutting back on workers' hours to reduce costs. In the New York Times article "Workers get fewer hours, deepening the downtown" (April 18, 2008), this problem is discussed, "The gradual erosion of the paycheck has become a stealth force driving the American economic downturn. Most of the attention has focused on the loss of jobs and risks of layoffs. But the less noticeable shrinking of hours and pay for millions of workers around the country appears to be a bigger contributor to the decline, which has already spread from housing and finance to other important areas of the economy." The reduction in hours can be a reliable predictor of recession. The last time hours worked slid into the negative territory on a Labor Department index was in February 2001, "when the economy was on the doorstep of recession." In March 2008, the hours worked went negative down to 33.8 hours. The combination of a cutback in hours, rising food and fuel costs, and the tightening of the credit market are leading workers to scale back spending as they watch their buying power diminish.

Cutting the R&D tax credit will cost the State much needed revenue

The California Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit is on the chopping block as the state representatives try to figure out how to balance the state budget. Carl Guardino and Lezlee Westine wrote wisely in the Sacramento Bee (April 18, 2008) of the need to "keep that tax credit intact if we want to keep the California economy healthy and competitive. The tax credit provides incentives for employers to grow and expand spurring scientific breakthroughs, technological innovation, and path-breaking products that make California companies the world leaders in fields from health care to clean energy and entertainment." They point out that more than eighty percent of the benefits of this credit go to salaries that attract and retain the knowledge workers needed to make these advancements. If the credit is killed, the state will lose a major way to create well-paying, sustainable green collar jobs that are so needed and essential to the future of our state economy.

MEMBERS IN THE NEWS:

Ghilotti Construction

Ghilotti Construction has announced several promotions within its company leadership. Part owner, Brian Ongaro (a fourth generation Ghilotti) has been named Senior Vice President of Operations. Ali Yazdi has been promoted to Vice President of Heavy Highway Construction. Brad Simpkins is the new Vice President of Private Commercial Construction. And Tom Woosley has been named Manager of Underground Operations. Ghilotti Construction is one of the busiest construction companies in the North Bay performing much of the freeway widening work in Sonoma County and the work on the new Health and Wellness Center for the County of Marin.

Medtronic CardioVascular

Medtronic, Inc. received Food and Drug Administration approval for its new stent, the Talent Abdominal Stent Graft on the CoilTrac Delivery System. This stent is unique in the marketplace and helps to repair aneurysms occurring in the abdominal aorta, which kill about 15,000 people annually. The new stent will allow more people to be treated and prevent deaths. Joe McGrath of Medtronic said, "We estimate it'll make endovascular repair an option for twenty percent more patients that can currently receive it." The new stent is made by Medtronic CardioVascular in Santa Rosa.

Santa Rosa Junior College

Santa Rosa Junior College is practicing continuous efforts towards leadership in sustainability and the use of renewable resources in their implementation of geothermal technology at the new Bertolini Student Center now under construction. At the Student Center, they will use this technology taking water from deep in the ground to do the heating and cooling of the building, eliminating two energy consuming appliances: a boiler and a chiller. Approximately seventy percent of the energy used in a geothermal heating and cooling system is a renewable energy, making it extremely cost effective because of its energy efficiency.

Bank of Marin

Bank of Marin announced that its earnings were up ten percent more in the first quarter than one year ago. The earnings increase is in sharp contrast to most banks bad news of earnings declines. The Bank also boosted its net interest margin in the same quarter up to 5.41 percent from five percent a year ago in the same period. The higher profits were good news to shareholders. Russ Colombo, President and CEO, said, "Our results speak to the strength and stability of the bank." Bank of Marin will open its twelfth branch in Mill Valley in late June.

Sonoma State University

Dr. William Silver has been named the new dean of Sonoma State University (SSU)'s School of Business and Economics effective July 1, 2008. Dr. Silver comes to SSU from the University of Denver's Daniels College of Business where he served as the Senior Associate Dean and Chief Operating Officer. Daniels' part-time MBA program has received high rankings by Business Week. Dr. Silver received a degree in organizational psychology from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in business administration from the University of Washington.

UPCOMING EVENTS!

Economic Insight Conference:
Thursday, May 15, 2008

Trends in North Bay Business Location- Why Companies are Staying in, Coming to, and Leaving the North Bay 

7:00 a.m. Registration
7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Sheraton Hotel, Petaluma Marina

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