March 14, 2023
8:30 am - 11:30 am

Business leaders from across Los Angeles County came together for an up-to-the-minute discussion of where the economy is headed.

Presentation

Follow this link for the 2023 State and Local Forecast slides.

Follow this link for the full 2023 Economic Forecast Report.

Location

The event took place at the beautiful Diamond Bar Community Center, 1600 Grand Ave, Diamond Bar, CA 91765.

Sponsorships

We'd like to thank our generous sponsors:

Title Sponsor

Mt. San Antonio College

Leadership Sponsors

• City of Industry
• Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts
• San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority
• Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District

Gold Sponsors

• Citrus Valley Association of Realtors
• Bank of America
• Fairplex

Silver Sponsors

• BYD
• Foothill Gold Line
• Southern California Edison

Media Sponsors

• Pasadena Star-News
• San Gabriel Valley Tribune
• Whittier Daily News
• Business Life Magazine

Tickets/Tables

• Individual Tickets: $100 SGV Partnership members, $125 non-members
• Table (8 seats): $750

Speakers

Global Perspective

Baie Netzer is a Managing Director and Senior Investment Strategist for Bank of America Private Bank. She serves as investment thought leader by presenting the national Chief Investment Office’s current market outlook and investment strategy to high net worth clients across the West division. In this role, she works with our clients’ dedicated advisors and portfolio managers to ensure that top of the house macroeconomic, thematic and tactical portfolio strategy align with clients’ specific objectives and customized investment solutions.

Baie has been in the financial services industry for over 20 years having begun her career as a financial analyst at Goldman, Sachs in New York. Prior to joining Bank of America, Baie led the northern California team of investment professionals managing portfolios for high and ultra-high net worth clients at Wells Fargo Private Bank. Before joining Wells Fargo, Baie served as Director of Manager Research, Chair of the Alternative Investments Committee and one of five voting members on the Asset Allocation Committee at HighMark Capital Management, the asset management division of Union Bank. Previous to that role, she co-managed approximately $2 billion in portfolios for registered investment advisor Litman/Gregory. Baie also spent over a decade covering global financial news for print, radio and television outlets in the U.S. and Europe.

Baie attended Stanford University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honors in International Relations. She is a CFA® charterholder and a Certified Financial Planner™ professional. She previously served as President of the Board of Directors for the CFA Society of San Francisco and as an advisory board member for UC Berkeley Extension’s Personal Financial Planning Certificate Program.

National, State, & Local Economic Forecast

Robert Kleinhenz, Ph.D. is Principal Economist and Founder of the firm Kleinhenz Economics. A leading voice on the economy, Dr. Kleinhenz has over 30 years of experience and expertise. He has worked with numerous clients in the private sector, the public sector, and academia, and has produced a variety of economic forecasts, economic impact studies, industry studies, housing analyses, and public policy analyses. A frequent contributor to the media, he has been interviewed by NPR and other radio and television stations, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and numerous other news outlets.

In addition to his duties with Kleinhenz Economics, Robert is on the faculty at Cal State Long Beach and Associate Director of the University’s Office of Economic Research. He is also a Senior Research Fellow with the Inland Empire Economic Partnership and an Executive-in-Residence at Cal Poly Pomona’s College of Business Administration. He has also held academic positions at USC, UC Riverside, and Cal State Fullerton. In the private sector, he has served as Chief Economist with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), Deputy Chief Economist with the California Association of Realtors, and Executive Director of Research with Beacon Economics.

Kleinhenz holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Southern California with a specialty in urban and regional economics. He also holds an M.A. in Economics from the University of Southern California and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan.

Master of Ceremonies

Dr. Laura Pohopien is a two-decades long Cal Poly Pomona educator. She teaches undergraduate classes in the College of Business Administration in Communication for Business and First Year Experience, and in the College of Professional and Global Education in US Entrepreneurship. She is an avid follower of businesses who emerge successfully amidst chaos, and her dissertation focused on creative destruction and the complexity of entrepreneurship within established industries. She is an alumna of the university and is involved in a variety of university special projects.

Prior to a career in education, Dr. Pohopien spent 13 years in retailing and merchandising. Her work with luxury beauty products and home aesthetics let her explore a more creative side. She went to culinary school on the weekends while working full time. She baked, braised and basted her way into a full career of catering and cooking classes. For 12 years she instructed thousands of would-be culinarians in the art of bringing delicious food to the table.

Currently, she has a prime-ingredient philosophy of cooking: “one ingredient can make a difference.” Her cooking show, The Prime Ingredient, which launched in 2020, airs on YouTube and Instagram. She ventured into the CPG space with The Prime Ingredient Mediterranean Spice Blend. It is sold on her website, theprimeingredient.com, alongside bespoke and handmade charucuterie boards which sell out consistently. She has a quirky and effervescent presence on CPP campus and in her kitchen and says interacting with the students in both venues is the best part of her job(s).

Keynote

Rachel Michelin is President of the California Retailers Association (CRA), the most significant voice representing the retail industry in California’s public policy arena, at the State Capitol, in City Halls and with regulatory bodies across the state. Michelin oversees a diverse board and membership representing retail throughout the state and nation from small brick and mortar, to franchises to national retailers and on-line merchants.

Rachel has led associations for over 20 years with visionary leadership including strategic growth and engagement, increasing revenue, developing partnerships, statewide influence and public awareness. Rachel has demonstrated success through a strong bipartisan leadership network she has built with key influencers in the public and private sectors.

Rachel was reappointed by Governor Brown to the State Board of Optometry, where she has served since 2014. Prior to California Retailers, Michelin lead California Women Lead asChief Executive Officer and Executive Director since 2002. She also served as Program and Policy Director for the CaliforniaElected Women’s Association for Education and Research (CEWAER), Communications Director and District Director for members of the State Assembly.

Rachel is a Senior Fellow if the American Leadership Forum -Mountain Valley Chapter and received her bachelor’s of arts from the California State University, Fullerton majoring in Communications -Journalism and minor in Political Science.

Panelists: the State of Retail & Construction in Southern California

Brian McDonald: Since joining CBRE in 1987, Brian McDonald has been involved in sale and lease transactions valued at more than $800 million.

Mr. McDonald has diverse experience representing tenants, buyers and owners, including several investment sales, development transactions and large leasing assignments.

Such extensive experience has provided him with the opportunity to work with many top clients, including Albertsons, Sav-on, Costco, Lewis Retail Centers, Carl's Jr., Krause's, Bixby Ranch Company and Lowe's Home Improvement.

Many successful projects in the San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire can be attributed to Mr. McDonald's involvement. His extensive market knowledge of the area, coupled with his in-depth familiarity of the entire transactional process has made him an invaluable asset to any project. Mr. McDonald has also been instrumental in the rollout, expansion and relocation of the top retailer looking for unparalleled, professional representation. The high caliber of service Mr. McDonald provides his clients has awarded him the national multi-market expansion of many retailers.

Howard Ting is Senior Vice President of YK America Group (Commercial Real Estate Developer)/ Green Century Development (Renewable Energy Industrial) and co-founder of Pacific Anchor Holding. Mr. Ting has a degree in Business and International Commerce from California State University, Los Angeles and over 25 years of experience in commercial property development, including shopping centers, office buildings, multifamily, hotel, land, mixed used and industrial. He is often invited by professional real estate organizations, colleges, and private enterprises to speak on the state of commercial property development.

Yang Wang, founder of Yang Architect Inc, is a licensed architect with a decade of experience in architecture and construction on diverse project types, including large-scale residential, high-rise office, high-end hotels and mixed-use developments. Ms. Wang received her Master of Architecture degree from UCLA. She worked as an architectural designer after she graduated, where she gained experience on architectural design and became a licensed architect. Ms. Wang has worked as a construction project manager with top construction companies in Los Angeles for eight years. She has been working on project operations for some of Los Angeles's most complex and prominent residential and mixed-use projects. Ms. Wang started her own architecture firm Yang Architect Inc. working on a different scale of apartment buildings, warehouses, commercial and residential since 2017.

Moderator

Chris Haddow is a VP, Senior Lead Business Banking Relationship Manager at Bank of the West.