Photos

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Speakers

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 in urban and regional economics, with expertise in transportation and land use analysis. 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, tax revenue analyses, and public policy analyses.

A regular contributor to the media, he has been interviewed by NPR, CNBC, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, local radio and television stations, the Los Angeles Times, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune and its sister organizations, 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 is the 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 an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California and a B.A. from the University of Michigan, all in Economics.

Panel 1:
A.I. for Human Good

Moderator: Sandeep Krishnamurthy, Ph.D., is the inaugural Singelyn Family Dean of the College of Business Administration and Singelyn Graduate School of

Business at Cal Poly Pomona, one of the largest Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accredited business schools in the nation, serving more than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

Krishnamurthy has helped clarify the focus of the CBA as Southern California's Polytechnic business model. Under his leadership, the Singelyn Graduate School of Business has emerged as a regional leader in business graduate education. At Cal Poly Pomona, he inspired the Mentorship-Internship-Job+ framework promoting student success.

Krishnamurthy is a sought-after published author, speaker, expert witness, and media commentator. He has edited and contributed chapters to numerous books on e-commerce, open-source software development, and research ethics, and his work has appeared in Harvard Business Review (HBR.org), Journal of Business Research, Research Policy, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Journal of Interactive Marketing, and Journal of Advertising Research, to name a few.

Krishnamurthy completed his undergraduate and graduate work in India at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and XLRI, before earning a Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Arizona with a minor in Economics.

Marissa Andrada, Board Member, Krispy Kreme

As a board director at Krispy Kreme, Marissa leverages her 25+ years of business and people leadership to help the company achieve its vision and goals. She brings a wealth of experience and expertise in growing brands through growing talent, leadership, and inclusive cultures, resulting in quick turnaround and profitable hyper-growth.

Her mission is to activate, transform, and create workplace cultures that foster diversity, dignity, and respect. She is a people thought leader, strategist, mentor, and strong assessor/developer of talent. Working with leaders and teams, She has successfully bridged strategy and operating plans to an organization and talent capability in founder-led/CEO transition environments.

Andrada previously served as the first Chief People Officer for Chipotle Mexican Grill. The role formalized and evolved into Chipotle's Chief Diversity, Inclusion, and People Officer, bringing the brand’s purpose, To Cultivate a Better World, to life through its people. Ms. Andrada’s initiatives and passion points included driving a diversity strategy across all company levels and fostering a culture of well-being to inspire mutual learning, development, and personal and career growth. Ms. Andrada has been instrumental in redefining Chipotle’s benefits, launching a new tuition assistance program including the option to earn a Debt Free College Degree, access to mental healthcare, and a quarterly bonus option open to all Chipotle employees.

Before joining Chipotle, she was the Senior Vice President of Human Resources & Chief Resources Officer at Kate Spade & Company and Senior Vice President of Partner Resources for Starbucks Coffee Company. Before Starbucks, she served as Senior Vice President of Human Resources at GameStop Corporation and Head of Human Resources at Red Bull North America.

Ms. Andrada has an MBA from Pepperdine University and completed her undergraduate education at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Ms. Andrada is a founding CNBC Workforce Executive Council member and a 2020 American Business Award Gold Stevie® winner in the HR Executive of the Year category. Ms. Andrada has been named to the HRD Global 100 list (2021), Business Insider’s HR Innovators list (2021) and to Nation’s Restaurant News’ The Power List, Women of Influence (2021). Marissa has been featured on Harvard Business School Future of Work podcast, CNBC, Fox Business, Closing Bell NYSE, Fortune Magazine, Financial Times, and Forbes.

Aaron Reich, Chief Technology Officer, Avanade. Aaron is responsible for Avanade’s technology strategy, driving innovation across the business and incubating emerging technologies to bring them to clients across the globe. He manages Avanade’s global R&D function, oversees Avanade’s participation in the startup ecosystem and drives our responsible technology approach and digital ethics practice, including for our client work with generative AI.

Aaron joined Avanade in 2012 and has served as the company’s Emerging Technology Lead. Under Aaron’s leadership, Avanade has embraced and scaled emerging technology capabilities including the reality continuum, 5G, digital twin, open source, robotics, and OpenAI, working closely with multiple product engineering teams at Microsoft. Prior to Avanade, Aaron worked across the high-tech, non-profit and telecommunications industries.

Aaron holds a Bachelor of Arts in business from the College of William and Mary and currently resides in Seattle. He grew up spending too much time on his family’s Apple IIC computer, which led to his love of technology and its ability to make a positive difference in people’s lives. Aaron coaches and mentors start-up entrepreneurs and has served as President of the board of The Healing Center in Seattle.

Steve Rieger, Clinical Application Architect:  Starting in St Vincents Hospital in NYC in 1993 in the Emergency Dept, NYC EMS as a Paramedic, then in the USAF as a medic, Steve has knowledge of healthcare practices. Pivoting partially to IT in 1998, and making a full career change to IT in 2003 with an emphasis in healthcare and public utilities, Steve consulted for various organizations until 2018 when started at City of Hope full time. Steve currently is involved in a few non COH projects that involve AI, healthcare related wearables, and data network concepts, as well as multiple open source projects.

Panel 2:
The Future of Cities

Moderator:  Anthony W. Orlando, Ph.D., Cal Poly Pomona 

Anthony W. Orlando is an Associate Professor of Finance, Real Estate, & Law at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He serves as Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and he serves on the Public Finance Authority Board for the La Verne Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District.

Dr. Orlando has published over a dozen peer-reviewed articles in top economics, finance, and real estate journals. His latest book, Keeping Races in Their Places: The Dividing Lines That Shaped the American City, was hailed by Katherine O’Regan, former Assistant HUD Secretary, as “A book perfect for this moment.”

Dr. Orlando received a Bachelor’s in economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a Master’s in economic history from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a PhD in public policy and management from the University of Southern California.

Inez Alvarez, City Manager, Monterey Park, has over 20 years of public service experience and has been serving the City of Monterey Park for over 6 years. Before being appointed City Manager, she was the Director of Recreation and Community Services and Assistant City Manager. Prior to her tenure in Monterey Park, she held a variety of management and staff positions with the cities of Baldwin Park and Norwalk. Her educational background consists of an undergraduate degree in Sociology and a Master’s degree in American Studies both from California State University, Fullerton. She is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Public Administration at the University of La Verne.

Natalie Bazarevitsch, Senior Vice President, Los Angeles North, CBRE, has over 30 combined years of experience as a Senior Managing Director and real estate Brokerage Professional at CBRE, Inc. Specializing in Office Properties with extensive experience in leasing, investment sales, and ground-up developments, Natalie focuses her efforts on representing owners and corporate office tenants throughout the Tri-Cities markets of Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank and throughout the San Gabriel Valley.

Natalie was an integral part of the San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire’s office market growth. Her involvement within the commercial real estate community and the Cities and 3 Counties that make up these Regions, positioned her well in 2008, and for the next 6 years, to oversee two of the largest Regions in the U.S. as its Senior Managing Director. Charged with growing and overseeing over 200 sales professionals and staff in the Inland Empire and the Los Angeles North Regions, Natalie’s insight into and approach to the market in which she now represents Landlords, Tenants, Buyers and Sellers has been expanded through her leadership roles and balcony perspective.

Natalie’s multi-faceted background, process-driven approach, commitment to the industry, Regional reach, and strong relationships, enable her to provide the highest level of service to her clients, with the strongest of business and work ethics, knowledge, and experience.