Our annual 40 Under 40 special report is the highlight of this issue of the Business Journal. It’s the fifth year we’ve done this, so we now have a total of 200 young businesspeople that we have honored for their accomplishments not only within their professions but for their work in the community. This year’s group is the most diverse concerning the industries they represent. I hope you find the report worthwhile and enlightening. Why do we do an annual 40 Under 40 report anyway? Far too often the so-called “movers and shakers” in the local business community (the ones who run most of the companies and are leaders in most of the business organizations) tend to be the older folks the over 40 crowd. At the Business Journal, we make a conscious effort throughout the year to write about younger people in the business community but still a lot of the people making the news are the older people, so they tend to get featured more. So our 40 Under 40 report gives our editorial staff a chance to find dozens of younger businesspeople who we can devote almost an entire issue to. As editor, I consider our annual 40 Under 40 issue a large reporting exercise where we can find new younger sources who we not only feature in the issue but use as sources throughout the year in our other reporting. When we need a comment for a story, we’ll have new people who we can go to who will provide us with a younger point of view. In recent weeks I’ve received some phone calls asking how we pick the 40 people that we honor each year from a crop of usually about 100 nominations that we gather from readers and our own research. First of all, the editorial staff picks the honorees and I have the final say. The advertising staff has no input in this process so it doesn’t matter how many ads you buy, you’re on the same playing field as someone who doesn’t buy any ads. We choose the honorees based on the impact they have had at their businesses and the progress they have made within their professions as a whole. Community work is taken into consideration and if all other things are equal between two candidates, we’ll go with the one with more community involvement under their belt. The selection process is always difficult it really is and with 100 nominations and only 40 spots, some people get left out. It is a subjective process but we will consider nominees again in another year as long as they are still under 40. Congratulations to all. Business Journal Editor Jason Schaff can be reached at (818) 316-3125 or at [email protected]

By Joe Hooven In late 2001 I was nearing the end of my presidency of the Universal City/North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. I’d had a pretty good time of it, we had a better than average Board of Directors, most were supportive of my goals, and we had managed to turn around a Chamber budget deficit in the thousands of dollars. At our monthly breakfast meeting I had the pleasure of introducing our guest speaker David Fleming, a highly respected San Fernando Valley attorney, an astute businessman, philanthropist, and friend to many of our city’s elected officials. Fleming spoke that morning about the important role business plays in our city. He referred to business as the engine that drives the train called the city of Los Angeles. He spoke of the growth through the years of our city’s services police, fire, parks and recreation as a result of taxes paid by the thousands of businesses in the city. I left the breakfast feeling good about myself, reflective of my business accomplishments, and the good volunteer work that I’ve done. Every once in a while I’ll either read or hear something about Fleming. I’m attentive he left a good impression with me. He has always looked after the business interests of the Valley. He found time this last year to be the chairman of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. That’s pretty cool. During his term, he became the driving force behind the newly formed Los Angeles County Business Federation. The goal of this new business advocacy organization is to be a counter weight to the powerful Los Angeles Federation of Labor, and to be a unified voice for business before the Los Angeles City Council and other elected officials. This new organization already has 44 business groups, representing about 70,000 businesses, signed on, including chambers of commerce, trade associations, and ethnic business organizations. Every business person knows that the Federation of Labor is a political powerhouse, lobbying elected officials to pass policies favorable to labor and putting forward labor-friendly candidates for local office. The current Speaker of the California Assembly is a product of the Federation of Labor. Here in the San Fernando Valley we’ve got a variety of business advocacy groups. There are something like 20 local Chambers of Commerce, ranging from North Hollywood, through Encino, out to Woodland Hills, and over to Van Nuys. Then we’ve got an umbrella organization over all these local Chambers called the United Chambers of Commerce. In addition to these local business advocacy groups, we’ve got an organization called the Valley Industry and Commerce Association. This organization spends a lot of time taking positions on business issues and interacting with local and state elected officials, even traveling to the state capital. Add to all this another business advocacy organization called the Economic Alliance. They’re looking for money for business, and planning for the future of business in the San Fernando Valley. Never in the history of our state have we needed the diverse talents of businesspeople more than we do now. The State’s budget is $14 billion short, or is it $17 billion? We hear different figures each month. This is a direct result of elected officials trying to grow the government horizontally, involving themselves in more areas of activity, without prioritizing or weighing the consequences of how the money is being spent. Turn to our own city. Mayor Villaraigosa said of the City budget woes, “The word ‘crisis’ cannot be underestimated. We are looking at an uphill fight.” Even though he was able to pass the Measure S phone tax and receive an additional $270 million a year, he states that we are still $155 million short. Living in, and owning two businesses in, our beloved San Fernando Valley, I know, just like the great Sam Cooke sang, “a whole lot of change is going to come.” What’s happening in the state and in the city is everything-for-everyone. Officials throw money at problems with hardly any thought to efficiency. We’ve got a whole lot of programs that don’t work well. If you run a business, you know immediately that this kind of thinking will close your doors. We’ve got to get business people into the mix. If you run a business you know discipline, you know objectives and goals, you know how to set a vision and get the buy-in, and you know effort. I applaud David Fleming for recognizing the problem and for attempting to organize business people. But in the Valley we’ve got way too many business advocacy groups. As a local Chamber of Commerce member for more than 20 years, we spent all our time trying to stay financially solvent. The important issues through time were zoning, parking, and development. The local Chamber of Commerce business model is pass & #233;. These issues are still important, but are handled more effectively by our elected Neighborhood Councils. VICA and the Economic Alliance are filled with well-meaning members, and seem to have important agendas, but in reality they don’t change the minds of many of our elected officials. The disappointment here is that the membership rosters of these organizations are filled with dynamite business people. It’s time to begin thinking about closing down all these groups, and moving toward a new business model that will bring all of these important business people under one roof. But the new Los Angeles County Business Federation is not the answer. I’d love to ask David Fleming to spearhead a new effort to establish a powerful and effective new business organization in our own San Fernando Valley. Think of an organization that will bring Valley business people like Rickey Gelb, Vince Liuzzi, Bob Robertson, Bert Boeckmann, Flip Smith, Richard Leyner, Alan Oberman, Paul Davis, Bruce Ackerman, Ken Banks, Guy McCreary, Mike Quiroga, Art Ginsburg and Ray Vega to name only a few, under one roof. Take these people and a whole bunch more just like them, turn them loose to achieve some basic goals, and you’ll see plenty of action. That’s the wave of the future, and a whole lot of business people just like me are ready to shoot the curl. Joe Hooven is president of Best Window Treatments, Inc. in Burbank, and is a board member of the L.A. Valley College Foundation

By Thom Senzee Contributing Writer A would-be trend in the San Fernando Valley commercial real estate market is little more than wishful thinking as a growing number of healthcare practitioners search for opportunities to be their own landlords. The problem for a doctor who wants to buy a building in which to operate a medical or dental or practice is an acute shortage of suitable space in the San Fernando Valley. For the moment, physicians, dentists and clinicians must settle for occasional opportunities to buy into office-condo complexes. “I get calls from people all the time who say ‘I’m dentist, or I’m a doctor and I’d like to buy a building,'” said Cathy Scullin, a broker at NAI Capital in Encino. “I say get in line, there are about a hundred people in front of you.” There is virtually no inventory of properties,vacant or already developed,large enough or sufficiently adaptable to meet the stringent legal requirements for use as healthcare-related buildings. Lower costs versus leasing, plus the ready availability of attractive Small Business Administration (SBA) financing, and long-term investment potential have made being one’s own landlord while practicing medicine or dentistry just what the doctor ordered. “With 15 percent down, they can get a fixed-rate loan amortized for 20 years,” said Lee & Associates commercial real estate broker, Marc Riches. But, Riches said,there is a catch. “They should ask themselves if they believe they will be staying in one place for the long haul,” he said. “Do you believe you will be occupying this space for five to 10 years? That’s the perfect candidate.” That does not mean medical professionals should not buy a building or an office condo as a long-term investment. “Realistically, real estate is always a good investment,” Sam Monempour said. “And it’s absolutely a longer-term model with doctors.” More complicated plumbing, plus high prices for high-tech medical and dental equipment, as well as the need for more disabled-access combine to push the costs of setting up an M.D. or DDS office five to 10 (or even more) times higher than most other types of office space. “I think it’s basically a better investment than leasing, where you’re pretty much throwing your money away,” explained Igal Leizerovich, DDS. “Also, I don’t want to deal with landlords, neighbors and parking issues.” Dr. Leizerovich is moving from a 1,000-square-foot practice in Sherman Oaks to a 1,700-square-foot building at Bollinger Business Park in Newbury Park. That is the kind of control doctors are getting, said Riches, the broker for Bollinger, for being willing to pay the $450 to $500 per square foot to buy in the development. “You don’t have patients smelling the next-door tenant’s daily microwaved curry at lunch time; you don’t have to put up with the whims of a landlord,either in regard to the premises or yearly rent increases.” Doctors who own also get to be more creative with the design of their build-outs. “And, of course they will be willing to put more money into better equipment, because they know they won’t have to move unexpectedly; it’s their building,” said Riches. “I am really looking forward to the move,” said Leizerovich.

Editor’s Note: This is the fifth annual report focusing on young businesspeople who are making a name for themselves locally. As part of the coverage, we selected 40 “honorees” to profile in the pages inside but talked to dozens of others under 40 as part of the overall coverage. As the owner of a graphic arts company, Scott Watters deals with business owners just starting out. From these people, Watters gets asked about creating logos, obtaining trademarks, or how to properly fill out DBA’s. So if Watters were in a position of influence in the business community he would want to see more done to help start-ups get the information they need. “They’ll do their DBA and get charged hundreds of dollars when they can do it themselves for less than $100,” said Watters, owner of Watters Edge Design in Santa Clarita. The Business Journal asked a sampling of 40 Under 40 nominees what changes they would make “if they were in charge of things” in the business community. A common theme emerged: More can be done to make relations between government and private enterprise work more smoothly. Through his development company Pacific Realty Ventures, Daniel Khakshouri has built or converted multiple housing projects in the San Fernando Valley. But he goes up against what he described as an inefficient process when it comes to getting approval from the city. Khakshouri said he has paid up to $20,000 in a single application fee to have city staff review his plans but doesn’t get much service back. “I wouldn’t mind paying a little more if they could get the staff to handle it in a more expeditious way,” said Khakshouri, who bought his first condominium building when 21 years old. Jeff McConnell and Joshua Mann are at the forefront of the intersection of private enterprise and government. McConnell is a lobbyist with Arnie Berghoff & Associates and also serves as chairman of the transportation committee of the Valley Industry & Commerce Association. Mann is the executive director of the Antelope Valley Board of Trade. Both want to bring improved infrastructure to the region and create opportunity for business and government to work together to make that happen. When it comes to transportation, the state does not get its fair share of federal dollars, McConnell said. If it were up to him, McConnell said he would increase investment in infrastructure and award the state and the Los Angeles region for self-improvement and progress in reaching targets in goods movement and congestion relief through improved public transit. “We would get credit for bond programs we put up and the additional sales tax that we assess ourselves for the MTA, those types of things,” McConnell said. Mann also supports performance-based infrastructure funding. He recently attended a meeting with staff from Gov. Schwarzenegger’s office on just that topic. The state cannot keep relying on bonds and taxes for public improvement projects and private sector needs, Mann said. An example of a public-private partnership in his area is the United Express service from Palmdale Airport that includes funding from the city, and Los Angeles World Airports to guarantee United a profit for 18 months. Mann has been involved in very preliminary discussions about an Antelope Valley campus of the state university system. But such an undertaking needs private dollars. “It is a good way to go as private enterprise reaps the benefits from the graduates,” Mann said. Ivy Academia President Tatiana Berkovich is also concerned with education. If in a position with more influence, Berkovich said she would like to get different government agencies on the same page working together to provide the best education for all children attending public school. An opportunity to obtain $40 million in state funding to renovate two vacant Los Angeles Unified School District campuses slipped through the cracks, denying her charter school new quarters, Berkovich said. “While those of us in the charter school community have made every effort to work hand in hand with government agencies, adapting to whatever works best for them, we continue to run up against roadblocks in conducting the business of providing quality education to our kids,” Berkovich said. Michael Cortez, a member of the Canoga Park Neighborhood Council, would improve communication between business and government as it is key to business growth. Understanding the business view on an issue enables the council to be more sensitive on matters that may affect small businesses in the long run, Cortez said. Chambers of commerce, if they haven’t already done so, should find a liaison from the area neighborhood council to report on information they might not otherwise know about, Cortez said. “Additionally the chamber president/ community relations person, or business liaison should attend neighborhood council meetings, if only once, to introduce themselves, to build a relationship with board members,” Cortez added. When it comes to chambers and their networking opportunities what William Fikhman, owner of two iSold It franchises, wants changed is to broaden those connections outside the Valley into other parts of Los Angeles and into Orange County. That would create more opportunities for businesses to meet each other, Fikhman said. “There are probably great businesses out there that can provide service for my businesses that I don’t know about yet,” Fikhman said.

Consider the typewriter. Yes the lowly, bulky, nearly-extinct typewriter. “Computers have changed the world,” I’ve heard more than one person opine. No argument, but I’m here to defend the typewriter as having had just as great an impact on our business world as the computer. It’s not an implement in today’s office anymore, unless your assistant uses one for odd-sized documents. (“Assistant” is the PC word for secretary, which is a perfectly honorable profession whose description should not have been thrown on the trash heap of political correctness.) I collect typewriters…so far, about 40 of them. Some in my household would prefer I collect stamps or postcards with pretty pictures of long-gone tourist attractions. There are lots of antique typewriter collectors, but I don’t know of any computer collectors. And for good reason. Typewriters don’t break down; I have some more than a century old that still work perfectly. Typewriters don’t support a legion of technicians who are half your age and three times as technologically savvy. Typewriters don’t freeze, give you a notice that “Your Underwood has a fatal flaw and must shut down,” or flash warning lights that have absolutely no meaning to you. Typewriters don’t connect to a far-from-perfected Internet technology, printers that jam, or machines with names like “Linksys” or other arcane items available only at Fry’s. Typewriters do not lead to swearing, excuses to the boss that you can’t provide the report he wants because your computer is down, or go into “sleep mode.” Although there were numerous machines based on the mechanical reproducing of individual letters in the mid-nineteenth century, the Sholes & Glidden machine is considered to be the first real typewriter. It was produced by E. Remington & Sons, in 1874. Because Remington, a well-known gun manufacturer, had hired an engineer who previously worked for a sewing machine company, the first typewriter looked suspiciously like one, treadle and all. That first typewriter even had the QWERTY keyboard that still graces every computer keyboard, although it is not the most efficient. In fact, it was specifically designed so that typewriter operators could not type so fast as to jam the keys. I have typewriters from Germany, Israel, Estonia, England and Belgium. I have an Oliver typewriter whose keys come down from the sides, a Franklin with a curved keyboard that must have required a contortionist’s skill, a Smith Premier with 70 keys, and several from the 19th century that don’t have any keys at all. I don’t mess around with just Remingtons, Royals, Olivettis, and Smith-Coronas. I have such esoteric machines as a Mignon, Frolio, Fox, Hall’s, Erika, and a Triumph. There is romance in the long-forgotten names of many of these mechanical marvels: American Flyer, New American, Bambino, Ideal, Imperial, Empire, Monarch (these last three from England, of course), and the fabled Blickensderfer. The first Blickensderfer (“Blick,” to its friends), was introduced at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. More than 60 years before the IBM Selectric, the first electric typewriter was offered for sale by Blickensderfer in 1902; it failed because not enough people had electricity in their offices or homes. It was the typewriter that provided women the opportunity to enter the workforce. How far they’ve come, and we’ve come, thanks to the typewriter. In the Victorian Age, documents were written and copied by young men sitting at high desks. Women were not allowed in the workplace, primarily because they were perceived as not “having a head for business,” likely to cause a distraction to young men with raging hormones, and better off tending the home fires. When the typewriter came along, it was believed that only a woman could be what was initially called a “typewritist.” Women were allowed into the previously all-male bastion of business because it was believed their smaller fingertips would fit the keys better and they could type rapidly without jamming the keys at the printing point. Perhaps, had it not been for the lowly typewriter, Marie Curie would not have invented radium and, in 1903, become the first woman to win a Nobel Prize; a host of women would not have become presidents and prime ministers; and countless women would not have risen to the top in corporations around the world. There are some who argue with some justification that the glass ceiling still exists, but it’s a lot more easily shattered now because women were invited into the world’s workplaces…but only because they had nimble fingers. It’s no stretch to believe that without the typewriter women would never have been invited out of the house and into the workplace and the Democrats would not be close to nominating one for President. See, the typewriter has changed the world. “The sound of a typewriter clacking away is a sound I miss now that everyone is writing on computers that just go ticky tack.” –Andy Rooney 60 Minutes Commentator Martin Cooper is President of Cooper Communications, Inc. He is President of the Los Angeles Quality and Productivity Commission, Past Chairman of VICA, Vice Chairman-Marketing and Communications of the Boys & Girls Club of the West Valley, Past President of the Public Relations Society of America-Los Angeles Chapter, and Past President of the Encino Chamber of Commerce. He can be reached at [email protected].

Pierce College automotive instructors may soon receive training on how to work on General Motors’ alternative fuel vehicles. The Business Journal has learned that GM began the first of a series of talks with Pierce College, East L.A. College and L.A. Trade Tech on Feb. 1 about offering training on such vehicles. A Los Angeles Community College District official confirmed that the talks have occurred but refused to elaborate on their ultimate goal because the discussions are only in the preliminary stages. The official also refused to disclose whether GM or LACCD initiated the talks. In late October, area auto techs and instructors from Pierce College and others expressed concern to the Business Journal about the lack of training available locally in the field. They particularly stressed that more training was needed on hybrid cars and alternative fuels such as clean diesel, methane and propane. “The industry has all of this new technology to deal with,” Dennis Washburn, executive director of the Pierce College Foundation, told the Business Journal last fall. Washburn said then that he had applied for funding that would allow the college to offer more advanced training to aspiring auto techs. Valley dealers have raised more than $300,000 towards such training, but Washburn said, “There’s not enough money in the state community college system to underwrite a new program such as the one we proposed.” A partnership with GM may give Pierce the opportunity to provide advanced automotive training to students sans state funds. As of late, General Motors has taken a marked interest in alternative fuels. In January, the automaker announced at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit that it was buying a stake in ethanol made from waste. This unprecedented move would result in a significant decline of carbon emissions per mile, making it less difficult for GM to meet California’s proposed greenhouse limits, should they become law. As GM makes its foray into alternative fuels, however, the company’s financial troubles continue. On Feb. 12, the automaker announced that it lost $38.7 billion in 2007 $722 million in the fourth quarter alone due to plummeting car sales and investments in the struggling sub-prime mortgage industry. In light of its financial woes, the auto manufacturer has slashed about 40,000 United States jobs in the last two years. It is now offering the estimated 74,000 hourly employees who remain buyout packages of $62,500 if they take an early retirement or $140,000 if they forfeit future health benefits and pensions. The terms of an agreement brokered between GM and the United Auto Workers last year stipulate that the automaker can hire up to 16,000 new workers for $16 an hour or less, half the wage that union members make at present. Under the new agreement, G.M. stands to save up to $5 annually beginning in 2010.

The Business Journal posed four questions to various 40 Under 40 nominees. 1. Who is your greatest mentor? “I’ve had several mentors throughout my career. I always look upon my father as my greatest mentor. He’s the ultimate entrepreneur. He’s persevered through many industries.” David Brauer, Grobstein, Horwath & Co. LLP “A Wells Fargo regional president.” Patrick Parhami, Wells Fargo San Fernando Valley Community Bank “That’s not a specific person. I just try to take the best qualities from people I admire and that’s several people.” Rudy Cedillos, Alliance Bank “Rodney Craig from Nations Bank.” I was just at my first job, and he really shared a lot of experience with me that was very useful. Jason Horstman, Bank of the West “My step-dad. He’s always pushed me to the next level. He taught me about a lot of different aspects of life.” Timothy Gaspar, Timothy Gaspar Insurance Services “My first marketing director, Ken Gray. He put a lot of himself into the job. He was very approachable. He reminded me a lot of my mom in the way he was able to be a leader and a friend. He was very inspiring.” Sarah Richardson of Westfield Topanga & Promenade “My business partner Leslie Kaz has helped me be more organized. And the Jaycees allows me to learn from my peers on matters of running a board, time management and speaking public.” Max Haghighi, Syndicated Insurance Agency, LLC “I’ve had two types of role models, some outstanding role models whom I emulate every day,and I’ve learned a lot from negative people,one by teaching me to get things in gear. Of the other type, Bill Browning, Andy Griffiths and Don Lafler: they were great at teaching diplomacy.” Steve Masterson, Grant Thornton LLP “My grandmother taught me to take pride in what you do.” Jill Jackson, Dessert Alert “David Gurnick was a franchise lawyer who taught me the ropes and led me to be better and think outside the box.” Tal Grinblat, Lewitt, Hackman, Shapiro, Marshall & Harlan “My father has been the biggest influence and mentor in my life. Being the son of a corporate attorney who is more a business owner than a practicing lawyer, I feel that I have learned by osmosis for nearly three decades.” Blake Johnson, Capital Network Leasing “I had an amazing public relations professor at California State University, Northridge. Her name was Lori Baker-Schenna. She really empowers her students and taught me I could accomplish any goal I set for myself. She told me to never apologize for being young, ambitious, and smart.” Jessica Freude, City of Santa Clarita “There are two of them. It’s my parents, frankly. My father has given me the opportunity to learn. He always told me if you don’t try you will never succeed. My mother always wants the best for the people around her. She is very fair, very humble and those are the values we built the company up with.” Daniel Khakshouri, Pacific Realty Ventures “It’s my father. He was an integral part of my growth and development as a young person. I give him a lot of credit for setting a good example for myself and my siblings.” Chad Charton, FMS Financial Partners Inc. “My mother. She always pushed me to do more. She always worked hard in her career.” Elana Edelstein, College of the Canyons 2. What has been the greatest challenge of your career? “Life/work balance. Trying to be a father and a husband as well as a successful business person has been my greatest challenge.” ~Brauer “Being able to manage a large sum of people. I manage 40 people. I try to do a good job.” ~Parhami “To consistently produce results year after year. It’s much easier to have an isolated good year.” ~Cedillos “My greatest challenge is to anticipate industry challenges and adapt. It’s not just one challenge. It’s an ongoing challenge.” ~Horstman “As a young professional, getting people to take me seriously.” ~Gaspar “A challenge as a young manager is you have to learn from and respect the people you manage. You have to have comfort in your skills.” ~Richardson “It was a challenge working for older people who were behind on technology and it’s one of the reasons we started on our own business.” ~ Haghighi “The challenge of managing people, be they younger, older or your peers, is to respect them and listen and you’ll come to the right answers.” ~Masterson “It’s a challenge just learning as I go along.” ~Jackson “When I was 30 and younger people didn’t take me as seriously, but now most interactions are over the phone so the age barriers aren’t what they used to be.” ~Grinblat The biggest challenge is to find the right people to bring on to the team and once they are on the team, keeping everyone headed in the right direction and at the right pace. ~Johnson “I believe one of the biggest challenges I have faced to date is learning to balance being a career-driven professional with being a mom. It really is a balancing act and one I work on everyday.” ~ Freude “When you are young there are pros and cons. The con is that everyone is always skeptical. It takes time for them to get to know you and that you are a sound and serious business partner.” ~ Khakshouri “I have to say age bias. A lot of folks assume that because you are a young person you lack the expertise and experience.” ~ Charton “People being intimidated (and thinking) that because you are young you can’t do the work, that you don’t have the experience that they do.” ~ Edelstein 3. What is the thing that you are most proud of in your career? ” Being able to succeed in an area I’ve really enjoyed and helping other people with the services I’ve provided.” ~Brauer “Moving up within our corporation, being able to promote people to different positions and grow them in their career.” ~Parhami “I think I’m most proud of my integrity. I keep my word. I try to provide a great service to my clients.” ~Cedillos “The relationships that I’ve formed personally and professionally. I’ve established a great deal of reliability and that’s been valued by those professional relationships.” ~Horstman “I was with an agency for four-and-a-half years, and I created my own company after that.” ~Gaspar “I am proud of working with non-profit organizations in the area. It’s wonderful to work for a company that allows time to work in the community.” ~Richardson “Strive to turn things over to others and delegate more, letting others handle some things.” ~Gaspar “I’m proud of starting my own business and the local Jaycees chapter.” ~Haghighi “I’m proud to see people I’ve managed like Justin Hendrickson and Jeff Sacks grow and move up through the firm and make partner.” ~Masterson “I’m proud of the relationships I’ve created in life and pursuing my dreams.” ~Jackson “I’m proud of how much progress I’ve made from graduating law school until now, like being the incoming franchise chair of the state bar.” ~Grinblat ” They include starting my first sales company, Puppy Dog Tails, Inc., at age 7; working on a cattle ranch 6 days a week, in 120 degree heat, performing very strenuous manual labor every non-school day of my life growing up; selling pigs to finance a portion of my schooling. ~Johnson “There is not one accomplishment … at least not yet. I would have to say I am proud today of the variety of work I have enjoyed as a young professional, and my receptivity to new experiences, challenges, and opportunities.” ~ Freude “There is a gentleman named Arturo Nunez. He bought the first condo I ever sold a few years ago. He later sold it for $314,000 and bought a 4-bedroom house. That has since gone up in value When you see how good home ownership has been for him, that is the most satisfying thing in the world.” ~ Khakshouri “I was honored to serve on the California Student Aid Commission on behalf of California and California students. It was a tremendous honor and a tremendous responsibility.” ~ Charton “Raising $3 million for my last employer.” ~ Edelstein 4. What is the No. 1 thing that you will strive to do better? “I’d like to be more active in the community and charities. I’m involved in charity work now, but I’d like to extend that to others.” ~Brauer “You always learn things every day. I’d like to learn things to improve my knowledge and not think I know everything.” ~Parhami “I think to expand your network of professional advisors and to continue to build my referral network.” ~Cedillos “Managing time and being more efficient with time. Getting the most out of every day”. ~Horstman “Just being all around more useful to my clients.” ~Gaspar “I want to do more for the community and learn to manage more efficiently.” ~Haghighi “I strive to be not so hurried and rushed and as I age I’m learning to take things in perspective. I want to let things occur and digest the wisdom that comes in due course and focus on every day.” ~Masterson “Since I’m a perfectionist at heart, I strive to get better at everything.” ~Jackson “I will strive to be even more involved in the community, doing pro bono things.” ~Grinblat Everything! Everything in my life can be better and everything I do can be done better. The list is too long! ~Johnson “I am learning every day to be a better manager, working with colleagues to complete projects, versus thinking I have to do accomplish everything myself. Delegation sounds so easy in theory, but the reality is, it takes work.” ~ Freude “We are always, always, always striving to better our operation. The way we manage to make home ownership affordable is through a multi-pronged strategy of cost cutting. For example we have in-house construction crews, in-house design teams, in-house entitlement teams. We are always looking for ways to make the operation more efficient.” ~ Khakshouri “We all could do better in giving our time to better our communities, to better ourselves on a whole host of levels whether it be our personal lives, our relationships.” ~ Charton “I want to raise [more money] in the year to come.” ~ Edelstein

In this town, strike or no strike, it’s awards season; so any comparison to the entertainment industry is convenient and understandable. With the Fernando Award, that honor annually given to an outstanding volunteer in the San Fernando Valley, the allusion is easy to make for the new president of Fernando Award Foundation: “It’s the Oscars of the Valley for civic involvement,” said Bruce Ackerman, noting that because this is the 50th anniversary of the award, this year will be different. Rather than highlight one group’s volunteer, the Foundation will honor organizations themselves. The event to recognize the groups will be a dinner in September, Ackerman said, where all past recipients will also be feted. Because there will not be just a single person honored, gone this year will be the luncheon for all the nominees; as will the dinner usually held to announce the leading five nominees. Past foundation president Brad Rosenheim said this year’s premise is to focus on all the contributions of previous recipients. “This lets us bring people back into the focus of what Fernando is, which is the beauty and benefit of volunteerism,” Rosenheim said. Ackerman concurred. “This allows the foundation to renew the purpose of the organization,” he said, and in the words of Rosenheim, to honor the “Valley’s rich tradition of volunteerism.” A goal of the foundation this year is to expand their horizon, including volunteers from beyond the field they harvest already. “I’d like to see it be broader and include more organizations,” Ackerman said, reiterating that the award honors “people in any organization that has, as its nature, volunteerism or is non-profit.” Hypothetically, he said, there’s “some little league booster club with a volunteer who’s gone to great lengths for them.” The foundation is dedicated to seeking out those groups and including them, he said. “They will see they have just as much opportunity as any other group to highlight one of their participants,” Ackerman said. A participant that, Rosenheim said, has made a significant impact in their own way. “It’s for a lifetime of achievement of work for the Valley,” he said. In addition to the annual Fernando Award, the foundation bestows scholarships $10,000 to $12,000 annually. This year, the foundation has secured the participation of NBC Universal and Thomas Properties, Ackerman said. In addition to Ackerman, the president and CEO of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, the newly seated board of the Fernando Award Foundation includes vice presidents Lynn Rinker, Bud Brown, Tracy Rafter and Richard Leyden; treasurer is Tom Soule; Gerry Keshka is secretary.

With television and film writers calling off their strike and production returning to sound stages around the region, the time now arrives to review what came of the three-month walkout. The obvious result was the new three-year contract that the Writers Guild of America membership is expected to ratify later this month. Along with that came new friendships made on the picket line, strengthening ties among the writers and creating solidarity among those working in the other crafts. For one writer, what the strike did was to awaken the labor movement not only in the Guild but also in the other unions representing workers in the industry. “It’s going to be tougher to deny us our fair share,” said Steven Falk, a television writer from Agoura Hills. Fairness to the writers became a common theme on the picket lines, especially as applied to payment for work distributed through new media, the main sticking point in the negotiations between the Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The other common theme was that the strike was never about short-term gains but the future of the entire entertainment industry as more distribution takes place through online streaming and downloads to home computers and mobile devices. That new media distribution is the future in Hollywood was best seen in mid-January when the major studios including Warner Bros., The Walt Disney Co. and NBC Universal agreed to make their feature films available for rental through the iTunes for viewing on Apple devices. “The nature of technology is changing enough that for those who make films if they don’t pay attention, they will lose money,” said Michael Hoggan, of the Department of Cinema and Television Arts at California State University, Northridge. The proposed contract covers writers exclusively for the Internet and for those whose television and film work is reused through new media. The writers began their walkout Nov. 5, less than a week after their contract with the AMPTP expired. As the strike continued and television work dried up, it was not only the writers feeling the financial pinch. Thousands of crew members and employees at suppliers and vendors saw their main source of income dwindle away. Jeff Greenstein, a television writer from Studio City, felt it was important to be on the picket line to show these below-the-line folks that being on strike did not mean a vacation. “They see the writers are … getting blisters on their feet and making sacrifices,” said Greenstein, whose writing credits include “Desperate Housewives.” Twice during the strike, History for Hire turned its parking lot in North Hollywood into an outdoor rummage sale so that prop houses, costumers and set designers could sell excess goods to make money during the down time. Proceeds from the Feb. 9 sale went to help the relief fund of the Motion Picture Costumers Local No. 705. Even after the strike is settled, financial difficulties faced by the membership will not vanish overnight, said Judith Halle, a costumer. “A lot of it is the day-to-day living expenses,” Halle said. Dena Allen, a set decorator from Studio City, and Robin Kennedy, a costumer from Pasadena, used their strike-induced unemployment to start the Women’s Guild of America, an organization offering their talents and those of other women working below-the-line to the public. In the first weeks after starting the group, Allen did a makeover at a home in Long Beach and arranged two consultations. Another member did a “decluttering” of a house in Mission Hills. Even with the strike settled, this other WGA will continue, Allen and Kennedy said, as additional work is helpful if when a television series goes on hiatus or not picked up. “We’ll go back to work,” Allen said. “There will be 10 other women at home because their shows didn’t come back.”

Readers of this publication have a great interest in issues that may affect their business. Having now served for 10 years as a Member of the House Committee on Financial Services, I continue to work closely with business leaders from the San Fernando Valley and across the country to enact and improve federal laws and regulations of importance to business. Some of the most significant issues that Congress has recently considered are protecting most taxpayers from the reach of the alternative minimum tax (AMT); limiting the burdens that Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act imposes on small business; and extending the research tax credit and other pro-business tax provisions. Alternative Minimum Tax Relief The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) unfairly raises the tax burden of middle-class families. I voted to prevent the AMT from hitting 100,000 Valley families a fourfold increase from last year and Congress finally adopted a partial, temporary “fix.” I am working to permanently exempt middle-class families from the AMT. I believe this should be paid for by plugging loopholes that have cost the Treasury tens of billions. I will continue my fight for permanent reform of the AMT. Until this goal is achieved, I will continue to support fiscally responsible short-term AMT relief. Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 At the urging of myself and other members of the Financial Services Committee, the SEC and related agencies have sought to delay and lessen the burden that Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley imposes on smaller public companies. On Dec. 15, 2006, the SEC adopted rule changes which give smaller firms more time to comply with the internal controls reporting requirements. Under the extension, management’s assessment concerning internal control over financial reporting is required in its annual reports for fiscal years ending on or after December 15, 2007. More importantly, the auditor attestation requirement for management’s assessment of internal controls is due for all annual reports for fiscal years ending on or after Dec. 15, 2008. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox testified that he will propose an additional one-year delay to Dec. 15, 2009 for the implementation of this requirement. In addition to delaying the Section 404 rules, the SEC has reduced the burden that compliance will ultimately entail. Specifically, the SEC approved a relaxed set of guidelines (known as AS 5) for the internal accounting controls required by Section 404 for smaller public companies, defined in most cases as those with a market cap below $75 million. While continued vigilance is required, I see encouraging signs that the SEC and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) are becoming more sensitive to the concerns of smaller public companies about the costs of unnecessary regulatory burden. I will continue to monitor the activities of the SEC and the PCAOB with the goal of providing the public with the benefits of Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 compliance, while minimizing the burden of such compliance on smaller public companies. Research Tax Credit and Other Business Tax Relief The research promoted by the research tax credit helps not only the companies that conduct it, but our economy and knowledge base as a whole. I am a firm supporter of making the research tax credit permanent. Since its enactment in 1981, the credit has been extended 12 times. While the credit has been in effect for almost all of the last 25 years, there have been periods where the tax credit was not in effect. I believe that the uncertainty that currently surrounds the research credit deters managers from undertaking projects that they likely pursue if the credit was permanent. In December, the House voted to extend the research credit to research conducted in 2008. Unfortunately, the Senate did not, and technically the research credit does not apply to research done in 2008. However, I expect that Congress will act in early 2008 to extend the credit to research done in 2008. In December, I also voted to extend other pro-business tax provisions including (1) fifteen-year straight-line cost recovery for qualified leasehold improvements, and (2) the ability to expense environmental remediation costs. Unfortunately, the Senate also failed to extend these provisions. As with the research tax credit, I am hopeful that Congress will act in 2008 to extend these provisions. Should you have concerns or require assistance with any federal agency or program dealing with business, please contact my business assistance specialist, John Anderson, in my Valley office at (818) 501-9200. Please contact my Washington, DC office at (202) 225-5911 if you want to discuss federal legislation of interest to you that may impact your business. Congressman Brad Sherman represents California’s 27th District and is a member of the House Committee on Financial Services.