The Valley Industry Association recently hosted its CEO Forum at the Hyatt Regency Valencia, where local presidents, CEOs, project managers and other business leaders joined together for in-depth discussions of several business leadership topics.
VIA CEO Kathy Norris said the forum is to help business leaders brainstorm about big issues, problems they need to solve and set up programs for the next few years.
When asked how the conversations work during the forum, she said it is all random.
“This is open seating, but at each table there is a facilitator, keep the conversation going, and then somebody, a scribe to make sure that, you know, we capture that discussion. But the rest of the table is kind of random,” Norris said.
The three discussions were about navigating the new cost landscape, artificial intelligence and technology and a workforce reset.
“We’re trying to find out how these businesses are navigating it and if there are ways that we can help, if there are partnerships, that can help defray some of those costs … Our topics are chosen by survey of the business community as well. So, we take the top three, once we do those surveys,” Norris said.
Norris added that hosting this forum for business leaders is a way to ascertain what leaders need and continue to offer things that are helpful.
“As a business organization, we want to regularly kind of take the temperature of the business community to make sure that what we’re offering is on track,” Norris said. “And so, this goes a long way towards making sure that what we are planning for the future is spot-on for what the business community needs. So that’s our No.1 reason to do this.”
Nikki Buckstead, CEO and president of Child & Family Center, said getting the opportunity to be at the forum is great because everyone brings innovative ways to meet the needs of Santa Clarita.
“I think it’s great to bring leaders together that are running organizations and businesses that, you know, various sizes, various budgets, various amounts of staff people, because we all love Santa Clarita,” Buckstead said. “We’re here for a reason, and, you know, we all, as leaders in the businesses that we have … share common values, share common issues, are looking at the future and identifying ways that we can make sure that we stay viable and that we’re active and ways that we can support each other.”
Buckstead added that having strong businesses in the community, no matter what the business is, is important.
Fred Arnold, entrepreneur of 360 Executive Suites SCV, said he enjoys being with like-minded entrepreneurs and innovators.
“You know what’s great is the diversity of business is in the room. They’re quite vast. Yet the challenges are the same, what are we doing about AI? How are we deploying our human capital? How are we growing our teams? How are we dealing with so many geopolitical issues? How are we calmly but effectively and confidently leading our team?” Arnold said. “And we can lean on each other and help each other.”
