Leading Off: Goleta Economic Forecast to Confront Recession Pressures

http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/091409_goleta_economic_forecast_to_confront_recession_pressures/

By William M. Macfadyen, Noozhawk Publisher |

The outlook may be grim, but you can win free tickets to the forum from Noozhawk

[Noozhawk’s note: Thank you to all who entered our drawing to be Noozhawk’s guests at the Goleta Economic Forecast. The names we drew were Kathleen Barnato and Micael Kemp.]

The Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual Goleta Economic Forecast on Thursday morning and I would like to invite two Noozhawk readers to be my guests. But more on that in a moment.

The summit — held for the second year at Metropolitan Theatres’ Fairview Theatre, 225 N. Fairview Ave. — will provide a comprehensive presentation on the local economy, with an emphasis on three areas that directly affect the Goleta business community at a time of acute financial challenges:

» A midyear outlook from Ben Courtney and Tyler Powell of Wells Fargo Advisors on where investments and capital are moving.

» An analysis from the Workforce Investment Board of Santa Barbara County on the local workforce and how changes in local industry affect it.

» A frank assessment from local business executives on the recession. Steve Greig, government relations manager of Venoco Inc., will represent the oil and gas industry; Reyne Stapelmann of Prudential California Realty will represent residential real estate; Bob Tuler, co-principal of Radius Group, will represent commercial real estate; Phil Wyatt, CEO of Wyatt Technology, will represent Goleta’s high-tech sector; and the panel will be moderated by me, Bill Macfadyen, founder and publisher of Noozhawk.

Business First Bank, MarBorg Industries and the Workforce Investment Board are lead sponsors for the Goleta Economic Summit, with Cabrillo Business Park, The Towbes Group and Venoco as major sponsors.

Other sponsors are Noozhawk, Allied Waste Services, AMS Entertainment, ATK Space, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Citrix Online, Community West Bank, Cox Business, FLIR Commercial Vision Systems, Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital, Marmalade Café, Media 27, Pacific Coast Business Times, Penfield & Smith, Santa Barbara Airport, Santa Barbara Daily Sound and Synergy Computing.

Registration and breakfast begin at 7:30 a.m. Thursday, and the program runs from 8 to 10 a.m. Tickets are available for $75 for Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce members and $90 for nonmembers. Click here to purchase tickets online.

If you’d like to attend as my guest, enter Noozhawk’s drawing to win a free ticket. Please e-mail your name, business and contact information to me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Requests must be received by 5 p.m. Monday and the drawing will be held soon after, with winners notified by e-mail. I have just two tickets to give away.

— Noozhawk publisher Bill Macfadyen can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk.

http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/091409_goleta_economic_forecast_to_confront_recession_pressures/